I started this post while sitting at a cafe in Bratislava, continued it on the late bus to Budapest, and finally finished it in our hotel where we plan to spend at least a couple of days so we can hopefully catch our breath for a bit.
On the morning of April 24th we repacked our bags, putting all of our Czocha stuff and everything we didn't think we would need or want in our extra rolling bag in preparation to mail it home at the earliest possible moment. Then we arranged for a taxi to take us to the closest train station before heading down to breakfast. Our plan for the day was to get to Prague as early as possible and still have some time to explore the city. In hindsight that was overly optimistic.
At breakfast we said our goodbyes to all the new friends we'd made and politely declined their requests that we return in a couple of weeks for the next event. It was hard to resist the urge to promise to come back. We've both toyed with the idea since and although we know we might have even more fun doing it a second time, it just really isn't very feasible and it can be very draining. Still it's sad to know we'll probably never see all these wonderful people again in our lifetimes. Kat on the other hand has become Facebook friends with many of them and can still share in the fun.
The taxi arrived and we negotiated a price to take us to Horni Rasnice, the closest train station inside the Czech Republic. Czocha was only 20 minutes from the station, but the ride would cost us about 200 zloty, or about $50, because it was apparently rare for anyone to go out there. Also our driver spoke only German and Polish, making it difficult to communicate. We pretended we knew what we were doing and loaded up our bags to set out.
The ride took us along old country roads and through small run-down communities. Our first sign that things might not go as planned was when our taxi driver got lost and had to stop and ask directions from a couple of policemen parked on a side street. They looked as confused as the driver and pointed vaguely in a direction and the ride continued. Eventually we found some old overgrown rails and wondered if there used to be a station here that no longer existed. We decided to continue on across until finally we came upon an old abandoned train station out in the middle of nowhere. With bars across the boarded up windows, stained and peeling walls, and padlocks on the doors it was just the kind of place you would expect to be haunted.
In my mind's eye I had imagined a full-service train station with a ticket booth and an ATM where I could get some Czech crowns, since all I had on me were euros and polish zloty. We had also hoped for wifi access to pass the time as we waited since the train wasn't supposed to be by for another couple hours. This place wasn't even manned and there was no way inside the building. The only signs that the station might still see some use was a depressing little metal shelter with a bench and a trash can next to it and two sets of rails that passed in front of the station: another rusty overgrown track and a more modern and well maintained-looking one.
Just to add to the drama of the situation the weather had turned suddenly frigid and windy. We had definitely not packed enough cold weather clothes for the trip, thinking that the weather would be relatively mild. I immediately regretted giving my only scarf away.
Our taxi driver sounded as skeptical about leaving us there as we were feeling about getting left. Despite the language barrier we made it clear that he felt we were making a mistake and urged us to go into the little town nearby to get coffee and wait for the train out of the cold. He even offered to stick around and shuttle us back to the station later when the train was due, for an extra 40 zloty of course. With more confidence than I felt I reassured him that we would be fine and thanked him for the ride here. He relented, but made sure I had his number just in case, although I'm not sure how much good that would have been since we didn't have a phone between us that worked in Europe.
After he drove away Kat and I settled in for a long, cold, and lonely wait. Kat bundled up in every last layer of clothing she had including two jackets and a wrap thing she wore as part of her witch costume. From time to time while we waited there were little flurries of snow. I think I even heard some wolves howling in the distance. I grew restless and wandered around the building looking for clues. I did find a paper schedule plastered to the wall which seemed to confirm that there was a train due in about an hour that would take us in the right direction, but Prague was not listed as a destination, which I found a bit worrisome. There was nothing left to do but return to the shelter and wait.
Not long after that we heard a train approaching, but from the other direction. A small single car train, something more akin to a streetcar or tram than a true train, arrived and stopped at the station. The car looked practically empty and nobody got off and we remained seated. After a few moments the little train started up again and moved away. Our spirits perked up a bit after that to at least know that our station was still in service, even if we had no idea where the next train would take us.
Right on schedule at 12:08 our train arrived and we quickly climbed aboard, happy to be out of the cold and moving again. I had hoped to find an attendant that I could talk with to confirm our eventual arrival in Prague and negotiate with for our tickets. Unfortunately, it was completely empty except for the driver who was in his little locked booth. There was an automated ticket machine in the car that had no English instructions and seemed to only take Czech coins, of which I had none. The train began moving again as I struggled with the confounding contraption. I eventually had to admit defeat and returned to my seat. I picked up a schedule pamphlet and attempted to puzzle out our route, but once again failed to find Prague listed anywhere. All that was left was to accept our fate and wait to see what would happen next.
At the next stop we picked up a handful of new travelers. After they had all settled in and the train was moving I decided to try my luck. I walked through the car asking if anyone spoke English and could help us out. I mostly got negative head shakes and questioning looks, but wasn't having much luck. Finally, a young woman who had been listening to music with earbuds in looked up at me as I passed back by her and asked "Do you need help?"
I gave a sigh of relief and an emphatic "Yes, please!" I explained our situation and she immediately came to the rescue. First she explained that this train only went as far as Liberec, where she happened to be going herself. When I admitted that I had no coins to work the machine she purchased two tickets for us, which came to around 50 crowns, or about $3. I offered to pay her back but she insisted it wasn't necessary. When I asked how we could get to Prague from Liberec she suggested we take a bus and even offered to walk us to the station when we arrived. I thanked her profusely and then we returned to our seats for the ride to Liberec. There was snow flying outside the windows by this time and it got steadily worse as we went along. Thanks to our new friend we weren't kicked off the train when the ticket checker eventually came through the car.
When we got to Liberec, Czech Republic, our guide was even better than her word. First she walked us into the train station while I got some Czech koruna from the cash machine and then took us down the street to the main bus station. She handled the transaction, getting us two tickets to Prague on the next RegioJet Student Agency bus, and I paid the bill. The next bus wasn't for a couple hours so she continued her tour of Liberec by walking us down to the local shopping mall where she was headed after all. That's when I remembered to ask her name and tell her ours. Her name was Petra Linh and she was a student with Vietnamese and Czech parents. Apparently there is a large Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic. She wrapped up her tour by showing us a coffeeshop where we could get internet access and then took us to where our bus would be picking us up in the square just outside the mall and even pointed out the big yellow ones that we would be on.
With her mission complete Petra said her goodbyes and I took a quick pic to immortalize her good deeds. She refused any sort of repayment and seemed genuinely happy to have just been of use. We hugged and she left to pursue her own errands. I like to imagine she continued on to save an old woman from being struck by a car, worked her usual shift at the soup kitchen, and then found a starving kitten to take home and adopt before calling it a night.
Kat and I took over a bench at the coffeeshop with our backpacks and rolling bag. At this point I was really starting to get annoyed by lugging around the extra bag and was looking around for a way to get rid of it, but I didn't want to get too far away from our bus when the time came to leave. We ordered a couple drinks, took turns hitting the pay-to-poop bathrooms, 5 crowns each, and spent some quality time on the internet. By this time it had been over three days since we'd left Berlin and fell off the grid and into the magical world of Czocha College. I think we were both starting to go through some withdrawals. Our first priority was to check in on the cats back home and thankfully there were emails and pictures waiting for us from our pet-sitters. It looked like everything was going as well as could be expected so we started to feel much better.
After a quick lunch at a pan-Asian place in the food court it was time to head out and look for our bus. It had begun to snow slightly again as we waiting at the bus stop and watched the big yellow bus before ours load up and leave. That's when I noticed they advertised internet access during the ride. We thought that was so cool and immediately dubbed them the Internet Buses. Our bus arrived on schedule and we transformed our backpacks into luggage again using the flaps and zippers to hide away all the straps before loading them in the storage compartment. Have I not mentioned how cool our backpacks are? They've been a great purchase and we're both really impressed with them. When fully loaded with the front and back packs it really balances out the weight.
The ride to Prague took 3 hours, but the bus was big, clean, and comfortable complete with internet, personal video screens, and a charging station for usb devices. There was even a bus stewardess and some free drinks available. All for only 200 crowns. I'd say it was a heck of a deal and we rode in relative comfort all the way to Prague. It would be the first of many bus trips we would take using RegioJet Student Agency.
By the time we arrived in Prague it was past 18:00, long after we had expected to be there. We were exhausted, still coming down from our high at Czocha Castle, and a bit drained from the stressful adventure of just getting to Prague. As we stepped off the bus we stepped into a chill wind and shower of rain. All Kat wanted to do was get to the hotel, but I wasn't exactly sure how to get there so we attempted to navigate to the closest landmark, the main train station Praha hlavni nadrazni, to look for tourist info and maps. As I bumped the rolling bag across the uneven cobblestone streets I became obsessed with finding a way to ship it home as soon as possible.
As happens when you're tired and in a hurry you tend to make a few mistakes. First we took a couple wrong turns and lost track of the signs pointing the way to the station. We came around a corner while searching for signs and Kat stepped into a massive hole in the sidewalk and almost fell flat on her face. Other than having that sudden unexpected step down she was fine, but we both realized how close she had come to getting badly hurt. We dubbed it the "Rill Hole" and have since found many more holes like it all around Prague and other cities, lurking around every corner just waiting to claim a victim. You really have to keep a sharp eye out because about half the streets and sidewalks are under some sort of major reconstruction at all times.
We managed to find the train station and grab a map, but they couldn't help with the rolling bag at the tourist desk. I could tell Kat was fading fast so I had to plan the quickest route to the hotel and not make any more wrong turns. Pouring over the map and our guide book it looked like it was just a few short blocks away and that we could even take a tram. We walked out to the closest stop and waited in the wind and rain for one to arrive. A few minutes later one pulled up but it was packed to the gills with people and nobody was getting off. We looked at each other and agreed it was time to just walk to the hotel.
Several minutes later we staggered and rattled our way right past the hotel, missed it, discovered our error, turned around, and finally got out of the cold. Check-in went fine and when we got up to our room there was a nice surprise. Gary and Carol had thoughtfully ordered some champagne and a cheese plate for the room as a birthday gift. The ice wasn't even all melted yet. We immediately crashed, took showers, and climbed into bed while sipping champagne and nibbling fruit and cheeses. We didn't even go out for dinner that evening we were so tired. Kat fell asleep almost immediately and I stayed up a bit to work on posting pics and blogging.
Next time I'll cover how we spent my birthday site-seeing in Prague.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Czocha College of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Part 2
We're currently in Vienna and planning on moving on tomorrow, but I still need to catch up on my memoirs from almost a week ago before I can talk about what we've just done. We've been setting a rather busy pace and I haven't had as much downtime as I would like in order to craft these long posts. I might be able to catch up in Budapest. We'll see.
In recent news we've decided to alter our travel plans. We will no longer be traveling back to Poland. There are no overnight trains available from Budapest to Krakow, and taking a train back through Vienna ends up being a waste of a travel day, plus all the cheap flights we had looked into previously have suddenly rocketed out of our price range. So instead we're going to follow Rick Steves' plan and continue on to Ljubljana, Slovenia and parts beyond after visiting Budapest. We'll be taking a flight from Ljubljana back to Berlin before coming home. I'll miss not revisiting Krakow and getting to share it with Kat, but Rick makes Slovenia sound pretty amazing too and we're both excited to give it a try.
For now let's get back to Czocha. When we last left I was going to be early on the first night of the game. Aletha had been out running around with her housemates and getting up to some sort of magical mischief and was out late. I was pretty tired so when finally she came to bed and tried to explain something about rituals, doom-spiders, and ghosts in the Dark Forest I just replied with a noncommittal "Uh huh," and rolled back over to go to sleep.
We both woke up early the next morning, anxious to start our first day of classes, put on our costumes and got back into character before heading downstairs. One nice thing about having a private room to ourselves was that we could take a break from it all and go "off-game" and "out-of-character". We were just Kat & Jeff again instead of Aletha & Dorian. Even though our characters were very similar to ourselves there was still a certain amount of separation and distance. I needed that time away from the game with Kat to recharge.
When we got downstairs that first morning there wasn't any sign of anyone else. They had all probably been up way past curfew partying and what-not so we decided to make full use of our new found freedom by searching for the castle's many secret passages. Aletha found one in the library and then got spooked when I said I thought I heard someone coming just when she was opening it. We didn't want to lose any points for our houses by being caught in secret passages where Juniors were not allowed.
The noise turned out to be just the hotel staff setting up the breakfast buffet so we regained our courage and proceeded to explore. Our adventure took us all over the castle and into the cellars below where we discovered someone had left a trail of flowers all around. Unfortunately when Aletha picked one up to examine it she triggered a curse that had been placed on it causing her to think she was one of the more strict professors. She began interrogating Dorian as to what thought he was doing by sneaking around the castle. Thinking fast, Dorian drew his wand and terminated the hex, restoring Aletha to her proper self. Forewarned, the pair avoided touching anymore of the booby-trapped flowers for fear that they might contain more dangerous curses.
Running around with Kat that morning was one of my top experiences at the event. We felt like we had the whole castle to ourselves and got to have some fun with just the two of us. Soon it was breakfast time and then classes began.
I should say that most of my pictures give the impression that the castle was practically abandoned all the time. That wasn't the case at all. Although there were times you would find yourself alone they were few and far between and almost always your solitude would be interrupted by a group of students wandering through, by staff accosting you, or even by goblins chasing one of the cats out of the castle. I intentionally tried to avoid photographing other players during the game since it seemed like not something I should do. It wasn't specifically forbidden, but I felt like every time I took a picture I was breaking character. For a moment I was on vacation and staying at a castle rather than playing a returning student in a magical boarding school. I didn't want to break the magic for anyone else so I tried to be discrete with my picture-taking.
My first class, which turned out to be one of my favorites, was Alchemy in the cellars where I learned how to construct recipes and craft potions based on the symptoms you wished to cure or cause in the imbiber. There was a very mathematical approach to it that made it sort of like solving an intricate puzzle and then you actually got to make the thing. Every ingredient in the lab was edible so you got to sample your potions once they were finished. One of my recipes ended up requiring warm alcohol and peppercorns. It was pretty intense.
I can't possibly explain every cool thing that happened at the event and still get some sleep so I'll try to give you a few of the remaining highlights. Dorian joined the house "Fireball Dragon" team, a game somewhat like keep-away and dodgeball all rolled into one, and took up the "Spirit Guardian" position, much like a goal-keeper. Our team didn't get to go on to the finals, but I had a blast being part of it. Dorian and Aletha managed to get lost trying to find the one class they had together, Demonology, and ended up climbing to the top of the tower for some quality alone time and a photo-op. Dorian slipped out into the Dark Forest twice without getting caught. The first time I had to cleverly sneak by an in-progress class while they were distracted battling some sort of giant boar-man. Dorian also ran for student council, but lost by a few votes to his nemesis Ray Frost. He faced his greatest desire and worst fear as his exams in Magical Defense and Demonology respectively. Dorian danced the polka during Rituals class and he almost got caught disposing of alchemical waste in the Faust common room shower. He raised many a glass in toast with his Faustian brothers and sisters in the castle tavern. He watched helplessly as Aletha was attacked and nearly killed by the spirit of a dead ancestor possessing the body of one of her closest friends and then later found her scared and alone in the cellars fearing another attack, but with the guidance of the kindly Runes professor he cast spells to help restore her confidence.
The event concluded on the third night with a grand ball to celebrate the end of mid-term exams and the awarding of the cup to the house with the most points. Despite our hard work and discipline, Faust lost the title of First House to Libussa in a surprising upset. Aletha and Dorian attended the ball together dressed in their fanciest attire (that would fit in our travel bags) and waltzed to a number of songs until they slipped off to join the misfits and trouble-makers at the anti-ball in the tavern for a few drinks before returning to the dance floor.
At the end of the dance everyone gathered in the Knights Hall one last time for final announcements and to sing the school song. Then the game was concluded and a big round of cheers and applause went up for the organizers and everyone who help make this a thing. There was a debriefing period, for new people and old, to give folks a chance to discuss their experiences and decompress a little bit. Most people slipped right into the after-party while Kat and I headed up to our room to get some sleep and get ready to go on our next adventure.
In recent news we've decided to alter our travel plans. We will no longer be traveling back to Poland. There are no overnight trains available from Budapest to Krakow, and taking a train back through Vienna ends up being a waste of a travel day, plus all the cheap flights we had looked into previously have suddenly rocketed out of our price range. So instead we're going to follow Rick Steves' plan and continue on to Ljubljana, Slovenia and parts beyond after visiting Budapest. We'll be taking a flight from Ljubljana back to Berlin before coming home. I'll miss not revisiting Krakow and getting to share it with Kat, but Rick makes Slovenia sound pretty amazing too and we're both excited to give it a try.
For now let's get back to Czocha. When we last left I was going to be early on the first night of the game. Aletha had been out running around with her housemates and getting up to some sort of magical mischief and was out late. I was pretty tired so when finally she came to bed and tried to explain something about rituals, doom-spiders, and ghosts in the Dark Forest I just replied with a noncommittal "Uh huh," and rolled back over to go to sleep.
We both woke up early the next morning, anxious to start our first day of classes, put on our costumes and got back into character before heading downstairs. One nice thing about having a private room to ourselves was that we could take a break from it all and go "off-game" and "out-of-character". We were just Kat & Jeff again instead of Aletha & Dorian. Even though our characters were very similar to ourselves there was still a certain amount of separation and distance. I needed that time away from the game with Kat to recharge.
When we got downstairs that first morning there wasn't any sign of anyone else. They had all probably been up way past curfew partying and what-not so we decided to make full use of our new found freedom by searching for the castle's many secret passages. Aletha found one in the library and then got spooked when I said I thought I heard someone coming just when she was opening it. We didn't want to lose any points for our houses by being caught in secret passages where Juniors were not allowed.
The noise turned out to be just the hotel staff setting up the breakfast buffet so we regained our courage and proceeded to explore. Our adventure took us all over the castle and into the cellars below where we discovered someone had left a trail of flowers all around. Unfortunately when Aletha picked one up to examine it she triggered a curse that had been placed on it causing her to think she was one of the more strict professors. She began interrogating Dorian as to what thought he was doing by sneaking around the castle. Thinking fast, Dorian drew his wand and terminated the hex, restoring Aletha to her proper self. Forewarned, the pair avoided touching anymore of the booby-trapped flowers for fear that they might contain more dangerous curses.
Running around with Kat that morning was one of my top experiences at the event. We felt like we had the whole castle to ourselves and got to have some fun with just the two of us. Soon it was breakfast time and then classes began.
I should say that most of my pictures give the impression that the castle was practically abandoned all the time. That wasn't the case at all. Although there were times you would find yourself alone they were few and far between and almost always your solitude would be interrupted by a group of students wandering through, by staff accosting you, or even by goblins chasing one of the cats out of the castle. I intentionally tried to avoid photographing other players during the game since it seemed like not something I should do. It wasn't specifically forbidden, but I felt like every time I took a picture I was breaking character. For a moment I was on vacation and staying at a castle rather than playing a returning student in a magical boarding school. I didn't want to break the magic for anyone else so I tried to be discrete with my picture-taking.
My first class, which turned out to be one of my favorites, was Alchemy in the cellars where I learned how to construct recipes and craft potions based on the symptoms you wished to cure or cause in the imbiber. There was a very mathematical approach to it that made it sort of like solving an intricate puzzle and then you actually got to make the thing. Every ingredient in the lab was edible so you got to sample your potions once they were finished. One of my recipes ended up requiring warm alcohol and peppercorns. It was pretty intense.
I can't possibly explain every cool thing that happened at the event and still get some sleep so I'll try to give you a few of the remaining highlights. Dorian joined the house "Fireball Dragon" team, a game somewhat like keep-away and dodgeball all rolled into one, and took up the "Spirit Guardian" position, much like a goal-keeper. Our team didn't get to go on to the finals, but I had a blast being part of it. Dorian and Aletha managed to get lost trying to find the one class they had together, Demonology, and ended up climbing to the top of the tower for some quality alone time and a photo-op. Dorian slipped out into the Dark Forest twice without getting caught. The first time I had to cleverly sneak by an in-progress class while they were distracted battling some sort of giant boar-man. Dorian also ran for student council, but lost by a few votes to his nemesis Ray Frost. He faced his greatest desire and worst fear as his exams in Magical Defense and Demonology respectively. Dorian danced the polka during Rituals class and he almost got caught disposing of alchemical waste in the Faust common room shower. He raised many a glass in toast with his Faustian brothers and sisters in the castle tavern. He watched helplessly as Aletha was attacked and nearly killed by the spirit of a dead ancestor possessing the body of one of her closest friends and then later found her scared and alone in the cellars fearing another attack, but with the guidance of the kindly Runes professor he cast spells to help restore her confidence.
The event concluded on the third night with a grand ball to celebrate the end of mid-term exams and the awarding of the cup to the house with the most points. Despite our hard work and discipline, Faust lost the title of First House to Libussa in a surprising upset. Aletha and Dorian attended the ball together dressed in their fanciest attire (that would fit in our travel bags) and waltzed to a number of songs until they slipped off to join the misfits and trouble-makers at the anti-ball in the tavern for a few drinks before returning to the dance floor.
At the end of the dance everyone gathered in the Knights Hall one last time for final announcements and to sing the school song. Then the game was concluded and a big round of cheers and applause went up for the organizers and everyone who help make this a thing. There was a debriefing period, for new people and old, to give folks a chance to discuss their experiences and decompress a little bit. Most people slipped right into the after-party while Kat and I headed up to our room to get some sleep and get ready to go on our next adventure.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Czocha College of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Part 1
Brace yourself for this will be a very long post.
Trying to sum up and capture our experiences at Czocha Castle in one post will be impossible, but in a few words it was all at once scary, exciting, challenging, stressful, confusing, exhausting, magical, intense, light-hearted, fun, and will be something we will remember always.
On our last night in Berlin we were invited to go to dinner with a large group of players who were staying in Berlin as well and were going to take the buses with us to Czocha in the morning. I was a bit nervous getting ready to meet these people for the first time since I had it in my mind that these were going to be some strange folk and that I wouldn't fit in very well, since I had never done anything like this before and had not really prepared very well for the event. In any case I was glad to get a chance to wear my fancy new jacket that I had packed all the way to Europe. I also wore one of the scarves Kat made for the trip, a yellow and blue striped one, the colors of House Faust.
When we got to the place, an Italian themed restaurant called Da Vinci's, we found a huge group piled into the back room of the place already eating and drinking. We sat down and more people trickled in soon after. There was a continuous chaotic flow of food and drink that arrived almost as quickly as it was ordered. Some people where on their second or third round as we were just getting started. The food was good despite the confusing atmosphere.
During the meal we got a chance to get to know a few of our fellow players. Across from us sat Ashley, an American living abroad, and a return player from previous CoW events. She was playing "Professor Briar", a slightly quirky teacher of Rune Magic. She was excited to hear that my character would be taking her class. She taught her lessons wearing pajamas and slippers while making us form the various rune patterns with our arms and legs. Imagine the YMCA dance routine, but while standing on one leg. She was especially delighted when I spontaneously busted out a dance routine based on the rune patterns during the ball on the final night.
We sat next to a Danish woman who would be playing one of the most memorable players at the college, a Libussan named "Hannah O'Hara", a loveably bumbling misfit of a student whose robes were always in disarray, was constantly dropping things that would make squeaking noises at the most inappropriate of times, was constantly late to the classes I had with her, and just a general disruptive influence on everything, but in an absolutely adorable way. She even wore my house banner as an improvised toga dress to the final night's ball. Her housemates both hated and loved her because her antics cost them many house cup points as annoyed Professors would deduct points for her many interruptions, but in the end house Libussa still won the cup.
I got to meet a few of my fellow Faustians that night as well. Sitting next to me was a tall and gregarious Dane whose character was "Gabriel", a Guardian who was very stern and militaristic being something like a wizardly soldier and lawman wrapped into one. His full formal uniform was quite impressive and he struck an imposing figure. During the LARP his character could frequently be found haranguing other students for their minor transgressions against the codes of the school and the wizarding world in general.
Also from house Faust were "Gerard Jordan", "Abraham Sokolov", and "Ray Frost". Gerard was a Prefect from my house, a Senior Artificer and was a bit of a mentor for my character "Dorian D. Ward" who was supposed to be a Junior Artificer. Abraham was an impressive character, a wild loner draped in wolf pelts with a mohawk and beard. As a Cursebreaker his story arc was intricate and deep and by the end he had to give up his magic as part of a pact of which he was sworn not to speak. Abraham and Dorian had a few good shared moments of mutual respect for one another as we had Magical Theory and Ritual Magic classes together and often paired up with one another. Ray Frost was a flamboyant blue-haired Cryptozoologist obsessed with himself and his own power and who had grafted various bits of technology to himself, making him a sort of cyborg-wizard. I'd say some of Dorian's more challenging scenes came from interacting with him.
After dinner most of us continued on to drinks. The bar was a forgettable restaurant with watered down drinks, but the company was good. Soon it was quite late and Kat and I needed to get back to our hotel near the airport for some rest. It was our latest night out in Berlin and got to experience what happens when the U-Bahn shuts down and everything changes over to the night bus system. We were very confused at first when our U-Bahn stopped short of our final station and everyone disembarked. After regaining our wits we followed the press of people up into the cold windy night and went in search of a bus that would take us home. After successfully navigating the first leg of the trip we mistakenly took one of the transfer buses going in the wrong direction and it was several stops before we discovered our mistake. It was getting quite late at this point and we were in danger of missing the last #109 bus that would take us to the stop outside our hotel. We quickly retraced our steps, ran to catch the correct transfer and the finally got back to our hotel at the last possible moment.
In the morning we packed all our things and caught the shuttle to the airport where our bus to the castle would pick us up. I withdrew some Polish zloty for the trip, picked up a few snacks and some booze at the shops, and we had a rather nice breakfast of bagel sandwiches, and a couple to go for lunch on the bus, at a coffee shop while we waited, making full use of the internet while we still had it.
Soon it was time to gather for our bus outside. We met back up with some of the people from last night as well as some new folks who had just arrived. The bus started at Tegel airport and would swing by the other airport to pick up the rest. I snapped a quick shot of us all together and then we headed out.The ride to Czocha took just over five hours. Half of that was off the main roads and on small winding roads through tiny towns and villages. Crossing over into Poland you began to notice how the buildings on the roadside changed. There were old houses that were in such bad repair that they were barely still standing right next to brand new and expensive looking homes.
To pass the time I sat with more new people who would be playing with us. Many of them were first-timers like Kat and myself, had never LARPed before or been to the castle. A couple were even from the US. We were all a bit nervous but the excitement and encouragement from all the returning players was infectious. Some of them were already getting into character. I was still wearing my yellow and blue scarf, which marked me as a Faustian, so many people started treating me rudely if they weren't in my house. I was confused at first but soon came to learn that all the other houses generally hate Faust, because Faust is filled with ambitious and focused individuals who tend to be elitist jerks. They also tend to win the house cup most the time due to their studied discipline. The animosity of the other houses just serves to make Faust even more insular and tight-knit however. I decided that my character, Dorian, was an atypical Faustian and would try to do his best to show the other houses that he was one of the good ones by being friendly and helpful. Throughout the weekend I continued to get glared at and cursed while I was always polite, if a bit stuffy, in return.
Finally we arrived and Kat and I got our first look at the castle. To be honest it didn't blow me away at first from the view from the parking lot and I was feeling a little bit let down. However that soon changed as we walked down the long driveway and up to the front courtyard. As I looked up at its funny-looking tower and its somewhat chaotic asymmetric collection of multi-pitched roofs I felt something magical. This place was perfect. It was laid out like a crazy labyrinth and it was very easy to get lost so it wasn't hard to believe that it was alive and that the passages and staircases were moving and rearranging themselves at night. We were told during orientation that this was quite a common excuse for arriving late to a class in progress.
There was a large crowd gathered on the narrow stone bridge connecting the courtyard to the front entrance, some of them new arrivals like us, others had been at the castle for awhile helping to get set up for the event. I started to get a sense of just how large a group this was and the kind of effort that was going into the event. I later learned that there were over 150 participants, not including the regular hotel staff.
We checked-in and found our private room. It was on the top floor up several flights of stairs that we would come to dread climbing by the end of the event. I think we had both assumed we would be living in less than ideal conditions while staying at the castle, so we were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. The floors squeaked and the water heater made funny noises, but it was really quite spacious and far away from the noise of the rest of the castle. After putting our stuff down and freshening up a bit we headed back to the main hall for our orientation meetings, where they gave us a brief idea of the rules, codes of conduct, and what to expect. After that we were given time to get into our costumes and after a few announcements from the organizers we were split into small workshop teams based on our houses and learning paths. Kat and I went our separate ways and wouldn't see each other again until later that evening.
We were given school robes and ties color coded by year and house which we were expected to wear during classes and at dinner. This worked well with my costumes since I went with classic prep-school attire: button-up shirts, vests, gray slacks, and black dress shoes. Some of the players' costumes were much more elaborate than mine, others not so much. There were more than a couple people who were just wearing logo t-shirts and jeans under their robes.
In my house workshop we discussed Faust's motto and creed "Knowledge & Power", learned our chant "Wisdom is Might! As Dragons We Fight!", our oath "Dragon's flame burns eternal", met our prefects and discussed house rules and general school politics. In my learning path workshop I got to meet all the other Junior Artificers that I would be having classes with. We discussed the group dynamic and once again I was singled out as the only Faustian and how I would probably be ostracized by the others, but I made sure they knew I wasn't playing a typical Faustian and even made a few new friends in the group. Then as a group we sort of spontaneously decided that it might be fun during play if we worked on a secret project for extra credit that would go horribly wrong in some way. We ended up doing the project, but unfortunately never got a chance to present it in class.
After workshops we gathered up outside at night to officially begin play. We lined up in the castle courtyard by house and year as Klaus, one of the founders of the game, gave us our marching orders and gave us the signal. The Czocha College them song began to play as we silently filed by the professors, now in costume as well, waiting for us on the bridge who would say things like "Welcome back" or "Good to see you again, Dorian" or "Hope you had a good break" in passing as if we really were just returning from Spring break and ready for our mid-terms to begin. I'd say my memory of that very first moment when play began is one of the strongest and it gives me chills to think of.
In the Knight's Hall we stood as the Headmistress, overlooking us from the balcony, formally welcomed us back to school and gave the opening announcements. Juniors were forbidden to enter the Dark Forest and the secret passages as was traditional, and that curfew for all was at midnight. Then dinner was served. The food was plentiful and filling, but somewhat bland by my standards. Still, we were getting a great deal: room, board, and days filled with entertainment for the entire weekend in a real-live freakin' castle!
Aletha (Kat) and I ate at our separate house tables and I tried to get to know my fellow students a little bit better. Many of them had well developed backstories and ready made relationships as they greeted each other like long-time friends and swapped stories. I started to suddenly feel very lonely and a bit sad. I was having trouble getting into character and pretending to know these people just wasn't coming naturally. As soon as dinner was over I got up and wandered around by myself. I'd quickly lost track of Aletha and wondered what she was up to.
Faust was hosting a party later that evening and had installed some kind of magic mirror as part of the entertainment so Dorian had invited Aletha to join him at the party. During the party it was announced that there was a spirit trapped in the mirror that could answer any question from your past that you asked it. It was actually quite a cool setup, an actor in ghost makeup stood behind the mirror holding a lamp, making it look like they were inside. People lined up to place their hand on the mirror and ask it questions. The trick was that the ghost would possess you and answer in your own voice, so the question asker effectively got to answer their own question in front of the group. This led to many people performing dramatic soliloquies in front of a captive audience. The party mood turned somber as many of the askers had questions about dead relatives, betrayal, loss, and gloomy topics. Only one joker got up front and asked where he'd lost his ring, which turned out to be in his pocket. Aletha and Dorian dared each other to go up and give it a try, but we both chickened out.
Aletha had made other plans and said goodbye to join some others on some adventure or other while I stayed at the party for a bit longer. Suddenly there was a commotion as several Faustians cried out in terror and fled the castle. I curiously followed to the courtyard and watched some sort of drama play out between various members of Faust and a girl holding a plush wolf toy. Apparently it was some sort of demon trapped in a wolf-pup and the Faustians had suddenly regained memories of being trapped in a burning building. I never learned quite what it was all about and the group eventually dispersed.
There didn't seem quite anything in particular to do that night. There were little groups here and there doing various things, but Dorian wasn't really a part of it. I was still suffering from stomach troubles and feeling a bit bored and tired so decided to call it an early night and headed on up to bed. I had to get a good night's rest in order to be ready for my classes in the morning after all.
Trying to sum up and capture our experiences at Czocha Castle in one post will be impossible, but in a few words it was all at once scary, exciting, challenging, stressful, confusing, exhausting, magical, intense, light-hearted, fun, and will be something we will remember always.
On our last night in Berlin we were invited to go to dinner with a large group of players who were staying in Berlin as well and were going to take the buses with us to Czocha in the morning. I was a bit nervous getting ready to meet these people for the first time since I had it in my mind that these were going to be some strange folk and that I wouldn't fit in very well, since I had never done anything like this before and had not really prepared very well for the event. In any case I was glad to get a chance to wear my fancy new jacket that I had packed all the way to Europe. I also wore one of the scarves Kat made for the trip, a yellow and blue striped one, the colors of House Faust.
When we got to the place, an Italian themed restaurant called Da Vinci's, we found a huge group piled into the back room of the place already eating and drinking. We sat down and more people trickled in soon after. There was a continuous chaotic flow of food and drink that arrived almost as quickly as it was ordered. Some people where on their second or third round as we were just getting started. The food was good despite the confusing atmosphere.
During the meal we got a chance to get to know a few of our fellow players. Across from us sat Ashley, an American living abroad, and a return player from previous CoW events. She was playing "Professor Briar", a slightly quirky teacher of Rune Magic. She was excited to hear that my character would be taking her class. She taught her lessons wearing pajamas and slippers while making us form the various rune patterns with our arms and legs. Imagine the YMCA dance routine, but while standing on one leg. She was especially delighted when I spontaneously busted out a dance routine based on the rune patterns during the ball on the final night.
We sat next to a Danish woman who would be playing one of the most memorable players at the college, a Libussan named "Hannah O'Hara", a loveably bumbling misfit of a student whose robes were always in disarray, was constantly dropping things that would make squeaking noises at the most inappropriate of times, was constantly late to the classes I had with her, and just a general disruptive influence on everything, but in an absolutely adorable way. She even wore my house banner as an improvised toga dress to the final night's ball. Her housemates both hated and loved her because her antics cost them many house cup points as annoyed Professors would deduct points for her many interruptions, but in the end house Libussa still won the cup.
I got to meet a few of my fellow Faustians that night as well. Sitting next to me was a tall and gregarious Dane whose character was "Gabriel", a Guardian who was very stern and militaristic being something like a wizardly soldier and lawman wrapped into one. His full formal uniform was quite impressive and he struck an imposing figure. During the LARP his character could frequently be found haranguing other students for their minor transgressions against the codes of the school and the wizarding world in general.
Also from house Faust were "Gerard Jordan", "Abraham Sokolov", and "Ray Frost". Gerard was a Prefect from my house, a Senior Artificer and was a bit of a mentor for my character "Dorian D. Ward" who was supposed to be a Junior Artificer. Abraham was an impressive character, a wild loner draped in wolf pelts with a mohawk and beard. As a Cursebreaker his story arc was intricate and deep and by the end he had to give up his magic as part of a pact of which he was sworn not to speak. Abraham and Dorian had a few good shared moments of mutual respect for one another as we had Magical Theory and Ritual Magic classes together and often paired up with one another. Ray Frost was a flamboyant blue-haired Cryptozoologist obsessed with himself and his own power and who had grafted various bits of technology to himself, making him a sort of cyborg-wizard. I'd say some of Dorian's more challenging scenes came from interacting with him.
After dinner most of us continued on to drinks. The bar was a forgettable restaurant with watered down drinks, but the company was good. Soon it was quite late and Kat and I needed to get back to our hotel near the airport for some rest. It was our latest night out in Berlin and got to experience what happens when the U-Bahn shuts down and everything changes over to the night bus system. We were very confused at first when our U-Bahn stopped short of our final station and everyone disembarked. After regaining our wits we followed the press of people up into the cold windy night and went in search of a bus that would take us home. After successfully navigating the first leg of the trip we mistakenly took one of the transfer buses going in the wrong direction and it was several stops before we discovered our mistake. It was getting quite late at this point and we were in danger of missing the last #109 bus that would take us to the stop outside our hotel. We quickly retraced our steps, ran to catch the correct transfer and the finally got back to our hotel at the last possible moment.
In the morning we packed all our things and caught the shuttle to the airport where our bus to the castle would pick us up. I withdrew some Polish zloty for the trip, picked up a few snacks and some booze at the shops, and we had a rather nice breakfast of bagel sandwiches, and a couple to go for lunch on the bus, at a coffee shop while we waited, making full use of the internet while we still had it.
Soon it was time to gather for our bus outside. We met back up with some of the people from last night as well as some new folks who had just arrived. The bus started at Tegel airport and would swing by the other airport to pick up the rest. I snapped a quick shot of us all together and then we headed out.The ride to Czocha took just over five hours. Half of that was off the main roads and on small winding roads through tiny towns and villages. Crossing over into Poland you began to notice how the buildings on the roadside changed. There were old houses that were in such bad repair that they were barely still standing right next to brand new and expensive looking homes.
To pass the time I sat with more new people who would be playing with us. Many of them were first-timers like Kat and myself, had never LARPed before or been to the castle. A couple were even from the US. We were all a bit nervous but the excitement and encouragement from all the returning players was infectious. Some of them were already getting into character. I was still wearing my yellow and blue scarf, which marked me as a Faustian, so many people started treating me rudely if they weren't in my house. I was confused at first but soon came to learn that all the other houses generally hate Faust, because Faust is filled with ambitious and focused individuals who tend to be elitist jerks. They also tend to win the house cup most the time due to their studied discipline. The animosity of the other houses just serves to make Faust even more insular and tight-knit however. I decided that my character, Dorian, was an atypical Faustian and would try to do his best to show the other houses that he was one of the good ones by being friendly and helpful. Throughout the weekend I continued to get glared at and cursed while I was always polite, if a bit stuffy, in return.
Finally we arrived and Kat and I got our first look at the castle. To be honest it didn't blow me away at first from the view from the parking lot and I was feeling a little bit let down. However that soon changed as we walked down the long driveway and up to the front courtyard. As I looked up at its funny-looking tower and its somewhat chaotic asymmetric collection of multi-pitched roofs I felt something magical. This place was perfect. It was laid out like a crazy labyrinth and it was very easy to get lost so it wasn't hard to believe that it was alive and that the passages and staircases were moving and rearranging themselves at night. We were told during orientation that this was quite a common excuse for arriving late to a class in progress.
There was a large crowd gathered on the narrow stone bridge connecting the courtyard to the front entrance, some of them new arrivals like us, others had been at the castle for awhile helping to get set up for the event. I started to get a sense of just how large a group this was and the kind of effort that was going into the event. I later learned that there were over 150 participants, not including the regular hotel staff.
We checked-in and found our private room. It was on the top floor up several flights of stairs that we would come to dread climbing by the end of the event. I think we had both assumed we would be living in less than ideal conditions while staying at the castle, so we were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. The floors squeaked and the water heater made funny noises, but it was really quite spacious and far away from the noise of the rest of the castle. After putting our stuff down and freshening up a bit we headed back to the main hall for our orientation meetings, where they gave us a brief idea of the rules, codes of conduct, and what to expect. After that we were given time to get into our costumes and after a few announcements from the organizers we were split into small workshop teams based on our houses and learning paths. Kat and I went our separate ways and wouldn't see each other again until later that evening.
We were given school robes and ties color coded by year and house which we were expected to wear during classes and at dinner. This worked well with my costumes since I went with classic prep-school attire: button-up shirts, vests, gray slacks, and black dress shoes. Some of the players' costumes were much more elaborate than mine, others not so much. There were more than a couple people who were just wearing logo t-shirts and jeans under their robes.
In my house workshop we discussed Faust's motto and creed "Knowledge & Power", learned our chant "Wisdom is Might! As Dragons We Fight!", our oath "Dragon's flame burns eternal", met our prefects and discussed house rules and general school politics. In my learning path workshop I got to meet all the other Junior Artificers that I would be having classes with. We discussed the group dynamic and once again I was singled out as the only Faustian and how I would probably be ostracized by the others, but I made sure they knew I wasn't playing a typical Faustian and even made a few new friends in the group. Then as a group we sort of spontaneously decided that it might be fun during play if we worked on a secret project for extra credit that would go horribly wrong in some way. We ended up doing the project, but unfortunately never got a chance to present it in class.
After workshops we gathered up outside at night to officially begin play. We lined up in the castle courtyard by house and year as Klaus, one of the founders of the game, gave us our marching orders and gave us the signal. The Czocha College them song began to play as we silently filed by the professors, now in costume as well, waiting for us on the bridge who would say things like "Welcome back" or "Good to see you again, Dorian" or "Hope you had a good break" in passing as if we really were just returning from Spring break and ready for our mid-terms to begin. I'd say my memory of that very first moment when play began is one of the strongest and it gives me chills to think of.
In the Knight's Hall we stood as the Headmistress, overlooking us from the balcony, formally welcomed us back to school and gave the opening announcements. Juniors were forbidden to enter the Dark Forest and the secret passages as was traditional, and that curfew for all was at midnight. Then dinner was served. The food was plentiful and filling, but somewhat bland by my standards. Still, we were getting a great deal: room, board, and days filled with entertainment for the entire weekend in a real-live freakin' castle!
Aletha (Kat) and I ate at our separate house tables and I tried to get to know my fellow students a little bit better. Many of them had well developed backstories and ready made relationships as they greeted each other like long-time friends and swapped stories. I started to suddenly feel very lonely and a bit sad. I was having trouble getting into character and pretending to know these people just wasn't coming naturally. As soon as dinner was over I got up and wandered around by myself. I'd quickly lost track of Aletha and wondered what she was up to.
Faust was hosting a party later that evening and had installed some kind of magic mirror as part of the entertainment so Dorian had invited Aletha to join him at the party. During the party it was announced that there was a spirit trapped in the mirror that could answer any question from your past that you asked it. It was actually quite a cool setup, an actor in ghost makeup stood behind the mirror holding a lamp, making it look like they were inside. People lined up to place their hand on the mirror and ask it questions. The trick was that the ghost would possess you and answer in your own voice, so the question asker effectively got to answer their own question in front of the group. This led to many people performing dramatic soliloquies in front of a captive audience. The party mood turned somber as many of the askers had questions about dead relatives, betrayal, loss, and gloomy topics. Only one joker got up front and asked where he'd lost his ring, which turned out to be in his pocket. Aletha and Dorian dared each other to go up and give it a try, but we both chickened out.
Aletha had made other plans and said goodbye to join some others on some adventure or other while I stayed at the party for a bit longer. Suddenly there was a commotion as several Faustians cried out in terror and fled the castle. I curiously followed to the courtyard and watched some sort of drama play out between various members of Faust and a girl holding a plush wolf toy. Apparently it was some sort of demon trapped in a wolf-pup and the Faustians had suddenly regained memories of being trapped in a burning building. I never learned quite what it was all about and the group eventually dispersed.
There didn't seem quite anything in particular to do that night. There were little groups here and there doing various things, but Dorian wasn't really a part of it. I was still suffering from stomach troubles and feeling a bit bored and tired so decided to call it an early night and headed on up to bed. I had to get a good night's rest in order to be ready for my classes in the morning after all.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Exploring Neighborhoods in Eastern Berlin
Today was our last day to do some site-seeing before we leave for Czocha in the morning. Our points-of-interest list was quite long so in the morning I sat down and tried to plot them out on a map and plan an efficient route. The sites were a bit spread out, but at least most of them were grouped in Eastern Berlin. We got ourselves together, ate a quick snack bar, and then headed straight out to the #109 bus station.
This time we transferred at the first opportunity to the S-Bahn #S41, a raised rapid transit line that circumnavigates the city, and rode it out to Prenzlauer Allee to start our explorations. Prenzlauer Berg is a trendy neighborhood with plenty of charming cafes and shops. We stopped for a couple of lattes and a croissant to nosh on while we wandered the area.
Although I'd begun to get a feel for the layout of the city and was managing to get us from place to place using the transit system with a minimum of detours I was still far from being an expert guide. That didn't stop several people from asking directions of me throughout the day for some reason. I guess having a map in your hand makes you a target, however I seem to get asked directions pretty frequently at home too so maybe I just look like a directions kind of guy. Anyway, after chatting with a few people I sent them merrily on their ways, probably more lost than when they started.
In our wanderings we stumbled upon an enchanting park called Volkspark Friedrichshain. The sculptures of the entryway fountain had a faerie tale theme. We found Snow White and the seven dwarves and I took a picture of Kat next to her twin. After that we wondered pretty tree-lined pathways of the park, getting only mildly lost but loving every minute of it.
We emerged from the park and continued off toward Karl-Marx-Allee, a wide boulevard flanked by tall apartment complexes, planned a built during Soviet occupation. We stopped in at Cafe Sibylle, recommended by our buddy Rick, for some heiße schokolade and to look at their collection of artifacts from that period of time including the ear and mustache scavenged from the giant statue of Stalin that used to be there.
After that we took the U-Bahn back to Alexander Platz and then wandered over to Hackesher Markt, a collection of cafes and shops built in amongst the brick pillars of the overhead train. There we grabbed a quick discount happy hour meal of a couple cheese burgers and beers at a barbecue joint, which was quite good. During lunch we planned the rest of our afternoon, hoping to squeeze in a bit more site-seeing before we both ran out of gas.
Near Hackesher Markt is a system of interconnected courtyards with various shops and art galleries called Hackeshe Hofe that we decided to wander through. The courtyards were all very different from each other, but each was beautiful, peaceful, and pleasant to walk through. We hoped to find a new piece of artwork to take home with us, but unfortunately there wasn't much of interest on display.
Next on our list was seeing some of the Berlin Wall sites. The longest remaining intact section was the East-Side Gallery so we jumped on the S-Bahn #S7 and headed out to Ostbahnhof. A short walk to the Spree river and we began to walk the length of the wall which is now covered in artistic murals. The wall ended at a neo-gothic bridge called Oberbaumbrucke, which we crossed.
Another short U-Bahn ride later and we were in the heart of Kreuzberg, a district known as a happening nightlife spot, so not much to look at in the middle of the day. From there we wandered up to the Jewish Museum Berlin, but didn't go in as we feeling pressed for time. We zipped up the street and around the corner to Checkpoint Charlie where I snapped a few shots before continuing on. By the time we reached Potsdamer Platz, the Times Square of Berlin, we were exhausted and it was time to head back to our rooms for a break before heading out again for dinner.
This time we transferred at the first opportunity to the S-Bahn #S41, a raised rapid transit line that circumnavigates the city, and rode it out to Prenzlauer Allee to start our explorations. Prenzlauer Berg is a trendy neighborhood with plenty of charming cafes and shops. We stopped for a couple of lattes and a croissant to nosh on while we wandered the area.
Although I'd begun to get a feel for the layout of the city and was managing to get us from place to place using the transit system with a minimum of detours I was still far from being an expert guide. That didn't stop several people from asking directions of me throughout the day for some reason. I guess having a map in your hand makes you a target, however I seem to get asked directions pretty frequently at home too so maybe I just look like a directions kind of guy. Anyway, after chatting with a few people I sent them merrily on their ways, probably more lost than when they started.
In our wanderings we stumbled upon an enchanting park called Volkspark Friedrichshain. The sculptures of the entryway fountain had a faerie tale theme. We found Snow White and the seven dwarves and I took a picture of Kat next to her twin. After that we wondered pretty tree-lined pathways of the park, getting only mildly lost but loving every minute of it.
We emerged from the park and continued off toward Karl-Marx-Allee, a wide boulevard flanked by tall apartment complexes, planned a built during Soviet occupation. We stopped in at Cafe Sibylle, recommended by our buddy Rick, for some heiße schokolade and to look at their collection of artifacts from that period of time including the ear and mustache scavenged from the giant statue of Stalin that used to be there.
After that we took the U-Bahn back to Alexander Platz and then wandered over to Hackesher Markt, a collection of cafes and shops built in amongst the brick pillars of the overhead train. There we grabbed a quick discount happy hour meal of a couple cheese burgers and beers at a barbecue joint, which was quite good. During lunch we planned the rest of our afternoon, hoping to squeeze in a bit more site-seeing before we both ran out of gas.
Near Hackesher Markt is a system of interconnected courtyards with various shops and art galleries called Hackeshe Hofe that we decided to wander through. The courtyards were all very different from each other, but each was beautiful, peaceful, and pleasant to walk through. We hoped to find a new piece of artwork to take home with us, but unfortunately there wasn't much of interest on display.
Next on our list was seeing some of the Berlin Wall sites. The longest remaining intact section was the East-Side Gallery so we jumped on the S-Bahn #S7 and headed out to Ostbahnhof. A short walk to the Spree river and we began to walk the length of the wall which is now covered in artistic murals. The wall ended at a neo-gothic bridge called Oberbaumbrucke, which we crossed.
Another short U-Bahn ride later and we were in the heart of Kreuzberg, a district known as a happening nightlife spot, so not much to look at in the middle of the day. From there we wandered up to the Jewish Museum Berlin, but didn't go in as we feeling pressed for time. We zipped up the street and around the corner to Checkpoint Charlie where I snapped a few shots before continuing on. By the time we reached Potsdamer Platz, the Times Square of Berlin, we were exhausted and it was time to head back to our rooms for a break before heading out again for dinner.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Site-seeing in Eastern Berlin
Today was a major site-seeing day, filled with bus rides, U-bahn trips, and lots and lots of walking. Our plan was to do a long walking tour of Eastern Berlin but our first stop was back at the airport. I figured we'd be needing some euros and hadn't yet hit an ATM and I was informed the closest one was back at the airport, which was only a short shuttle ride away so Kat and I got our stuff together, ate a quick fruit bar for breakfast, and caught the shuttle a few minutes later.
Once there we quickly found the cash machine and I grab some euros for now and some euros for later to stash away just in case. Kat saw Starbucks sign and got excited about a chai latte, but it took us awhile to actually find the shop, which was hidden directly above us. We got our drinks and then went outside to catch the #TXL bus from the airport down to Hauptbahnhof, the large centrally located transit station near where our walk would begin.
We only had to wait a few minutes for the bus, but while we did the crowd gathered and waiting with us grew larger and larger. The weather so far has quickly alternated between nice and sunny to overcast, windy, and quite chilly. We dressed in layers with jackets and our packs and were quite comfortable, however we all crammed into the hot bus tight as could be and suddenly Kat and I were both sweating profusely and regretting having our warm drinks in hand. The ride into town was very unpleasant and it seemed that at every stop more people were getting on. At one point a large woman with a double-wide baby stroller and two children somehow managed to wedge herself in as well, crushing Kat against the glass in the process.
It seemed like forever before the pressure released and we were finally let out at Hauptbahnhof. We quickly doffed some of our outer layers and made a few adjustments to our outfits before heading out the back way and crossing the Spree river. Along the walk I snapped a few shots of Kat near a bridge flanked by griffons and then later playing with the water jets near the Chancellery.
The first major site on the list was the Reichstag, present day German parliament. We tried to walk around the building through an open gate but a policeman sitting in an idling car nearby shook his head "no" and waggled a finger at us so we turned back around. Nearby were memorials to politicians who opposed Hitler, to victims killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall, and to murdered Roma and Sinti at the tail end of Teirgarten Park. We then passed through the iconic Brandenburg Gate and saw an organ-grinder playing for the crowd gathered in Pariser Platz. Kat nicely gave the man a few eurolettes.
We tried to go into DZ Bank to see the interior designed by Frank Gehry, but it was closed down for some sort of event. Next we wandered through the very impressive and moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. What at first looks like an undulating field of concrete coffins turns out to be a labyrinth of columns as your walk among them and slowly descend as the coffins gradually rise above your heads and you become completely surrounded by them. After finding our way back out again we walked by site of Hitler's bunker and the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under the National Socialist Regime.
We were quite hungry at this point so we headed toward Gendarmanmarkt where a few good eateries could be found. We settled on Augustiner am Gendarmanmarkt where we dug into a big plate of beef goulash, egg noodles, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and sausages washed down with a delicious radler and a dunkl. Fully refueled we pressed onward, looking around Gendarmanmarkt and then headed back to Unter den Linden. Following the long boulevard we passed by Humbolt University and crossed over to Museum Island. Finally at the end of the tour we reached the large TV Tower which you can see all the way back at the Reichstag.
Beyond the TV Tower was Alexanderplatz were we decided we were too tired to go on for the day and grabbed our first S-Bahn ride back to where we could catch our favorite bus, the #109, back to our hotel. Our little nap turned into a 3 hour thing and we woke up around 7:30. We weren't that hungry but we decided we should get ourselves out and about again.
We decided on heading back to Eastern Berlin and walk around an neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg, which was supposed to have an interesting nightlife and pub scene. Things were pretty quite there on a Tuesday night, but there were plenty of options available for food and drink. We ended up at a very cool place called La Bodeguita del Medio Cuban Bar and Restaurant. We had a couple tropical drinks, some chips and salsa, a chicken quesadilla, black bean casserole, and my favorite: tostones.
After that we went in search of a late night waffle, but the place was already closed so we called it a night, grabbed the U-Bahn back to our bus stop and caught one of the last busses back to the hotel.
Once there we quickly found the cash machine and I grab some euros for now and some euros for later to stash away just in case. Kat saw Starbucks sign and got excited about a chai latte, but it took us awhile to actually find the shop, which was hidden directly above us. We got our drinks and then went outside to catch the #TXL bus from the airport down to Hauptbahnhof, the large centrally located transit station near where our walk would begin.
We only had to wait a few minutes for the bus, but while we did the crowd gathered and waiting with us grew larger and larger. The weather so far has quickly alternated between nice and sunny to overcast, windy, and quite chilly. We dressed in layers with jackets and our packs and were quite comfortable, however we all crammed into the hot bus tight as could be and suddenly Kat and I were both sweating profusely and regretting having our warm drinks in hand. The ride into town was very unpleasant and it seemed that at every stop more people were getting on. At one point a large woman with a double-wide baby stroller and two children somehow managed to wedge herself in as well, crushing Kat against the glass in the process.
It seemed like forever before the pressure released and we were finally let out at Hauptbahnhof. We quickly doffed some of our outer layers and made a few adjustments to our outfits before heading out the back way and crossing the Spree river. Along the walk I snapped a few shots of Kat near a bridge flanked by griffons and then later playing with the water jets near the Chancellery.
The first major site on the list was the Reichstag, present day German parliament. We tried to walk around the building through an open gate but a policeman sitting in an idling car nearby shook his head "no" and waggled a finger at us so we turned back around. Nearby were memorials to politicians who opposed Hitler, to victims killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall, and to murdered Roma and Sinti at the tail end of Teirgarten Park. We then passed through the iconic Brandenburg Gate and saw an organ-grinder playing for the crowd gathered in Pariser Platz. Kat nicely gave the man a few eurolettes.
We tried to go into DZ Bank to see the interior designed by Frank Gehry, but it was closed down for some sort of event. Next we wandered through the very impressive and moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. What at first looks like an undulating field of concrete coffins turns out to be a labyrinth of columns as your walk among them and slowly descend as the coffins gradually rise above your heads and you become completely surrounded by them. After finding our way back out again we walked by site of Hitler's bunker and the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under the National Socialist Regime.
We were quite hungry at this point so we headed toward Gendarmanmarkt where a few good eateries could be found. We settled on Augustiner am Gendarmanmarkt where we dug into a big plate of beef goulash, egg noodles, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and sausages washed down with a delicious radler and a dunkl. Fully refueled we pressed onward, looking around Gendarmanmarkt and then headed back to Unter den Linden. Following the long boulevard we passed by Humbolt University and crossed over to Museum Island. Finally at the end of the tour we reached the large TV Tower which you can see all the way back at the Reichstag.
Beyond the TV Tower was Alexanderplatz were we decided we were too tired to go on for the day and grabbed our first S-Bahn ride back to where we could catch our favorite bus, the #109, back to our hotel. Our little nap turned into a 3 hour thing and we woke up around 7:30. We weren't that hungry but we decided we should get ourselves out and about again.
We decided on heading back to Eastern Berlin and walk around an neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg, which was supposed to have an interesting nightlife and pub scene. Things were pretty quite there on a Tuesday night, but there were plenty of options available for food and drink. We ended up at a very cool place called La Bodeguita del Medio Cuban Bar and Restaurant. We had a couple tropical drinks, some chips and salsa, a chicken quesadilla, black bean casserole, and my favorite: tostones.
After that we went in search of a late night waffle, but the place was already closed so we called it a night, grabbed the U-Bahn back to our bus stop and caught one of the last busses back to the hotel.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Flights to Berlin
We're both pretty wiped out now. Kat is already asleep and I'll be heading to bed once I wrap this up. Tomorrow we start our tour of Berlin in earnest.
Today was taken up mostly by travel and then a tiny bit of exploring Western Berlin. The flight from Portland to Amsterdam was long, but I think we held up pretty well. Unfortunately neither of us got any sleep on the flight. Kat actually scored the special vegetarian meals that cost extra because someone across the isle from us had apparently mistakenly paid for them and didn't want it so she traded. We had a couple free drinks apiece, watched some movies, and read our books to keep busy.
On the Delta operated international flight they have these iPad-like things mounted on the back of every headrest, so you can watch movies, play games, follow the flight path, listen to music, etc. Pretty cool idea if you don't think about what it means to have a touch-screen device basically strapped to the back of your head...
I swear the elderly gentleman in the seat behind me thought he had to jab his finger through the screen to get it to work. Every few minutes: Jab! Jab! Jab! You could hear his meaty finger smacking on the screen as my head recoiled from the impact. Stab! Stab! Stab! He couldn't seem to make up his mind for very long on what to watch or play or listen to either, just constantly tapping on the back of my head. I think I would have actually preferred an unruly child kicking the back of my seat to this particular form of torture. When I used my screen I tried to touch it ever so gently and quietly so as not to propagate any further forward the chain of annoyance.
Our check-on bag was checked all the way through from Eugene to Berlin, but we were told when we checked-in that we would need to go through customs in Amsterdam before getting our final boarding passes to Berlin. We weren't too worried about going through customs, but during the flight little-by-little Kat started to become paranoid that they might decided to confiscate our delicious plane snacks that she has so thoughtfully purchased and carefully packed for us. I think she even considered eating all her snacks just to be sure they didn't go to waste. I on the other hand tried not to eat my precious snacks and instead ate and drank anything and everything that the airline provided and any of Kat's leftovers as well. I must think that's the only true way to get your money's worth. Unfortunately, something about eating on the flight or just travel in general doesn't agree with me and I began suffering from terrible gas pains by the time we reached Amsterdam, which then graduated to full on explosive diarrhea once we hit Berlin. Kat complained of gas issues during the flight too, but she seems to have not progressed to the dreaded second stage.
Customs turned out to be no big deal. We followed the signs to the passport area, walked through with no real problems, Kat was able to keep all her snacks, and after only a little bit of confusion we eventually found the right place to get our new boarding passes printed out. We made it to our final connection with time to spare. When we got onto the last plane is when I think exhaustion started to catch up with us. It had been nearly 20 hours since we'd woken up in Eugene. Although we're both still happy with our bags at this point and how they distribute the weight, they're still pretty heavy to be hauling around airports, up and down stairs, and into overhead compartments and such.
The last flight was a short one, but once again I managed to put in front of someone that liked messing with the back of my seat. I think this guy's dinner tray was loose or something, because he would grab both sides of my chair and really slam and push on it to put the tray up, which he seemed to do pretty often. Is it me? I mean is it unreasonable for me to expect people to have a modicum of consideration for the person in the seat in front of them? Just leave my freakin' chair alone, dammit!
Anyway, we finally got to Berlin. Our checked bag arrived safely, I purchased a pair of WelcomeCard public transit passes for the three days we'll be here, and Kat found our shuttle to the hotel near the airport. It was noonish and we needed rest at this point, but we were a bit early for our check-in time at 3pm. We ended up paying the extra few Euros to get in to our room early so we could shower, brush our teeth, go to the bathroom, and take a nap.
Three or so hours later Kat woke up with a painful cramp in her leg. It went away eventually, but it was enough to get us up and moving again. We had no real plan for the evening, but we knew we wanted to get some food and not get too far away from the hotel. After consulting the guidebooks and the front desk we found our way to the bus stop and headed down to Bahnhof Zoo where we planned to look around and find a meal.
While there I took a few pictures of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a bombed out old shell that they've let stand in the middle of the urban environment. Then we wandered down the commercial shopping streets of Kurfurstendamm and Kantstrasse, eventually coming to a nice little park, Savignyplatz, and found a pub, or kneipe, for dinner, Dicke Wirtin. Kat ordered the schnitzel and I had the currywurst washed down with a couple of Berliner Kindl.
Today was taken up mostly by travel and then a tiny bit of exploring Western Berlin. The flight from Portland to Amsterdam was long, but I think we held up pretty well. Unfortunately neither of us got any sleep on the flight. Kat actually scored the special vegetarian meals that cost extra because someone across the isle from us had apparently mistakenly paid for them and didn't want it so she traded. We had a couple free drinks apiece, watched some movies, and read our books to keep busy.
On the Delta operated international flight they have these iPad-like things mounted on the back of every headrest, so you can watch movies, play games, follow the flight path, listen to music, etc. Pretty cool idea if you don't think about what it means to have a touch-screen device basically strapped to the back of your head...
I swear the elderly gentleman in the seat behind me thought he had to jab his finger through the screen to get it to work. Every few minutes: Jab! Jab! Jab! You could hear his meaty finger smacking on the screen as my head recoiled from the impact. Stab! Stab! Stab! He couldn't seem to make up his mind for very long on what to watch or play or listen to either, just constantly tapping on the back of my head. I think I would have actually preferred an unruly child kicking the back of my seat to this particular form of torture. When I used my screen I tried to touch it ever so gently and quietly so as not to propagate any further forward the chain of annoyance.
Our check-on bag was checked all the way through from Eugene to Berlin, but we were told when we checked-in that we would need to go through customs in Amsterdam before getting our final boarding passes to Berlin. We weren't too worried about going through customs, but during the flight little-by-little Kat started to become paranoid that they might decided to confiscate our delicious plane snacks that she has so thoughtfully purchased and carefully packed for us. I think she even considered eating all her snacks just to be sure they didn't go to waste. I on the other hand tried not to eat my precious snacks and instead ate and drank anything and everything that the airline provided and any of Kat's leftovers as well. I must think that's the only true way to get your money's worth. Unfortunately, something about eating on the flight or just travel in general doesn't agree with me and I began suffering from terrible gas pains by the time we reached Amsterdam, which then graduated to full on explosive diarrhea once we hit Berlin. Kat complained of gas issues during the flight too, but she seems to have not progressed to the dreaded second stage.
Customs turned out to be no big deal. We followed the signs to the passport area, walked through with no real problems, Kat was able to keep all her snacks, and after only a little bit of confusion we eventually found the right place to get our new boarding passes printed out. We made it to our final connection with time to spare. When we got onto the last plane is when I think exhaustion started to catch up with us. It had been nearly 20 hours since we'd woken up in Eugene. Although we're both still happy with our bags at this point and how they distribute the weight, they're still pretty heavy to be hauling around airports, up and down stairs, and into overhead compartments and such.
The last flight was a short one, but once again I managed to put in front of someone that liked messing with the back of my seat. I think this guy's dinner tray was loose or something, because he would grab both sides of my chair and really slam and push on it to put the tray up, which he seemed to do pretty often. Is it me? I mean is it unreasonable for me to expect people to have a modicum of consideration for the person in the seat in front of them? Just leave my freakin' chair alone, dammit!
Anyway, we finally got to Berlin. Our checked bag arrived safely, I purchased a pair of WelcomeCard public transit passes for the three days we'll be here, and Kat found our shuttle to the hotel near the airport. It was noonish and we needed rest at this point, but we were a bit early for our check-in time at 3pm. We ended up paying the extra few Euros to get in to our room early so we could shower, brush our teeth, go to the bathroom, and take a nap.
Three or so hours later Kat woke up with a painful cramp in her leg. It went away eventually, but it was enough to get us up and moving again. We had no real plan for the evening, but we knew we wanted to get some food and not get too far away from the hotel. After consulting the guidebooks and the front desk we found our way to the bus stop and headed down to Bahnhof Zoo where we planned to look around and find a meal.
While there I took a few pictures of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a bombed out old shell that they've let stand in the middle of the urban environment. Then we wandered down the commercial shopping streets of Kurfurstendamm and Kantstrasse, eventually coming to a nice little park, Savignyplatz, and found a pub, or kneipe, for dinner, Dicke Wirtin. Kat ordered the schnitzel and I had the currywurst washed down with a couple of Berliner Kindl.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Packing for Europe 2016
Deciding what to bring and what to leave behind was the hardest part of packing for Europe. In the end I managed to cram more clothes and technology in the bags than is necessary or reasonable.
I've got my Samsung Galaxy S4 of course, my brand new Canon S610 HS since I hate taking pics with my phone, my awesome new MacBook Air 13" for blogging and uploading photos, my trusty 1st generation Pebble, and a bag full of miscellaneous cables, chargers, and power converters. It was a tough choice but I decided to leave behind the iPad so I'll have to make due with reading kindle books on the phone.
For everyday wear clothes I managed to get four changes of ExOfficio briefs, several pairs of SmartWool socks, one pair of jeans, one pair of Kuhl cargo shorts, a tan and a gray pair of quick-drying travel pants, six tech t-shirts, one short-sleeve button-up shirt and one long-sleeve button-up shirt most of which came from REI. I've got two lightweight and highly compactable jackets, a puffy one for warmth a lightweight shell for wind and rain, one pair of hiking shoes, some aqua socks, and a pair of lounging pants.
Just for the Czocha portion of the trip I've also brought some fancy clothes: four button-up shirts, three vests, a fancy new sport coat. I'll probably end up sending most of those back in the checked bag we brought along with our extra shoes, wands, hats, and other doodads that we'll only be using for the LARP (Live Action RolePlay).
I got all that plus my toiletries, glasses, contacts, medications, plane snacks, two Rick Steves guidebooks and one of the new Berlin books I got for my birthday, wallet, passport, money belt, and sunglasses into my new travel pack. I was pretty impressed how much stuff packed down in those nylon packing cubes. Once my bag was zipped up and strapped down tightly it looked pretty compact. I snapped a quick pic at the airport of Kat and our new matching Osprey Farpoint 55 bags. Thanks again to everyone who helped fund our travels with bon voyage and birthday gifts!
Leaving our four cats behind for three weeks is saddening, but we're really very happy and impressed with our house/pet sitters so we're confident that they will be well cared for. Tim & Ali arrived Saturday evening and after getting settled in we took them on a walk to the nearby Whiteaker neighborhood to show them some of our favorite bars and restaurants. We had a great meal, a beer, and even better conversation at Falling Sky Delicatessen. They seem like a great couple and it's a shame we won't see them by the time we get back as they'll already be on their way North. For the curious Kat found them on www.housecarers.com
Our taxi got us to our flight out of Eugene on time and I'm finishing this post up as we sit here in Portland for our three hour layover. The next flight takes us to Amsterdam where we need to go through customs and get our final boarding passes on to Berlin.
I got all that plus my toiletries, glasses, contacts, medications, plane snacks, two Rick Steves guidebooks and one of the new Berlin books I got for my birthday, wallet, passport, money belt, and sunglasses into my new travel pack. I was pretty impressed how much stuff packed down in those nylon packing cubes. Once my bag was zipped up and strapped down tightly it looked pretty compact. I snapped a quick pic at the airport of Kat and our new matching Osprey Farpoint 55 bags. Thanks again to everyone who helped fund our travels with bon voyage and birthday gifts!
Leaving our four cats behind for three weeks is saddening, but we're really very happy and impressed with our house/pet sitters so we're confident that they will be well cared for. Tim & Ali arrived Saturday evening and after getting settled in we took them on a walk to the nearby Whiteaker neighborhood to show them some of our favorite bars and restaurants. We had a great meal, a beer, and even better conversation at Falling Sky Delicatessen. They seem like a great couple and it's a shame we won't see them by the time we get back as they'll already be on their way North. For the curious Kat found them on www.housecarers.com
Our taxi got us to our flight out of Eugene on time and I'm finishing this post up as we sit here in Portland for our three hour layover. The next flight takes us to Amsterdam where we need to go through customs and get our final boarding passes on to Berlin.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Friday, Coming Home
The alarm went off and I jumped out of bed to get showered and ready to go. We had tea and muffins for the last time in the room. Kat's rash was pretty bad today so she was happy that was the last night on that bed. We think she was allergic to the detergent they used on the sheets. We finished packing our bags, checked out and said good-bye to the apartment at 6:45 in the morning.
We lugged our stuff to Earl's Court station for the last time and caught the Piccadilly Line Westbound to Heathrow terminal 4. There weren't any seats available on the train even that early in the morning. There were a few other travelers with luggage getting on the train and they stood with us near the doors. When we were one stop away from the airport, the train hit a bump in the track and one gal’s bag fell over. The metal handle struck Kat on the side of her knee. It seemed that throughout this whole trip Kat attracted chaos to her, and this was just one more example of it.
We left the train at terminal 4. Our Oyster cards worked fine thanks to Paul, our favorite tube attendant. I had printed off our boarding passes at the apartment the previous evening. They were fancy eliteAccess First Class tickets and got us into the fast track check-in lines. We checked our bags and then went through the priority line at security. We were able to use the Sky Team lounge at Heathrow, where we sat and had some juice and I had a banana and some breakfast sausages. Kat used her computer while I read my book. I was getting close to finishing it. I was still on my first one for this trip; Kat was on her third. I definitely packed too many books.
Our flight from London to Newark was nice. We had the sleeping pods again for that segment of the journey home. Our flight attendant was a bit surly, however. We thought she was having a bad day because she was short with everyone around us. Kat and I were both sort of grossed out by the guy across the aisle and in front of us who had taken off his shoes and socks and was using his toes to change the channel and make selections on his entertainment console. He had his naked feet propped up on the seat back in front of him. I was surprised our flight attendant didn't lay the smack down on him. When we arrived in the states, they passed out customs forms for us to fill out and the announcement said that everyone needed to fill one out, but only one per family. When Kat tried to clarify with our surly attendant she said we didn't count as a family because Kat didn’t change her name when we got married. That put us in a bad mood.
Since we apparently weren't a family, we went through immigration separately. The gal at the immigration desk asked Kat if she was traveling alone and she said, “No, I'm with my new husband,” and she pointed at me. Kat explained what the flight attendant told us about her not changing her name, but the gal said that was a load of hooey. When I came through she said next time just fill out one and don't let anyone say we're not a family.
At Newark airport we went to use the President's Lounge, but got held up by the desk clerk checking credentials. He said we needed to be on an international flight to qualify for the lounge. I tried to explain that we were on an international flight and that we had just got off of the trans-Atlantic portion. He asked to see the boarding pass that I luckily still had on hand and then begrudgingly let us in after a passing comment about showing the international boarding pass first next time. After we found a seat I double-checked the boarding passes and noticed that both had the “INTL” stamp on them, so he was just being an incompetent boob. We had a 3-hour layover until our final flight, so we got comfortable. I worked on my blog while Kat read her book and we drank some wine until it was time to go.
Our last flight was less than impressive after our goo-filled pods. I broke two of the complimentary earphones before they gave me a pair that worked. We spent our flight watching stuff on our tiny tvs, reading, and sleeping. The food wasn't quite as good as our previous in-flight meals. Kat made me eat her lobster. We landed in Seattle at 8:10 pm, after more than 20 hours of travel time. We collected our bags and called for a shuttle back to the Clarion Hotel. It took them awhile to pick us up, and we finally got back to Kat's car around 9:30. From there we plotted our path to the cabin out at Grapeview using TomTom. It took us another hour and a half to get there. When we did, Mom & Dad were there to welcome us home from our trip. We stayed up chatting with them for a bit until we got too tired to stay up. Travel had worn us out.
We spent the next couple days at Grapeview recovering from our trip. We were both pretty jet-lagged and had problems sleeping through the night. I would wake up at 4am and then have trouble getting back to sleep, then my energy levels would take a nose dive around 2pm the following day. We didn't do much on Saturday other than read our books and relax. Sunday we had a bunch of friends and family from the area come out to celebrate our return with us. It was very nice to see everyone and have such a warm welcome. After the party had died down and we had had our fill of food and drink we packed up the car and made the long drive home to Eugene. We arrived around 11pm to a nicely cleaned house, thanks to Heidi, and our two silly kitties that had missed us very much. Despite our fantastic vacation, it was still nice to finally be home.
We lugged our stuff to Earl's Court station for the last time and caught the Piccadilly Line Westbound to Heathrow terminal 4. There weren't any seats available on the train even that early in the morning. There were a few other travelers with luggage getting on the train and they stood with us near the doors. When we were one stop away from the airport, the train hit a bump in the track and one gal’s bag fell over. The metal handle struck Kat on the side of her knee. It seemed that throughout this whole trip Kat attracted chaos to her, and this was just one more example of it.
We left the train at terminal 4. Our Oyster cards worked fine thanks to Paul, our favorite tube attendant. I had printed off our boarding passes at the apartment the previous evening. They were fancy eliteAccess First Class tickets and got us into the fast track check-in lines. We checked our bags and then went through the priority line at security. We were able to use the Sky Team lounge at Heathrow, where we sat and had some juice and I had a banana and some breakfast sausages. Kat used her computer while I read my book. I was getting close to finishing it. I was still on my first one for this trip; Kat was on her third. I definitely packed too many books.
Our flight from London to Newark was nice. We had the sleeping pods again for that segment of the journey home. Our flight attendant was a bit surly, however. We thought she was having a bad day because she was short with everyone around us. Kat and I were both sort of grossed out by the guy across the aisle and in front of us who had taken off his shoes and socks and was using his toes to change the channel and make selections on his entertainment console. He had his naked feet propped up on the seat back in front of him. I was surprised our flight attendant didn't lay the smack down on him. When we arrived in the states, they passed out customs forms for us to fill out and the announcement said that everyone needed to fill one out, but only one per family. When Kat tried to clarify with our surly attendant she said we didn't count as a family because Kat didn’t change her name when we got married. That put us in a bad mood.
Since we apparently weren't a family, we went through immigration separately. The gal at the immigration desk asked Kat if she was traveling alone and she said, “No, I'm with my new husband,” and she pointed at me. Kat explained what the flight attendant told us about her not changing her name, but the gal said that was a load of hooey. When I came through she said next time just fill out one and don't let anyone say we're not a family.
At Newark airport we went to use the President's Lounge, but got held up by the desk clerk checking credentials. He said we needed to be on an international flight to qualify for the lounge. I tried to explain that we were on an international flight and that we had just got off of the trans-Atlantic portion. He asked to see the boarding pass that I luckily still had on hand and then begrudgingly let us in after a passing comment about showing the international boarding pass first next time. After we found a seat I double-checked the boarding passes and noticed that both had the “INTL” stamp on them, so he was just being an incompetent boob. We had a 3-hour layover until our final flight, so we got comfortable. I worked on my blog while Kat read her book and we drank some wine until it was time to go.
Our last flight was less than impressive after our goo-filled pods. I broke two of the complimentary earphones before they gave me a pair that worked. We spent our flight watching stuff on our tiny tvs, reading, and sleeping. The food wasn't quite as good as our previous in-flight meals. Kat made me eat her lobster. We landed in Seattle at 8:10 pm, after more than 20 hours of travel time. We collected our bags and called for a shuttle back to the Clarion Hotel. It took them awhile to pick us up, and we finally got back to Kat's car around 9:30. From there we plotted our path to the cabin out at Grapeview using TomTom. It took us another hour and a half to get there. When we did, Mom & Dad were there to welcome us home from our trip. We stayed up chatting with them for a bit until we got too tired to stay up. Travel had worn us out.
We spent the next couple days at Grapeview recovering from our trip. We were both pretty jet-lagged and had problems sleeping through the night. I would wake up at 4am and then have trouble getting back to sleep, then my energy levels would take a nose dive around 2pm the following day. We didn't do much on Saturday other than read our books and relax. Sunday we had a bunch of friends and family from the area come out to celebrate our return with us. It was very nice to see everyone and have such a warm welcome. After the party had died down and we had had our fill of food and drink we packed up the car and made the long drive home to Eugene. We arrived around 11pm to a nicely cleaned house, thanks to Heidi, and our two silly kitties that had missed us very much. Despite our fantastic vacation, it was still nice to finally be home.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Thursday, Our Last Full Day in London
We slept in on our last day in London, being exhausted from our Paris day trip. When we finally got up, we had tea and muffins in our room again. I uploaded Paris pictures and set about planning our day. I still had a pretty long list of activities on my checklist before we went home. I had hoped to catch the inspection or changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace that happens every day at 11:00 am, but it was already getting a bit too late for that. Rick Steves let me down again when I attempted to locate a good place for high tea in my guidebooks. Instead, I went online and put together a list of places offering tea service in our price range and located conveniently near one of our tube stops. The best fit turned out to be tea at the Kensington Palace Orangery, something I vaguely remembered from my first trip to London. We decided to try hit the Orangery around 4:00 for tea.
Other items on my list included seeing Westminster Abby's crypts, tour the Apsley House, visiting the Tate British Art Museum and the Tate Modern Art Museum, locating Speakers' Corner and the Marble Arch near Hyde Park, finding a wine bar near the Waterloo Bridge, and riding the London Eye at night. We also had two more meals to consume in London, and I wanted them to be remarkable so I listed out some options from the guidebooks and the internet to check out as we walked around. It was already nearing lunch time, so I scribbled down a couple options in my journal that were on the way into town.
We got off the tube at South Kensington station and wandered down Thurloe St. to find Cafe Daquise, which Rick Steves had described as a casual Polish eatery where you could get a kielbasa for lunch. When we found the address we were surprised to see a fancier Polish restaurant in its place, Gessler at Daquise. We gave it a try and had a unique fine dining experience. The chefs brought the food out in their pots and pans to deliver, arrange, and garnish directly on our plates. We felt very special and we were glad we had put on nicer clothes for our last day.
I ordered a Zywiec Polish beer for us to share and we each had the barley soup as a starter. Kat had the stuffed cabbage rolls with dumplings and I had pierogis filled with fresh strawberries and covered in cream sauce. Everything was delicious, and I helped Kat eat her cabbage rolls.
After lunch we got back on the tube and took it to Victoria station. We wandered past Buckingham palace, where there was still a crowd of tourists despite it being 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We saw some fearlessly foolish guy climbing all over the Queen Victoria Monument in the middle of the roundabout in order to pose for a picture. After taking some pictures of our own, we left the crowds behind and wandered through Green Park toward Apsley House and Hyde Park. We decided against paying to go in Apsley House and continued on our way toward Speakers' Corner and the Marble Arch. Kat said she wasn't that interested in either of the Tate museums so I crossed those off the list.
Kat had gotten an email overnight about a potential job opportunity starting very soon after we would be getting home. Her mind was preoccupied with financial issues and the stresses of applying for the job sooner than later. She was anxious to get back to the apartment and spend some time updating her resume and writing a cover letter. I figured we should cut our walk short and head back to the apartment soon. It was getting close to tea time, and the Orangery was sort of on the way back there so we agreed to do that before returning home.
First we stopped by Speakers' Corner and the Marble Arch. There wasn't anything of note going on at the moment. I had read that things really get interesting on Sunday here, but there was nothing worth seeing today. We took the tube from the Marble Arch to Queensway station. Queensway is probably the worst station we visited. It was very deep underground and the trains were only accessible via large elevators or a set of spiral stairs 121 steps long. One of the elevators was broken, so we stood in a long queue just waiting to get out of the station and then packed into the lift car when it arrived. Definitely try to avoid Queensway when you visit London.
Once we left the station we wandered down Bayswater Road toward Notting Hill and Kensington Palace and the Orangery. We took some pictures in the gardens, which were beautiful, and of some of the local fauna. Kat liked the strange looking birds and the squirrels and pigeons who seemed very tame from being fed bread scraps by visitors.
Our high tea at the Orangery was very decadent. We ordered the Enchanted Palace menu, which included finger sandwiches, a scone, sweets and tea for each of us. Kat was really excited about the finger sandwiches: the cucumber one in particular. She gave me her salmon sandwich. The scones were delicious and had a hint of orange in them, with no chunks of fruit (for which Kat was grateful). The sweets included a shortbread cookie stuffed with cream and raspberries as well as a miniature chocolate cake with a woman's face imprinted on the icing. They were both tasty and I enjoyed eating the woman's face. We were very pleased with our high tea experience and the day was a nice one to be outside.
After tea, we took the tube home from High Street Kensington station. Once we were back at the apartment I sat down to take notes in my journal, eat some candy, and drink my last beer while Kat got on the computer and applied for a job. That took her awhile, but when she was done she was much more relaxed and ready to enjoy the rest of our time in London. I tried to book tickets online for us to ride the London Eye after sundown, but I was unsuccessful. Apparently you need to make reservations a good deal ahead of time for that. Something to keep in mind if you ever want to try it. I crossed that off my list as well as the wine bar at Waterloo bridge since I wasn't able to find anything like that on Google maps. I didn't want to spend our last night searching for something that might not exist anymore. We had missed our opportunity to see Westminster crypts, so the only thing left to do was find a place to eat dinner.
Rick Steves recommended dinner at Maggie Jones for a unique experience. I called ahead and put in reservations for the two of us at 9:00. We took the Piccadilly line to High Street Kensington and found our way there. The nearby St. Mary Abbots church was ringing its bells maniacally as we passed by. We were fascinated by Maggie Jones when we went inside. It felt like a living piece of history. Our table was up in a cramped attic space. The narrow wooden stairway had a thick rope for a railing. The tables and chairs were all mismatched wooden antiques and the space was lit by candle light and low trimmed lanterns. It was enchanting. The attic was warm that evening, but we didn't mind. The menu had many items we had never seen before, including pigeon, and we had to get recommendations from the waiters. One of our waiters was a very soft-spoken, odd, but charming young man who gave us his honest opinions on the dishes. Kat ordered the rabbit stew and I had a roasted half chicken with stuffing. We ordered peas with bacon and sautéed potatoes as sides. We had a magnum of house red wine that we shared and paid for only what we drank. That reminded me of my London trip with my parents where we had found a great Greek restaurant that served wine in the same way. You drink a lot of wine that way. Our meals were delicious and the bill ended up being just enough to use up my remaining pounds. We headed home full and happy. It was a great place to end our trip.
At home we popped open the champagne our flight attendant had given us on our trip over and mixed it with the rest of our “exotic” juice. We drank our pseudo-mimosas while we packed our bags for our flight home the next morning. Kat had to help me finish my champagne. I set the alarm for 6am and went to bed around 1am. Kat wasn't feeling tired yet so she stayed up to look at the pictures I had uploaded and correct my grammar on the blog.
Other items on my list included seeing Westminster Abby's crypts, tour the Apsley House, visiting the Tate British Art Museum and the Tate Modern Art Museum, locating Speakers' Corner and the Marble Arch near Hyde Park, finding a wine bar near the Waterloo Bridge, and riding the London Eye at night. We also had two more meals to consume in London, and I wanted them to be remarkable so I listed out some options from the guidebooks and the internet to check out as we walked around. It was already nearing lunch time, so I scribbled down a couple options in my journal that were on the way into town.
We got off the tube at South Kensington station and wandered down Thurloe St. to find Cafe Daquise, which Rick Steves had described as a casual Polish eatery where you could get a kielbasa for lunch. When we found the address we were surprised to see a fancier Polish restaurant in its place, Gessler at Daquise. We gave it a try and had a unique fine dining experience. The chefs brought the food out in their pots and pans to deliver, arrange, and garnish directly on our plates. We felt very special and we were glad we had put on nicer clothes for our last day.
I ordered a Zywiec Polish beer for us to share and we each had the barley soup as a starter. Kat had the stuffed cabbage rolls with dumplings and I had pierogis filled with fresh strawberries and covered in cream sauce. Everything was delicious, and I helped Kat eat her cabbage rolls.
After lunch we got back on the tube and took it to Victoria station. We wandered past Buckingham palace, where there was still a crowd of tourists despite it being 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We saw some fearlessly foolish guy climbing all over the Queen Victoria Monument in the middle of the roundabout in order to pose for a picture. After taking some pictures of our own, we left the crowds behind and wandered through Green Park toward Apsley House and Hyde Park. We decided against paying to go in Apsley House and continued on our way toward Speakers' Corner and the Marble Arch. Kat said she wasn't that interested in either of the Tate museums so I crossed those off the list.
Kat had gotten an email overnight about a potential job opportunity starting very soon after we would be getting home. Her mind was preoccupied with financial issues and the stresses of applying for the job sooner than later. She was anxious to get back to the apartment and spend some time updating her resume and writing a cover letter. I figured we should cut our walk short and head back to the apartment soon. It was getting close to tea time, and the Orangery was sort of on the way back there so we agreed to do that before returning home.
First we stopped by Speakers' Corner and the Marble Arch. There wasn't anything of note going on at the moment. I had read that things really get interesting on Sunday here, but there was nothing worth seeing today. We took the tube from the Marble Arch to Queensway station. Queensway is probably the worst station we visited. It was very deep underground and the trains were only accessible via large elevators or a set of spiral stairs 121 steps long. One of the elevators was broken, so we stood in a long queue just waiting to get out of the station and then packed into the lift car when it arrived. Definitely try to avoid Queensway when you visit London.
Once we left the station we wandered down Bayswater Road toward Notting Hill and Kensington Palace and the Orangery. We took some pictures in the gardens, which were beautiful, and of some of the local fauna. Kat liked the strange looking birds and the squirrels and pigeons who seemed very tame from being fed bread scraps by visitors.
Our high tea at the Orangery was very decadent. We ordered the Enchanted Palace menu, which included finger sandwiches, a scone, sweets and tea for each of us. Kat was really excited about the finger sandwiches: the cucumber one in particular. She gave me her salmon sandwich. The scones were delicious and had a hint of orange in them, with no chunks of fruit (for which Kat was grateful). The sweets included a shortbread cookie stuffed with cream and raspberries as well as a miniature chocolate cake with a woman's face imprinted on the icing. They were both tasty and I enjoyed eating the woman's face. We were very pleased with our high tea experience and the day was a nice one to be outside.
After tea, we took the tube home from High Street Kensington station. Once we were back at the apartment I sat down to take notes in my journal, eat some candy, and drink my last beer while Kat got on the computer and applied for a job. That took her awhile, but when she was done she was much more relaxed and ready to enjoy the rest of our time in London. I tried to book tickets online for us to ride the London Eye after sundown, but I was unsuccessful. Apparently you need to make reservations a good deal ahead of time for that. Something to keep in mind if you ever want to try it. I crossed that off my list as well as the wine bar at Waterloo bridge since I wasn't able to find anything like that on Google maps. I didn't want to spend our last night searching for something that might not exist anymore. We had missed our opportunity to see Westminster crypts, so the only thing left to do was find a place to eat dinner.
Rick Steves recommended dinner at Maggie Jones for a unique experience. I called ahead and put in reservations for the two of us at 9:00. We took the Piccadilly line to High Street Kensington and found our way there. The nearby St. Mary Abbots church was ringing its bells maniacally as we passed by. We were fascinated by Maggie Jones when we went inside. It felt like a living piece of history. Our table was up in a cramped attic space. The narrow wooden stairway had a thick rope for a railing. The tables and chairs were all mismatched wooden antiques and the space was lit by candle light and low trimmed lanterns. It was enchanting. The attic was warm that evening, but we didn't mind. The menu had many items we had never seen before, including pigeon, and we had to get recommendations from the waiters. One of our waiters was a very soft-spoken, odd, but charming young man who gave us his honest opinions on the dishes. Kat ordered the rabbit stew and I had a roasted half chicken with stuffing. We ordered peas with bacon and sautéed potatoes as sides. We had a magnum of house red wine that we shared and paid for only what we drank. That reminded me of my London trip with my parents where we had found a great Greek restaurant that served wine in the same way. You drink a lot of wine that way. Our meals were delicious and the bill ended up being just enough to use up my remaining pounds. We headed home full and happy. It was a great place to end our trip.
At home we popped open the champagne our flight attendant had given us on our trip over and mixed it with the rest of our “exotic” juice. We drank our pseudo-mimosas while we packed our bags for our flight home the next morning. Kat had to help me finish my champagne. I set the alarm for 6am and went to bed around 1am. Kat wasn't feeling tired yet so she stayed up to look at the pictures I had uploaded and correct my grammar on the blog.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Wednesday in Paris
I woke up at 5 a.m. to get showered and ready for our day trip to Paris. We had cereal and juice for breakfast in the room and then got the room ready to be cleaned. Think Apartments clean once every week, and we had been there since last Tuesday. We had used up our toilet paper supply (including the stuff I’d swiped from the Lord Jim hotel), and hoped they would restock our bathroom as well. While I was under the kitchen sink getting the bag out for our recycling, I discovered a leak. The bag sat in a shallow puddle of soapy water; remnants from our washing that morning. I planned on mentioning it as we left.
Kat looked nice in her Francey shirt that was all glittery and colorful. I was wearing my Jagiellionian University t-shirt I had bought in Krakow, Poland, when my bags hadn’t arrived yet and I was out of clothes. I was hoping that I would be mistaken for Polish instead of American while in France. We gathered our stuff for the trip, and it looked like a lot. We were bringing books for the train, my two guidebooks, nice clothes and shoes in case we went to dinner somewhere elegant, candy, water, cameras, and other essentials. Kat offered to bring her bag along to help carry the load, but I stubbornly insisted on carrying it all in my backpack. That was a decision I came to regret by the end of the day.
Downstairs the desk clerk sounded unimpressed when I described our plumbing problems and the lack of toilet paper. He said the room would get cleaned, but we needed to buy our own bathroom supplies. We decided to deal with that on our way back that evening.
We walked down to the tube and took the Piccadilly line to St. Pancras station. We got to the station with plenty of time before our departure time. Kat was in the mood for a chai latte, so we cruised the station looking for a café that would serve one. Oddly enough, the only place that had it was Starbucks. We felt a bit funny going there. Kat ordered the biggest size, thinking she’d have time to sip it on the train. I got a small Americano for myself. With drinks in hand, we went in search of our platform. That’s when it dawned on us that this was an international trip and we would have to go through a security checkpoint. We could see another couple on the other side of the ticketing barriers finishing their drinks before getting going through security and determined that we would have to do the same. Poor Kat. She had to guzzle an entire 20oz hot drink before we could go on. She broke into a sweat near the end.
I was glad Kat had reminded me to bring my passport before leaving the apartment. We got our entry to France stamps and made it through security just fine. On the other side we found more coffee shops. Oh well. I went ahead and got some euros for our trip and divided them up between the two of us. Rick Steves had me paranoid about being pick-pocketed. We got on the train and found our seats. I had booked Leisure Class tickets that turned out to be pretty swanky. Kat and I sat across from each other alone at a small table. I brought out my guidebooks and our map of Paris and sat down to some serious planning. We had a very pleasant attendant in our coach who brought us tea and breakfast. We couldn’t tell if he was gay, French, or both. He noticed I was hard at work planning our visit and offered to help by recommending some places to stay and some sites to see, but I explained that we were only there for the day and had a pretty tight schedule. I think most people were surprised to hear we were trying to do Paris in just a day. Kat made sure to let people know we were on our honeymoon so we would get the extra special treatment, since it seemed to have worked for us well so far. She got out our French phrasebook and started practicing. She said she was pretty nervous about going somewhere without knowing the language. I finished planning our itinerary and transferring relevant information from the guidebooks to the map. I wasn’t very impressed with Rick Steves’ day trip itinerary. It wasn’t very efficient and it relied too much on the Metro and taxis to get from site to site.
The trip was little over 2 hours. We left the station around 7:30 and arrived just before 11:00 with an hour time change. We arrived well fed, rested and in good humor. I had gotten a little motion sick from doing so much reading along the way, but that feeling had worn off. Due to my paranoia of being robbed, I had planned our trip out without using the Metro. My plan had us taking a taxi from the Gare du Nord (our train station) directly to the Eiffel tower and then continuing our walking tour from there, which would have us gradually work our way back toward the station and end at Notre Dame. I had no idea how long it would take us, but I had a working watch and I knew what time we needed to be back to catch our return train. Our train boarded at 8:45 p.m., so I figured we should look for a taxi back to the station by 8. That gave us 9 hours to wander around Paris and take in the sites. I wasn’t sure if they would feed us dinner on the train home, but I was already doubting that we’d have time to do both lunch and dinner in Paris.
My bag was feeling heavy already and I was done with my guidebooks and the reading books. I thought maybe I could find a locker at the train station to leave things behind, but after looking for a few minutes we gave up on that idea. A desperate looking woman approached us, asked if we spoke English, and then shoved a handwritten letter in our faces. The letter outlined a sob story of how she had been trapped in France for 8 months and probably went on to beg for money. I heartlessly waved her away; suspicious that it was simply a rouse. We followed signs outside to the taxi area and waited in a short line for one. Our driver was surprised we didn’t have any bags other than my backpack and then snorted when we said to take us straight to the Eiffel tower. I followed along as best I could on the map as he drove us there. We caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel tower as we neared the river Seine. That’s how we knew we were in Paris.
The day was sunny and windy. The crowds were huge underneath the Eiffel tower and we weaved through them on our way to the back of the line for tickets and elevators. An army of illegal souvenir salesmen worked the queue and the crowds. They carried their cheap miniature towers and toys threaded through metal rings or in bags. Many of them had special blankets on which to display their crap that would quickly turn into bags by using drawstrings attached to the corners. I got to see how quickly they could pack up and run away when a policeman on a bicycle came riding through. The salesmen scattered like a flock of crows, only to quickly return as soon as the police were out of sight. I was amazed when I saw people actually buying the stuff. We were approached yet again by more desperate looking women with letters in English describing the same sob story we heard back at the train station. I imagined a network of these women and men, all recent immigrants, being put to work fleecing the tourist crowds in return for food and shelter until they found permanent lodging and work. It seemed like a grim existence, and it was highly annoying. Random people kept cutting through the line around us and I would spin my body around to keep my backpack away from imagined pickpockets, but I only succeeded in clobbering Kat several times with it. She stood behind me to keep an eye on things and when she got bored waiting in line she started to mess with the buckles and straps on my backpack. That freaked me out, because I kept thinking someone was trying to get in it.
After about an hour in line, we finally got our tickets and moved on to wait for the elevators. A monitor above the ticket counter kept warning that the summit was intermittently closed due to crowding. They charged more than double the price of getting to the mid-point platform to get to the summit. Seeing as how we had already spent a precious hour of our time to get a ticket and that longer waits were guaranteed to get to the top, I opted for the cheaper tickets. We packed into the double-decker elevator and rode it to the middle platform.
We took time enough to shoot pictures from the four sides of the tower and look out over the city for a bit before we decided to move on. We took time to use the bathroom on the tower. There was a line, and a pushy family shoved their child in front of everyone because she was going to pee her pants. The bathroom attendant wouldn’t let her in right away, though.
We didn’t wait for the elevators down; instead we ran down the stairs. We headed to our next stop, Palais de Chaillot, across the river where I was informed the best views of the Eiffel tower could be found. We crossed the Pont d’Iena, the first of many bridges we crossed over the Seine. My planned route had us crisscrossing the river at 5 different points. We got to the Palais and turned around to get our shots of the tower. We took turns setting up our classic eating points of interest shots and then got a nearby woman to take our picture after Kat took hers. It was already 1:00, and we were both getting hungry for lunch. We discussed heading straight for food and skipping the Arc de Triomphe, but Kat said she could hold out a little longer.
We walked down Avenue Kleber toward the Arc de Triomphe. Due to the trees lining the avenue, we couldn’t see the Arc until we were almost on top of it. Along the way I took pictures of food in the shop windows. I think my stomach was trying to tell me something. Once we reached the massive roundabout in which the Arc stood, we turned down the Avenue des Champs Elysees and headed toward the Musee du Louvre. I made sure to run out into the street to get some unobstructed pictures of the Arc de Triomphe first.
We had a nice long stroll down the Champs Elysees, which was busy with foot traffic and lined with shops and cafes that just made us hungrier. We had made up our minds that we would eat somewhere near Napoleon’s tomb on the other side of the river. It took us until 2:00 to get to the next bridge, Pont des Invalides. Along the way we passed another museum, the Grand Palais, which appeared to be housing a dinosaur exhibit.
Once across the second bridge, we went in search of food. I had written down some suggestions from my books that were in this area near Rue Cler. We looked at each in turn, trying to decipher the menus and not being able to make up our minds. We were both tired and hungry. We eventually found a sidewalk café near the Ecole Militaire called Comptier du Sept and sat down. We ordered a pot of wine to share and then looked at the menu. Luckily, the menu had English descriptions next to the items. We wanted to eat a fairly large lunch because it was looking like we wouldn’t have time for a nice dinner as well. Kat chose the duck and I ordered chicken in cream and mushroom sauce. They were both good choices, but I think Kat liked mine better because she kept stealing sauce from my plate. Our experience was great, and better than some of our neighbors who had a river of water dumped on them from the awning overhead. Kat was excited to use some of her French she had learned. She practiced her phrases out loud until she got self-conscious that the other customers might think she was strange repeating the same things over and over again. With some wine in her she boldly asked for the check and thanked them for a delicious meal. She’s so great.
We finished lunch around 3:30 had a short walk to the Hotel des Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb. Napoleon’s tomb was inside a beautiful building right in the center of the site. The inside had wonderful painted ceilings and sculptures in side chapels. The center of the room was open to the lower floor with the actual tomb you could look down on. We looked all around and took plenty of pictures. By the time we left it was close to 4:30 and the sewer tour was closing at 5. We opted to pass it by and headed back across the river.
This time we crossed at the Pont de la Concorde that led to a similarly named square containing the Obelisque. I got a neat look back down the Champs Elysees all the way back to the Arc de Triomphe. I was impressed by the long staged views in Paris that obviously only came about by careful planning. It differed greatly from the limited views and chaotic layout of London. It was now 5 o’clock and we needed to pick up the pace. Kat had marked a place on our map nearby where Angelina’s was supposed to be. She had heard Bob rave about the hot chocolate there, so we thought it would be nice to check it out. We wandered along Rue de Rivoli until we found it. There was a line out the door when we got there. We stood in line until we could see in the door. I noticed that they all appeared to be waiting for a table and that the confections counter wasn’t busy at all so I left Kat to stand in line while I pushed my way up to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate to go. Kat saw that I got through the line so came up to join me. She looked around the shop and found some hot chocolate mix to take home with us. We paid for our items and then continued on our way to the Louvre through the Jardin des Tuileries.
It was already 5:30 by the time we got to the Louvre. We needed to get in, see as much as we could in an hour and then move on to see Notre Dame and old town Paris before catching a taxi back to the station. We waited in a fast moving line to get inside the glass pyramid and go through the security check. We noticed a number of signs saying “no cameras” on the way in. We bought our tickets from a machine once we got inside and then picked up a map. We decided to head for Mona Lisa straight away and plotted out a course. It turned out we really didn’t need to because there were signs at every intersection pointing to the most popular works of art. Along the way we started to notice that no one seemed to pay heed to the “no photos” rule. We saw flashes going off everywhere. People were taking pictures with their phones, cameras, and camcorders. We were appalled. It was even worse in the room with Mona Lisa. A huge crowd was gathered in front of her and the camera flashes were almost constant. It was hard to appreciate the artwork with so many irresponsible jerks around us. There were museum employees around, but they seemed unable or unwilling to do anything about it. It made me sick to my stomach to see people so brazenly disrespectful. I love taking pictures of my travels, but when it comes to the preservation of artwork, I respect the curators’ wishes. The least these folks could do is turn off the flash on their cameras, but I suspect that most of them don’t know how to operate their cameras. Kat said she even saw parents handing their kids the camera to go up and take pictures.
We headed out of the Italian art exhibit hall and headed downstairs to the ancient Greek displays. This area wasn’t as crowded so we got a bit of a respite from the insanity upstairs. People were still using their cameras despite the signs forbidding it, but I wasn’t as bothered since these were sculptures and not as sensitive to light. Still, I felt like it was rude and unnecessary. We saw the iconic statue of Aphrodite and we were both surprised and impressed by the sculpture of Hermaphrodite reclining on a bed made of stone.
It was already 6:30 and we had only done one wing of the Louvre. We had to cut our visit short if we were to see Notre Dame and old town. We felt okay about it since we were frustrated with the crowds, and we’d determined that we really weren’t museum people. We stopped by the bathrooms on the way out. The men’s bathroom was disgusting. Kat’s experience wasn’t much better.
We were glad to leave the Louvre and continue our exploration. I was getting a bit hungry, but I didn’t want to stop for dinner so I kept my eyes open for a street vendor. Kat was thirsty too, so we stopped at a food cart that offered crepes and juice. I ordered a crepe with nutella that was pretty good and a Panini sandwich for later. Kat had a smoothie of some sort. Then we crossed the Seine again on the Pont Neu to reach the tiny island on which Ste. Chapelle and Notre Dame both sit.
Kat and I made a quick tour of the small island and took pictures of Notre Dame. I was excited to see the iconic flying buttresses. We continued past it to the other bank and found art sellers packing up for the day. On a whim, we took a look at one booth and finally found a painting we both liked. It was an impressionistic piece of Notre Dame and we liked the colors. We bought it along with a tube to pack it in. Kat felt better armed with a tube in hand to keep people from walking into her. It seemed to work pretty well.
It was 7:00 and we still had some time before we had to catch a taxi. My shoulders were killing me and I was out of energy. I could have grabbed a taxi then, but I let Kat drag me around the old town markets for a while longer. I’m glad we did it. The narrow markets were packed with interesting shops, cafes, and bars. Kat bought a crepe with nutella, coconut, and Grand Marnier. I was jealous because hers looked so much better than mine. There were some women just standing there watching the guy make crepes. They didn’t want one; they just really liked watching. Somewhere along the way Kat found a great little game store packed with board games. I’d never seen so many in such a small space before. They were mostly in French, and I didn’t want to carry anything more home, so we didn’t buy any. It was still neat to look through them all. Gaming is a much more respected hobby in Europe.
I told Kat it was time to go so we went in search of a taxi to take us back to the station. Kat spotted a line of them parked at a square where earlier some break-dancers had drawn a large crowd. Now there were police gathering to break things up. We just hopped in the first taxi in line and told him to take us to the Gare du Nord. I counted our remaining euros and hoped we had enough to pay the driver when we got there. It was enough, and we still had some left over.
In the station we found a seat in a café and ordered a couple 1664s to drink and relax for a bit and reflect on our day trip. We felt exhausted and accomplished. We were both very drained. We hoped that we would get dinner on the train. I ate my soggy sandwich anyway. The train arrived and we worked our way back through immigration and customs. There were two separate passport checkpoints on this end, one for leaving France and another one 10 feet away for entering England. At the England booth you needed to show a customs form that we hadn’t filled out yet. We got out of line to fill out our forms and I started to panic about getting to our train on time. Kat kept her cool and told me everything would be fine. I kept making mistakes on my form in my haste to fill it out. She was right; everything turned out fine. We got through and on our coach with no problems. They fed us on the ride home and I even caught a few minutes of sleep.
We arrived in St. Pancras station around 11:00. We both used the bathroom and came out with a stolen roll of toilet paper apiece for our apartment; that saved us a trip to Tesco. We jumped on the tube and got home around 11:45. The room was cleaned and we had fresh towels and bed sheets. We took showers and went to bed. Everything was great except for our neighbors and their crying baby.
Kat looked nice in her Francey shirt that was all glittery and colorful. I was wearing my Jagiellionian University t-shirt I had bought in Krakow, Poland, when my bags hadn’t arrived yet and I was out of clothes. I was hoping that I would be mistaken for Polish instead of American while in France. We gathered our stuff for the trip, and it looked like a lot. We were bringing books for the train, my two guidebooks, nice clothes and shoes in case we went to dinner somewhere elegant, candy, water, cameras, and other essentials. Kat offered to bring her bag along to help carry the load, but I stubbornly insisted on carrying it all in my backpack. That was a decision I came to regret by the end of the day.
Downstairs the desk clerk sounded unimpressed when I described our plumbing problems and the lack of toilet paper. He said the room would get cleaned, but we needed to buy our own bathroom supplies. We decided to deal with that on our way back that evening.
We walked down to the tube and took the Piccadilly line to St. Pancras station. We got to the station with plenty of time before our departure time. Kat was in the mood for a chai latte, so we cruised the station looking for a café that would serve one. Oddly enough, the only place that had it was Starbucks. We felt a bit funny going there. Kat ordered the biggest size, thinking she’d have time to sip it on the train. I got a small Americano for myself. With drinks in hand, we went in search of our platform. That’s when it dawned on us that this was an international trip and we would have to go through a security checkpoint. We could see another couple on the other side of the ticketing barriers finishing their drinks before getting going through security and determined that we would have to do the same. Poor Kat. She had to guzzle an entire 20oz hot drink before we could go on. She broke into a sweat near the end.
I was glad Kat had reminded me to bring my passport before leaving the apartment. We got our entry to France stamps and made it through security just fine. On the other side we found more coffee shops. Oh well. I went ahead and got some euros for our trip and divided them up between the two of us. Rick Steves had me paranoid about being pick-pocketed. We got on the train and found our seats. I had booked Leisure Class tickets that turned out to be pretty swanky. Kat and I sat across from each other alone at a small table. I brought out my guidebooks and our map of Paris and sat down to some serious planning. We had a very pleasant attendant in our coach who brought us tea and breakfast. We couldn’t tell if he was gay, French, or both. He noticed I was hard at work planning our visit and offered to help by recommending some places to stay and some sites to see, but I explained that we were only there for the day and had a pretty tight schedule. I think most people were surprised to hear we were trying to do Paris in just a day. Kat made sure to let people know we were on our honeymoon so we would get the extra special treatment, since it seemed to have worked for us well so far. She got out our French phrasebook and started practicing. She said she was pretty nervous about going somewhere without knowing the language. I finished planning our itinerary and transferring relevant information from the guidebooks to the map. I wasn’t very impressed with Rick Steves’ day trip itinerary. It wasn’t very efficient and it relied too much on the Metro and taxis to get from site to site.
The trip was little over 2 hours. We left the station around 7:30 and arrived just before 11:00 with an hour time change. We arrived well fed, rested and in good humor. I had gotten a little motion sick from doing so much reading along the way, but that feeling had worn off. Due to my paranoia of being robbed, I had planned our trip out without using the Metro. My plan had us taking a taxi from the Gare du Nord (our train station) directly to the Eiffel tower and then continuing our walking tour from there, which would have us gradually work our way back toward the station and end at Notre Dame. I had no idea how long it would take us, but I had a working watch and I knew what time we needed to be back to catch our return train. Our train boarded at 8:45 p.m., so I figured we should look for a taxi back to the station by 8. That gave us 9 hours to wander around Paris and take in the sites. I wasn’t sure if they would feed us dinner on the train home, but I was already doubting that we’d have time to do both lunch and dinner in Paris.
My bag was feeling heavy already and I was done with my guidebooks and the reading books. I thought maybe I could find a locker at the train station to leave things behind, but after looking for a few minutes we gave up on that idea. A desperate looking woman approached us, asked if we spoke English, and then shoved a handwritten letter in our faces. The letter outlined a sob story of how she had been trapped in France for 8 months and probably went on to beg for money. I heartlessly waved her away; suspicious that it was simply a rouse. We followed signs outside to the taxi area and waited in a short line for one. Our driver was surprised we didn’t have any bags other than my backpack and then snorted when we said to take us straight to the Eiffel tower. I followed along as best I could on the map as he drove us there. We caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel tower as we neared the river Seine. That’s how we knew we were in Paris.
The day was sunny and windy. The crowds were huge underneath the Eiffel tower and we weaved through them on our way to the back of the line for tickets and elevators. An army of illegal souvenir salesmen worked the queue and the crowds. They carried their cheap miniature towers and toys threaded through metal rings or in bags. Many of them had special blankets on which to display their crap that would quickly turn into bags by using drawstrings attached to the corners. I got to see how quickly they could pack up and run away when a policeman on a bicycle came riding through. The salesmen scattered like a flock of crows, only to quickly return as soon as the police were out of sight. I was amazed when I saw people actually buying the stuff. We were approached yet again by more desperate looking women with letters in English describing the same sob story we heard back at the train station. I imagined a network of these women and men, all recent immigrants, being put to work fleecing the tourist crowds in return for food and shelter until they found permanent lodging and work. It seemed like a grim existence, and it was highly annoying. Random people kept cutting through the line around us and I would spin my body around to keep my backpack away from imagined pickpockets, but I only succeeded in clobbering Kat several times with it. She stood behind me to keep an eye on things and when she got bored waiting in line she started to mess with the buckles and straps on my backpack. That freaked me out, because I kept thinking someone was trying to get in it.
After about an hour in line, we finally got our tickets and moved on to wait for the elevators. A monitor above the ticket counter kept warning that the summit was intermittently closed due to crowding. They charged more than double the price of getting to the mid-point platform to get to the summit. Seeing as how we had already spent a precious hour of our time to get a ticket and that longer waits were guaranteed to get to the top, I opted for the cheaper tickets. We packed into the double-decker elevator and rode it to the middle platform.
We took time enough to shoot pictures from the four sides of the tower and look out over the city for a bit before we decided to move on. We took time to use the bathroom on the tower. There was a line, and a pushy family shoved their child in front of everyone because she was going to pee her pants. The bathroom attendant wouldn’t let her in right away, though.
We didn’t wait for the elevators down; instead we ran down the stairs. We headed to our next stop, Palais de Chaillot, across the river where I was informed the best views of the Eiffel tower could be found. We crossed the Pont d’Iena, the first of many bridges we crossed over the Seine. My planned route had us crisscrossing the river at 5 different points. We got to the Palais and turned around to get our shots of the tower. We took turns setting up our classic eating points of interest shots and then got a nearby woman to take our picture after Kat took hers. It was already 1:00, and we were both getting hungry for lunch. We discussed heading straight for food and skipping the Arc de Triomphe, but Kat said she could hold out a little longer.
We walked down Avenue Kleber toward the Arc de Triomphe. Due to the trees lining the avenue, we couldn’t see the Arc until we were almost on top of it. Along the way I took pictures of food in the shop windows. I think my stomach was trying to tell me something. Once we reached the massive roundabout in which the Arc stood, we turned down the Avenue des Champs Elysees and headed toward the Musee du Louvre. I made sure to run out into the street to get some unobstructed pictures of the Arc de Triomphe first.
We had a nice long stroll down the Champs Elysees, which was busy with foot traffic and lined with shops and cafes that just made us hungrier. We had made up our minds that we would eat somewhere near Napoleon’s tomb on the other side of the river. It took us until 2:00 to get to the next bridge, Pont des Invalides. Along the way we passed another museum, the Grand Palais, which appeared to be housing a dinosaur exhibit.
Once across the second bridge, we went in search of food. I had written down some suggestions from my books that were in this area near Rue Cler. We looked at each in turn, trying to decipher the menus and not being able to make up our minds. We were both tired and hungry. We eventually found a sidewalk café near the Ecole Militaire called Comptier du Sept and sat down. We ordered a pot of wine to share and then looked at the menu. Luckily, the menu had English descriptions next to the items. We wanted to eat a fairly large lunch because it was looking like we wouldn’t have time for a nice dinner as well. Kat chose the duck and I ordered chicken in cream and mushroom sauce. They were both good choices, but I think Kat liked mine better because she kept stealing sauce from my plate. Our experience was great, and better than some of our neighbors who had a river of water dumped on them from the awning overhead. Kat was excited to use some of her French she had learned. She practiced her phrases out loud until she got self-conscious that the other customers might think she was strange repeating the same things over and over again. With some wine in her she boldly asked for the check and thanked them for a delicious meal. She’s so great.
We finished lunch around 3:30 had a short walk to the Hotel des Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb. Napoleon’s tomb was inside a beautiful building right in the center of the site. The inside had wonderful painted ceilings and sculptures in side chapels. The center of the room was open to the lower floor with the actual tomb you could look down on. We looked all around and took plenty of pictures. By the time we left it was close to 4:30 and the sewer tour was closing at 5. We opted to pass it by and headed back across the river.
This time we crossed at the Pont de la Concorde that led to a similarly named square containing the Obelisque. I got a neat look back down the Champs Elysees all the way back to the Arc de Triomphe. I was impressed by the long staged views in Paris that obviously only came about by careful planning. It differed greatly from the limited views and chaotic layout of London. It was now 5 o’clock and we needed to pick up the pace. Kat had marked a place on our map nearby where Angelina’s was supposed to be. She had heard Bob rave about the hot chocolate there, so we thought it would be nice to check it out. We wandered along Rue de Rivoli until we found it. There was a line out the door when we got there. We stood in line until we could see in the door. I noticed that they all appeared to be waiting for a table and that the confections counter wasn’t busy at all so I left Kat to stand in line while I pushed my way up to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate to go. Kat saw that I got through the line so came up to join me. She looked around the shop and found some hot chocolate mix to take home with us. We paid for our items and then continued on our way to the Louvre through the Jardin des Tuileries.
It was already 5:30 by the time we got to the Louvre. We needed to get in, see as much as we could in an hour and then move on to see Notre Dame and old town Paris before catching a taxi back to the station. We waited in a fast moving line to get inside the glass pyramid and go through the security check. We noticed a number of signs saying “no cameras” on the way in. We bought our tickets from a machine once we got inside and then picked up a map. We decided to head for Mona Lisa straight away and plotted out a course. It turned out we really didn’t need to because there were signs at every intersection pointing to the most popular works of art. Along the way we started to notice that no one seemed to pay heed to the “no photos” rule. We saw flashes going off everywhere. People were taking pictures with their phones, cameras, and camcorders. We were appalled. It was even worse in the room with Mona Lisa. A huge crowd was gathered in front of her and the camera flashes were almost constant. It was hard to appreciate the artwork with so many irresponsible jerks around us. There were museum employees around, but they seemed unable or unwilling to do anything about it. It made me sick to my stomach to see people so brazenly disrespectful. I love taking pictures of my travels, but when it comes to the preservation of artwork, I respect the curators’ wishes. The least these folks could do is turn off the flash on their cameras, but I suspect that most of them don’t know how to operate their cameras. Kat said she even saw parents handing their kids the camera to go up and take pictures.
We headed out of the Italian art exhibit hall and headed downstairs to the ancient Greek displays. This area wasn’t as crowded so we got a bit of a respite from the insanity upstairs. People were still using their cameras despite the signs forbidding it, but I wasn’t as bothered since these were sculptures and not as sensitive to light. Still, I felt like it was rude and unnecessary. We saw the iconic statue of Aphrodite and we were both surprised and impressed by the sculpture of Hermaphrodite reclining on a bed made of stone.
It was already 6:30 and we had only done one wing of the Louvre. We had to cut our visit short if we were to see Notre Dame and old town. We felt okay about it since we were frustrated with the crowds, and we’d determined that we really weren’t museum people. We stopped by the bathrooms on the way out. The men’s bathroom was disgusting. Kat’s experience wasn’t much better.
We were glad to leave the Louvre and continue our exploration. I was getting a bit hungry, but I didn’t want to stop for dinner so I kept my eyes open for a street vendor. Kat was thirsty too, so we stopped at a food cart that offered crepes and juice. I ordered a crepe with nutella that was pretty good and a Panini sandwich for later. Kat had a smoothie of some sort. Then we crossed the Seine again on the Pont Neu to reach the tiny island on which Ste. Chapelle and Notre Dame both sit.
Kat and I made a quick tour of the small island and took pictures of Notre Dame. I was excited to see the iconic flying buttresses. We continued past it to the other bank and found art sellers packing up for the day. On a whim, we took a look at one booth and finally found a painting we both liked. It was an impressionistic piece of Notre Dame and we liked the colors. We bought it along with a tube to pack it in. Kat felt better armed with a tube in hand to keep people from walking into her. It seemed to work pretty well.
It was 7:00 and we still had some time before we had to catch a taxi. My shoulders were killing me and I was out of energy. I could have grabbed a taxi then, but I let Kat drag me around the old town markets for a while longer. I’m glad we did it. The narrow markets were packed with interesting shops, cafes, and bars. Kat bought a crepe with nutella, coconut, and Grand Marnier. I was jealous because hers looked so much better than mine. There were some women just standing there watching the guy make crepes. They didn’t want one; they just really liked watching. Somewhere along the way Kat found a great little game store packed with board games. I’d never seen so many in such a small space before. They were mostly in French, and I didn’t want to carry anything more home, so we didn’t buy any. It was still neat to look through them all. Gaming is a much more respected hobby in Europe.
I told Kat it was time to go so we went in search of a taxi to take us back to the station. Kat spotted a line of them parked at a square where earlier some break-dancers had drawn a large crowd. Now there were police gathering to break things up. We just hopped in the first taxi in line and told him to take us to the Gare du Nord. I counted our remaining euros and hoped we had enough to pay the driver when we got there. It was enough, and we still had some left over.
In the station we found a seat in a café and ordered a couple 1664s to drink and relax for a bit and reflect on our day trip. We felt exhausted and accomplished. We were both very drained. We hoped that we would get dinner on the train. I ate my soggy sandwich anyway. The train arrived and we worked our way back through immigration and customs. There were two separate passport checkpoints on this end, one for leaving France and another one 10 feet away for entering England. At the England booth you needed to show a customs form that we hadn’t filled out yet. We got out of line to fill out our forms and I started to panic about getting to our train on time. Kat kept her cool and told me everything would be fine. I kept making mistakes on my form in my haste to fill it out. She was right; everything turned out fine. We got through and on our coach with no problems. They fed us on the ride home and I even caught a few minutes of sleep.
We arrived in St. Pancras station around 11:00. We both used the bathroom and came out with a stolen roll of toilet paper apiece for our apartment; that saved us a trip to Tesco. We jumped on the tube and got home around 11:45. The room was cleaned and we had fresh towels and bed sheets. We took showers and went to bed. Everything was great except for our neighbors and their crying baby.
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