timeout in Europe (June and July 2011)

It feels like yesterday when I got back to Milford after 2.5 years of absence and travelling Australia and Canada. And yet, it was last October. 10 months and an eventful summer season have passed and I have been away on a holiday in Europe for a little over 5 weeks. I have spent time with my family and more important, with my gorgeous nephew, have travelled to London, Amsterdam, Rome and Paris and have done several day trips in Germany with my parents, too.

I have been to London twice before and I always love coming back to this wonderful city with all its history, busy locals, crazy traffic and tourists en masse. 3 days and nights I enjoyed the sightseeing, walked my feet silly, observed random people in the underground trains (a very interesting thing to do do pass some time!) and asked myself how London will cope with even more tourists and spectators during the Summer Olympics next year. Truth to be told, although I am quite used to a city being packed with people, I have a feeling that London will be worse than Vancouver, just for the fact that the Summer Olympics are much bigger than the Winter Games. I am still quite jealous though not to be part of the Summer Olympics, especially since a few of my former workmates from Vancouver are now part of the London Organizing Team. But I can't have it all. Good luck to London and I hope (and I am quite confident) that you can pull it off! One of the things I hadn't done before on my previous London trips was a visit to Windsor Castle outside of London. I took the train and enjoyed leaving the busy city behind me. There were still heaps of tourists of course but by far not as many as in London and so it was a good timeout.

One of my London highlights was catching up with my friend Catherine, who I worked with in Vancouver for VANOC and we have also travelled to the Canadian Rockies together. When you travel around as much as I do, it is always great, seeing your old friends because goodbyes at most times are for good, which is one of the sad parts of an unsettled life like mine.

Amsterdam was my next destination and I only spend 2 nights in this extraordinary city. My old Fraserway buddies Diane and Emilie gave me a surprising welcome at the airport and took me into town. I don't think they realized but that was the best thing they could have done for me. Except for when I am flying home, nobody ever picks me up from the airport and so it is comforting to know this time you don't have to worry about how to get into town and to your accommodation. Just sit back, relax and talk about the good old times in Vancouver. Time was precious and so we did as much sightseeing as we could on that same day of my arrival. We went on a boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam (best way to explore Amsterdam!), went for delicious dinner in a Spanish tapas bar and afterwards headed to the famous Anne Frank House, where Anne and her family where hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Although very interesting to see, the tour was rather painful because there were far too many people. Like a duck family we all walked in line behind each other, from room to room, throwing a glance at the exhibition items before following the others into the next room. There was no time to just stop and reflect on what you were seeing at that particular moment. The house was done up nicely although no furniture was to be seen. That had been Anne Frank's dad request when he approved the museum. The book shelf was there though, that used to hide the steep staircase up to the Annex. We climbed the stairs and it's a good reminder of the way those houses in Amsterdam are built. Very slim and high and most times the stairs are too narrow to get any bulky items up the stairs.

On the second day we caught up with Agnes, another friend from Vancouver, who had come all the way from further outside Amsterdam to have dinner with us. It was great seeing her too and I am more than grateful that she made all that effort to see me! Dankjewel Agnes!

Third stop was Rome and I was particularly looking forward to visiting the Italian capital due to its rich history and famous sights. When I first arrived in Rome, I struggled getting my bearings since it was so much bigger than Amsterdam (and yet, so much smaller than London or Paris). When I went for a walk first, I got lost and stumbled across one of the papal churches only by accident. For the second and third day I bought a ticket for one of the many open bus tours and that helped the whole sightseeing thing a lot. Just hop on the bus and decide where you want to get off. The weather was great and my tan must have improved by 200% during those days although I am not really a fan of heat and sweating all day. But better still than the winter temperatures in New Zealand. If you think London is filled with tourists, than think again. Rome is overcrowded with tourists to an extend that it becomes frustrating and annoying especially when you have to line up for hours to see the Colosseum or the Vatican. As mentioned before, it was hot and there is hardly any shade that could protect you from the merciless sun. My advice to any Rome visitors; whenever possible try to purchase your tickets in advance (sometimes possible by buying tickets at other attractions) or try to go with a group. There is always an extra line up for pre-purchased tickets, Rome card holders and groups and those queues are usually pretty short. My biggest disappointment was the Sistine Chapel. To be honest due to time restraints I travelled as a philistine, not taking much time for art or museums and that’s the reason why it pissed me off having to walk through the Vatican Museum for hours, in line with what felt like ten thousand of other tourists, going to see every single painting and statue in the museum when all I wanted was to see the Sistine Chapel with the famous fresco of Michelangelo. I had another frustrating moment at the sight of the famous Trevi Fountain with literally hundreds of people in front of it, ruining every shot. I took three shots and left, not even taking in this masterpiece of a fountain! I was also very close to losing my temper with the many intrusive street vendors trying to sell hats, sun umbrellas, silk scarfs and other useless stuff. No matter how many times you have said no to them, there was always another vendor just seconds away who offered you the exact same stuff. And single blond women work as magnets for those street vendors, trust me!

My trip was nearing its end but I still had one destination to go: Paris! Far too late I realized that I had not planned enough time for Paris and so had to skip the trip to Versailles as this would have been too crazy time wise. I arrived in Paris late due to my flight leaving late and then the train from the airport to the city had problems too. I don’t even know what happened to the train since I didn’t understand the French announcement. Welcome to France! The same day of my arrival I ventured out to take some night shots and I ended up at the Eifel Tower. Quite impressive that tower! For my only day in Paris I bought a ticket for an open bus tour, expecting a timesaving and effective sightseeing program (as we Germans do). But I didn’t take into account the inability of the French to organize something as easy as selling bus tickets. Everywhere I have been so far, there are heaps of street vendors, selling those tickets on the street in order to make the whole jump on the bus process quick and easy. Well, not in Paris. The only way to buy your ticket is on the bus and when you take the first bus in the morning, you spend at least 10-15 minutes at every stop, waiting for all those tourists to buy their tickets as they get on. After more than an hour and having seen not even half of the tour, I decided to leave the bus, and explore Paris on foot. I walked down to the Louvre, which is an impressive building! Unfortunately again, I didn’t have time for the inside and took pictures only. Later that day I came back for some great night shots. Montmartre and Sacre- Coeur where bustling with people as well and those idiots decided to sit on the stairs infront of the church, which made it nearly impossible for other people to get through. Well done! I always said, tourists are stupid and brainless and this trip has done nothing to change my opinion.

I wouldn’t have thought that flights from Paris are so expensive but getting back to Germany on a plane was out of question. Instead I took the train and travelled on the fast ICE most times. The German railway services surprised me with on-board-service from Paris to Frankfurt and a train attendant’s toe-curling English that made me shiver. When I got home I needed a few days to recover from the tight schedule and enjoyed some time with my parents. I also caught up with a few friends from school, that I hadn’t seen for many years and the day that I flew out again we also visited my brother and his family again so I had the chance to say goodbye to my nephew Henry. That little fella will be missed dearly and I wish I could spend more time with him. But then again, I can’t have it all, that’s life.

So, there it is, dunno why it took me so long but I guess I just needed to sit down and think about what I was going to say.

Have a good one,

Katja