Amsterdam

The train to Brussels was great. My first class rail pass paid off for this trip. The train was the fastest that I’ve taken and had all the amenities I wanted. I was given a snack which included water, orange juice, cherries and two deserts. It also helped save some money on food. While on the train from Brussels to Amsterdam, I met a couple from Houston, Texas. They were an interesting pair and we shared a first class room on the way.

Amsterdam was an interesting city. Let’s get to it, the Red Light district is worth seeing once. Unlike any place I’ve seen. It had a strong smell of pot in the air, women in windows knocking on the glass to get your attention, many drunken men and women, red lights everywhere and guys looking like pimps trying to get you to come to sex shows. Unfortunately, when your hostel is located right in the middle, it can get old quick. I was staying at a Christian Youth Hostel in the middle of the Red Light district. I wasn’t solicited as much as other Americans and Brits that I saw because I would just keep saying “Nei” (Swiss German) every time they asked if I wanted drugs or if I spoke English. They would immediately leave me alone unlike others, they would continue to irritate.

It was still a great stay. The hostel was a good place and they used passive conversion tactics. It was an even split between those staying for the Christian aspect and those that were just staying at a decent hostel. I had a roommate from Pusan, South Korea named Hae Jin that I hung out with during my stay. He was a nice guy and it’s nice having someone to get lunch with.

I went on a great bike tour that started through the city and traveled to the country side. I was late to the meeting point and had to run about a mile to get there before it was too late. I made it and we were off for the 4 hour tour. We stopped at a farm to see how cheese and wooden shoes were made. The farmer was an odd and interesting guy. After that, we stopped at the oldest windmill in Amsterdam. Near the windmill is a statue of Rembrandt. Rembrandt painted that windmill many times, trying to perfect it for his paintings. He used the windmill in at least 3 of his famous works.

Our bike tour guide continued to ask questions to our group and I continued to answer them. Who liberated Amsterdam in WWII? The Canadians. Where is the only other outdoor Picasso? Chicago. What famous couple stayed in the Amsterdam Hilton on their honeymoon in the 60s? John and Yoko. What was the original name of NYC? New Amsterdam. And others. I’m a dork but that’s ok. The bike tour was a great way to see the city, get exercise and learn some new things for a lot less money than the other tours.

I finished my stay in Amsterdam by going to the Anne Frank House. I read the diary in middle school and I was surprised by how much I remember. Walking through the hidden passage behind the bookcase gave me an eerie feeling. The entire experience was humbling but the best part of my trip to Amsterdam.
Amsterdam

Making wooden shoes

At the Rembrandt statue and old windmill with the bike tour group

And the Red Light District.

Roland Garros - French Open

I went to the French Open on the final Sunday. I did not have tickets to the men’s final but there were things to do and see all day. Tickets for the final were being bought on the street for 1,000 to 2,000 euros. I bought my ticket for 14. I had to get up at 6:30am to be in line by 8am to make sure I could get a ticket to see the final between Nadal and Federer on the big screen in the Court 1 Stadium.

While in line, I met a guy named Ricardo from California and we ended up going to all of the events. It was a good time and talking tennis with someone all day at the French Open was great. I watched the boys final and the Legends doubles finals. The first doubles final was between 4 Frenchmen so the stadium was packed. The second final for 45 years and older featured John McEnroe. It was great to watch McEnroe play for the first time. He and his partner won the match convincingly but the highlight was when he faked an injury.

We watched the men’s final in Court 1 and it was unbelievably hot and sunny for the 4 hours we sat there. The stadium sits just behind the main stadium so above the large screen we were watching the match on, we could see the spectators in the last row watching it live. It was a great experience and the stadium was packed just to watch it on the big screen. The match was great and the first 2 sets took 2 hours to play. It was the best tennis I’ll ever see in my life. The first 3 sets were played how everyone had hoped. It was a real battle. After Nadal looked to be in command in the 4th set I left early to beat the rush. He did win in the fourth, I stopped quickly in a crowded bar down the street to see the final shots.

Roland Garros

Just before the match began. The main stadium is in the background, you can see fans in the last row.

Just inside the gate.

John McEnroe

Normandy, France - D-Day Beaches

I signed up for a day trip to the Normandy beaches. One of the major reasons I wanted to come to Europe was to see the D-Day beaches in person. I had to get up at 6am to catch the appropriate trains and arrive in Bayeux. There were 8 of us in the tour group along with our guide. We took a van to the beaches and our guide drove very fast. Our guide was very big into history and referred to movies like Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and the Longest Day to tell us the real stories.

After an awkward drive out of Bayeux, I introduced myself to the others in the group, who were all Americans, and then everyone introduced themselves and it became a much friendlier bunch and the rest of the trip was more enjoyable. There was a couple from Tucson, Arizona with 2 daughters and a boyfriend. The other 2 were from New York. It had some great conversations with the guide and was able to give more details at some of the stops. My history minor and hours of watching the History Channel came in handy that day.

For our first stop, our guide told us we were going to the moon. It was the point that oversaw both Utah and Omaha beaches. It had been so heavily bombed during the war that none of the earth remained in its natural place. The U.S. rangers had to climb 100 foot cliffs to reach the German pill boxes and entrenchments. The weather forecast had called for overcast skies but while at the point and on the beaches it was sunny and beautiful.

It gave me a weird feeling to stand on Omaha Beach. It was hard to imagine what had happened there over 60 years ago. The loss of life was unimaginable. By noon on D-Day, over 1,000 casualties had occurred on Omaha beach alone. By the end of the day, there were over 2,500 casualties. It was not low tide while I was there but the water was still about 100 yards away from the defenses. When the soldiers landed, at low tide, they were anywhere from 400 to 500 yards away. I can’t even imagine having to make that charge through machine gun fire on a wet beach with all of your gear on, let alone take the enemy position. We saw the point of the first break through and visited the museum.

We spent about an hour in the museum and when we came out, it was about 15 degrees colder with real dense fog. We could no longer see the beach. Luckily, our only stop left was the American cemetery. The fog gave the cemetery a surreal feel as if to focus your attention on the graves and nothing in the distance. I found the grave of one Phelan and was able to visit it. The American cemetery is actual U.S. soil and everything inside was very similar to my visits to Gettysburg or Capitol Hill. The name Saving Private Ryan was chosen because Ryan is the most common name in the cemetery. Miller is the second most common.

My trip to Normandy was unforgettable and it is another reason why this trip was a great decision.
The American Cemetery at Normandy

This is the view from the edge of the water to the defenses on Omaha Beach. It was low tide when our soldiers landed. This picture is about 100-150 yards out, the soldiers landed about 400-500 yards out and had to take these defensive positions charging through machine gun fire. Some German guns began to melt or broke because they were too hot after hours of continual firing.

Defensive position on Omaha Beach.

Pointe du Loc. This was the most heavily bombed area of Normandy. The entire area is covered with craters but I did not lay down in any craters to have my picture taken.

I found the grave of one Phelan at the American Cemetery.

Paris

I stayed in Paris for 5 days.

I had a good time seeing all of the sites around Paris but the maps you get a deceiving. The distances are much greater than they appear. You cannot walk all of Paris it is too big. I talked to some other tourists during my stay and they said the same thing. Some tried to walk from place to place as I did the first day and it takes forever.

I was able to take some good pictures but while setting up my camera for a timed shot, I accidentally knocked my camera case into the Seine River. Who knows where it is now.

Thanks to a great deal on hotwire.com, I stayed in the Paris Hilton-DeGaulle Airport for 2 nights. While in the hotel, I turned on the tv and all the French news stations were covering Paris Hilton going to jail or getting out or who cares. It was strange to be staying in the Paris Hilton and everything on tv was about Paris Hilton.

I was able to spend a day at the Louvre but only saw half. The size of the museum is incredible. You would need a week to see everything. I saw the Mona Lisa and other important works of art. The Mona Lisa was much smaller than I expected. It really is remarkable to see all of these sculptures and paintings that I’ve only seen in books and reproductions.

I took over 100 pictures while in Paris, so I have a lot to share with everyone. Some of my nights pictures are the best including the pyramid at the Louvre and the Arc de Triumph. I did not walk up the Eiffel Tower because the lines were huge. I talked to someone days before at the hostel and they said it took them over 4 hours to go through the line and take the elevators to the top and back down. I think I made the right choice but did walk through and ate lunch in the grass near the tower.

The 5 days in Paris were a lot of fun but extremely expensive. I would compare it to my trip to New York City maybe even more expensive. Even the Hostels were expensive. I’m glad I have 2 weeks in Italy already paid for.

I really like this picture, it took a couple of tries before a good one came out.

Inside the Louvre. I could not take pictures of the French and Italian paintings but I did manage a couple of good shots of other art.

Le Louvre at night.

Notre Dame

Legambiente

I'm in Italy now working as a volunteer for Legambiente. I am living with 22 other volunteers and we work every day on the Festambiente which means the environmental festival. The festival is in Vicenza between Verona and Venice. The festival begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday.

I went to Venice on Sunday and it was a beautiful city. I took pictures but I cannot post at this time. About 10 of us from the camp went and had a great time.

The camp has been a lot of fun and extremely busy. I am the only American in the camp and the only native english speaker. That has added to the enjoyment of the camp. There is one Puerto Rican and 2 Mexicans, other than that, everyone is from either Europe or South Korea. We have to cook have of the food ourselves. Last night, the 2 Russians and 2 Estonians cooked a Russian dinner and it was pretty good. It was nice to eat something other than pasta for a change.

We are living in an old seminary barracks. It's basically a dorm. My roommates are David Camacho, everyone calls him Camacho because its fun to say, from Puerto Rico and Jae and Jake from South Korea. When everyone gets together at night to drink and play some games, Jae insists that we bring my ipod down to listen. I guess they like my American music or it's more universally accepted. Things are going good, I will post pictures when I can. I still have pictures from Paris, Normandy and Amsterdam that need to be posted.

It's not easy to access the internet here so I hope to post again but I am not sure when that will be.

The Alps

Pictures of the Swiss Alps.

The Alps from one of our stops along the way.

I almost forgot the Swiss Alps. Here are some more pics from traveling back to Switzerland from Italy.

And Switzerland again

While in Switzerland, I stayed in Lausanne. Lausanne is on Lake Geneva across from France and about 30 minutes out of Geneva. I also found out that Lausanne is the location of the Olympic headquarters. Next time you are watching Jeopardy, you'll know the answer.
As promised, here are some pictures from Switzerland. This is the sunset over Lake Geneva. My last day there, we went swimming in the lake. It was freezing cold and the entire shore was rocks. It took me a while to build up the nerve to go into the ice cold water but I jumped in quickly but didn't stay in too long. Then a little girl and her dad were playing with a beach ball and it blew into the water. They were not wearing bathing suits so I just went in and retrieved the ball for them but it hurt like hell with the rocks and the cold water. I guess they were surprised because that's not a common thing to do around there and the guy told Gabi I was an extraodinary person for doing something like that. I thought it was an odd comment but it was complimentary.

This is a castle in Montreux, next to Lausanne. I took this picture while at another castle up on the mountain.

A castle on the water, also in Montreux.

This is looking from downtown Lausanne. There are many views similar to this all over.

Downtown Lausanne.

Switzerland was great. It is like the US. People actually work during the day and the city is modern, clean and safe. This was a much different experience than the other countries I visited in Europe. It would be a great place to live.

Useless fact: Phil Collins lives in Lausanne

Verlander

Sounds like a town in Germany.

I can't believe he threw a no hitter. Detroit is tied for first place. I'm using my time in Europe to go to a computer lab and read about the Tigers. Well, just a couple of times. The Tigers are rolling and I only find these things out once or twice a week. Jon says I need to stay in Europe so they keep winning.

I met 3 guys from Chicago on the train in Paris. Two of the guys asked me if I knew how the Indians and Tigers were doing. They are originally from Cleveland. Once I heard that, I told them I could no longer talk to them.

I couldn't help but post something. First Tigers no hitter since Jack Morris in 1984. The Tigers won the World Series that year. You never know. I may be in Europe but I'm still a Tigers fan. I brought only two items of clothing with me that have english on them. I have a blue hat with the old English D and a Tigers shirt.

I promise more pics soon (of the actual trip).

Switzerland

At a castle on Lake Geneva. Switzerland and France are in the background across the lake.

So, Switzerland was great sorry there aren't any pics but I have to use my computer for that. It's like the US in Switzerland except the buildings are about 500-600 years older and they are surrounded by mountains. However, the cities are modern and people work normal hours. It's safe and clean. It would be great to live there. I'm trying to catch up but it isn't easy.

I can now count to 20 in Swiss German and can do some of the simple greetings and responses. It has come in very handy in Paris and Amsterdam. If people ask you if you speak english and you say "no" is Swiss German they immediately leave you alone. They want money or to sell you pot and this gets rid of them fast and then I see them harass other Americans.

My computer time is running low so I need to get going. I promise to post some pics soon and give an update on my trip to Paris. I went to Normandy and the French Open.

Moneglia, Italy

Here is the view from the cottage I stayed in while in Moneglia, Italy. I was there for 3 nights. We stayed with friends of Gabi's family, George and Margaret Kaufmann. George was Mayor of Zurich for 10 years. We had many discussions about Napoleon and the poets and writers that lived in the region. He spoke some English and I did my best with German.
Below is the one lane tunnel we had to drive through to get to Moneglia. The board says when the light will turn green for you to enter. The tunnel is long so the light turns green 3 times an hour for 5 minutes, every 20 minutes. This was first used as a rail tunnel and runs along the shoreline. One evening while waiting for the light to turn green we ran down into the Mediterranean Sea.

Italy trip part 1

The Hike in Italy. I don't think too many people would have been comfortable on the hike I took. Not only was it about 15 miles total but also went up about 1200 feet. Portions of the hike were on the side of the mountains with little between me and the sea.
We started in Riomaggiore and headed south. The Cinque Terre region north of where we started is where many tourists hike. Not too many tourists take this path. This is me hiking on the path across the mountains on the shoreline. Many parts were very dangerous. It was great.

Here is a portion of the pass, roughly 1200 feet up from the shore.

Same part of the path as above just looking down. This is my foot an inches from the drop off. If you look closely those are buildings at the top of the picture near the shoreline.

There are more pics of the hike, I'll have to post them when I have more time.

We ended in Portovenere, above. This is an area where many writers and poets once lived, as you will see below. Lerici is across the gulf and is where English writers Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley lived along with Lord Byron. It became known as the Golfo dei Poeti.

The bus we needed to catch to La Spezia passed right by us after running to catch it. Luckily, two Canadiens, Gazelle and Lisa from Hamilton where there and saw the incident and offered us a ride so we made it to La Spezia before the bus and it didn't cost anything. These were the second Canadiens we met that day, no Americans. We met a young couple from Kitchner.

Lord Byron's Cove in Portovenere.

Florence, Italy

Florence was remarkable but too many tourists. There are too many things there to even attempt to talk about right now.

Typical Tuscany. We went to the area of Chianti and had a nice Chianti one night with dinner.

I think you know where I am.

I'm tired, must sleep now.

I'm alive

I am still alive. Where did I leave off? Barcelona, here is the rest of my time there after Jon departed for the US.
Here are some of the people I met in Barcelona. It was a fun group. In the back are Andy and his girlfriend from Wisconsin-Madison and Ashley from Ohio. In the front are Daniel from California, Sonia and Mary from Ohio and me.

We had dinner at the bar down the road with the tap built into each table. Ashley and Mary are in the picture and right above them you can barely see one of the plasma screens that has the total liters for each table.

That's Ben and Adan from Sydney down under. It was a little surprising to see him wearing a Michigan shirt. All it said was "The Great Lakes State".