Eurail – paralyzedbynotcaring

Travel Apps, Part II

Once you know what you want to do, sometimes just figuring out what it takes to do it can be paralyzing. Here are some apps that helped me get my shit together and figure out how to take my head out of my ass. Weird image, just forget it.

Xe Currency Exchange

I’m an English major, you do the math. But really, who can convert currencies all the time? Even given the EU, I used five different currencies as I travelled, and this app helped give me an idea of how much 200 Czech korunas is in real money or what to expect once I change my folding money at the exchange booth at the airport (hint: don’t do it there) (hint II: no one wants your coins, so spend them all before you leave the country or end up with ziplock sacks full of foreign coinage like me).

Yandex Translate

Also like me, maybe you don’t speak any language other than English. There are a quadrillion translation apps out there, and a lot of them are terrible. The most useful one I found is Yandex Translate, which helped with French, German, Dutch, and Spanish. These are just the languages I used—there are loads others. Download the languages you’ll be using and you can translate from there to English and back. It was useful to review some basic words on the train before I arrived somewhere—please, thank you, hello, goodbye, and English were about all I could handle—but people seemed to appreciate even that small effort. Most of the people I encountered spoke at least a little English, but it can’t be taken for granted that wherever you go, people will know what you’re saying. This app was also ace at helping me translate street names, words on menus, and directions. The other two translation apps I used are Google Translate and iThinkdiff Czech Dictionary.

Rail Planner

Of all the apps, this one was probably the most crucial to the success (… er, completion?) of my trip. This is the app Interrail and Eurail users are advised to download to track and plan train times, and it doesn’t require wifi. You don’t have to actually have a Eurail pass to use this train app, so if you are just looking to ride the rails one day, this is still for you; just throw in your starting point and ending point, date and time of travel, and get the relevant train schedules. Now, this was NOT helpful when the trains were on strike. Also, you cannot buy or reserve train tickets via the app (so, so annoying). Because of this, you have to do a reality check about whether the trains are a) actually running and b) sold out. It gave me a ball park idea about my schedule though, and what to aim for when I went to the long distance/international tickets booth at the train station to reserve tickets. If the clerk didn’t speak English (common, though Eurail would have you believe otherwise—bleg!), I could easily bring up the schedule I wanted on the app for the clerk to view. If there was no room on that train (uncommon but it did happen), I could easily modify my search to a slightly different time and have the clerk check again. You could also filter results by direct trains (no layovers) and view which trains were high speed. Another feature I didn’t notice at first was that once you select a schedule, you can view each stop between your departure and destination. This was helpful to me because I like to watch each stop go by and confirm and double confirm that I am indeed on the right train. You may call this a bit obsessive, but it helped when my father put us on the fast track to the north pole on accident. I was able to confirm and double confirm that he was totally wrong and then find another train. I was in charge of all trains from then on. Also, this app includes long distance bus schedules.

Uber

Uber is not a company I want to exalt, but for sheer convenience sometimes it can’t be beat. When you don’t speak the language, calling a taxi is even more intimidating than usual. With Uber, you can type in your destination (or paste it from Yelp) and wait for your ride. Now, Uber only works if you have wifi at the pick up point, so you might have to find a Starbucks or McDonald’s to start from. But after a long day of walking, sometimes you just want to Uber your ass back to your hotel/Airbnb/friend’s couch. Now, Uber does not operate everywhere. Uber was banned in Germany during my time there, and the articles I read about it suggested using MyTaxi app instead. BEWARE! You have to have wifi at both the pickup AND drop off locations. I didn’t have wifi at my drop off location, which happened to be a park, and I had to pay in cash on the spot—not what I had planned! People always say “don’t carry a lot of cash” but honestly had I not always been carrying a significant amount of money with me, I would have been screwed several times (credit card getting declined, restaurant not accepting any credit cards, etc.).

TripIt

I read about Tripit while researching what apps are good to have as you travel. I ended up purchasing the pro version of this app—something I almost never do. TripIt is an itinerary organizer. You forward your confirmation emails (flight, hotel, airbnb, event tickets) to plans@tripit.whatever, and the app organizes your information. All your confirmation codes, addresses, and contact info is in one area. Once you download the app, you can access your travel info offline. The pro feature keeps you updated on gate changes for your flight and other last minute alerts. You can also share your itinerary with your friends, so they can easily look up your flight number to see if yours was the plane that crashed. Tripit was a great substitute for my usual hard-copy folder full of confirmation emails (a system I still prefer but could not maintain without a printer), and though it required intermittent wifi, I never failed to figure out how to use it. I still use it now just to organize my hotel reservations back here in reality.

City Mapper

For getting around in London, City Mapper is the app to use. It has other cities as well, but I used it only for London, and it helped me navigate the buses and underground. Like Rail Planner, you can put in your starting and ending points and get suggestions for how to get there. London is HUGE, so be prepared to take a bus to the underground to another bus to another bus, but all the while you can track your progress on City Mapper. Wifi is needed though, so I took a screen shot of the route to refer to. Also, you have to have an Oyster card to ride the bus, so look into how to get one of those before you hop on a double decker. Individual tickets for the underground can be purchased at ticket kiosks though, so go nuts, but mind the gap.

Health

There’s an app that comes with the iPhone that is called “health” and has a heart icon. This was fun only in that it tracked how far I walked. At first it was interesting to see what a change it was from my real life, but eventually I learned that after six miles, I was pretty much done, so I could make decisions on where I wanted to go based on how far I’ve come, and at what point I will poop out. Know your limits and all that.

Lonely Planet Guides

I occasionally used Lonely Planet Guides for ideas on what to do. Many times there were things not mentioned by TripAdvisor or Yelp, notably Faust House in Prague, but mostly this app would be useful to someone planning far in advance. My on-the-go day-by-day w-t-f planning didn’t dovetail with the lay out of this app, though it is very pretty and informative.

Apps I thought I’d Use But Didn’t

I did a lot of research about what apps to download prior to my trip, and these two were suggested again and again.

SmartTraveler

This is an app probably put out by the US government to help Americans as they travel. You select a country and then can find the embassies and consulate offices there along with safety information. It is a very dry read. I considered using it once when I thought I might have to contact my embassy when my debit card got stolen, but thankfully I didn’t have to handle it that way. It’s not a bad app to have, just in case.

Rick Steves Audio Europe

How annoying is Rick Steves? I listened to several podcasts from this app before I left, but found them lacking in both entertainment and informational value. Maybe if you have loads, and I mean loads, of time to plan, you can slash your way through all these podcasts, but reading his Europe through The Back Door was more than enough. He sounds like a morning person who has never been delayed by a hair emergency. I just can’t deal with that type of person.

There were several apps that I deleted along the way due to their utter uselessness, but I can’t remember what they were. Good luck out there in the app store!

Walking around and looking around: London

I walked a little farther today and made it to the Tate Modern Museum, which is massive and full of strange and fascinating exhibits. On of the first things to catch my eye was this radio tower.

Many of the units were functioning and broadcasting talk radio. I have watched six episodes of Dr. Who, so I can say that from a distance this sculpture has a Dr Who-ish feel to it.

I also saw this gem which reminds of the quilts HK creates. I think this would be an excellent quilt, don’t you?

Also in the weird lines hall was this mind bender.

If that doesn’t cross your eyes, I don’t know what will. There should be a fainting couch next to it.

This one appealed to the darkness in my soul.

It’s what I imagine my own matrix code looks a little like.

No trip to a European museum would be complete with out a few water lilies, right? This one is so big I couldn’t get it in a single frame.

And I came across a sweet reminder from the Guerrilla Girls about women in art.

In case you are blind like me:

The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist:

Working without the pressure of success
Not having to be in shows with men
Having an escape from the art world in your 4 free-lance jobs
Knowing your career might pick up after you’re eighty
Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labeled feminine
Not being stuck in a tenured teaching position
Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others
Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood
Not having to choke on those big cigars or paint in Italian suits
Having more time to work after your mate dumps you for someone younger
Being included in revised versions of art history
Not having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius
Getting your picture in the art magazines wearing a gorilla suit.

After that wingdinger I came across the Gerhard Richter room. I knew it was his work before I read the sign. He is an artist I check in on occasionally to see if he has any exhibitions nearby. The Tate Modern has SIX of his paintings. They did not have my very favorite one (a pink and brown and black affair), but these were wonderful to see in the flesh. Here they are in order of favorite to most favorite.

These are obviously examples of abstract art. Richter would paint, then paint over the paint, then squeegee over the paint and allow the earlier paint to show through the top paint. In some places the paint is very thick, and in some it is very fine and delicate. I don’t know why I like these so much; usually abstract art is difficult for me. These though speak to and I hope someday to see the pink and brown and black one (pretty sure that’s the official name).

After this lucky find I was ready for some street food. I had some fried chicken and chips with mayo and the tiniest amount of ketchup imaginable.

I walked by the Globe–Shakespeare’s Globe–and had to keep walking. It was too overwhelming.

I went to Starbucks to dust my nuts and talk myself through getting in there.

No tickets available for any immediate showings of Macbeth or Midsummer, but the box office artist advised me to wait in the standby queue prior to the play to buy the no-show tickets. This is now the plan.

The Uber driver who helped me not have to walk back to KB’s asked me about Trump. We both sighed.

I am reading Cleopatra; The Night Manager; and Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer.

Another day another country

Yesterday we travelled from Hamburg to Riga, Latvia, by plane (I was able to talk Dad down from he We Have To Take a Ferry insanity), but our flight wasn’t until after 7pm (19:00) so we had time in Hamburg to continue to enjoy the LGBTQ Pride street fair, which included hamburgers and a lot of really upbeat music. Every other street vendor was selling cocktails before noon. I had to pry dad away from this scene so we could see a few more sights, including city hall. I particularly liked city hall because there were plenty of benches.

We then walked down to the warehouse district, which is is prettier than it sounds.

The warehouses are made of brick and are separated by canals, as you can see.

It was an excellent day (barely a threat of rain), so walking so far from our hotel wasn’t as much of a gamble as usual.

We walked down to the Maritime Museum, where the largest collection of model boats is housed. Yes, one is made completely of legos. Also included are many beautiful paintings of nautical scenes. They basically look either like this

or like something seriously nasty is about to happen (not pictured). I particularly enjoyed the harpoons and knots.

Doesn’t the knot on the lower left look like a sea scorpion?

We also paid our respects to Leif, who sort of discovered America.

Not to be outdone, Columbus motions to the sun to settle down.

We took the train from our hotel to the main train station (our hotel was just outside the train station and it was very easy), but from the main train station the right train to the airport was a little confusing. The platform said airport, the train display said airport, but some displays said “first three cars.” Well, we weren’t sure if it was the first three cars from the engine or the first three cars from the platform and you better bet we guessed wrong. After several stops, the train paused for an unusually long time at the stop just before the airport. Another passenger, probably noticing our luggage and English, asked if we were going to the airport because if so the first three cars just left us. We jumped off the train to watch the first three cars scuttle off as though they’d just pulled the funniest prank on Earth. I should have known and I guess this makes Dad and me even for our trip through rural Sweden.

We got on the first car of the next train.

The main train station was much, much more bustling than the airport, which seems so strange to me. At any rate we checked our bags and had plenty of time before we boarded the bus to board the tiny plane to Riga. Many of the other passengers were men my age with long hair and rock band tee shirts. We guessed they were coming from a show (they were all pretty drained). Customs through Riga was a breeze as it was just walking by a lady leaning against a desk that had a “Customs” sign. Our taxi driver to the hotel was at least 7 feet tall. Dad fell asleep immediately.

Total miles walked: 6.7

Today was our first day in Riga, which is a small, flat (read: walkable) city. We found a post office and a bus tour without having to ask anyone, much to our mutual relief.

Here we are on the bus before I Hulk Broke the headphones.

We got off at the canal stop and then got on a boat with a five-year-old girl named Megan who objected to her life vest by protesting that she promised she wouldn’t get in the water anyway because she didn’t want to get her hair wet. The boat took us through the canal and into Daugava River. From here is a great view of their wedge-shaped library.

Here we are on the boat.

On a side note dad only looks happy when he doesn’t know I’m taking a picture. As in above, when I ask first, he gives this are-you-serious face. Candids from now on when possible.

After the canal tour we walked around old town and came across a few sights I’d read about on the fountain of information that is Pinterest.

We looked inside the Riga Cathedral.

Much stained glass and ornate molding, of course.

While I was taking photos like this one, Dad was busy documenting the retrofitting on the load-bearing columns.

We were also able to pretty easily find the Freedom Monument.

Latvia became a free country in 1991.

This small memorial is from the Baltic Way, when people from Estonia through Latvia to Lithuania joined hands for freedom in 1989.

We also came across this statue of a donkey, pig, cat, and rooster. It is supposed to be good luck if you can touch all four. The statue is tall though and I could reach only the donkey and pig. Half luck for me, half something else I guess.

I also serendipitously spotted the house of the black cat, which I think is just like every other house except that way back when the owner was trying to join the city’s guild, he was denied, so he put a black cat sculpture on top of his house and faced the cat’s rear end at the guild’s office. The guild relented, the home owner was admitted, and the cat’s ass now faces a different way.

As far as lore goes, this story seems watered down. I bet there is a REAL version out there somewhere.

Anyway, I remembered from the tour bus narration something about the house of the three brothers, so I was trying to guide us by it as we made our way back to the hotel. The streets here are anything but a symmetrical grid, so it is easy to trapezoid yourself out of orientation. Dad and I walked up a block, around it, looked at the map, but neither of us could see anything noteworthy or any signage. We didn’t notice the gaggle of tourists across the street aiming their cameras at us. We didn’t notice when a tour tram came up, stopped, unload a bunch of people who also took our picture, load up again, and then trammed off. We held the map upside down. We looked up and down the street. We tried to remember what the house of the three brothers even was and why it was mentioned on the tour. I noticed finally that a) the people across the street weren’t moving b) they seemed pissed at us, and I put together that we were right at the house of the three brothers. I took a picture of what everyone else seemed to be photographing:

As far as houses in Riga go, this one seemed pretty plain, but who am I to judge? I think things built before 1950 are old.

Now that I’m back at the hotel I did a quick search and realized that my map and/or memory was a poor translation. It isn’t house of the three brothers, but rather the Three Brothers, three consecutive houses that are the oldest in Riga and represent the three major architectural themes. So as it happens i took a picture of the One Brother. And the homeliest one at that.

Finally we had dinner at B-Bar, a place we chose because of its Black Balsam drinks. Black Balsam is a Latvian liquor made from, among many other things, wormwood. So either it was all a bit of hype and we made it back to the hotel ok OR this is the most G-rated trip ever and I am face down in a beautiful cobblestone ally waiting to be awakened by the street cleaner.

Choo choo

Today we bought our train tickets to Hamburg and then went to Sweden to have lunch. Dad was very impressed with the train system. In Malmo, we split two sandwiches: duck and lamb. Can you guess which wich is which?

Then we walked around and looked around. This is just outside the main train station.

We looked at the fountains and brick buildings like good little tourists.The tourists look like this.

The buildings look like this.

We came across St. Peter’s, which listed many recognizable names on the priest list (Pederson, Hansen, Christensen).

A stone fountain had this irresistible carving.

We found a canal/small river and walked along it until the misty rain teamed up with some wind.

Another beautiful summer day!

On our meander back to the train station, I spied the Demon in a different disguise. I should have known then to be on my guard.

Back at the station we lined up for the return train; this train stops at the Copenhagen airport and then we must transfer to another train to get to the main station. Dad looked at the display on another train and decided it was better because it didn’t seem to require a transfer. The train came and I didn’t examine the board thoroughly before we were heading out.

I knew things were fishy when we didn’t get back on the bridge in short order.

Figuring this train was actually coming from Denmark, which is what Dad may have seen, we got off at a tiny outdoor station called Svedala before we ended up at the north pole with only a bottle of Arizona tea and a Kex Choklad to sustain us.

Luckily this station was not completely remote and soon other passengers arrived to wait for the train back to Malmo, though at first we were all alone on the misty platform. That Demon, I swear.

That was all a bit much for both of us and so we had to take a nap after returning to the hotel. We are now debating whether to pick up 7eleven sandos for dinner and call it a day. I am holding out for room service, but honestly it doesn’t look good.

Birthday boy

Today is Dad’s birthday so I woke up before God and we spend all day out and about. We rode the tour bus to the tour boat, where it promptly started pouring. The boat was uncovered, so we dashed across the street to the Christiansborg Palace. Right outside is this horseman and a statue of a slain polar bear that doesn’t need to be mentioned ever again.

Also outside is another building with this spectacular spire–three dragon’s tails winding towards Valhalla.

Once inside the Palace and safe from the rain, we put the required blue footie protectors over our feet and walked through the rooms to admire the artwork, history, and architecture. My favorite room was the Queen’s Library, which had books dating back to the 18th century.

Many of the rooms were large, with artwork depicting Danish history and molding so detailed it told its own story. Each room had a theme (Green Room, Velvet Room, Swedish People on Horses Room, etc.), but the throne room was different. It is oval rather than rectangular, and the floorboard pattern was designed keeping in mind that people had to face the throne as they departed, walking backwards. Stay one the right pattern track and you can back into the hall.

The larger throne is for the queen, naturally.

One room, the largest, had dazzlingly detailed tapestries of Danish history from Vikings to modern day. They were given to the Queen in 200o for her birthday. Though very colorful, I found them to be a bit overwhelming, and had to focus on finding little details or neverland or nemo. Well, look what I discovered.

There she is–the Last Unicorn! You really never know what you are going to find in a tapestry.

After the palace it was still a bit drizzly, so we had lunch and then took the bus to the mall. Dad wanted to find some Danish winter sweaters, but as it’s August this proved to be too much. I, however, did manage to find not only golden bobby pins but also a jacket that fit around my boobs. Wonders never cease.

The sun came out and we were able to make the last boat tour of the day. Dad was very happy to finally be on a boat.

We motored through to the end of Nyhaven, a beautiful canal/street. I was particularly interested in this street because HC Anderson of Little Mermaid fame once resided here. I don’t know exactly which house was his but they all look pretty much like this.

He wrote well over 100 fairy tales, many of which still get play today. I seem to recall there is a good podcast ep about him from Stuff You Missed in History Class where I learned that he was a bit eccentric and poverty stricken. What, a gifted writer, living in poverty? Nooo.

From the boat we got a decent though fleeting view of the Church of Our Savior, in all it’s winding glory.

The tour guide says it’s an easy 400 steps to the top.

Maybe tomorrow.

This boat tour differed from the others I’ve taken in that the bridges are VERY low to the water. Sitting in the boat was safe, but you could easily reach up and touch the bottom of the bridge as we passed under it. I ducked just on principle. Other than that, it was a good boat tour.

It being Dad’s birthday, we went out to dinner to a place with candles and real napkins. On the way, we passed this gem.

That’s right, Tycho Brahe has a planetarium just down the street from our hotel. You may recall I mentioned Brahe in my post about the Kepler Museum in Prague. Brahe is a famous Danish astronomer known for his meticulous data records and larger than life personality. I might be half in love with him.

Once we made it to the restaurant, Dad learned about water coming in a bottle, paying with a card at the table, and that no check will ever come if you don’t ask for one. We had smoked salmon and steak and panna cotta, all of which were excellent.

Tomorrow we are taking the train to Malmo, Sweden (the ferry doesn’t run between Copenhagen and Malmo anymore according to sources*) to see the Swedish sights.

I am still reading The Family Romanov and Good Behavior. Dad is reading** Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore.

*Google

**holding briefly before falling to sleep

Czech to France

I’ve been traveling the last few days and finally got a full day of basically doing nothing. I usually have one of those days once a week. On this trip I haven’t had one in going on a month. It is particularly well timed as my woes with Wells Fargo came to a nadir I didn’t know existed: they refused to send a second replacement card (I never got the first one and was leaving the address it was being sent to). My last day in Prague was spent in total, shaking disbelief that no one at WF could help me and they were content to continue to let me be stranded without access to my own money. Needless to say I sent a strongly worded letter to the board of directors. I am still experiencing the emotional fallout of being completely alone so far from home dealing with being stonewalled unnecessarily by a company that could so easily fix the problem. It’s as easy as sending another replacement card. Their arguments are invalid.

I am still really upset about it and the ongoing nature of this ridiculousness has made me want to come home every day for the last 11 days or so–much more than usual. I wouldn’t say it’s completely ruined my trip (the train strike kind of already did that), but it’s dampened the already tenuous rekindling of my enthusiasm.

So, that being said, I am trying to focus on the positive and not be a gigantic grump for the rest of my life. Dad is meeting me in Denmark in a week.

I am reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and parts of Part 2 of Mark Twain’s Autobiography (saved for emergency situations).

Garden walk

The sun decided to make a summer appearance today so I walked to the nearby park at Vysehrad. Parks in Europe contain, you know, just a Basilica and a river and statues and stuff. No big deal.

This is the St. Peter and Paul Basilica. It was too large to take a proper picture of, but here’s the top part. The park is full of pathways, gardens, BENCHES, and stairs. The benches make up for the stairs, for the most part. On the west side of the park, a brick lookout allows for some stunning views.

Loads of people were milling around eating ice cream and taking sticky pictures like this one.

That’s the river Vltava shielded by my round face. There are lots of dogs in Prague as well, particularly small dogs. They like to pee on statues like this one.

After walking around the park–I didn’t see the whole park but I think I climbed every staircase at least twice–I went to have lunch. I had pork knuckles, which are surprisingly tender. Unfortunately my credit card (not the ATM card I’ve had to stop using) was declined, causing another full blown panic attack. This meant I had no card at all that would work, and I had to pay with my limited cash. Instead of pushing forward and walking to the Faust House, where Mephistopheles dragged our humble doctor, I came back to my airbnb to figure out my life. Apparently my credit card is fine and the card reader at the restaurant was to blame. This made me feel slightly better, but by this time my sweat pants were on so Faust will have to wait until tomorrow. I must say I am not pleased at having to deal with first the train craziness and strikes and delays and now not knowing what’s going to happen with my own money. For a sabbatical this has been stressful. Don’t be surprised if a future post is from an asylum.

Inter-German travel

You may recall I mentioned that my train ride from Berlin to Dresden would be short and not have any transfers. These are both true, but it also managed to be the most uncomfortable train ride so far.

I know, I can barely believe it myself. It ended in tears before it even began–err it began in tears. It doesn’t matter–it made an old lady cry (not me).

At Berlin HBF (main train station) I stood around the departure board for an hour waiting for my train to display which track it will be departing from (no benches). It wasn’t listed until about 25 minutes before departure. This is not convenient for me for so many reasons, no the least of which is my get-there-early neuroses. Another of which is that this station is four stories and full of stores. It’s basically a mall with trains. So you could be three stories away from where your train is going to depart and have only 25 minutes to fight the crowd, lug your suitcases, figure out where the track is, and get there. If this seems like plenty of time, you’ve never seen my walking pace.

When the train finally displayed I had that familiar problem that my ticket had only MY destination, not the train’s destination, so I had to do some cross referencing and no-internet research (aka talking to people). Don’t forget to schedule that into your 25 minutes. After I’d been waiting at the platform (standing, no benches, can I just complain about how there are so few benches at a train station? Don’t people get there with bags and crap and then have to wait? How are there not enough benches? People were sitting on the floor. It was not ok. Put in some benches, good grief) and an echoed German PA reverberated across the tracks. Some people in my crowd started shuffling away. An English translation followed: the platform for my train had changed. Time to move again! Yay!

The train was late and people were clamoring to get on. I had an assigned seat on car 259. I wish the cars on the train were more numerically sound (idk, maybe #1-12?), because 259 wasn’t that easy to find and I didn’t have a lot of time or space to look. The crowd was bottle-necked between the train and the staircase and everyone was sweating like this was some other German train. I had to run down the platform after breaking away from the crowd and push my way on to the train before the doors closed. Everyone else did the same. No one was on the right car. The narrow aisles within the train were jam packed with people trying to pass each other with all their gear when the train started to move. The lady behind me, old enough to be my grandmother, had a tissue over her face. She was shocked the train would leave before she could sit down. I was pretty indignant at the lack of organization myself, but now I am far too jaded to be shocked. I looked at her ticket and discovered we were heading in the same direction, so I told her she could follow in my wake of destruction. She didn’t laugh so she must be German.

When I finally pushed and ducked and jumped my way to my seat, people in the area near me were complaining that more tickets than seats were sold, so that is why the aisles were crowded with lingerers like on a rush hour subway commute, except with luggage. Germany totally wins for most disorganized country. It took me about 40 minutes to push my way to my seat, so the 2 hour ride passed pretty quickly once I was sitting with my luggage in my lap (there was no room on the racks and the aisles were already full of people).

I did manage to bail off the train in Dresden (no easy feat with the aisles still full) and found not only sunshine but a delightful lack of crowds. It is even less crowded in my airbnb where I have been recovering my nerves.

I miss having a car.

The wall

Today I went back to examine the remains of the Berlin Wall. It’s not in good shape. It’s falling apart.

Parallel to the wall is a walkway with a timeline describing pivotal social and political happenings in Germany in the 30s and 40s. It wasn’t a load of laughs. Nearby is Checkpoint Charlie, which looks like the entrance fee kiosk of a lesser state park, except with more tourists. On the building overlooking the checkpoint was this love note to Vladimir P.

I also visited the East Side Gallery, a part of the wall decorated by artist. Unfortunately a lot of the art was defaced by graffiti, so most of the gallery had a chain link fence around it, ruining the effect of the different artwork.

Much of Berlin is covered similarly with stickers and graffiti.

I took several more shots of the East Side Gallery and a few of the checkpoint, but my wifi in this airbnb is weak and my high tech way of getting pictures from my phone to my computer–emailing them to myself–is not cutting it.

Berlin has been the most modern city I’ve visited but also the city most impacted by history. One particular message spray painted on a hotel wall read “The past is OVER.” Clearly people are not over it.

Tomorrow I travel to Dresden, which is a short (no layover) train ride away. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an “easy” day–let’s not get ahead of ourselves–but I won’t have to switch trains, and that is a welcome change.

Probability

I think the weather station here should just say winter is coming and leave it at that. Yesterday the forecast was 0% chance of rain and it rained. Today had a 90% chance and there was no rain. Two things: one, stop with the percentages. You don’t understand probability. Two, I was not prepared for how winterlike summer in Europe can be. Barcelona was scorching hot, but everywhere since has had more than enough rain/wind/coldness. KB tried to tell me to bring a jacket, but that sounded like such nonsense to my California brain. Now I’ll probably have to buy one when I head further north. 90% chance of that happening.

Because it was supposed to rain I didn’t plan all that much to do today. I went to the Hermitage Museum, which had a Catherine the Great exhibit and a Dutch People in Large Groups exhibit. Here is Catherine the Great’s everyday outfit.

Just a FEW layers there. Here she is posing with a pimp cane.

Just put that vat of diamonds over there, please.

She apparently was large and in charge and liked snuff quite a lot.

The other exhibit was literally a bunch of huge paintings of groups of Dutch men looking around for wine and/or women. Observe.

What the hell is happening here. They came, they ate, the looked around. They put on their knee ribbons and got all fancy. But where are the women? I can’t decide if they are anxiously awaiting them or resigned to keep eating and drinking until it doesn’t matter anymore.

Outside where it was 90% not raining there were some statues of a few favorites, starting with this party animal.

In vino veritas, right?

And of course, my astrological ruler.

Goddess of love, beauty, victory, and other important things like prostitutes.

Getting a little hungry? I found the restaurant I had been looking for yesterday and ordered this pizza.

I had to cut it myself because everything and I mean everything is eaten with a knife and fork here.

Now, you may be thinking, no rain, good art and food, seems like a perfect day, right?

I thought that too.

Until.

The Return of the DEMON.

The “Diemen” stop is just a few before mine, and guess how Diemen is pronounced?

Demon. I’ve been riding his train this whole time.

Mind. Blown.

Thanks, Obama.

Category: Eurail