Back home
I've been in the states for about 40 hours now, but still working my way home – currently on the train from CT to Providence. Man, these trains are pathetic. We're chugging along at like 50mph and bouncing all over the place – the trains in Europe were rolling at like 150 and it was hard to tell you were even moving. As some of you know I sold my car before I left - I'm really going to try and not get another car, but I'm not optimistic. I guess it really depends on what I end up doing for work, or more importantly where I end up.
So what did I get out of the trip? I don't know exactly and I didn't really expect to right away, if ever. I guess I'm OK with that. I know my experiences over the past 3 months have changed me, not dramatically, but I am a different person. I do know that I have a better idea of what I want out of life. I have a better concept of the important things in life such as family and friends and the things that don't matter as much, such as money.
This trip has reinforced my passion for alternative energy. Our country has oil addiction, myself included, and I want to be part of the solution. I'm fortunate that my parents are going to let me stay with them for a little, that gives me some extra time to try and find a job that will let me be part of the solution.
So I guess this is good bye. I don't have a normal blog as my life is usually pretty boring. But, I like this traveling thing and I got a pretty long list of other places I want to visit (Northern Europe and New Zealand are at the top of that list) so perhaps I'll open up another blog down the road. Until then thanks for tuning in and good bye.
Berlin, Germany
Berlin was our final stop on the trip. Joe has family staying outside of the city so we got a place to stay. The first day we intended to do the Intro to Berlin walking tour but it was pouring. Instead we went on a concentration camp tour which came with promises of spending more time indoors.
We headed out of the city to a concentration camp called Sechsenheussen with our tour guide. This camp was primarily a work camp, as opposed to a death camp, but as with any concentration camp a ridiculous number of killings still happened here. This camp was unique in that it acted as a model for all other camps - if the Nazis wanted to try out a new bunker arrangement or a new guard tower they tried it out here first and modeled the other camps after it.
The weather, although miserable, really made the experience more meaningful. It was like 35degrees, down pouring and 40mph winds... we were freezing after about 30min in our goretex rain jackets, polar fleeces and wool hats - I can't imagine working 10 hours a day with the kind of clothing they were provided.
The good weather returned on the second day and we took the walking tour, I wish we looked up these types of tours in the other cities we went to (www.neweurope.com). They provide a brief history of the city, an overview of the big attractions, some funny stories and an opportunity to meet other travelers.
Here is some of the Berlin wall:
And the Holocaust memorial:
When the tour is done you'll have a good idea of what attractions you want to spend more time at and which attractions just aren't worth wasting your time or money on. We chose to check out the Pengamon Museum, the site of the SS Headquarters, the Parliament building, and the DB Bank – which houses a giant wale in it's foyer designed by Frank Ghery (that was for my mom).
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich was a convenient half way point between Rome and Berlin so we decided to spend a few days there, but not too many because Switzerland is EXPENSIVE. We arrived without doing any research at all, not even a place to stay, and once again McDonald's came to the rescue. As much as I hate McDonalds (beside Chipotle) it is one of the few places in Europe that provides free rest rooms and more crucial, free WiFi. We found the cheapest hostel in the area which was $45 each per a night, but it had a nice location right downtown. The first day we spent walking around Zurich about 4 times – Zurich is tiny!
So the 2nd day we had to find something else to do and headed towards the Alps! This time the weather did not cooperate and we decided not to waste our money on board rentals. We ended up spending the day walking up the hiking trails that went all over the mountain. We made the most out of a pretty crappy day and actually had a really good time. Frisbee sledding is awesome!
Rome, Italy
Geeze where to start?
Rome was pretty insane, even though I got a good rest last night I'm still just exhausted from the past 5 days of non stop fun in Rome. We were staying at a Hostel this time around which was a much different experience than staying with friends. Our typical day was similar to Paris, in that we saw all the sites, but once the evening came it was a totally different experience. We met like minded people from all over the world basically just doing the same thing as us. Joe is just amazing at talking to strangers so he ensured that we met everyone else staying at the Hostel. Usually the 'socializing' would move from the local bar to bars all over Rome as the evening went on. Often we didn't get back to the Hostel until 3 or 4 in the morning.
All the sites we saw were very impressive – everything is SO OLD and big. But a few things stood out for me:
The Colosseum is just incredible. It's obviously huge and an engineering marvel of it's time but just thinking about what went on there and how many lives were lost (2 million over the 400 years it was used) in the name of entertainment is just mind boggling.
The Sistine chapel was pretty incredible too. I'm planning on taking a longer gaze at the paintings online because my neck started hurting too quickly there. I hope you appreciate this picture because I got yelled at for it.
The Trevi fountain, which we saw on the night bar crawl / tour, impressed me in that it was built by some rich guy with tons of money who just wanted to show off his wealth:
As I said, there were some other really impressive sites but those three stood out for me.
I froze the comments... I think I lost some though: