Ok... I'm here in Prague... things are fine and dandy but something burns in my soul... I need hockey!
A good healthy dose of hockey.
But what can a poor boy do when he is thousands of miles away from Canada?
He could always attend the NHL home-opener here in Prague.
Yes, the New York Rangers will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning Friday and Saturday night. Tickets are just $250 Canadian (4000 Czh Krones)...
It's a good chunk of money, especially since I do not know how much money I have spent so far on this adventure.
It's all or nothing... We'll see how it goes...
Adios from Prague
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
'Berlin is ugly, but sexy'
After walking back and forth across the old division of Berlin, I have come to a conclusion.....
East Berlin is better than west Berlin.
If you like manky streets, decorated with spray paint, then east Berlin is for you.
Go take a walk down to the East Side Gallery....
Go see the Eternal Soviet Memorial...
Checkpoint Charlie offers a good laugh...
But most of all go see the art work on every street corner. It may even be covering up old bullet holes from the Battle of Berlin....
Berlin invites you to piss under old S-bahn bridges or behind a bush in Tiergarten. If you have the nerve then you could even piss on the old remaining wall....
That's my take on east Berlin...
Adios from behind the Iron Curtain....
East Berlin is better than west Berlin.
If you like manky streets, decorated with spray paint, then east Berlin is for you.
Go take a walk down to the East Side Gallery....
Go see the Eternal Soviet Memorial...
Checkpoint Charlie offers a good laugh...
But most of all go see the art work on every street corner. It may even be covering up old bullet holes from the Battle of Berlin....
Berlin invites you to piss under old S-bahn bridges or behind a bush in Tiergarten. If you have the nerve then you could even piss on the old remaining wall....
That's my take on east Berlin...
Adios from behind the Iron Curtain....
Monday, September 22, 2008
Oktoberfest and Berlin
So far Germany has been a spectacular country. Every city has its little festival that manages to happen right when I arrive.
Oktoberfest was a mess. The girls are so beautiful and the guys dress to impress in their Bavarian traditional clothes. I don't know if it was the best time I've had thus far, but it was a riot.
I became friends with 3 wonderful Bavarian guys. Two of them were dressed up in their Oktoberfest gear and we talked about the natural beauty of Vancouver and Germany. They really want to go to Vancouver for snowboarding. I told them that everything they've heard is true. There are beavers, moose, and bears. Trees, lakes and mountains. Beer and parties.
And so we continued to drink our €8,30 beers.
I didn't have anything to eat that morning. I was in a hurried rush to make my way over to the beer tents. It turns out my body cannot handle 2litres of Bavarian beer on an empty stomach.
Nope. I had to expell some of that beer the same way it went in.
I nearly puked on my new Bavarian friends. Somehow I managed to spay a jet stream of beer out into the side walk.
So I told my friends that I had to take a walk and puke out more.
Out into the main straße I went but more steaming puke forced its way out of my stomach. It was a golden rocket spraying amongst a crowd of thousands.
But I didn't care. I needed to leave Munich anyways.
I said goodbye to my friends and headed to Berlin.
Berlin is ugly. This, inturn, makes Berlin beautiful. There is too much history here. You often forget what you are suppost to look at.
I was on the 'third Reich' walking tour and we were headed towards the ruins of the SS head office on Zimmer Straße and the Berlin Wall came out of nowhere. This starts a conflict for the tour. How can I keep the Soviet history seperated from Nazi history?
This city is too much for this history student.
I even got to see 60 year old bullet holes. Buildings that were part of the battle of Berlin. Amazing......
Adios from Berlin
Oktoberfest was a mess. The girls are so beautiful and the guys dress to impress in their Bavarian traditional clothes. I don't know if it was the best time I've had thus far, but it was a riot.
I became friends with 3 wonderful Bavarian guys. Two of them were dressed up in their Oktoberfest gear and we talked about the natural beauty of Vancouver and Germany. They really want to go to Vancouver for snowboarding. I told them that everything they've heard is true. There are beavers, moose, and bears. Trees, lakes and mountains. Beer and parties.
And so we continued to drink our €8,30 beers.
I didn't have anything to eat that morning. I was in a hurried rush to make my way over to the beer tents. It turns out my body cannot handle 2litres of Bavarian beer on an empty stomach.
Nope. I had to expell some of that beer the same way it went in.
I nearly puked on my new Bavarian friends. Somehow I managed to spay a jet stream of beer out into the side walk.
So I told my friends that I had to take a walk and puke out more.
Out into the main straße I went but more steaming puke forced its way out of my stomach. It was a golden rocket spraying amongst a crowd of thousands.
But I didn't care. I needed to leave Munich anyways.
I said goodbye to my friends and headed to Berlin.
Berlin is ugly. This, inturn, makes Berlin beautiful. There is too much history here. You often forget what you are suppost to look at.
I was on the 'third Reich' walking tour and we were headed towards the ruins of the SS head office on Zimmer Straße and the Berlin Wall came out of nowhere. This starts a conflict for the tour. How can I keep the Soviet history seperated from Nazi history?
This city is too much for this history student.
I even got to see 60 year old bullet holes. Buildings that were part of the battle of Berlin. Amazing......
Adios from Berlin
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Shut your Von Trapp!!!
Here I am in Salzberg. I watched 'The Sound of Music' today. It redeemed this sleepy little city. Here I was just going around town looking at nothing. Then, suddenly, it means something once you watch that movie.
But here we go. A test in physical and mental strength. I am going to Munich tomorrow. I want to see, feel and drink Oktoberfest. But the kicker, I will not have a place to stay on Friday night or Saturday night. I might have to work my magic or just suffer two nights sleeping outside. Either way, if I drink at Oktoberfest then I get a new badge to sew onto my backpack. If I don't see Oktoberfest then I'll be moving on to a new city without a hang over.
The next week will be interesting to say the least.
So far Vienna has been the most memorable stay. The hostel crowd was just right. A good collection of international people bound to travelling around Europe. The last night in Vienna proved to be quite the show. I ran out and picked up 48 cans (two flats) of half litre beer. The total price was just under €20. That is roughly $30 Canadian dollars. You can only buy 12 cans of beer for roughly $24 CND back home.
We stayed up all night writing a communal story. I was given the high honour to write the ending and present the whole work infront of our little communal authorship of 15 plus hostelliers. We laughed and cried from laughing. We drank odd mixes. We caused a scene, man we burnt that place down. And then we took it to the streets. A Viennese victory in my books.
Adios from Salzberg.
See you at Oktoberfest.
But here we go. A test in physical and mental strength. I am going to Munich tomorrow. I want to see, feel and drink Oktoberfest. But the kicker, I will not have a place to stay on Friday night or Saturday night. I might have to work my magic or just suffer two nights sleeping outside. Either way, if I drink at Oktoberfest then I get a new badge to sew onto my backpack. If I don't see Oktoberfest then I'll be moving on to a new city without a hang over.
The next week will be interesting to say the least.
So far Vienna has been the most memorable stay. The hostel crowd was just right. A good collection of international people bound to travelling around Europe. The last night in Vienna proved to be quite the show. I ran out and picked up 48 cans (two flats) of half litre beer. The total price was just under €20. That is roughly $30 Canadian dollars. You can only buy 12 cans of beer for roughly $24 CND back home.
We stayed up all night writing a communal story. I was given the high honour to write the ending and present the whole work infront of our little communal authorship of 15 plus hostelliers. We laughed and cried from laughing. We drank odd mixes. We caused a scene, man we burnt that place down. And then we took it to the streets. A Viennese victory in my books.
Adios from Salzberg.
See you at Oktoberfest.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Letter to the Editor: Journey Update
Hi everybody.
The last update came from Amsterdam (or Campsterdam and Amsterdamp as I started to call it).
Things were a bit soggy up there so I decided to travel south to dig up some sun. But I wasn't going to skip over all of the tidbits inbetween.
From Amsterdam I hopped over to Deventer to claim my rightful position upon their throne. They were not having any of it, so I set up my tent across the river, along the west bank of the Ijssel. Once again, like clockwork, it rained but I didn't let a little drizzle get me down. I got out of the tent and enjoyed a midnight walk around town. The only place that was bustling at 2~3 am (Sunday night/Monday morning) was Deventer's tiny red light district. It made me laugh to know that even "smallsville" Netherlands has their own prostitute district.
I pulled out of town the next day. 24 hours in Deventer was enough.
So I pulled up my roots and headed into the land of historic misadventures, Germany. I didn't know where I was headed so I made the decision to enter Cologne/Köln (the latter being the German spelling. I enjoy writing the Köln because European keyboards give you the ability to write with their funny accents and über-dots (However, the z and y keys have been swapped, which becomes frustrating when i want to type, tzpe or yebra or reallz funnz))
Köln was beautiful and not as confusing as some of the other cities I've seen. When leaving the central train station you are instantly greeted with the sight of Germany's largest cathedral. "The Dom" they call it. Situated along the Rhine, the Dom is like a giant burnt cinder, collecting dust for the past 500 plus years. An impressive feat of construction and architecture that started way back in the 1200s and was finally finished in the mid 19th century.
The rest of the city was alright. There were some enjoyable walks along the Rhine, both in Köln and Bonn.
While in Bonn I saw Beethoven's house of birth and the Museum of Democratic West Germany. Back in the day, when there was this thing called the "Cold War", Bonn just happened to be the capital of a country devoted to a maintaining a "western" democratic front. While walking around their museum I realized that German history is chalked with flip flopping ideologies and depressing feuds with their neighbours. And the real kicker is that I haven't even reached the control room in Berlin.
Next stop was Heidelberg. I was hiking up this one mountain across the river from the old ruins of the Heidelberg castle, when I stumbled across a plaque featuring an drawing of the landscape. I recognized this crude map from one of my history books dedicated to teaching the religious reformation of Europe. I loved it. I was able to put a name to a face and a face to a name.
Later that night I walked past the old church and heard beauty calling from behind thick stone walls. I entered God's sanctuary and paid €1 to catch the last 15 minutes of an organ concert. It was brilliant beyond belief. The air vibrates with sound and your soul is washed in some unknown holy beauty all while basking in the stained glass glow.
But this is not enough to settle my bones in one place. No. I have to keep travelling.
I activated my Eurorail pass and requested to go to Bern, Switzerland, but the final destination of the train said Interlaken. This was where I expected to end up a little later down the road. So I cut Bern out of the picture. As I passed along the sleepy Swiss capital I told myself "some other time".
I was headed to the "adventure capital of Switzerland", possibly even the world. Interlaken is a perfect cross between two British Columbian hotspots: Penticton and Whistler. The town is situated between two beautiful margarita coloured lakes and all around are grand mountains. The town is infested with Australians and other thrill seekers. I was just happy to get back to the mountains and trees. Good weather as well. I managed to do a wonderful hike up to the peak of Harder Klum. The Swiss will put a chalet at the top of every mountain if they could, and they usually do.
At the moment I am just south of Interlaken in the small, small, small village of Gimmelwald (or as I like to call it; Heaven).
I can just sit and do nothing in this small alpine village and it still feels like something. My hostel is on the cliff across from the impressive Jungfrau mountain range. Every photo belongs on a postcard.
Today will be dedicated to hiking and finding food. The closest store is a 20 minute walk up hill to Mürren or a 3 minute gondola ride. I haven't paid for public transportation since I was camping 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam's city centrum. As long as I've got two legs I will continue to take the long road.
So, its time for me to head up hill for breakfast....
Adios from Switzerland,
Matthew J. Van Deventer
The last update came from Amsterdam (or Campsterdam and Amsterdamp as I started to call it).
Things were a bit soggy up there so I decided to travel south to dig up some sun. But I wasn't going to skip over all of the tidbits inbetween.
From Amsterdam I hopped over to Deventer to claim my rightful position upon their throne. They were not having any of it, so I set up my tent across the river, along the west bank of the Ijssel. Once again, like clockwork, it rained but I didn't let a little drizzle get me down. I got out of the tent and enjoyed a midnight walk around town. The only place that was bustling at 2~3 am (Sunday night/Monday morning) was Deventer's tiny red light district. It made me laugh to know that even "smallsville" Netherlands has their own prostitute district.
I pulled out of town the next day. 24 hours in Deventer was enough.
So I pulled up my roots and headed into the land of historic misadventures, Germany. I didn't know where I was headed so I made the decision to enter Cologne/Köln (the latter being the German spelling. I enjoy writing the Köln because European keyboards give you the ability to write with their funny accents and über-dots (However, the z and y keys have been swapped, which becomes frustrating when i want to type, tzpe or yebra or reallz funnz))
Köln was beautiful and not as confusing as some of the other cities I've seen. When leaving the central train station you are instantly greeted with the sight of Germany's largest cathedral. "The Dom" they call it. Situated along the Rhine, the Dom is like a giant burnt cinder, collecting dust for the past 500 plus years. An impressive feat of construction and architecture that started way back in the 1200s and was finally finished in the mid 19th century.
The rest of the city was alright. There were some enjoyable walks along the Rhine, both in Köln and Bonn.
While in Bonn I saw Beethoven's house of birth and the Museum of Democratic West Germany. Back in the day, when there was this thing called the "Cold War", Bonn just happened to be the capital of a country devoted to a maintaining a "western" democratic front. While walking around their museum I realized that German history is chalked with flip flopping ideologies and depressing feuds with their neighbours. And the real kicker is that I haven't even reached the control room in Berlin.
Next stop was Heidelberg. I was hiking up this one mountain across the river from the old ruins of the Heidelberg castle, when I stumbled across a plaque featuring an drawing of the landscape. I recognized this crude map from one of my history books dedicated to teaching the religious reformation of Europe. I loved it. I was able to put a name to a face and a face to a name.
Later that night I walked past the old church and heard beauty calling from behind thick stone walls. I entered God's sanctuary and paid €1 to catch the last 15 minutes of an organ concert. It was brilliant beyond belief. The air vibrates with sound and your soul is washed in some unknown holy beauty all while basking in the stained glass glow.
But this is not enough to settle my bones in one place. No. I have to keep travelling.
I activated my Eurorail pass and requested to go to Bern, Switzerland, but the final destination of the train said Interlaken. This was where I expected to end up a little later down the road. So I cut Bern out of the picture. As I passed along the sleepy Swiss capital I told myself "some other time".
I was headed to the "adventure capital of Switzerland", possibly even the world. Interlaken is a perfect cross between two British Columbian hotspots: Penticton and Whistler. The town is situated between two beautiful margarita coloured lakes and all around are grand mountains. The town is infested with Australians and other thrill seekers. I was just happy to get back to the mountains and trees. Good weather as well. I managed to do a wonderful hike up to the peak of Harder Klum. The Swiss will put a chalet at the top of every mountain if they could, and they usually do.
At the moment I am just south of Interlaken in the small, small, small village of Gimmelwald (or as I like to call it; Heaven).
I can just sit and do nothing in this small alpine village and it still feels like something. My hostel is on the cliff across from the impressive Jungfrau mountain range. Every photo belongs on a postcard.
Today will be dedicated to hiking and finding food. The closest store is a 20 minute walk up hill to Mürren or a 3 minute gondola ride. I haven't paid for public transportation since I was camping 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam's city centrum. As long as I've got two legs I will continue to take the long road.
So, its time for me to head up hill for breakfast....
Adios from Switzerland,
Matthew J. Van Deventer
Monday, September 1, 2008
I missed the wave down south...
Like a band of cowboys blazing across the horizon...
British kids invaded my hostel's night club. 150 British kids to be exact. They rode into town in teams trying to make it across Europe in a week.
I wanted to hitch a ride. I wanted to join the wave to Italy and Croatia.
I miss the road and the North American mentality to rape this world of fossil fuels.
Oh boy. I set my alarm for 6 am and I set out toward the direction of where I was told to go.
No Dice.
The directions were faulty. I walked to Interlaken Ost train station and looked at the large accomodation board, frantically searching for "Mannor" something.... M-m-m-mannor...
Mannor... Mannor... ah yes there it was, "Mannor Farm"... on the other side of town... at least a 30 minute walk, maybe an hour if my backpack slows me down.
Screw it. I left my Ipod charger at the hostel. I'm not in any position to be handing over $50 Canadian to obtain a new Icharger with European converters.
The two prongs that keep this party going... Almost impossible to find an outlet though...
These European's are so good at conserving energy... And all they have to do is hide their power outlets... Ingenious....
Maybe I'll head to Spain and watch a bull fight. Hemmingway has got me caught on this idea but nobody shares this passion to watch the slaughter of an irate animal. But for the time being I'll soak up the Canadian atmosphere here in Interlaken.
It's the perfect cross between Penticton and Whistler. The water looks delicious. Perfect in it's own brilliance. I want to take a straw, cut up some lime and start drinking right from the rivers and lakes... Like an all you can drink tropical buffet.
Heaven?
Maybe....
British kids invaded my hostel's night club. 150 British kids to be exact. They rode into town in teams trying to make it across Europe in a week.
I wanted to hitch a ride. I wanted to join the wave to Italy and Croatia.
I miss the road and the North American mentality to rape this world of fossil fuels.
Oh boy. I set my alarm for 6 am and I set out toward the direction of where I was told to go.
No Dice.
The directions were faulty. I walked to Interlaken Ost train station and looked at the large accomodation board, frantically searching for "Mannor" something.... M-m-m-mannor...
Mannor... Mannor... ah yes there it was, "Mannor Farm"... on the other side of town... at least a 30 minute walk, maybe an hour if my backpack slows me down.
Screw it. I left my Ipod charger at the hostel. I'm not in any position to be handing over $50 Canadian to obtain a new Icharger with European converters.
The two prongs that keep this party going... Almost impossible to find an outlet though...
These European's are so good at conserving energy... And all they have to do is hide their power outlets... Ingenious....
Maybe I'll head to Spain and watch a bull fight. Hemmingway has got me caught on this idea but nobody shares this passion to watch the slaughter of an irate animal. But for the time being I'll soak up the Canadian atmosphere here in Interlaken.
It's the perfect cross between Penticton and Whistler. The water looks delicious. Perfect in it's own brilliance. I want to take a straw, cut up some lime and start drinking right from the rivers and lakes... Like an all you can drink tropical buffet.
Heaven?
Maybe....
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