Sexy Smoke Party

Unsure of where I was to go after Switzerland, I pulled the trigger Friday night to fly back to England in the morning. The first person I met in Europe, Nick, landed a contract to work in India for 12 months with a departure in two weeks. Not sure if I would find myself on that end of the world by then and knowing I wouldn't be around the UK for awhile, it seemed like an easy choice. The first day/night was awesome, but Nick put me to work the rest of the week fixing up his flat before he left so he could rent it out. Can you believe that guy...? I'm such a good friend.

So, Friday night was Nick's first leaving party. That's right, he had a couple that required his presence. This was with his friends and proved to be quite a night of activities. It was supposed to be a themed party (Hollywood I think) but Nick failed to include me on that memo. So, 30 minutes before the party was supposed to begin I whipped up my best George Clooney impression (apparently some people think I should have gone Clive Owen). You'll have to let me know how it worked out when you see the photos. As those of you who know me can attest, when Jaeger hits the bar, great ideas manifest that turn out to be entirely regretted or heralded for decades. Let it be known that this was the latter and what is now known as the Sexy Smoke Party exists in our memory. I think there is a pic floating around that encapsulates the greatness of such an event, maybe a few. No words can describe the amount of fun Alex, Nick, Myself, and really everybody that was involved had this night. The only thing that seemed to be missing was... Well damn, I can't think of anything! We celebrated the departure of Nick in style, buen viaje amigo! Immediately followed by a Sunday roast English style the next afternoon, hmmmm!

A few days later, there was a respectable leaving party with Nick's family and some other of his really great friends. I met Nick's parents earlier in the week, but I was starting to get to know them a bit better and I gotta tell you, mad respect for them. They are both super creative and I've never met anyone that not only knows more about music, but also has lived the experiences (and still does) than his dad. I believe they will be visiting him in India at some point so he won't have to go an entire year without seeing them, but it's still going to be a long time with only one visit. I feel ya on this one dude...

The rest of my time was spent hanging out with Nick and working on his flat with his dad. Not much to share with all of you about the exchanges we had over a beer or a cup of tea depending on what time it was, but it was a good week for me! I was heading to Wales (sustainable living baby!) to meet up with my mate Alex before heading back to France. I found it difficult to say bye. Nick's become a good friend and the extra 5 minutes that I stayed, and had to make up by literally running for the train, were worth it.

Photo Album

Land of Cheese and... Banks?

Well, I arrived in Switzerland on time and ready for the day, even if I was a bit tired. Plus, I saved 50 euros by taking the train from Ravensburg instead of Munich. All that hassle and Amy's flight was about 2 hours late! It's okay though because it gave me some extra time to relax and refresh. And for the life of me, I could not figure out where an ungodly odor was coming from that seemed to be following me. It wasn't until Amy arrived that we pinned it down. It always helps to have an external olfactory gland. Turns out, my shoes (thankfully not me) were ghastly that day. She was really nice about it and claimed she couldn't smell anything for the first 10 minutes and I kept pestering by telling her she had to be sick because there was absolutely an odor. I set my bag down while we organized the hired car (yes, I abandoned the vagabond status for about 10 days...) and it seemed as if the odor disappeared. It was at this point Amy admitted that she could in fact smell it before and was thankful that it was my shoes and not the person she would have to spend 10 days around. She just didn't want to offend me. It was so bad people that I even contemplated throwing them away right then and there. Pee-yew!

I could rehash the ins and outs of the trip but that wouldn't be very entertaining so I'm going to tell you about some of the cool things we did. First of all, my favorite city that we visited was definitely Bern. Perhaps it was because my friend Alice (met her in Ireland) showed us around, but I just think it was slightly different from the rest of the country. Zurich is too much business, Interlaken has too many tourists, my grandparents would live in Lucerne, and Lausanne was near the end of our trip and I was really burned out to thoroughly enjoy it. They were all definitely beautiful though. Bern has that mix of the spectrum: young and old, modern and antique, big but small, etc. We spent the day seeing some sights but also taking in some of the sunshine by just lounging in a park for lunch. To top the day off, we went up to the university quad which overlooks the city and had a beer as the sky went dark. Thanks for showing us around Alice!

Secondly, a day trip to Liechtenstein is totally worth it. As small as you believe the country is, I am telling you right now that it is smaller. Before the GPS could calculate directions from Vaduz to Schaan we were there. The country is really beautiful though and we were lucky to have great weather. It also happened to be a festival day in Schaan. Now this isn't anything like Times Square for New Year's but the town was bumping. For the drive back, we decided to take a different route where the weather was a bit less friendly. We ended up going through the Alps and several small little Alp towns though so it was worth it.

Thirdly, Switzerland is expensive. Even though the SWF is about equal to the USD, things just cost more. When you're traveling with a certain budget in mind, going to Switzerland should not be on your list of countries to save money in. Besides, you really don't want to skimp on the trip there. It really is worth a visit though. I could easily have spent way more than we did but thankfully Amy didn't push going out to eat at every meal :p She claims to have enjoyed it, and I'm sure she did, but let's hope she wasn't just being nice. I will say that traveling with me isn't your typical rodeo. I'm not exactly the guidebook kind of guy.

Finally, getting to see a friend from back home was an especially nice treat. Since September 2010, I had not seen anyone from California. That's a long time people. Let alone getting to spend each waking moment with them. Well, to be fair I went on a run or two in Interlaken for some alone time. A guys gotta have some time to think to himself! My favorite moments in the trip were chatting over a meal or beers catching up and hearing about life back home. Well, we did get stuck out in the rain while in Lucerne, which was hilarious.

I've sent Amy an email as well to see if she wants to post a story as a guest writer since she was there too. We'll see what she says. Until then, the pictures are pretty good and describe this part of my trip better.

Photo Album

Hitch Hiking Hiccup

Of all the countries I have been to in Europe, I did not expect to have trouble hitching in Germany. To be fair, I never really had trouble, it just seemed disastrous because I was on a deadline to get to Zurich in order to meet my friend, Amy. That deadline was fast approaching and, by all appearances, I was moving laterally to Zurich instead of towards the city. The German transportation system is nearly flawless; my only complaint is the cost per mile. I could (and maybe should) have taken a train to alleviate any stress about meeting Amy, but that just wouldn't be the vagabond style. So, let's get to what actually happened.

I went to the edge of town by local metro to start my day. Once in position, I waited for about an hour with no success. As I observed the traffic patterns (very important to good hitching) it occurred to me that there weren't many cars heading in the direction I wants to go. I decided to walk a bit to see if I could find a more ideal location to stick my thumb out. A few kilometers down the road and everything seemed to be getting farther (in both directions) so I made a move to jump onto the autobahn. Don't worry, I was behind the guardrail and next to a huge SOS point to make myself highly visible and not a bug on some douche who thinks he's Mario Andretti's windshield. I survived, but according to the German police, I should not be on the motorway. Fair point and I'll heed the advice for the future. If you're reading my blog and contemplating traveling by thumb, do not walk on motorways (the popo don't like it). They were very cordial about the whole situation and we had a nice chat for the 25km to the next exit, which was a rest stop. If you're still reading my blog, note that I was able to score a lift to a safe hitching place with the assistance of those great guys in uniform. They even gave me some information on license plate schemes to help me identify cars going to Zurich. That's what I call service! We said our goodbyes and I ate a snack while I was waiting for my next lift.

I was beginning to lose a bit of hope as car after car rolled by and then a truck tooted his horn. I said Zurich and he said &$@/. I said Zurich again with a shitty attempt at a German accent trying to replicate the police when they finally understood that I was going to Zuuur-rich. He waved his hand to welcome me aboard and we were on our way. After some chat in German (no, I don't speak it) and English (no, he didn't speak it) we discovered that he was going through Memmingen and turning north. I would need to turn south. Score, getting closer! You would think all was going well and I had all the time in the world left to make my destination. Yea, me too. This is about where the proverbial shit hit the fan. Not only did we blow through Memmingen after I was somehow convinced by my driver (in German) that where he was going would be better for my journey, but also we were pulled over by the police. It was my second run-in with the boys in blue that day and I wasn't looking forward to being an accomplice on some drug trafficking charge. It turned out to be a routine stop with no problems so there was some good news before some of the bad. About 30 minutes later my new amigo started to slow down and pull towards the shoulder. I suppose it was better than driving into a random field with a freestanding barn as the only structure within eyeshot. Nonetheless, I had no idea where the hell I was and all this guy did was point somewhere. Thanks dude!

I began walking in the direction he told me and not 100 paces from my drop zone did I hit a fork in the road, fml. I turned around in the hopes he still might be there but it looked like the sound of crickets if you could see the bastards. I mentally tossed a coin and took the left fork. The good news was that it turned south. The bad was that I had no idea where. About two hours later and nobody deciding to stop for me, I came across a little town. I walked through and was lucky enough to find a lovely and helpful young lady to ask where the nearest train station was. Definitely over this adventure, or was I? Turns out the two hour walk I made took me away from the nearest station (fml again). The next one was Ravensburg, about an hour by car. This little town had a stop once, but for whatever reason they decided to disconnect this village from the rest of Germany, excellent! I asked her if there was a bus or hostel or something to which her reply was simply no. Any advice lady? Oh yea, your best bet is to just keep walking and stick your thumb out. Cause you know, that was working to my advantage so far in this little section of southwest Germany. I said thank you for the help and have a nice evening. Yes, it was approaching that hour when the sun begins to settle on the horizon and you wonder to yourself if you should kick your own ass for being to cheap to meet a friend. I continued my walk to Zurich while mentally cursing myself, thinking about how the conversation with Amy would go if I made it to the airport, and why of all the times I've had success... Oh, a car!! smile...check! sign...check! get your thumb out there dammit!

When I thought I was absolutely incapable of getting to the Zurich airport, a charitable gesture from a stranger put an authentic smile back on my face. If I thought the truckie couldn't speak English, this ole guy made him look fluent. He was a smart man though. He whipped out his nifty cell phone and called his son. Handing me the phone, I thought for a minute he called an American translator. His son spoke perfect English without even a hint of an accent. We squared away the details of my destination and he told his father. At this point I was still a considerable distance from Zurich and Ravensburg has a train station. I might be stubborn, but I'm not stupid (most of the time). Not only did he go out of his way to drive me to the station, but he also walked me all the way to the platform so that I didn't make a mistake buying the ticket that would take me directly to the Zurich airport, even though all the machines had English prompts. With a simple exchange of handshakes and smiles we parted ways. Upon him turning he said the only English word I heard from him... Goodbye Michael.

* DISCLAIMER: I do not condone, nor am I responsible for, the actions of any other person's based on this story. This was my own personal experience and I can not guarantee that you will not be arrested, fined, and/or deported by the authorities. Happy travels!

Munchener Fruhlingsfest

My arrival to Munich was with smiles and warm weather. My first conversation after being dropped off at the edge of the city was with two teenage boys while we were waiting for the metro. They could obviously tell I was a traveler and as soon as we started talking I could tell they were stoners. No big deal, but it turned out we were both correct. When they found out I was from California, they jumped in excitement because marijuana is legal (medically at least). They proceeded to tell me that they were in fact waiting for there buddy to meet them at the station to deliver them a stash. When the kid arrived, they sprinted off with the excitement of a heroine addict after finding a half used syringe going through withdrawals. The funniest part was the look of the lady on the bench behind us when we boarded the train. Definitely one of those moments you really want a camera to capture the shared hysterics.

I only had a couple days before meeting a friend in Zurich, so, unfortunately, it was only a pit stop in what turned out to be a great city with some pretty awesome people. First up was walking into breakfast with three lovely German girls: Indra, Kat, and Ingrid, to meet my hosts for the weekend. Saturday was an amazing afternoon and while Kat was working (SUCK), the rest of us spent the day around Madrid. Our first stop was an exhibit called MOVE at the Haus der Kunst in which user interaction is the basis for the art on display. Basically, everything was ass backwards from any other museum I've seen. Those don't touch signs aren't posted anywhere in this exhibit, so have at it!

Following this, I was taken to the local surf break. Yea, I was confused too given that Munich is in the south of Germany. Turns out, there is an artificial wave at the Englischer Garten in the Eisbach River. Crazy... I know. After a quick look, we found some ground in the gardens and had lunch. Lots of great conversation and even fended off a weirdo or two. Your welcome Indra! After basking in the sun for a few hours we headed to my first ever German beer garden. Hot damn was I at home. Not to mention, I learned how to pick up girls on the way there... Upon arrival, I grabbed a mars of Hofbrauhaus, a half chicken, and a bretzel. It's your lucky day if you don't know anything about beer gardens. They were created when dark lagers were popular in Bavaria. They needed to be brewed cold so it had to be done in the winter. In order to have enough for the year, they needed a way to store it. Come on people, it was the 1800's, air conditioning didn't exist yet. So, they dug massive cellars and planted chestnut trees above to shade the ground. German engineering... Brilliant!! They eventually started serving beer in these gardens but weren't allowed to sell food because other breweries complained to Ludwig I. He agreed but said people could bring their own food because we all know it's fun to eat while you're drinking. Nowadays, you can buy food in them but they still have to allow you to bring your own. Such great thinking!

The next day, Indra and I were supposed to go hiking but she was afraid to disturb my sleep cycle in the morning. Instead, I went on a tour of the city and met an Aussie called Ben 'burto' Burton. We got along and even had drinks with the tour guide after. A liter here, another there, and 5 later I needed to get back to the girls so I wasn't sleeping (or should I say passed out) on the curb. I have no recollection of my arrival other than walking through the door saying thank you to the lights still being on and good night to all. Indra on the other hand has an entirely different story to share. I think I should have her write about it so I can share that with you. Apparently, it involved swimming on the floor, inappropriate compliments, and constant rehashing of the night's activities. Like I said, I only remember 10 minutes so... The hour plus she tells me about I can't speak to!

I relaxed the next day walking around the city in preparation for a farewell dinner at the house. An excellent finish to the weekend and I missed Munich before I even made it out of the city. Let it be known that this was the dinner in which I listened to the recap of the previous evening...

Photo Album

Writer's Block

It took me awhile to find the motivation to continue blogging alongside my trip. In the past couple weeks, I have been fortunate enough to be reminded that there are people in my life, though at times incognito, interested in my journey. For their encouragement, I will begin my story once more soon...

Though I visited Munich in May 2011, I will share my time and the people I met with you in what is now November 2011; it amazes me that 6 months has passed in what seems like minutes. Even with everything I have done and seen I can remember with great vividness each special moment since the day I embarked on this incredible journey. For those new to the blog, I started this journey in January 2010, though I consider the official start date to the traveling as July 2010.

This was just a thought sharing moment. I will post the continuance of my trip in about a week's time. I am currently walking a section of El Camino de Santiago and will only be checking the world information at the midpoint in Bilbao. I know, I'm cheating by posting this but I felt like sharing.

I post all my blog entries at the time they took place, not when they were written. Thus, I will backdate this to May so it falls between my Trento stop and Munich. Today's date is actually 15 November 2011.

Trento? Never heard of it…

Piazza Duomo with Fontana di Nettuno

The cheapest train ticket from Treviso I could find put me in Trento, Italy. I originally wanted to go to Bolzano (Bozen) but the price was 3x as expensive as I expected. Trento was far enough north that I could hitch easily enough to kill some time in Austria or Germany before heading to Zurich to meet up with a friend from home, Amy. When I arrived at the Trento train station, I looked at ticket prices to other locations further north to make sure I didn’t have any other alternatives but was unhappy with the price of the tickets. If you recall, I had terrible luck trying to hitch through Italy. I decided to try my luck at hitching from this point. As I walked out of the train station, I noticed the weather was absolutely gorgeous. When I started to turn around in a 360, I saw nothing but mountains surrounding the town. I settled my look across the street at a park and a vast map of Trento was displayed. I bounced over to check it out and after glancing at the key, I discovered a youth hostel in town. I was so captivated with the charm of the town, I decided to walk the 2 minutes to the hostel and check their rates. If they were reasonable, I would stay and spend a couple nights. At 14 euro a night, I wasn’t disappointed and decided to book 2 nights. I spent the first day walking up and down the streets looking at the plazas and finding out what there was to do in town from the tourist office. Nobody in the hostel that I met seemed around my age or interested in hanging out. In fact, I think one of the guys was rather glad to see me leave on my last day. That morning, I apparently took too long in the shower and he actually knocked on the door. I spent 17 minutes in the bathroom from shit to shower to exit. I clocked him. He spent 11 minutes just showering…. D-bag! Next time wake up earlier.

Adige River

Anyway, my only full day in town I decided to do some hiking. I had breakfast, did a bit of research on the hiking trails, and then hit the path. I wanted to climb Monte Bondone. I was a bit overzealous, because I had absolutely no idea how long the trail was. I knew the vertical rise was about 2,000m, but the actual distance I couldn’t find on any trail maps. I left Trento on foot and hiked up to Sardagna, which overlooks the town from about 500m above. I continued on but wasn’t making the greatest of time. I only ended up going vertically to about 1200m or so, but with an average incline of 12.5% (According to the posted signs) when I hit 2pm I decided to take a break for lunch and then head back down. I ended up taking the gondola down from Sardagna to take in some 360 views of the valley. Once I arrived back at the hostel, I showered up and went looking for some food. I settled (yea… right…) for pizza since it was my last night in Italy. It was a deliciously greasy “personal” sized pie for my belly to enjoy called the Trentina. I couldn’t tell you what was on it, but damn, was it good.  I enjoyed my time in Italy, but I’m definitely not sad to be setting sail for another country. The next morning I took a 2 euro train to Bolzano and hitched my way to Munich where my CS host was waiting. In the bag!

Panorama of Trento

2011 Europe - Trento

Treviso for the Best Gelato

Inside the Duomo...

I was really thankful to meet up and stay with family. My aunt was on a work transfer from the US for six months and I made it in time to stay with her and my uncle the last week they were in Italy. Since I arrived in Italy, my allergies had been going absolutely crazy and I’m fairly sure Torino made me sick. It was really great timing to be staying in an apartment with family to battle that. Treviso is a cool town north of Venice. I spent most of my time hanging out with my uncle during the days. He showed me around the city, we got lost a few times… even though he had been living there for six months! You can’t fault him though, the roads aren’t on a grid so making a left turn could really be a complete 180 as the street bends back to where you just were (So cool...). I saw a couple sites in Treviso that struck particular attention to not only me, but I think most tourists. The Duomo is obvious as it stands tall in the city and has much history within its walls. Another is the frescas that randomly dot the city walls. It's so cool to be walking down a street, look to a wall that has no real importance and see a little mural to brighten your day. The last is a fountain hidden away nestled back into the side streets of a few shops right in the middle of the city. I found out that the fountain at one time was used to symbolize the changing of the town mayor. When a new mayor is elected, for three days the fountain would pour red and white wine in his honor. That’s so cool!

I told you it was cool!

While in Treviso, I was also able to visit my first Italian beach. We were provided a tip to avoid Jesolo, which is where most of the tourists go, and visit Paneta instead. When we arrived, thanks to some spiffy navigation skills by my aunt, we could tell immediately that there were very little, if any, tourists. There were no rows of umbrellas, no Hawaiian shirts, lots of men in Speedos that shouldn’t be, and some very dark tans.  It was a bit windy, but warm, perfect weather for having a few beers. We spent some time people watching. Of particular interest was a couple at the water’s edge. The female was apparently trying to model for her boyfriend who had a camera. She was prancing around splashing water on herself and jumping about trying to be sexy like a Victoria’s Secret model or something. I’ll have you know that nothing she was doing made her look sexy, quite the opposite in fact. We couldn’t help containing our laughter and I have no doubt it was obvious to those around us.  It was a solid 20 minutes of this behavior from the lass before she went back to her towel. We half expected her to start rolling around in the sand, but she disappointed.

Chillaxin'...

The Italian highlight of my trip was enjoying the gelato experience. Since arriving in Italy, I was eating gelato every single day. It was all very good, or so I thought. My aunt and uncle took me to a gelateria in Treviso called Ill Vecchio. It wasn’t until putting my lips to the taste of their ice cream did I realize what real gelato tasted like. By far the best I think I’ll ever have. They use all organic fruits and milk in their recipes and make it fresh every day. The family that owns it, The Bigazzi’s, is very nice and we struck up a conversation with them the first time I went in. It was hilarious because only their son spoke any English, but we ended up spending 3 hours in the gelateria that night talking. By the end of it, they had been invited to Texas (Where my aunt and uncle live) and we had been invited to a dinner at their house. Apparently, to invite a stranger into your home is extremely rare for an Italian family to do and considered an honor. As such, my aunt was very worried about the tradition and etiquette associated with the invitation. Luckily, we had a trial run with a co-worker of hers that wanted to have a goodbye dinner for her. We asked him all kinds of questions and even did a little research on the internet; it was very serious business. All in all, we probably went completely overboard worrying, but everything turned out very lovely. We managed to make a good connection with The Bigazzi’s and I truly hope to see them again.

The week went by far too quickly and I was sad to see them go. I am grateful to have seen another part of my family in Europe. I’m sure they were getting stir crazy to be back in the States though. I can vouch that six months away from home is a long time. I left mine in July of 2010 to explore the world and I definitely miss the feeling of having a home to call my own.

2011 Europe - Treviso