Travelers Cup of Cool Water

Posted on Tuesday September 2, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

A cool cup of water.

Trevor Unhappily Eating Breakfast in Vienna

In traveling, it seems that there are seasons of just going and doing. There are also some times that are refreshing like a cup of cool water. It has been a few days since I have written last (about four) and I’ve been in three different countries (Austria, Slovakia, and Spain). Within this whorl wind of visits, I have also found some amazing cups of cool water but I will have to get to those in a minute.

We arrived super early to Vienna Austria (Wien Österreich), about 0500. We planned to stay at the Wombats Youth Hostel, a place in our travels that has come highly recommended. They let us reserve some beds in their dorm, but we were not allowed to actually check in until 1400. Tired, we took showers in their guest showers and ventured into the early morning streets of Vienna. After stopping for breakfast (if you can call a few slices of cheese, meat, garnish, and coffee that) we were both exhausted. We walked about a couple of parks hoping for a bench or nice slab of grass to pass out in. We made our way back to the hostel… but it was still way too early to check in. We both ended up passing out on the sidewalk in the front of the building. After checking in, we took a short nap. I wondered around the city for while and hung out and meet some travelers in the hostel bar. When Trevor finally woke up me, him, Lisa and Chris (a couple from Australia) decided to sneak into the other Wombat bar. It just sounded like fun. We shared Jägerbombs with a couple from Belgem and talked with some film makers from Texas.

The Naschmarkt is Vienna’s most popular market. Located at the Wienzeile over the Wien River.

As always, the next morning came too early and it was time to check into a new hostel (Wombats was full the next night). We found a room at Hostel Ruthensteiner, really a close walk. We again wondered around Vienna. We walked along a main shopping district and watched all of the various street performers. After walking in circles for a bit trying to find our way, we found the Naschmarkt. This seems to be a mixture of open air stores and a flea market. Following all of the winding trails under umbrellas and throngs of people, only to find some very interesting pictures. You can find all of the photos from Vienna on facebook.

Riding the underground to the Schönbrunn Palace it was breath taking to see. The garden behind had millions of little areas to go and explore. That night we went out for a couple of hours. The next morning we were on our way to Slovakia. You’ll have to hear about the cool water experiences a bit later. It’s almost 2130 and I’m supposed to meet up with Trevor in a couple of minutes. Currently I’m in Barcelona… so I’ve got quite a bit to catch you up on.

The Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.

Münichen, The Tent, and Good Chicken

Posted on Saturday August 30, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

Great Beer from Hofbräuhaus. The Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München is a brewery in Munich, Germany, owned by the Bavarian state government. The brewery owns the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, the Hofbräukeller and the second largest tent at the Oktoberfest (Hofbräu-Festzelt). Its own brew is the only beer served.

A photo of a guy surfing at Englisher Garten. The Englischer Garten, German for “English Garden”, is a large public park in the center of Munich, Germany, stretching from the city center to the northeastern city limits.

I am really glad to have been able to go to another German town other than Berlin. Berlin was a blast, a very young hip town. Munich (Münichen in German), seems to be more conservative and upper class than Berlin. Although you won’t see throngs of people walking around the streets with their beer in hand, you will see some great beer halls and gardens. Munich is probably most famous for Octoberfest, a holiday that I am sad we will be missing. We did go and see a number of sites around Munich that are notable. After arriving in Munich at about 05:30 am, we figured out their public transportation system and how to get to our next Hostel. We arrived very early in the morning to a place called The Tent. It is a very neat idea for a place to stay. Generally you can stay there for €10.50 or €5.50 if you want to utilize your own tent. They have these giant circus type tents, I think that two of them accommodate 150 people. A lot of the travelers tend to just hang out at the camp around the fire. We slept till later in the afternoon after checking in and decided to take the 15 minute tram ride to the center of town.

We wondered for a couple of hours around the center of town just taking in the sites. We saw a fairly neat church Saint Paul. We returned to the tent fairly early and just hung out with a everybody around the camp site.

Trevor cooking a chicken over the fire while we are at The Tent Hostel in Münichen.

The next morning, after sleeping in some and lounging around the campsite reading, we decided to really start our touring around Munich. The first stop was Englischer Garten Places Page (Wikipedia article about Englischer Garten)one of the worlds largest city parks… and much larger than New York’s Central Park. We found some locals who were heading to the park themselves and we made it there perfectly well from the subway system. Right at the entrance is a man made permanent wave, where people come and surf. It is a very neat site, fun to watch all of the surfer wipe out. Wondering down the path there are tons of people sitting out in the sun or the shade all over the park. It is also not uncommon for the locals to sunbathe nude in the park… it’s all just kind of mixed in. Although we didn’t lose our cloths around the park, we did loose some of our money at the parks great beer garden for lunch. There you can order an expensive L. of beer, some some traditional bavarian food (like a pork knuckle), and listen to the traditional music played by musicians in lederhosen. It is a fun experience. After wondering around the park for several hours (and still not seeing all of it), we decided that it was time to continue on. You can check out all of the pictures from Englischer Garten and my trip to Munich on facebook. We wondered around downtown for a while, finally deciding that we wanted to head to one of the most famous beer halls in Munich, Hofbräuhaus. I would have to say that it is a must see for anybody traveling in Munich.

After stopping at the grocery story, we headed back to the tent with a few surprises for our fellow guests. First we picked up some marshmallows (no chocolate and gram crackers… we’re having to live poor). Their marshmallows are smaller and don’t cook as well as ones in the USA, but everybody enjoyed them. The later it got, we started realizing how hungry we really where. We had bought some frozen chickens, and had started boiling them. They were taking a long time. Trevor was cooking, and when I went to go and check in on him I find him stabbing the chicken with some large pointed sticks. He hands the chicken to me and explains that I am supposed to go outside and cook it via the open fire. When this all starts, everybody body starts yelling and getting really excited. They even made a wave around the fire. We were the talk of the camp site. After about an a half hour of attempting to burn our chicken (maybe I should call it… cook it Cajun Style), we decided to take the blackened chicken back to the kitchen and cook it there. All in all it was a fun night

The following morning we checked out of the hostel and hung out till it was time for our bus to leave, heading to Vienna Austria. On the overnight bus, I had the opportunity to sit next to a German girl studying social work in Vienna. We ended up talking the whole night and was a really great connection. Too bad she had plans to be camping with her boyfriend over the weekend, so she wouldn’t be able to show us around. It was a really interesting connection though.

As promised, the photos from my facebook albums from Prague; Prague 1 of 3, Prague 2 of 3, and Prague 3 of 3.

Prague, So Many Statues and Beautiful Streets

Posted on Monday August 25, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

Overview Photo of the City of Prague

Trevor in Front of the National Museum in Prague

Our stay in Prague has been a blur of beautiful tours of the various sites, long walks back and forth to our hostel, late night to early morning going out, cathedrals and castles. All in all a great trip.

Our first day we went to the [Národní Muzeum National Museum. We did not buy a camera pass so, there are no pictures from the inside. It was full of a zoological history of the world. So many ancient and modern species were represented. there was also history about the Czech Republic and their decent from communism and Russia. It was a very informative museum, although much of it was only in Czech. We spent much of the remainder of the day wondering around the winding streets of old Prague. I find the area to be very confusing. The buildings tower over the cobblestone streets. The old rock streets wind in and out of each other (changing names every few blocks) and never following a set grid. We found our way to [the Astronomical Clock in the town center. From the top you can see over the entire city (the top picture is taken from here, and shows the Prague Castle). After wondering around the town all day, we made it back to the Hostel about 20:00.

Crowd on Charles Bridges in Prague

At the hostel there was a group of travelers getting ready to go out on a Pub Crawl. Neither me or Trevor had heard or been on a Pub Crawl before. The idea is that Travelers from all over (various hostels) all meet together at a specified location. Then they pay a local to get “free drinks” for the first hour and then to be taken to the cities best clubs. We found this to be a great way to meet people. About 10 people from our hostel went and we met up with about 50 other people. It was a pretty fun evening. Me and Marcelo (a guy from Brazil) didn’t get back until about 5:30 am.

After living up the night life in Prague, I woke up to go and see some more of the sites. Me and Trevor traveled to the other side of the river heading towards the Prague Castle. Along the way, there were a number of neat shops and amazing views. We crossed over Charles Bridge which was jam packed full of people, street vendors, artists, and musicians. On the other side of the Charles Bridge we found the greatest statue that we found (and we saw a lot). I guess it might be a little mature, so don’t play it if you are easily offended;

The Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here

We wondered up to the Prague Castle, which really was more of a old Cathedral. Positioned at the top of the hill just behind Prague, it gave a breath taking view of the old city. Standing in line waiting go to hear some of the history of this building and about the Gargoyles that rest around the edge. After wondering around the Castle it was back to the Hostel to meet up with some people. We went out with some girls from Ireland… and had a pretty relaxed evening. The morning came too early and with that time to check out. Our bus leaves for Munich Germany at 23:55 and arrives at 05:30. hopefully we will be able to sleep on the bus. As for the rest of the day, I see us just spending time relaxing.

Facebook is currently not letting me upload the pictures… I will post links after it starts to work.

Bus Trip and Rainy Searches for a Hostel

Posted on Saturday August 23, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

As promised, we did go to Prague (or in Czech “Praha”). It took 6 and a half hours to travel there by bus. We spent the morning wondering around the bus depot. Upon arriving in Prague, we figured out where we were fairly quickly. But we ended up wondering around in the rain until about 1:30 in the morning. We also talked to three different hostels. Our 16 person dorm room in the Hostel Marabou is pretty nice.

Berlin

Posted on Friday August 22, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

A photo of a sign that say’s “L’ Ost in Paradise” taken in Berlin Germany

The last two days seem to blur together some. I am coming to understand that my days here in Europe will be very full and have all sorts of different activities. The day before yesterday, we again stayed at the Meininger Hostel, and hung out some with our dorm mate Carlos. We spent a considerable amount of time walking all over Berlin. I have since become fairly familiar and able to navigate my way around. This is especially true in regards to the subway / train system. It’s pretty easy to follow once you get the hang of it. We visited Märkisches Museum‎ (Märkisches Museum‎ Google Places Page || Märkisches Museum‎ Website). They had wonderful exhibits depicting ancient history in Germany and Berlin. No photographs permitted though, or else I would prove that they used to have moose in Germany. They also had an exhibit showing the history of lights in Berlin.

A photo of the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer memorial to the hundreds of people that might have died trying to cross the wall, and the thousands who suffered major disruption to their lives.

After eating some dinner we started to make our way back to the Hostel. We decided to attempt to stop at all the various bars and restaurants for a drink till we made it back to the Hostel. One interesting bar / club that we stopped at was White Trash Fast Food. It was interesting seeing maybe some of what some people might think of America. The restaurant was full of cheap oriental decorations, red and white plaid table cloth, serving hamburgers and burritos, and playing 50’s to 80’s classic rock music. By the time we finally made it back to the hostel, not stumbling too hard we met our newest roommate. A older Messianic Jew from Israel. We then decided to head to The Matrix Club - Berlin. This place is huge, with four different dance floors playing various music. There were sections playing American rap and hip-hop, reggae, techno / house / whatever those styles are, and one playing rock music. It was jammed packed with people (at least a thousand young people), you can see a picture of one of the dance floors. Traveling by the S-Bahn, we were able to make it back to our hostel and to attempt to get some sleep at 5:45 am.

When you fall asleep at 5:45 am, and your alarm goes off at 9:30 after being out all night it is not a very happy sound. We check out of our over-heating room by 10, and were back on the road with our backpacks. Our bags each weigh 50-60 lbs, quite a load to carry all over the city. We debated finding a park and passing out for a couple of hours, but ended up eating ice cream, finding an internet cafe, and making our way to a new hostel. This last night we stayed at the Barcelona Hostel. The room was nice. I read, and explored while Trevor slept. Later that night we went to tour the Berlin Wall. There is an excellent exhibit Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer. It was a very powerful portrayal of the history of the wall.

Today we are looking to go to Prague via bus. not exactly sure when we will leave Prague or how we are planning on getting back, but I’m sure it will work out. You can also see all the pictures that I uploaded to Facebook from Copenhagen and Berlin. Don’t forget to leave me comments about what you think below.

A Long Stinking Travel Day!

Posted on Wednesday August 20, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

Passport to the world. A photo of my USA Passport that I took while I was sitting in the airport getting ready to leave for Europe.

We checked out of the Green Tortoise at about 11:00 am yesterday and left in search of breakfast and coffee. It seems that street vendors often have good cheap food. After sitting in the coffee shop across the street and planning out the route for the rest of the day. We found a Barnes and Nobel and a radio shack and took the bus to the Airport. We arrived about 3 and a half hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. There was nobody at the check in counter. When we went up to the office, they told us that they had no more flights leaving today. The situation worked out, the worker was just incorrect. It was frightening moment.

The plane ride from Seattle to Copenhagen was long (about 9.5 hours). I didn’t have a window seat or one of the sought after emergency exit seats. I did have a pretty German girl to talk to, although we aren’t planning on going to where she is from.

Finally we arrived in Denmark. Lots of people spoke English, and it was easy to figure out the train system to get into town (the airport is about 15 minutes outside of town). Food, beer, and looking in all kinds of neat little shops. It’s a pretty good life. Coffee was expensive though (maybe we were getting ripped off for using USD thought. It cost $10 to get two cups of drip coffee.

Our flight finally got into Berlin at around 8 pm local time. After not sleeping at all on the plan (meaning I hadn’t slept for almost 48 hours), it was tiring to find a place to stay. The train, bus system seemed intimidating. Less people seem to speak English, it was dark, and our packs where heavy. The first Hostel we went to was booked, but luckily there was a nice one a couple blocks from there. So until tomorrow afternoon we will be staying at the Meininger Hostel.

Beginnings in Seattle

Posted on Monday August 18, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

How I left my room prior to going to Europe.

Today started our trip. After getting off work this morning, me and Trevor left to catch the bus. Neither of us really felt ready for the trip, and have stuff that we had to get done. I had hoped to have my house cleaned by when it was time to go. This obviously did not happen.We took the Greyhound from Spokane to Seattle… a stupid 7:30 minute ride. We didn’t know where we were going to stay, but found a pretty great hostel, Green tortoise Hostel. The room is clean, we have two other roommates (it’s dorm style). They had a great free dinner at which lots of the residents participated. I’ve met people already from Ireland, Australia, Japan, and Korea. They have some sort of activity everyday, today was a water balloon fight. The people seem pretty chill. Me and Trevor decided to wonder around Pike St. market and by the mall. We ended up at a pretty cool bar that had hundreds of taps posted on their walls. A pretty cool atmosphere.having not slept in about 48 hours, I think it is time to crash out and get ready to take off on our transcontinental flight in the morning.

Just About to Leave

Posted on Sunday August 17, 2008 by Jacob Campbell.

I get off work in an hour and a half. In two hours I leave to take a 7.5 hour bus ride to Seattle. In one day I leave from Seattle and fly to Europe. The first leg of the journey is 9.5 hours, and lands in Copenhagen Denmark. From Copenhagen, it is a one hour flight to Berlin. Once in Europe I will be staying from August 18 till September 23 (five weeks). It’s a pretty exciting trip… but I don’t think it will really hit me until I’m actually there.