European Trip Memoirs

[ZeaLitY]

I recently completed a trip across the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. I kept a detailed journal of observations and thoughts throughout, and I'll put the best here. BECAUSE I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEATS FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT THIS

• We started in Heidelberg. I had a short feeling of being let-down when I realized Europe was a lot like the US; arriving to Heidelberg was like being dropped in the middle of fast food places, tourist traps, cheap art installations, posters of models, and everything else consumerist. I then asked myself honestly if I expected something different in the first place and got over it.
• Caught a "typical German wedding party" according to our waiter that night outside the city in some wonderful pub / restaurant. I was amused that the music being played was like German folk music put to a hard trance beat, because stuff like that is all over Texas via Spanish-language radio stations. An authentic German dachshund was part of the festivities. I'll spare my other observations on Germany now, since we immediately turned and went to the UK (London, with a brief trip to Salisbury).
• We stayed in Kensington, which isn't too far from the center. Overall, London amazed me with its level of activity and life. It felt new and exciting to walk the streets at lunch hour on Villiers St. or Trafalgar with people from all walks of life, including several businessmen. It really felt like being in one of the world's capital cities. There were a lot of French tourist groups around, including several school groups of all ages.
• The English were summarily very nice and courteous. The only thing that saddened me were all the Muslim women wrapped in their hijab clothing. Here in my part of the states, we only rarely, rarely see Islamic women, and usually it's one at a time across several weeks or months. To see so many shocked me; don't these poor fucks realize that they're traitors to their own humanity by subjugating themselves to worthless religion? Don't they envy all the cheery English women who don't wear Dark Age regalia out of some fucked up sense of modesty and moral code? Fucking depressing. Fuck religion.
• Places: The Virgin Megastore had closed down. The British Museum was excellent; I saw the Elgin Marbles that Keats wrote of two centuries before. The Tower of London was an absolute zoo of tourists. Abbey Road studios were pretty unremarkable on the outside; I wonder why they don't capitalize on the reputation and sell shirts and stuff on a kiosk outside. They could sell Beatles albums, even. We saw other places, but these are the ones I remember at the moment.
• The London Underground was an amazing piece of mass transit. Europe really taught me the value of efficient mass transit, and I realized the US lacks it probably because of sprawl and the lower density of its cities. Anyhow, the Underground was clean, timely, and extremely easy to understand thanks to clear directions and color-coded routes. This is really how it's done! It got me in a Sim City mood.
• Speaking of the London Underground, I got packed into a car near the Tower of London -- blazing inferno temperature inside, wall-to-wall bodies -- with an entire troupe of French college girls. French has moved way up on my list of languages to learn. I thought about visiting France for my next European excursion, but I've just been warned by the English that Paris is the greatest conglomeration of angry, rude people this side of the Louisiana Purchase.
• MOMENT: Near Fleet Street, I was stopped by a badass Scottish man in his 50s who thought I seemed lost. We got to talking, and the guy launched into this giant springtime of youth explosion, telling me how he grew up in the Scottish countryside and came to London as a young kid, realizing that an entire world lay out there for him to explore, discover, and understand. Though he was tied down in London with a family, in his 30s he finally got around to traveling the world with "nothing more than a rucksack," as he'd say, and had just returned from Vietnam (again, with nothing but a rucksack and having stayed at hostels). He then admonished me to take 2 years of my life right now and hit the world as he did, globetrotting with a trusty rucksack and an imperishable desire to learn. I assured him I was in the springtime of youth and he went on his way, satisfied that he had encouraged someone to live passionately. This guy was a real inspiration to me, because I know the feeling of trying to recruit people into the springtime of youth and get them to pursue their dreams and live with an unstoppable burning desire to thrive. I wish him well. He's building his own Dai Gurren-Dan.
• Salisbury was one of the most peaceful towns I've ever witnessed. Walking around the city at morning or sundown was like strolling through some pastoral idea of heaven. I really got a sense from it that yes, the UK was a civilization that once stood atop the world in shining illumination. We saw Stonehenge and the cathedral; Stonehenge was surprisingly freezing cold, and the cathedral was nice, but I just wished that structures like that existed to inspire humanists and not just the religious. (Then again, perhaps every great work of humanity should, on some level, inspire humanists.)
• JA -- DER SHITTENFRAUFFE MIT TITTUR!
• Sorry, but after being subjected to the German language for so long, I'm granted one jest. I'm a quarter German, and this leg of the trip was to see where my grandmother's family originated (Mayen, with a few remaining relatives living in Bonn). In Frankfurt, we were told by Sixt that German rental cars could not enter the Czech Republic (yes, my traveling compatriot decided to rent a car to do Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia; please don't blame me for this act of stupidity). Thus, we were given a fucking Chrysler 300, which looked like a giant luxury tank announcing "HEY, AMERICAN IDIOTS ARE APPROACHING!"
• Wasn't left with too nice an impression of Germany, but it's probably because the part we were in was not really Americanized or occupied by American troops following the war (this is the explanation I was given, at least). Driving on the Autobahn was pretty kosher, and felt safer than driving on I-35 near Dallas, even. The German people we dealt with seemed punctual enough, but I'll be damned if they didn't look pissed off all the time. We unfortunately didn't realize when planning the trip that we'd arrive on some kind of massive German holiday, so we had to contend with packed roads and impatient travelers.
• Look, I really didn't want to stereotype Germans are neurotic people (especially since I'm genetically a quarter German), but fuck me, it felt that way. And even if the Autobahn was smooth sailing, in the cities they're really impatient fuckers compared to Americans, Czechs, and even the English. And most German people we talked to seemed to be under some kind of horrible pressure.
• Mayen was sort of a dumpy country town, and we didn't really go into the inner city of Bonn to see the worldwide conference center or any of that stuff. Instead, we had a fantastic dinner at some place called the Lederhof IIRC; I had ungarnschnitzel. I tried German beer, but I guess I'm just incapable of liking the taste of any kind of beer whatsoever.
• I'll be damned if I didn't go to Germany and see a political poster with a Hitler moustache drawn on some guy's face.
• The Rhine was amazing; I liked most the part near Boppard, where the valley sides are so steep that you can almost pretend you're in some remote, lost river civilization or something. We stopped in Bacharach briefly, where I continued to mourn the sad absence of Dr Pepper in Europe (and Pepsi too).
• Due to a slight schedule change, we stayed at the Prague Airport Ramada. The drive there around Nuremburg impressed me, as I realized how few forests there are in my part of the US. The Ramada was mostly empty (we arrived late, and it's at Terminal 3), and because of this I was able to use a computer for a while, plan some routes, and make contact with the Compendium. And then...
• I connected with my Italian and Slovak friends in Prague, which completely ruled, even if it's technically a massive tourist trap and not the "real" Czech Republic. We stayed at Bishupsky Dum, which is 15 seconds of walking from the Hradcany side of the Charles Bridge. We walked all over that city, seeing the castle, cathedral, twisted house, Mucha museum (Mucha is awesome), Jewish quarter (the Golem has apparently been removed), the Medieval clock, and a load of other stuff. I had so much fun being able to pronounce any Czech word or name I saw.
• Next was Bratislava, as the Italian friend returned to Milano. Bratislava, by far, felt like the realest city of them all, probably because I toured the actual areas outside the center to see where my Slovak friend grew up. She also showed up around the center; there are little statues of people strewn about which are fun to encounter. For example, a statue of Napoleon grins as he leans over a bench in the center square, while a guy who used to come up from a manhole to peek up skirts is immortalized on a nearby corner. The center was great; it was a little more commercial than Prague's, with tons of cafes and shops lining the streets.
• You know, it's a common legend that Bratislava has the most beautiful women in the world. After being there, yeah, sure, I'll attest to that. And overall, it's true that Europe has only a tiny, tiny, TINY fraction of obese people. I barely saw any at all. And of course, when I arrived in Dallas, they outnumbered the slender or fit people.
• I went with my Slovak friend and her two other friends from Bratislava to dine at the TV tower, where I had the feared bryndzové halušky. When I ordered it, the waitress asked me friends in Slovak, "he dares?" I ate the entire thing. I mean, hell, it's just potatoes with sheep cheese and bacon bits, right? That sounds pretty damn American to me! The view from the TV Tower was fantastic. We also visited Devin Castle outside the city where the Danube meets the Morava river, which was picturesque in the fading sunlight.
• My final stop in Bratislava was a park to say goodbyes near the Presidential Palace and Tatra Hotel (which, though nice, was blazing hot inside due to an unfortunate heat wave that also made Prague steamy). Overall, Bratislava seemed vibrant and struggling; I wouldn't mind seeing the Tatras now or risking visiting one of the villages Americans think of when they watch Eli Roth's Hostel film.
• Cue a long drive through Austria and the Czech Republic back to Frankfurt, followed by a 10 hour flight on Lufthansa, which had atrocious movie choices (though Inkheart was good; Paul Bettany is one hell of an actor). The international trip hadn't ended yet, however, as my shuttle ride back to Denton was with a Senegalese man between corporate jobs. We traded stories about traveling Europe and the high-points of European culture. I think he was sort of mystified at how open I was towards learning about the world, and I wouldn't blame him after his time working in a place like Dallas. (You just knew I had to work in a dig at Texas rednecks.)

It was a fantastic trip, and I can't wait to do it again. I graduate with my Master's in December, and I'll see where the future takes me. I'd still like to visit France, Antarctica, Australia, Japan, and uh...for South America, probably one of those interesting places off the beaten path like the cold parts to the south, and for Africa, perhaps Zambia, which I'm familiar with thanks to Peter Lawrence's writings (he and Dick Sebast were the creators of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest in the mid 90s).

I encourage everyone to take their own trips to their places of interest. It's enlightening to experience other cities and cultures, and the experience of traveling will sharpen the will and inspire.

GET FIRED UP YOU BASTARDS





PICTURES POSSIBLY TO ENSUE

[OverlordMikey]

Your rather blunt intolerance (at least your honest about your feelings on those kinds of things unlike some people...I like that.) of Islamic people, but then again you seem to dislike religion in general...I personally think that religion is only a truly bad thing when people twist it or take things out of context. (then again I'm not all that religious) For every ass on the news preaching hate, there is a group praying for peace....at least I want to believe that. Well either way I don't want to get into that kind of stuff, it can drive the most sane people to argue and frankly I'm to laid back to get into it. I even made this post smaller so people would pay less attention to it...just incase ^.^

I'm glad you had a good time. Although if I went to another country or two I'd want to wander aimlessly or go somewhere no one ever actually goes...it's more of an adventure then and I'm crazy, but that's a story for a different day. Yeah I want to get lost! I want to have a real adventure where I get really miserable and almost lose my spirit because I believe that In the long run it will make me better, smarter, stronger, and happier for the experience! It will make my spirit burn bright! Also I'm crazy which was mentioned before.
Anyway welcome back! I hope you have pictures of the scenery, I love those kinds of pictures!

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

I miss Europe... And I know they say "the grass is greener on the other side", but just about everything in Europe seems to make more sense to me.  The currency, round-abouts, the literal location of a physical town center, etc.

Glad to know it was a good one, Zeality.

[FaustWolf]

Congrats on completing the voyage! Imagine...there are countries with thin people out there! Sorry to hear about the beer Z. It's official: you're just 100% non-alcoholic, despite partial German heritage. If a Bavarian beer didn't do it for you, it's totally not happening. Ah well, just means you'll spend a greater portion of your life sober than a lot of other people.

JA -- DER SHITTENFRAUFFE MIT TITTUR!

Okay, I didn't recognize a few words there, so I ran it through Babelfish and got this:

"YES -- THE SHITTENFRAUFFE WITH TITTUR"

What's the joke supposed to be there? Or is it just a kind of conglomeration of nonsensical German-sounding words?


The comments on hijab caught my interest. First, looks like you saw it mostly in the UK; any in Germany? I was under the impression that there was supposed to be a huge Muslim community in Germany thanks to an influx of Turkish workers, but I can't claim to have seen any when I made a brief stay there a couple years back. Turkey tends to be more liberal in regard to clothing as far as I know, but I figured there'd be a veil/headscarf or two at least.

Secondly, what do you make of feminist arguments that the hijab, by virtue of concealing the body, prevents men from judging women based on appearance? The women who make this argument are hopefully excluding the Afghan/Pakistani burqa since it debilitates people visually.

[Chrono'99]

Glad it was an enriching experience!

I thought about visiting France for my next European excursion, but I've just been warned by the English that Paris is the greatest conglomeration of angry, rude people this side of the Louisiana Purchase.

Aha, that's somewhat true unfortunately. More rude than angry. Parisians have this reputation even in the rest of France, but by Parisian standards it's a normal behavior.

Antarctica

I didn't know that was even possible. Must be expensive.

[Radical_Dreamer]

Sounds like an awesome trip! Adventuring through Europe is definitely the way to go. The public transport throughout the continent really does make it so easy to get around, and (had you not been using cars) a Eurail pass is an incredible asset for inter-city travel. Makes me long for light and decent non commercial rail in this country.

I've been to France twice; once to Paris and once to Lyon. I didn't really have any issues with people being rude to me (save a security guard at the Louvre) but I was at least making an effort to speak in French, and I hear that goes a long way. I'd say it's a worthwhile country to visit.

From what I understand, there are cruises that you from South America to Antarctica, so you can make it a two continent trip. It's something I want to do at some point, but I'll need Spanish speaking friends for that to work.

[ZeaLitY]

Your rather blunt intolerance

Here: fuck all religion. I'd abolish it in a heartbeat if it were in my power. Teachers don't tolerate ignorance for the sake of humanity when their students think that 2 + 2 = 5, and upstanding humans shouldn't tolerate ignorance and superstitious fairy tales for humanity's sake when it's used to supplant reason and facilitate horrors for thousands of years.

What's the joke supposed to be there?

Just total surreal nonsense.

any in Germany?

Barely any. Then again, we only saw Heidelberg, Bonn, and Mayen; not exactly Frankfurt or other big cities.

prevents men from judging women based on appearance?

I think this is mostly irrelevant. On one of the double decker buses in London, a Muslim girl sat in front of me in full burqa. From her eyes, facial structure beneath the mask, and body structure, I could tell she was really hot. Oops! Hijab didn't work, did it?! And in a culture where every woman is dressed like that, well, the male brain will adapt to see attractiveness from the few parts that are exposed or general body structure, just as mine did with her.

The real problem is with the men. If a girl gets raped in Saudi Arabia, she goes to trial (in some African Muslim states, she gets stoned to death). No, it's not the men's fault; the girl was sadly born with breasts and a vulva, and this is an inexcusable offense in that it caused the rapists to commit adultery. This is incredibly fucked up thinking. If Muslim women have to dress up for the sake of being modest to Muslim men, maybe Muslim men should



and fucking deal with having attractive women around. This kind of "save me from myself" bullshit implies that Muslim men are uncontrollable perverts with so little self-control that they have to cover their women. Though it's not my place to make theological arguments, I have to imagine it's also fucking stupid when it's considered that God made women, and yet women are imperfect or the situation is flawed enough that the female existence has to be augmented with religious dress. Whoops! Did God not think far enough ahead to make women with prepackaged hajib gear? Why this glaring error in human nature? Why throw prohibitive clothing over one of God's most beautiful creations? Fuckers.

Aha, that's somewhat true unfortunately. More rude than angry. Parisians have this reputation even in the rest of France, but by Parisian standards it's a normal behavior.

Where else might you suggest visiting in France?

Antarctica

Yeah, I'm sure it is expensive I have this crazy "dream" to run the Antarctic marathon one day. It'd be quite the conversation starter. "Did you know I competed in an athletic event...on the frozen plains of Antarctica?" It's probably safer than climbing Everest or something.

I was at least making an effort to speak in French

I wonder how easy it'll be to learn popular languages using software like Rosetta Stone. With Czech, I had to buy a book and study myself. Rewarding, but not as easy as using automated flash cards.

[FaustWolf]

Hijab didn't work, did it?! And in a culture where every woman is dressed like that, well, the male brain will adapt to see attractiveness from the few parts that are exposed or general body structure, just as mine did with her.

Good insight. I've noticed in some documentaries and news reports that women restricted to the chador or other type of 95% concealing garment sometimes (not always) do really, really cool (and by that I mean hot) things with eyeshadow. Rowr! Er...yeah.

Completely agreed that by placing restrictions on women, conservative social elements just reflect poorly on men.

[KebreI]

I have no Idea what the German phrase is. Sounds like and interesting and valuable trip Z!

I was at least making an effort to speak in French

I wonder how easy it'll be to learn popular languages using software like Rosetta Stone. With Czech, I had to buy a book and study myself. Rewarding, but not as easy as using automated flash cards.

I was honestly surprised with how good the DS language tools are "Learn Spanish/Japanese/German/etc."

[Radical_Dreamer]

Where else might you suggest visiting in France?

Lyon. It's the food capital of France, which is high praise indeed. It's also just a cool city. There's the Tete d'Or park which has a random zoo in it and the Lumiere Brothers museum. Those were the bigger things I checked out, but I wasn't there for very long. It's also a nice town to just wander around in, which is what I tend to do when traveling. Naturally, there's light rail.

As for learning some French, I took classes in high school, so I can't tell you about the effectiveness of other programs. That said, I was never a good student and my French is very limited. I'm able to understand more than I speak, which is good, but I found that there were a few key phrases that comprised a large amount of what I had to say. "Excuse me", "Yes", "No", and "Do you speak English?" have surprising utility.

[OverlordMikey]

Hahahaha am I the only one who finds ZeaLitY's reactions funny and refreshing. You have such passion...although you shouldn't just pick out the convenient to complain about...I was complementing you on your sincere honesty even if I don't 100% agree with you I find it pleasant (maybe I feel most people are a little to fake)

I find it funny that I mentioned taking things out of context and then ZeaLitY did just that 
Although I hate to argue about religion however ZeaLitY's concept of Muslims isn't based off the religion, but off of (very sexist) cultural differences of the areas, not all people of the Islamic faith act like that, in fact there are many decent religious people all around. Around the world you will find many good Muslims, Jews, Christians, Catholics, Scien...scien...ok I won't get into that sc... I mean "religion". I'm just saying that you can't base your judgment on the loudest minority of people (a.k.a extremist types of any religion are f*ckin' crazy, but very very loud) or you miss the fact that a lot of people are goo....goo....decent....

My belief is if you arn't going to put any real effort into learning about these people in anyway (Wikipedia doesn't count), then you don't have a right to talk about them. I mean if you do then what does that make you....exactly! 95% of American news channels!

Anyway did you get pictures of the scenery or not!

[ZeaLitY]

can't base your judgment on the loudest minority of people

They aren't the minority. Hajib is a widespread practice in the Muslim faith.

[OverlordMikey]

can't base your judgment on the loudest minority of people

They aren't the minority. Hajib is a widespread practice in the Muslim faith.

I didn’t mean that I met you decrying the entire religion as I kind of evil rape promoting thing. On the other hand I find the clothes thing to be silly, I mean it's so inconvinent. It's obviously caused by the fact that they have aloud their religion to become stuck in a rut, refusing to change with the times. It's sad.

ANYWAY DO YOU HAVE SCENERY PICTURES OR NOT! AGH THIS IS MY THIRD TIME ASKIN'! (Note: REALLY WOULD LIKE A CHANGE IN SUBJECT!!! -_-'

[Chrono'99]

I concur on Lyon. Brittany is nice too, with its regional culture, the landscapes, Celtic vibes and whatnot.

Scien...scien...ok I won't get into that sc...

Good thing you don't bring this up, because it's banned in France, Germany, the UK, Canada, and several other countries too.

[Yourgingerestfan]

Im glad you had a nice time Zeality and I hope the Weather was nice for you .
The part of England I live in is always rainy xD