Best of my 2009 European Trip: A Retrospective.

Since tonight is the Oscars, where people in the film industry pat themselves on the back (some of the time deservedly), I'm going to pat myself on the back for categorizing parts of my trip around Europe. Because I've been told that going to all these places makes me "Better Than You", I shall include my "Better Than You" pictures, just as a reminder. My apologies in advance for the obnoxiousness of this entry.

Best Place to Not Include On the List:

Prague. I love the city waaaay too much to try to compare it, because my experience with Prague is more of a home base type of place, rather than a place I visit. While I know I live in Pisek, Prague is like Huntington, WV to me. It's a home away from home... away from home. It's beautiful, intriguing, and easy to get lost in. Kafka was right when he said that it had claws. It brings you back.

Best Painful One-Upping of the US:

London's West End puts Broadway to shame. And I'm a huge fan of New York City and Broadway, so you can imagine how difficult it is for me to admit to this. London has a lot of things, but once you get into the West End, you can feel a difference. When a show runs for a long time on Broadway, that means ten years. And you can usually feel the age. Dad and I saw the longest running play of all time (over fifty years), and it was as interesting and energetic as anything I've seen on stage in its opening year.

Best Gothic Church:

Like I'm going to say anything but Notre Dame here. Going in on Christmas during a service made it extra-cool. With all the places I've been, I'm a bit fatigued of all the churches and art museums I've seen, but let's face it: it shouldn't get better than this. As cool as St. Peter's is, I think I still would prefer this place.

Best Birthday Location for My Father:

When Dad and I booked our tour, we were least excited about the Swiss Alps. Nothing against neutrality in high places, but London, Paris, and Amsterdam were on the tour! Luckily, we were proven quite wrong. We went to the Top of Europe (hands at the ready) on his birthday. There's nothing quite like it.
Bonus: I got to see the Alps again, on a plane from Mallorca, Spain to Copenhagen, Denmark, and when I was in Salzburg, they were right there too. But seeing them from the top or from above is incredible. When I was able to view them from the plane, there were no clouds, and the moonlight reflected off the snow. No matter what, I couldn't get a good picture.

The Best Place I'll Never Remember:

Everyone expects this one to be Amsterdam, for some reason, but no. I was really sick when our tour took us to Boppard en Rhein in Germany, so this is about all I saw of it before sleeping through dinner until the morning. Luckily, this allowed me to recover for the rest of the trip.

Most Indulgent:

Uh, duh. This is where Amsterdam fits the list. If you're into art, they've got a lot of that. If you're into parties, they have more than enough of that. Beer? They have that covered. Coffee? Theoretically, I think they have that too. The Red Light District? Yes. Plants that you couldn't grow in the US without a medical excuse in only certain states available in shops? Yeah, I hear they have that too. Oh, and fireworks? To the point where you don't wonder if anyone got hurt, but only how you didn't get hurt on New Year's Night? Yes, most definitely.

But don't even think about jaywalking. They have some serious laws about that in Amsterdam.

Best Random "Better Than You" Picture from London (That I could find):

This one, at the Tower of London.

Best Irish History Tour:

Old Kilmainham Jail in Dublin shows you the dark and darker side of Ireland's struggle for independence. Seeing the site of several executions just reminds you of what kinds of sacrifices have been made in the quest for freedom.

Best Art Museum Disguised as a City:

Barcelona. What a beautiful place, with more than enough culture to cover the rest of Europe. Barcelona has a little bit of everything everywhere. And Gaudi's stuff is easy to find. Just look around. Anywhere.

Best Park:

Parque de Buen Retiro in Madrid was charming. However, there are a few slippery hills that, when it snows, you might fall, and you might not be able to stand up without crawling up the hill. And it's just crowded enough that everybody stares. It was kind of awkward... one might imagine.

Most Unique Place in the World:
Christiania, in Copenhagen, is hard to believe. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures. You could call it more indulgent than Amsterdam, but it wouldn't promote itself like that. It's a small section of the town that considers itself independent, and is self-governing for the most part. Originally set up for low-cost housing to support the art community, this Bohemian paradise just kind of exists on its own plane of reality. Just a few blocks away and you're back in normal Copenhagen, where the rules of society apply.

Best Place to Barely Scratch the Surface:

I know that I have to go back to Istanbul, because I feel like it would take years to fully understand just how much has gone on and is going on in that city. But the brief time I spent in Turkey was enough to tantalize me into trying to figure out some way to return. The Underground Cistern, the Hagia Sofia, the Grand Bazaar, and the Blue Mosque were unlike anything I've ever seen. I have to see more. Luckily, I know a few people there.

Best Place to Take "I'm Better Than You" Pictures:

Greece. Everything is photogenic in Greece. The weather is perfect. The history is great. The mythology is rich. And that picture was taken in January. Greece is another place where I know I've barely scratched the surface.

Best Random Placement of Ancient Building:

I like random, and Rome has a lot of randomness. Walking around the corner and finding The Pantheon in an area that doesn't feel ancient at all is about as random as it gets. I still love that building, and I can't believe how well kept it is for being 2000 years old.

Best Hostel (Also, Most Random Place to Make Friends):

Florence has a lot of art and history, but by the time I got there, I was arted and historied out. On the other hand, that was easily the best hostel I stayed at (Sorry, Munich. I loved that one a lot too). And that's where I made a good number of friends (I made a lot in Munich too). But for something like 20 euros a night, you get a bed, free internet (unlimited, including wifi), breakfast (made to order, so it's warm), dinner (pasta or pizza, every day except Saturday), and a free walking tour of the city (two different ones, so you can do more than one while you're there). This group of people, pictured above, were such cool folks that we met up again in Venice. I later also ran into another guy from this hostel in another great hostel in Munich.

Most Beautiful Place in the Universe:

Venice. Yes, there's graffiti. But unlike New Jersey, it works here. Yes, it's sinking. So get there fast. Yes, it's expensive. No, there isn't much to do that you can't do anywhere else. But out of the places I went to in Italy, this is where I fell in love with the country. It's one of those cities where you want to get lost. There's not an ugly spot in the city, and it even makes pigeons feel like something new.

Most Musical:

Salzburg, duh. Mozart and the Von Trappes cover it all. And it's so freaking cold, what else are they going to do but make masterpieces? Austria's such a cool place anyways, and I just happened to catch Salzburg at the right time. This was one of the cities that several people recommended to me before I left for Europe. It's pretty classical, don't you think? (I know, that's the worst joke ever. I apologize.)

Best Free Tour:

Munich had a free walking tour advertised at my hostel, and it kind of covered everything. It took me inside the church I wanted to go into. It showed me where the most historical things in Munich happened. It told me several stories about the place I would have never heard otherwise. And it showed me a decent place to have lunch afterwards. I know it's a fairly touristy thing to do, but when you only have a few days in a city, you'll think like a tourist for some reason. It gave me a bit of a historical perspective on the place.

When we last met our hero...

When I last updated, I was in the artsy world of Madrid. Nowadays I'm in Athens, but I shall retrace my journey a bit, with pictures.

I'll start with Barcelona, even though I've talked about that a bit, because I need to post some pictures from there. It's a beautiful city, very lively with art and what not. The most interesting part is probably La Rambla, which is the main shopping/cultural street. You can find anything there that you'd find in Barcelona, including live animals.

I've already gone into detail about the art I've seen lately, but the most unique work of art in Barcelona was Gaudi's Parc Guell. It was full of really random things.

Anyways, as I said I took the AVE train to Madrid after a few days of Barcelona beauty, and I got to see the beautiful Spanish countryside.

Madrid is a different kind of city from Barcelona. It's more like London. There are lots of things to do in Madrid, but it's less about the character and more about the power of the place. I had a great time there, but it's less unique. However, unlike in Barcelona, they actually speak Spanish (Barcelona speaks Catalan, which is quite different) and I was able to manage a lot more there.

The first places I went to were the Botanical Gardens and El Prado. Since I've already discussed El Prado, I'll describe the Botanical Gardens a bit. In spite of the cold, and in spite of the fact that it was a day away from snow, most of the garden was green. I know they were mostly evergreens, but it was kind of beautiful.

I know the picture's crooked, but you get the idea.

The other main photogenic area of Madrid that I got pictures from was Parque de Buen Retiro, a beautiful and gigantic park near the museums. Everything in Madrid is rather close together; it's nice. But yeah, the first time I went to this park (I went twice, it was too pretty), it was snowing. And it snowed a lot. The entire park was covered in a layer of snow/ice/sleet that was extremely slippery. And I went twice.

Like I said, the park was lovely. Madrid was a very nice place. Spain in general was awesome. The food, the culture, everything.

After Spain, I took a flight from Madrid to Mallorca, and then a flight from Mallorca to Copenhagen, where my friend Eirik lives. I've always wanted to go to Scandinavia, and Denmark was a fantastic start.

Most of the places I've been to like to overwhelm you, but Copenhagen's not that kind of a city. It's large, it's beautiful, and it's cold, but it's got a great charm. The town within a town, Christiania, is still the most unique place I've ever been. It's a society independent of society. Unfortunately, this counter-counter-counter-culture area doesn't allow photography. Instead, I'll show you what everyone goes to Copenhagen to see:

Yes, she's there. Although she's not easy to find. Eirik gave me some directions to it and I found the general area, but it took me about 40 minutes to find that tiny statue. Still, it's a very peaceful place.

After seeing Eirik in Copenhagen, I flew to Istanbul to meet up with my former roommate, Vefik. Vefik lives in Ankara, but he encouraged me to meet him in Istanbul. Turkey is another world for me. It's easily the furthest from home I've ever been. Hell, most of it's in Asia, which is completely foreign (relatively speaking, I'm the true foreigner wherever I am) to me. But yeah, Istanbul is awesome.

We stayed near Taksim Square, one of the major hubs of the gigantic city. It's huge, and usually quite crowded. Istanbul in general can be described by that sentence. Take, for instance, the Blue Mosque.

It's from the 1500s, and it's so different from the rest of Europe in that it's a MOSQUE. But yeah, the architecture in Istanbul comes from all over. It's one of the oldest cities of all time (used to be Constantinople), and a lot of its architecture predates that of Europe. For instance, the Hagia Sophia:

This building was originally a church, before churches were supposed to look like cathedrals. It's older than most West Virginians (I said MOST). When the Ottomans took over, they painted over all the Christian images and turned it into a mosque, and most Turkish mosques are modeled after this one. When Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, secularized the country, he turned it into a museum. They recovered some of the ancient Christian art (the paint preserved it quite well), so half of it's a mosque and half of it's a church. It's insane.

We also did the Basilica Cistern, which was a beautiful underground water reservoir. It had an old statue of Medusa. The place in general was creepy as hell. Vefik was really creeped out by it. We also had a lot of really good Turkish food, and for an hour or so we went to the Asian side of the city. Oh, and the Grand Bazaar was ridiculous.

(not in Asia)

But yeah, with Copenhagen and Istanbul I had great people with me. Vefik and Eirik are incredible awesome for all the help they gave me. It's been so weird travelling by myself, and they made it awesome while they were with me.

And so after getting used to having a travel companion, I set off to do Greece on my own. Given all that's been going on here lately, I was a little bit nervous about being in Athens alone. But as long as you stay in the tourism areas, it's fairly safe. I'm still being very careful.

After the awesomeness of Turkey, I wondered what their Greek rivals would have for me. The answer: more awesomeness (I'm a great wordsmith, I know).

Yesterday, I attempted to go to the Acropolis (and the Parthenon and all that), but they recommended that I come back today because it was free. So I walked up the Hill of the Muses instead.

Today I went to the Acropolis, the Parthenon, Ancient Agora, the Temple of Zeus (and other ancient things in the vicinity) and then the old Olympic Stadium used in the 1896 Olympics.

The Parthenon is being reconstructed again, so there was a lot of scaffolding around. The museum was also not reopened yet. Still, it was amazing.

This was in Ancient Agora. It was built sometime around 400 BC, and it's one of the best preserved temples of its kind. It's for Hephaistos.

This is the Hadrian Arch, which was built as a border for Athens. Now it's in the middle of a modern looking street.

I'm a big mythology buff, so this place brought a lot of that back. When I was in Junior High, I loved reading the Iliad and the Odyssey. Seeing where those gods were actually celebrated is unbelievably freaking cool.

The highlight for some reason was the Temple of Zeus. I was able to get this picture by asking some German tourists. That's the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, with the Parthenon on the hill behind it and the Hadrian Arch slightly hidden.

After all the mythology, I headed over to another side of town taking the train to the site of the first modern olympics. It's a still functioning stadium, and although I'm not a sports fan, I can appreciate it. The only thing that's weird about it is that there's nothing there. No museum that I could find, just a few statues.

So yeah, this has obviously been an amazing trip so far. One more full day in Greece, and then I move on.