New city, new adventure…

It is quite a cool feeling to wake up in the morning, and spend a few seconds to figure out which city you are in exactly. Feels like quite a luxury actually that I am thankful for. Being able to travel is a total privilege. So today I woke up in Vienna… Here the city is called Wien (pronounced Veen).

Yesterday, was able to get myself to Paris Orly airport and checked in without any troubles. The flight was an hour delayed though which meant I was to arrive in Vienna at 11:30pm and cutting it pretty close to the last City Airport Train (CAT) leaving for the city. To have to take a taxi in would have been really expensive. Although it was quite an adventure, I actually got from door to door relatively painlessly.  I definitely had luck on my side:

- After landing at the airport, my luggage came out right away!
- I barely made the last CAT train at 12:05am. Being in Berlin made me feel comfortable with the system of buying tickets and such which really helped save time.
- While on the CAT, a French man who lives in Vienna now then helped me figure out the next step of which direction to go on the UBahn (metro) using a map I found and together we ran down several escalators and down long hallways to get to the U3 line and caught the last train for the night
- In my Eastern Europe guidebook, they happen to include Vienna, calling it a gateway city to the East, and included a map. The place where I am staying is on a street that is apparently a main one and so was on the map.
- As soon as I got out of the metro station, I literally had to walk a few metres to find the right street
- I rang the buzzer of the building to wake up John who I am staying with… but no answer
- Even though it is near 1:00am now, the street is still lively with people talking and drinking. I ask to use the phone at a wine bar across John’s apartment and a woman offers her “handy” (cell/mobile phone).
- I wake up John and he buzzes me up and tells me which stairs to climb and which hallway to go down
- I get a bit mixed up as I can´t see anything – am afraid to turn the lights on as they are located close to the doorbell of people´s apartments and it is not obvious which is which. Don’t want to rudely awaken anyone at this hour
- I end up in the garbage room… But then finally find a light, and see the elevator I am looking for
- And voila… I am home in Vienna.

John lives in the 7th district near the Museum Quartier. On the main street near his house there are all the ammenities I would need: bank, grocery, pharmacy, bookstore, bakery…. and three H&M stores. I am not a big H&M fan anymore as on this trip, I have seen three people wearing the same dress I have and a couple with the same shirt. Doesn’t feel quite right somehow…

It is extremely hot here. I am off to find something to eat. Rumbling tummy!

Tour de Paris

Today is day 26 of my 54 day trip. I have spent five nights here in Paris and managed to do a LOT of walking. My Birks have been a saviour – no blisters or sore feet whatsoever. The metro is really convenient, but since it has been 30+ degrees these last few days, it is just so stuffy and busy down there, that it works out better to walk. Being on the metro is good for people watching though. The French are quite hot tempered people and I have witnessed a number of arguments that get quite lively… 

When walking around today, I saw a postal carrier with his buggy of mail about to cross the street at a pedestrian crossing. An oncoming car started honking as if to say me first. But the postal carried insisted that he was going to cross. And the car insisted she was going to go for it. So inevitably, the car hit the postal carrier’s buggy and Bam! This was followed by the postal carrier marching up to the car, opening the door, yelling “C’est quoi ca??” And the shouting went on and on…

There are a LOT of tourists here. I walked passed two guys from New York that looked totally lost and were holding “the Idiots guide to backpacking in Europe” trying to figure out where they were. There really must be a more discreet way to travel. I have tried to blend in as much as possible and avoided carrying my knapsack as that is usually a giveaway.

When sitting down for a coffee or something to eat, I have been pretty picky about where to go because there are a lot of cafes that are totally taken over by tourists, and the ambience is just not the same when there are more foreign languages being spoken than French. So even if it takes me longer and I have to go further, I have been trying to pick out interesting eating places. There are many crepe kiosks that whip out the favourite Nutella crepe, but I managed to find a great little Creperie that makes them with buckwheat (which is more traditional) and served with lemon and a bit of sugar. They are sooooo good. The smell alone is worth it. The servers in most restaurants are men in their 40s. So where do all the young people work?

I made it to the Auguste Rodin museum with Kathy and her sister who is visiting from the US. It was a great museum with lots of beautiful marble and copper sculptures. The museum also paid tribute to the work of Camille Claudel and recognized the impact she had on Rodin. The museum also has this perfectly manicured garden with evergreen shrubs trimmed to a sharp point. We enjoyed the fresh outdoor space.

On my own I also visited the Picasso museum and realised that Pablo Picasso and I share the same birthdate: October 25th (except he was born in 1881). Although born in Spain, Picasso spent most of his life in France and so upon his death, France inherited many pieces of his artwork.

So here is my question: where are the Rodins, Picassos, Van Goghs etc… of today? What blows me away the most when walking through museums is to think about the time one individual spent must have spent to create each piece.

On Sunday, the Tour de France finished their 22 day race which started in Brest and finished in Paris on the Champs Elysees. This year was the 95th race. Everyone was lined up along the street waiting in anticipation for the cyclists to zoom by. People brought step-stools, kids were sitting on the shoulders of their parents and some even climbed up trees to get a better view. Around 5:15pm, the winner – Carlos Sastre from Spain – crossed the finish line. It was great to be a part of the hype as the race is a big deal here in France.

A lot of shops close for the summer here in Paris. Many have little hand written signs posted on their store-fronts noting the closure and the date that they re-open. There are a lot of little Pharmacies that sell regular drugs as well as a lot of homeopathic remedies. And these homeopathic products are often a lot cheaper than at home in Canada. Now there’s a first!

It has been so nice to have a view of the Eiffel Tower from Kathy’s apartment. Because if you go to see it on the street, there are just swarms of tourists, and you don’t really get to relax and spend your time. Here, I can be reading on the couch and all I have to do it look out the window, and there it is. Until the end of December, the Eiffel Tower is light up in blue lights at night to symbolise France’s presidency of the European Union (it changes every 6 months). They also do a 15 minute sparkly light display which is really pretty.

There are very few internet cafes in this city. But they do have a great bike rental system called Velib. You sign up for an account and provide a deposit of 150 euro or so, and then there are many stations (usually near Metro stops) where you can punch in your info at a little kiosk and unlock a bike to travel to your desitination. If your travel time is less than half an hour, you travel for free. It seems like a very efficient system. It has become quite popular that they have added more stations and more bikes and improved the repair system for damaged bikes. You often see business men in suits riding the Velib.

So now I am repacking my backpack and going to take the bus out to Paris Olry airport for my 2.5 hour flight to Vienna.

Salut!

Waiting for the Tour de France…

The Tour zooming by to the finish line…

Closed for the summer…

Carousel

French men like pink pants

Au Printemps – large department store

Lots of Pharmacies everywhere (and they sell homeopathic remedies)

accident with a postman

ornate door knocker

 

MORE PHOTOS:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136612&l=b0f20&id=748975520

30° in Paris

Took the overnight train from Berlin to Paris. It took over twelve hours, but since it was overnight it was quite comfortable. I had one of the bottom bunks in a room of four beds. Arrived at the train station (Gare du Nord) and took the metro to Kathy’s apartment. I wish I had brought a suitcase instead of a backpack as my shoulders are killing me!

I already feel the difference from Berlin. Paris is much busier. In comparison, Berlin seemed so organized and had an easy flow. Here I feel like I am part of a big mass of flowing people that I almost have to push my way through. Things are also double as expensive. I have been able to comfortably use my French. I feel lucky to not only fluently speak the universal language of English but also French which allows me to have the ability to get by in lots of places. It was greqt that even my Russian has come in handy this trip. It even helped a bit in Berlin. German is quite a different language though. I feel much more at ease here as I can understand signs, menus, people… And so far no one has switched to speaking English after I start speaking French even though they know I am not a native speaker. I am glad about that. The letters on French keyboards are even more mixed up than the German ones I finally got used to. This is what it looks like if I type this same exact sentence. This is zhqt it looks like if I type this exqct sq,e sentence: And you have to press SHIFT in order to type numbers as otherwise you get all the accents ù锑(-è_çà

I bought some bread, yogurt, cheese, eggs for breakfast tomorrow and hope to do some cooking as it has been a while since I had/made a home cooked meal. Kathy’s apartment is really lovely. Bright and airy, on the 5th floor with a view of the Eiffel Tower. At night I will watch as it lights up…

I think I am ready for a crèpe now!

Sunset at Berlin Hauptbanhof

Train whizzing by the French countryside

Paris Gare du Nord arrival

Kathy’s beautiful apartment

View of the Eiffel Tower from the dining room

guest bedroom

Bustling Paris

photos of Berlin…

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=134482&l=0dd61&id=748975520

Guten Tag!

A bit of a change in itinerary… After spending a week by the beach, I felt ready for a big city. So I changed my original plan to go to Sarajevo and am now in Berlin…! 

Since my decision to come here was last minute, I had a hard time finding accommodation as it turns out that it is Fashion Week in Berlin and so a very busy time of year to visit. When I arrived, the apartment I had booked ended up not being free, so the owner of the rental apartment (he manages a few properties) offered that given the misunderstanding, I could just rent the guest room in his place.

I am so glad the mix up happened, because his place is gorgeous! Really spacious, modern, and cool. It is in a good area and close to transit. And half the price as the apartment I was going to rent. Perfect.

Today being Sunday, it seems like EVERYTHING is closed. Well not everything, but most things. Some restaurants and most tourist shops are open. It is cool and a bit rainy here, and I did not bring anything long sleeved and only have open toe shoes. I need to get a jacket or something warm. I was in the middle of town walking by Zara, H&M, Mango, Esprit… but it was all closed. So I was forced to buy a cheap, uggly hoody from a souvenir shop. Too bad…

There are lots of bike-riders, and the streets are really bike friendly with extra wide paths. The pedestrian walk and stop signs are quite funny looking men with hats. Public transportation is yellow. Yellow buses, trains, and a lot of the underground stations are tiled in yellow. Cabs are all cream coloured Mercedes. It is quite a green city too. Perhaps it was just because it was Sunday, but the city seems quite open and not so crowded.

I had dinner at a great chic Vietnamese restaurant called Monsieur Vuong. I was just happy I found something open! The asian flavour was really nice after mostly eating Italian food in Croatia. When I went to pay, the server said that unfortunately my credit card did not go through. I was concerned, but then realised I had given her my drivers licence!

Berlin is aparently considered to be an un-German city of sorts as it seems like anything goes. It is not rigid, people seem really diverse (1 in 7.5 are immigrants according to Lonely Planet). It has a lively gay and lesbian population. Out of the 3.4 million residents, 500,000 are gay (again according to Lonely Planet). There are a lot of interesting buildings. And also  lots of graffiti everywhere. I hope to do a more organized walk to see some significant buildings tomorrow. I did manage to see the remains of the Berlin wall. It was a lot shorter than I was expecting (3.6m tall).

I am heading to the Sony centre now as it looks cool at night supposedly.

- tschus

Korčula, Orebić, and Dubrovnik

My room in Orebic

Orebić is the town that I am staying. It is located on a peninsula of the southern Croatian coast and has grape vineyards and lots of olive trees. I have rented a one bedroom apartment on the top floor of this house. The view from the front balcony is of the sea and from the back balcony it is of the mountains. Although it is quite hot here, the mountain air makes the nights really cool and for the past few days it has been really windy.

Most days start with fruit from the market (plums, apricots, nectarines), a morning swim, a walk, lunch, a nap, another walk, coffee (turkish style: small and strong), another swim, dinner and then sleep. The other guests in this house are from Vienna. I have befriended a woman and her 9 year old son. Irina is a surgeon and has come to Orebić for the past 5 years. For the summer months, most of the coast transforms into a tourist destination for Croatians that live inland, as well as for Bosnians, Germans, Italians, Czech… Menus are written in at least 5 languages.

The island of Korčula is a just a 15 minute ferry away and is thought to be the birthplace of Maco Polo. This is something that they are quite proud of and so most restaurants, hotels, and tour companies are called Marco Polo something something…

Took a bus to Dubrovnik yesterday with Irina and her son. The town is located on the southern tip of the coast. After a windy 2.5 hour bus ride, our first stop was to pee at the Hilton. Using 5 star hotels for their facilities has always been a saviour. The main attraction of Dubrovnik is Stari Grad (old town) where you can walk up on this wall and get a great view of the sea and city. The weather was perfect. Prices are so high during the peak tourists months – a small bottle of water was $6!

Fruit stall in the market

Grocery store chain

Dubrovnik – view from the wall

No bikinis, no ice cream on the bus!

Ekram (the owner of this house) bbq-ing veal for dinner.

With Mariana from Vienna and her daughter Appolonia

My room in Orebic

Split

Took an easyjet flight from London to Split. Conked out as soon as I got on board as I had been at the airport all night to make my 5am flight out. Woke up to see Croatia from the air and saw how beautiful the Adriatic sea looked. The fact that I am going to be traveling for the next 7 weeks finally hit me.

By then end of this trip I hope to master the 24 hour clock as it always throws me off. As well as be able to figure out what time it is in Vancouver quickly without having to use my fingers to count backwards.

Anyways, after landing I took a bus into the city, and tried to call Marjan, a fellow I was put in touch with (thanks Dan!). His phone number starts off with 922, and so I dialed the number I had written down and got through to the Police. Dialed again and same thing. I finally had to ask someone and they said to add a zero before the number as calling without it is the emergency police number like 911. Oops.

I got a SIM card and so now have a working mobile phone. Was able to text home to say I am safe. Here is my number: +385 099 722 8320. I am 9 hours ahead of Vancouver.

The bus dropped me off at the port right next to the sea. It was 11am and probably 35 degrees. Definitely a big change from the weather in London. The boardwalk is all white. White marble like floors, white benches, white lamposts. Without sunglasses it was really blinding. But the effect was cool as it looked so unique. The area was full of tourists. I walked around with my heavy backpack. Found a restaurant that had the sitting area underground and so went there to cool off from the sun. Looked at the menu excited about my first meal in Croatia. Here were some of my options:

- Fish broth dalmatian style
- Mussels in buzarra sauce
- Musk octopus salad
- Grilled marinated sardines
- Fried beef cutlet
- Spaghetti bolognese

Knowing the Russian that I do has been really helpful. I can pronounce Croatian words better and have a pretty good idea of what people are saying when they speak to me. If I was listening to a conversation between two people, I would probably understand only 25% but it helps me to feel more confident being in a new place. There are actually quite a few Russian tourists here.

Marjan picked me up when he finished work around 5pm in his convertible BMW. Took me to his family’s house (which he warned me was a mess as his mum has been out of town for a few weeks and things had gotten a bit out of hand…) His dog Bella was so excited to see us. Marjan’s girlfriend Maya came and the two of us went to the beach for a bit. She is a professional piano player. So cool. We had really yummy pizza for dinner (I guess the love of pizza runs in the family hey Dan!?)

I am writing on a Croatian keyboard and a few letters are in different places and it has all the accents: šđčćž Takes a bit of getting used to.

I am off to Korčula today and onwards to Orebić where I will stay for the next two weeks. Orebić will be my base where I will stay with a Bosnian couple who live in Vancouver but come to Croatia during the summer for holidays. They have a house where they live in one side and rent out the other. It is near Dubrovnik which is a major tourist destination.

the white boardwalk

an alley in the city centre

spiderman towel

underground restaurant

beach at night

Mind the Gap

Observations about London:

- Rainy! Windy! Dusty!
- If you expect to buy anything (even a bottle of water), forget doing the pound to dollar conversion otherwise you will never buy anything.
- Much stronger recycling commitment with bins everywhere and containers for food and such all mention that they are from recycled material and that when done, to please recycle.
- Restaurants all have separate eat-in and takeaway prices
- Everyone reads those free newspapers on the tube and then just leaves on the train when they are done, so they pile up fast
- Fun being on the tube but sometimes confusing as lines are often closed due to various reasons and you get diverted.
- Most people have a washer but no dryer, so you hang your clothes all over the house to dry

I had a good few days out. Went to the Tate Modern museum (all museums are free). Went on a hunt to find some Bansky graffiti art. Most have been buffed, or painted over, but I did manage to find one. Had good lebanese food near Marble Arch. Walked by Tony Blair’s house.

I have a few days in London at the end of my trip so will attempt to do some of the more obvious sightseeing then.