From Paris to Berlin... EUROTOUR!!

Eurotour! How shall I begin?

 For starters, it was brilliant, exhausting, enlightning, thrilling and magical - a taste of Europe for next time I come back. We left on May 14th ('We' being just over 50 exchange students living in DK from America, Canada, Thailand, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Brazil)  in a coach, with a guide from the travel company, bus driver, and a younger old rotary exchange student ( a second one would join in Prague)

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St Augustine


 “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jewaharial Nehru

I must say, both these quotes are brilliantly true, especially that we live in a world full of adventure - gosh darn, Eurotour, the freedom of just travelling, and not knowing whats ahead, taking things a day at a time, seeing world famous sights - simply awesome! and while Verdun, Adelaide will always be home, I will seek adventure for the rest of my life, and read the whole book!

Brandenburger gate - at the end of Unter den Linden

Berlin
We headed to Berlin, and after a couple of stops along the side of the motorway, we made the city by late afternoon. I found the German countryside quite beautiful -the tall, dark green forests that stood out among fields reminded me of the driver between the Stirling and Crafers exit in the Adelaide Hills (just to be overly specific) Driving around Berlin was pretty amazing - many of the builidings are very ornate, but not over done and obviously there are many historical sculptures and monuments scattered around the place.

The Berlin Wall

As the sign implies - the change between east and
west Germany

Kathe Kollwitz's statue of 'Mother and Son'

We spent our time there looking at the wall between East and West Berlin - You can still see the difference, the west part feels more upper classy (having been the American, French and British sector) while the east is more basic and practical. It's sort of like the Function vs Feature idea - east goes for function, west for feature. We also went to Brandenburger Tor, walked down Unter den Linden, saw Humboldt University (where the burning of Jewish books occured during the holocaust - there is now a white, empty room underneath the courtyard that stands as a monument) and also a large room with black tiles and a statue of a mother holding her child - beneath the tiles was dirt taken from Auschwitz and the artist of the sculpter was Kathe Kollwitz, who I had studied in year 12, and lost her son to the war - quite a sobering moment.

The Holocaust monument

We also went through the holocaust monument , which are rectangles of concrete, of varying size, lined in rows and rows, representing all those killed - not only Jews, but all people. After learning about what went on in the world wars, and especially how it relates to Germany for so long doesn't really become real until you're standing in a city where so much history was made - perhaps on the very place your standing.



I thought Berlin was a beautiful city, and very liveable for a capital city - the people seemed very kind and willing to help, it wasn't an eyesore and it felt relativly relaxing!
When we left, we stopped in Dresden and even though we only saw the city top from a distant, it too looked beautiful and definitely a place to come back to!!

I'm thinking that this Maximilians restaurant
is better than the one I worked in :p

Only the most delicious street Wurste I've ever had!

Prague 

On our way to Prague, we stopped for a couple of hours at Theresienstadt Concentration Camp and  that was certainly a strange experience - we were given a tour of the camp, which unlike Auschwitz, was a work camp, rather than an extermination camp and is one of the smaller camps. Seeing all the small,rooms where hundreds of people were crammed into wooden beds, and execution spots - I couldn't even imagine it and that was only a work camp!
We continued onto Prague and spent that night at a water fountain light show in which scene's from Dirty Dancing and Save the last Dance were projected onto the water - that was a calm way to end the night and get settled in - checking into the hotel had been horrid - 70+ people crammed into a very small lobby, with old people who couldn't speak english trying to push through, a very small elevator and a somewhat incompetent check in man - getting our room was a relief almost unimaginable! But none the less - the next day brought a tour of the beautiful city starting at the castle that sits above the city line. The detail on  every building and especially the cathedral was to marvel at - gothic gargoyles, gold detailed mosiacs and frescos and intricate carvings of various people - t'was splendid indeed! We eventually winded our way down the small lanes, past far to many souvenir shops all saying they sold the only Czech crystal around, over the beautifully detailed Charles Bridge, filled with artists and street vendors, under the gunpoweder tower and into the hustling Prague streets - where we instantly held our bags much tighter!
So we spent the day, wandering round all the little streets, there was admittedly a very nice one, filled with Burberry, Chanel, Dior etc.... It was very nice!! and cute litle chocolate stores, ahh they were bliss - I've learnt that the best way to see a city, is to occasionally put away the map, and allow yourself to get lost among the hustle and bustle of ordinary life in the city - seeing all the crazy little shops, running into funny little street sellers, perhaps seeing more homeless people than you would like, and in all - trying to get a feel for how the city lives.
After dinner at the hotel with too many flights of stairs, we drove back into the center and spent more time wandering around, unnecessarily spending money and enjoying our last moments there.
 


Vienna

The beautiful alps!

We hit Vienna mid afternoon the next day and went straight to Schonnbrunn Palace, which for those who have watched any of Andre Rieu's concerts, was where he performed a spectacular performance. The Palace belonged to, or rather was lived in by the Hapsburg family, members of whom included Marie Aintoinette and her equally famous mother, Marie Theresa. And my goodness it is a magnificant place - every room has amazing decorations, walnut wood covered walls, hand embroidered curtains - every detail immaculate, fresco's lining walls an ceilings, Rocco style furniture in every room - totally excessive and opulant, but you cannot help to gasp in delight... until you arrive in Franz Joseph's (the last emperor) room - a plain iron bedstand and basic marble wash sink mark the unassuming and thrifty emperor's basic style. The gardens were simply another amazing feature - filled with mazes and monuments, the gardens are meticulously planned and almost assymetrical in layout and exactly opposite the palace, at the far end, lies the 'Gloriette' which is a 'triumphal arch like section' that has since becoming what is most likely, a very expensive cafe! I could go on for years about the beauty of the Palace but a) we still have Versailles Chataeu to discover and b) Its hard to understand when you havn't experienced it yourself... sorry

Schonnbrunn Palace

The next day was spent seeing a very cool artist's house called Friedensreich Hundertwasser - it would'nt be a hard stretch to say he was on drugs most of the time, but his art is very cool! very colorful and quirky, reminded me of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory for some reason

The back of the palace with the Gloriette in the distance!

We also had the day just ambling around the town, seeing the Spanish riding school and all the beautiful architecture - Vienna is a very clean, calm and appealing city, not too crowded, but not boring. It actually reminded me a lot of Adelaide which I loved. We also had the expensive opportunity to hear a Viennese concert in one of the music halls and so, for about an hour, we sat and heard a small orchestra play classical songs, while two ballerina's danced, and two opera singers sang - the most entertaining of this performance however, was the double bass player, whose expression was priceless - he was so into the music, bopping his head, a grin from ear to ear, that you couldn't help but smile. By the time that was over, we had been in town for many an hour so we headed back up the mountain, to the spendid hotel, ate a dinner which included strips of pancake in a soup, and relaxed, finally!
Having only seen 3 cities, I couldn't say it was my favourite out of all, but by that time Vienna had taken the cake!!

The fields near the hotel

Pancake soup

Huntertwassers museum/house

My Mexican oldie and I, Mariana

Sitting in windows was a large part of the eurotour
hotels - its oddly serene, even when brushing teeth!

Italy

The next day, after driving through the indescribably beautiful Austrian alps for a couple of hours, which had been full of crystal clear blue brooks, winding roads, light rain, far too many tunnels and distant snow covered mountains, we hit Italy mid afternoon and made our way to Lido De Jesolo. This town was not really the Italy I had imagined, one of vineyard covered hills, with beautiful villas, where Italian women in 20's style white dresses would bring out amazing home cooked food, and rustic white bread to the table while the men who has been working in the vine's came in for lunch - a certain video on digestion played during year 11 biology painted a false picture of Italy.

One of the many canals

Anyway, this area was VERY touristy, many gelato shops and store's selling fake this and fake that. Admittedly my next trip to Italy will be into the more rural area's, to get a feel for how Italians actually live, and of course, Roma! but still, it was nice to be able to chill at the beach (which was - I kid not - filled with rows and rows of striped beach chairs - after seeing this beach, as nice as it was, Aussie beaches with clean miles of sand, and waves, not just a gentle lull, where at 50 m out, the water still reaches your thighs, still sing to my soul - I have become to patriotic for my own good
Our time spent here was sleeping on the beach chairs, walking for near 2 hours to find a laundromat, eating lots of gelati, turning the color of a lobster because you fell asleep in the sun for about 2 hours, with no suncream ( and having to live with a very sore back for the next week, as well as having a very moody temperature, no knowing if it were too hot or cold), forcing yourself to climb just one more step, up the 5 flights of stairs to the room as the elevator could hold max 5 people and took about 10 minutes to arrive, and eating pasta before every main meal (that was brilliant!) After what had already been a full on tour, just chilling for a full day was bliss!

Another touristy st.

And of course, you cannot go to Italy without seeing Venice!!  (Well, I mean, technically you can go to Italy without going to Venice, but seriously....that's a tad sad no? - just joshing y'all)
So, Venizia! We headed to the water taxi at about 10 am, and by then, the sun was in full steam - fortunately my burns hadn't quite come into full effect - yet. It took about 40 minutes to get there, and seeing the buildings  rise up out of the water (metaphorically of course) was incredible - just how I had imagined!

First glimpse of Venice

We headed off in small groups but stayed with one of the leaders, who led us over countless little canals, into St Marcus's Square, which many of you know, is in movies like The Italian Job and one of the 007 films and is usually filled with pigeons, yet this time, it was full of tourists, vendors selling masks, and many people sweltering under the heat. We ended up tootling through all the little alleys, filled with cafe's, pretty little boutiques, more souvenir stores with umpteen venetian masks before arriving at the Rialto Bridge - being in such a bustling, beautiful area, surrounded by water and gondola men all wearing red or black striped shirts was very very nifty! From here, we split up again, and myself, along with 5 others, headed down to go on our first gondola ride - admittedly, I was a bit hesitant - I always wanted to go on one at night with a singing driver, but after I built a bridge, we found ourselves a driver - what are they actually? a rower? a gondolie? I have no idea...a driver shall suffice

The Rialto Bridge

So, we headed very slowly onto the rickety beast, got settled in and headed out, with The Rialto Bridge in the background - the ride took around 20 minutes, for about 20 euro each. We went past Marco Paolo's house and Casanova's ;) and then down all the little canals, where people had their laundry hanging out over the water, where every random balcony was filled with flowers, where you could see the house supports becoming rotten, and wooden gates falling to pieces - It beats me how Venice has survived for so long! Our driver told us that residents can no longer live on the bottom floor - between the rising water, not only at high tide, and then the humidity - it's not the best of places. They (being whoever controls Venice) have begun builiding a barrier out in the sea to prevent such a dramatic high tide influence. So, yeh, beautiful Venice! as seen in a gondola - Myself and a girl from Minnesota bought pizza from a cafe - a plain Margherita, but my goodness! It was so good - the waiter was far too energetic but the pizza made up for his annoyingness.
I must say, after the cold Danish weather, being in Italy was a bit of a shock for my body so even though it was only about 23 degrees, we stuck to shade whenever possible and bought a ton of fruit, that was kept in fountains with a constant stream of icey water.

St Marcus Sq

It was also in Venice that I came across the 3 most beautiful (I use that adjective to often - I shall now use 'pulchritudinous'...if I can be bothered) stationery stores - I can't deny it, going stationery shopping is much more fun than clothes shopping will ever be - when Kikki K arrived in Adelaide, I was over the moon. At one of the stores ( and when I say that, I mean a small, wooden bookshelved, quaint little place) they had shelves full of leather bound journals - I came very close to blowing $80 in one shot, but wow! it was incredible! and at another, they had countless wax seals - the type that Kings would wear as signet rings, which would show that a letter or document had been approved personally by the King, and that require melted wax! So, of course not being as expensive as a leather journal, I did buy one :D and now any time I see in classic literature  that the (usually) female had carefully peeled off the waz seal and kept it, I understand

Juliet's Balcony

Venice had been a very full on day, of dehydration, hagglers, good pizza, funny dressed gondola men, hundreds of Ventian masks, Morano glass objects, nifty little canals, and a growing love of old cities - so I must say, getting back on the water taxi, finally getting up the stupid stairs and collapsing on the bed, as the sunburn fully hit - was a joy!
The next day, en route to San Remo, where we stayed the next night, we had about 20 minutes at Juliet's Balcony in Verona - honestly it was simply a stone balcony jutting out over a vine covered wall, with a bronze stautue of someone's imagination of Juliet, with of course, a souvenir shop selling all sorts of trinkets at crazy prices, and very few copies of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet unfortunatly.

Rural Italy

 Ladies and Gents, it's been too long since I've posted a blog so I figured this will suffice until I get back from Holland, finish the other half of eurotour and get cracking onto the rest of my exchange life! So for now, enjoy this essay and I'll be back, hopefully sooner - also don't worry about the spelling mistakes - You'll know that it is definitely me!

Farvel for now