7/8 – Arrived in Paris at 6:30am. Got into the hostel! Walked around for a few hours and slept for 3 hours that afternoon. Went out with 4 Finish guys and an American and we hung out near the Latin Quarter that night.
7/9 – Wen to the Science museum with 2 of the Finns. Everything was in French. I left after 2 hours. Went to the train stations to get schedules to Lucerne and Basel and I was able to buy a 7 day/2 month Eurail Flexi-pass for $250 at the Nord Station. I then bought some erasable pens, on the advice of some Australians I met earlier in the trip. I meditated in an nice little cathedral and made it to bed by 10pm. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone in Switzerland.
7/10 – Walked to Notre Dame, went up Eiffel Tower, walked around De Gaul circle, walked around Latin Quarter and university area. Beautiful city. Went out with 4 Canadians. Bought some wine, went to St Germain pub where a band was doing a lousy imitation of the Rolling Stones and walked to the Pomapou Center. Mark, who was black and from Vancouver started doing some kind of jive walk behind 2 black girls and their poodles started barking at him while they tried to walk away faster. We went by some French guys with bongo drums. They gave one to Mark and he started banging the drum and doing some abstract poetry. It was pretty funny.
7/11 – Went to Versailles. Very beautiful and also very hot out. Had dinner with Mark and Eric at the hostel. They were catching a night train to Spain.
7/12 – Checked into Mac Hostel. Real pain in the ass process. Ended up at Musee de Orsay. Beautiful, breathtaking impressionist paintings, especially the Van Goghs. Paid for 2 nights at smaller hostel in the afternoon for the following two nights. Met 2 Brits, a Canadian from Montreal and a Japanese guy. We all got very drunk and hung around the bar at the hostel. The Canadian, Japanese and I went for a walk. The Canadian and I were talking to a French waiter. We could hear some noise behind us. Somehow our Japanese friend ended up in a shopping cart singing to himself. We wheeled him back to the hostel.
7/13 – Very hungover. Moved my stuff to the smaller hostel. Went to Chartres. Sublimely beautiful cathedral. Wonderous, harmonious feeling inside. Would have loved to have seen it with cleaned windows and white washed walls. The light must have been magnificent when it was new. Nice medieval town. Rainy night. Walked around, got wet, and enjoyed a misty, twilight view of Paris. Really nice day overall.
7/14 – Saw the Bastille Day parade. A calvary unit stopped in front of me and all I saw where horses asses for the first part of the parade. They moved and I got a good view of all the French military machines coming by. Walked around the city for a few hours. Went out and had a good Chinese dinner, then saw an unbelievable fireworks show from under the Eiffel Tower.
7/15 – Went to the Louvre. Big and a bit ungainly, but a great collection. Saw Hammarabi’s Code from Babylon, mummy’s from Egypt, mosaics from Rome and all sorts of Greek sculptures, and every kind of painting up to the Renaissance. The Mona Lisa was not the most beautiful painting a I saw but it had a calm radiance around it that was memorable. Even the shoving crowds of people couldn’t detract from the grace of the painting. It was much better than I expected. Walked around in the afternoon. Had a coke and read a special Time Magazine edition on France in the McDonald’s for about an hour. Nice peaceful day. I’ll miss this city and its people. Took the night train to Switzerland.
7/16 – Into Interlaken. Took the train to Grindlewald and gondola to Minchen, then walked to Kleiger Scheigen where I had spectacular views of Eiger and other mountains and the valley below. Didn’t like the place to stay at KS so went down to Interlaken and stayed an Baumers “frat house” hostel. Met Chris and Mark from Morocco. Hung out there that evening and went to bed early.
7/17 – Raing day. Watched Rainman movie an Baumers, then the sun came out and I walked to the lake and read and slept. Did my wash in a machine, played some pool with some Americans and went to bed early.
7/18 – Took morning train to Munich. Met a retired Swiss man going to Zurich for some “soul cleansing”. He had been in the textile industry for most of his career, then was head of procurement for the Swiss army. Met 2 other Swiss, a physicist and an engineer on their way to Munich to give a seminar. Checked into “The Tent”, a large circus tent which can hold up to 500 people sleeping on the floor. Met some Canadians and an American going to UCLA who I had met earlier on the train from Pamplona to the Spanish border. We went to the Haufbrau House and got very drunk off the huge beers there.
7/19 – Went to BMW Museum with Karin from Stockholm. Nice museum. Had lunch at Pizza Hut. Saw Tim and John from Interlocken at The Tent. Went to Haufbrau House and got smashed again. We were with Jason (also from Interlocken) and 2 South African guys. Tim and I got separated from them on the metro but we all ended up back at the tent.
7/20 – Went to Dauchau Concentration camp. In the train station before going there I was changing out some clothes and paying from my locker for another 24 hours. Suddenly a big German guy in a leather vest asked if the locker was free. I said no and felt a bit intimated by the guy. He asked me I was an American. When I said yes, he got very happy and brought some friends over. Guys and girls all dressed mostly in leather. Turns out they were from Hamburg and were in town for a rockability concert. They broke out a bottle of Jack Daniels and we all did multiple shots at 9am in the morning. Then went to the camp. It was a very, very sad experience. Back at the tent I met 3 Irish students working in Munich and we ended up going to a very hot and crowded Irish bar that night.
7/21 – Met Tim’s friend from Berkeley, Craig. John and Craig and I hung out all day. Started off with a beer and Bic Mac at McDonald’s at 10am, some more beers at a big festival downtown and then ended up at the Haufbrau House. Was pretty shitfaced by 2pm. They took the night train to Venice. I went back to the tent to sleep for a few hours. Went out with Chris from Pasadena (he had been in Russia for a chamber music contest with CSUN) and met some German friends of his at the festival. They may be in LA in September.
7/22 – Saw tour of BMW Factory. Very impressive the way each car is custom built for each customer and yet is produced with a highly automated assembly process. Took train to Bamburg to meet Gosvin. Had dinner with Gosvin’s girlfriend (Edit), brother (Elmar) and his parents. Drank a lot of beer, learned some German, taught them how to flick bottle caps, we all made fun of their neighbor and had a blast. His dad had been a POW in the war was shipped back to a camp in Pennsylvania. He said the Americans treated them all incredibly well and he became a huge fan of the US from that experience.
7/23 – Elmar took me on a tour of Bamberg. Beautiful old city with two large cathedrals and lots of wonderful old buildings. The “smoked” beer we had last night is made in two breweries – the only two in the world – and is a Bamberg specialty. Had a so-so dinner at one beer house with Gosvin, Edit and Elmar and some more smoked beer in another beer garden that was over 400 years old. It was called Spezial. The beer is called Spezy.
7/24 – Elmar took me to the brewery where the other smoked beer was brewed. It also had an incredible wood smoked taste to it. We went up to a castle built in the early 900s and tried to get a picture of Bamberg from the higher cathedral, but it was raining too hard. Had some cherry pies to celebrate Gosvin’s 37th birthday and I played some computer games with Elvin most of the evening. Then took the night train to Prague.
7/25 – Met 2 Americans – Joe and Tony – on the train who had already been to Prague. Checked into my hostel dorm room and met them on the Charles Bridge. We walked 1.5 hours to find Tomasch restaurant only to find it closed when we got there. Met them again that night and had some beers together.
7/26 – Took a walking tour of Prague in the rain. Lousy tour, but a great city. Met Toni and Gabrielle, two American girls, and some other people. Hung out together after the tour. Went out to restaurant by the river and had a great meal for $4 and met great Czech waiter names Tomas who wants to come to American real bad.
7/27 – Decided to leave Prague and got a hold of Tina and Sophia and left a message for Ulrika. Went to a Mozar/Dvorik/Janacek quartet in a small theatre. Met a Czech/French girl who was studying Germanic studies at the University of Paris and visiting her mother in Prague in the summer. The concert was excellent. Went to same restaurant with the gang and had another great meal. Then caught the night train to Berlin.
7/28 – Berlin. Met two Finnish girls in Prague train station. Walked around East Berlin by myself. Lots of block apartment buildings that looked nice from a distance but were real shabby up close. Went by Brandenburg Gate, then went to a plaza to meet the girls at noon. They didn’t show up. Walked by Checkpoint Charlie and saw people bungy jumping from a crane near some pieces of the wall. Had good Indian lunch. Walked around West Berlin. Had a good Turkish dinner. Took train to Copenhagen after some problems getting back to the train station; the S-bahns were still being reunified between the two cities.
7/29 – Copenhagen. Checked into Sleep-In, which was a big hockey arena converted to a youth hostel in the summer. Walked all over Copenhagen. Pretty city with large covered walkways.
7/30 – Saw Robin Hood movie and then took the train to Karlshamn, Sweden. Met Ulrika and her friend Jonas. Went to café for some beers and had Greek food later in memory of our time in Greece together.
7/31 – Went to a beautiful bay and swam, laid out on some rocks and played backgammon with Ulrika and two friends. Tina came that night and we went to a café and talked. After Tina left we went to a disco on a boat and hung out.
8/1 – Went with Lassen to have coffee while Ulrika showed her apartment. Ended up meeting with Unas and we dug for worms for their fishing outing tonight. Went to Unas’ apartment and relaxed and watched TV for a while. Ulrika made a nice salad later on and then I caught the night train to Stockholm.
8/2 – Arrived at 8:30am in Stockholm. Walked around a bit in the rain and met Karin at the train station later on. Went to Gamla Stan, the old part of Stockholm, and saw some street performers and had a small steak dinner.
8/3 – We rode bikes to a lake and laid out in the sun and swam a bit on a partly cloudy, but beautiful day. Cooked a spaghetti and meat balls dinner, then went for a long bike ride that evening through some very pretty neighborhoods. I felt like I was in Seattle with all the greenery and the water.
8/4 – Went to Stockholm and the Skansen, an open air historic museum of how the Swedes lived in the past. Then went to the zoo. Before that we saw the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace, which ended up being kind of anti-climatic. Went back home and finished the spaghetti, then went to play miniature golf with Karin and her friend Marietta. Only cost about $2.50 – best deal in Sweden!
8/5 – Was by myself today. Saw Vasa Museum about the battleship launched in 1628 which sank almost immediately. They dredged it up in 1961 and made a museum around it. Walked around Stockholm for a few hours. Missed the bus to the cruise ship and had to take the subway and walk a bit. The cruise ship Symphony on the Silja line was huge with an inside atrium and glass elevators. Was able to use my Eurail pass for this. Met a Finn named Sampo and had a very good, but very expensive buffet dinner with lots of different kinds of fish and a traditional glass of cold vodka for about $27.
8/6 – In Helsinki. Walked around for the morning. Sat in on someone practicing on the organ in one church then saw a church that was built within a hill of rocks. All the walls were the actual rocks. Heard a choir rehearsal which was very beautiful. Helsinki seems to be a lonely city; a Western city mixed with blocks of drab, somewhat run down apartments. Later, Paul said that the Russians built a lot of the buildings there. Met Paul in Riihimaki. Went with a friend of his, Monti, to Monti’s family’s cabin near a lake. Went for a canoe ride, had a hot, steamy Finish sauna and jumped in and out of the lake. A great, relaxing Finnish evening. Funniest part was when we went to buy beer on the way to the cabin and they said they had a surprise for me; they were about to buy a case of Budweiser. I asked them to take it back and we got Heineken instead.
8/7 – Crashed in Paul’s younger brother’s bedroom and woke up with a bunch of Southern California skateboarding pictures all over the walls. It was cool to see this all the way in Finland. I caught the train back to Helsinki. Walked around, read some magazines in a department store, then took the night cruise ship back to Stockholm.
8/8 – Walked around Stockholm then took the train to Linkoping. Sophia’s store had a special night sale, so I waited until around 9pm to meet her. Saw an old cathedral, went to their library and waited out a large rainstorm before meeting her. Sophia, her boyfriend Alexander and I rented a move and had a good time. I ended up staying at his apartment. He’s from Yugoslavia and he owns a fabric shop in the city.
8/9 – Did laundry, watched a movie and met Sophia for lunch. I wanted to buy a sweater from Pasparto, the store where she works, but it had a hole in it and it would have been difficult for the seamstress to fix it in time. Sophia fixed a great past dinner, then we talked and watched another rented movie.
8/10 – Took 1pm train to Copenhagen. Met an Australian from Brisbane who know people in Tipperary Ireland and he gave me their number. Also met two GIs who were travelling around. Took 9pm train from Copenhagen to Aachen. The Aussie’s name was Neil McKenzie.
8/11 – Arrived in Aachen around 8am. Called Silvia and she picked me up. We had a nice breakfast, I showered, then we walked around Aachen for most of the day. Went to a small flea market with her sister, her sister’s husband and their 7 month year old girl. Silvia made a great home made pizza for dinner then we went to Marga’s house. Marga’s mom had spend two weeks in the Southwest US and was excited to tell us about it.
8/12 – Had a great breakfast and Marga’s mom washed my clothes and sewed up some holes in my sweater. We did some errands around her small village on a bicycle and met two people who had lived in LA for a number of years. He had worked as a meatpacker at the Farmer John plant in Vernon and 4 of their 5 children had moved back to the LA area. We took her car around the countryside and to a nice 800 year old castle on a hill. Then we went to a lake and swam and slept for a bit. Had pancakes for dinner with Frank, a friend of Marga’s at Marga’s and Sylvia’s apartment.
8/13 – Hung around their apartment all day. Went for a walk with Sylva’s sister and Marga and found a bank to change my Swedish and Danish money to Deutschemarks. Walked around, had ice cream and then some beer and ended up talking with Niko, a friend of theirs. He may be in LA in September and he may call me. Everyone spoke only German the whole night and I was a bit lonely.
8/14 – Marga took me into Aachen so I could catch the 8am train to Amsterdam. Ended up staying in the Sleep-In in Amsterdam. Met Andrew from England and Matt from Sydney. Went out with Matt. We walked around the Red Light district, had some beers, one ineffective space cake and ended up in a cool coffee shop. Met a Dutch girl who worked there and helped roll us a couple of joints. Was supposed to meet her the next day at 1pm to buy some good stuff, but I never made it. We took the bus back, got off with some backpackers and followed them thinking they were going to the Sleep-In. They weren’t, we were on the other side of town. Some Italians followed us for the same reason and we had a good laugh. We waited for the next bus. It came but didn’t stop. An hour later we caught the second-to-last bus back. Stoned stupidity.
8/15 – Got up early and called Ireland. Went with Matt and Andrew to the Van Gogh Museum. Very good, but I was a bit too burned out to enjoy it. Getting a bit blasé about new sights at this point. Went by the Ann Frank house with Matt, but the line was huge. Went to a university mensa (cafeteria) for a cheap meal. Andrew and I ended up going to a bar and getting shitfaced on this great Belgian monastic beer which actually had some type of second fermentation in the bottle. It had a very strong kick. We had 4 or 5 of them. Met an English girl (Julie) and her and Andrew talked about home. She left and we went back to Sleep-In. We finished off last night’s purchase with some other Englishmen. Matt was asleep.
8/16 – Went to Heineken Brewery with Matt. Had 1 beer at 11:45, then promptly had over 8 more between noon and 1pm. We were the first tour of the day and the post tour bar was all staffed up for the next larger tours so we had amazing service. And we got shitfaced. Wandered into another mensa had lunch and met some Dutch students. Talked with them most of the afternoon. I went to the train station to find out about the Paris trains. Wandered into the first mensa and met Matt again. I took the night train to Paris.
8/17 – Beautiful morning in Paris. Read a book and ate breakfast along the Siene, tried to get earlier flight from London at Council Travel, walked around Paris and then took train to La Havre. Big problem – the ferry was full and couldn’t get another ferry until Monday night so I booked one for then. Met Brian from Belfast, Suzanna from Sydney, Steve from Michigan and Jason from NYC and we all wandered to the local YMCA and got fairly nice rooms for about $9 per night. Went to great Turkish restaurant, then got drunk in a park on cheap wine, and had a very “meaningful” conversation on sex and religion.
8/18 – Woke up and had simple breakfast in the train station restaurant. Saw a wonderful parade with floats and strange amateur marching bands. Went to Turkish restaurant again and then wandered around town discovering unusual phallic symbols.
8/19 – Woke up with a slight fever and a slightly swollen throat glands. Took a penicillin pill. Had breakfast with Brian, Suzanna and Jason. Brian and I hung out and rested in a park. We all caught 6pm boat to Ireland. Met an Irishman named Jim on the boat who was protesting the poor job training program of the Irish government. He felt everyone in his home town had it in for him. He also had 3 spare bunks in his cabin and let me, Jason and Suzanna crash there. I was feeling sick and I needed the bunk.
8/20 – Woke up and still felt bad. Brian heard on his Walkman that Gorbachev had been overthrown. He wanted Western doctors and there was a reward for Yeltsin’s capture. Strange news on a sunny deck of an Irish bound boat. Caught bus to Tipperary and got in around 7:30pm. Met Patrick, John McCormick’s youngest son. He was working at the pub. Had my first glass of real Irish Guinness which was excellent. We went upstairs for a while. His mom and dad eventually came back from different golf outings. We all sat around and exchanged travelling stories and had a great time. Also met Brenden, who was an engineer working as a consultant for chip manufacturers, Vincent a local solicitor and another brother who was an accountant and living at home now.
8/21 – Patrick took me on a tour of the city in the morning. Mr. McCormick drove me around the area in the afternoon. We saw Glendalough, a beautiful famous valley, the Castle at Cahir, and old Norman castle with a dungeon and everything, the castle on the rock which included an old cathedral with the roof caved in. It was originally founded by St Patrick and was a for from at least 370 AD, probably earlier. Then we saw the Holy Cross Abbey, which included two very small pieces of wood from the original cross Jesus died on. We had a couple of beers at a local pub, then went back to Tipperary. Pat and I talked for a few hours on Irish politics.
8/22 – Took morning bus to Galway and arrived at 3pm. Lisa and Maura were waiting for me. Because I was a couple of days late I couldn’t stay with Lisa or Deidra (who had left for Cork) so I checked into a hostel. They took me for a ride along the coast. Beautiful rocky land with scores of stone houses and walls. Lisa, her friend Raymond and I went out for dinner and hit a few pubs that night. We were all tired and I was still a bit sick so they dropped me off around midnight.
8/23 – Walked around Galway. Was still a bit ill. Saw the Book of Kells at the University of Galway, which had beautiful drawings. Met Lisa and a friend of hers at 3pm and had a beer. Went to Lisa’s house. Her mom cooked a great dinner of salmon and a mushroom dish with great sauces. Lisa and her friends walked to the station and I took the 6:25 train to Dublin. Arrived at 9:30pm and called Stewart, who picked me up. He, Angie and her mom and a friend Lee were all there. Had some cider and a good laugh as Stewart pretended his mother-in-law was retarded.
8/24 – Left “The Bronx”, their block apartment complex called the Ballymun Tower Complex, and went to an interesting street market with all kinds of junk and strange people in Dublin. Had breakfast and I wandered Dublin on my own. Saw St Michan’s church, built in 1096, with mummified remands of a nun, a thief and an 800 year old crusader. Saw a slide show on Dublin at Trinity College. Went back to Ballymum and Angie cooked a nice dinner. We watched TV and went to bed kind of late.
8/25 – Went to a Jehovah’s Witness meeting with Stuart and Angie. Interesting speaker on the reasons for evangelizing and somewhat boring group session on an article in the Watchman magazine. Went to Heath which was a beautiful seaside town north of Dublin. Played soccer with Stewart’s friends and had a blast. Went to a tea party then a good Irish working man’s pub.
8/26 – Got locked in the apartment with a broken key. A neighbor was able to open the door from the outside to get me out. Payed for my ticket to London and saw Terminator 2 movie. Went back to apartment and watched TV with Angie and Stewart.
8/27 – Went to Guinness brewery, paid 2 pounds, saw some uneventful things, then had one free Guinness beer, which was heavenly. Walked around Dublin some more; it’s a mixed city with some beauty and some greyness. Caught overnight ferry to England and slept on the floor. Then the overnight train to London and slept with my head on a table; there was no place to lie down.
8/28 – Arrived in London at 7:15am. Couldn’t find Celina and Leon’s place in South Wimbledon. Either the address was screwed up or they couldn’t find work and left the city. Stayed with Joanne instead. Her, her roommate Philip (from Northern Ireland), Lorraine from Scotland and a German girl went to a good pub – The Roundtable – and then a great pub – The Porcupine – and had a blast. Had earlier spent the day wandering around London and saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc.
8/29 – Saw the City of London, found bus info to Henley and wandered around the streets for a while. Went to a lousy disco with Joanne, Lorraine and Philip.
8/30 – Saw the British Museum. Unbelievable collection of most of the ancient civilizations, including a mummy from 3300 BC. Greek, Roman, Assyrian, Egyptian and Middle Age exhibits. Rented a movie with Joanne. Philp had to fly to Ireland, unfortunately his dad had a heart attack.
8/31 – Slept in, then went to London. Saw Les Misérables for 5.5 pounds in an obstructed seat in the fourth row. Wonderful show. That night went for a picnic with Joanne, Lorraine and her friend Drew. Tried to have BBQ, but it wasn’t allowed. Bought sausages instead and listened to an orchestra in a large park and watched a fireworks show. Went to a pub with a lousy band and danced for an hour or so. Had a great time.
9/1 – Went to Camden Market with Joanne. Streets full of stalls with all kinds of merchandise and all kinds of people.
9/2 – Saw a bit more of the British Museum, was fascinated by the Roman exhibits. Tried one more time to get an early flight to LA, but no luck. Went to the Canal Café near Warwick Ave tube stop and saw the improv comedy night. The first part was OK, but in the last hour they asked the crowd for a place five people could live in. The response was “squat” so they did a brilliant, completely improvisational play based on 5 roommates squatting in an apartment.
9/3 – Went out to Henley on Sonning to see Richard. Had some bitters at the Bull pub, walked around the small village and saw tapes of Cheeves and Wooster, which was based on a book by PG Woodhouse and was a very funny TV show. Went out with Rich’s friends. Went to a pub in Henley, sat outside, had lots of Guinness and played a sports game to try to win a free Guinness.
9/4 – Tried to walk to Henley from Sonning along the Thames. Beautiful day, but the trail ran out after a few miles and I had to turn back. Went with Rich and his friend, one of which whose 21st birthday will be Saturday. First went to the Bull then to a pub near the Thames where I met “Mad Tony”. We played a game where we had to guess how many coins were in each others hands. Then played “Toboggan” where Tony and I sat on the floor sideways bar stools and pretended we were on a toboggan. Also played a rowing game on the floor to simulate rowing on the Thames.
9/5 – Took bus to Reading, but train to Bath too expensive. Missed stop at Sonning so waited for other bus back to Sonning. Richard’s mom came by in a car with Justin, the bartender from last night, and a girl named Rachel. We had some pints at The Greyhound and they planned a concert Rachel was playing in to raise money to be part of a world tour. Went out to the Bull that night and had beers with Richard, Rich, Jim and another girl.
9/6 – Watched a tape of the movie Amadeus and got a ride into London with Robert. Waited on Joanne’s doorstop about an hour, went to get something to eat and met her at her hairdresser’s. Ended up renting movie “Q&A” that night.
9/7 – Helped Joanne wash her car. Went to London by myself. Walked from Leicester Square tub stop (where a bomb threat made us all clear the station) along the Thames to the Tower of London. Took tube and then walked down Kings Road with all the trendy, expensive shops and then up the Fullham Road. Beautiful, sunny, crisp day. Ended up renting the movie The Freshman. A couple of “exciting” nights, but this city is as expensive as Scandinavia was.
9/8 – Supposed to meet Richard’s friends for lunch but they were pretty “knackered” after the previous night’s party, so I just hung out at Joanne’s all day. Caught to tube to South London, met Richard and his friends and went to a comedy show. Great improv show. First part of the show were various improv games and second part they took “meanwhile…” phrases we gave them out of a hat and did short improv skits on them. Went back to Sonning and crashed around 1am.
9/9 – Going home! Richard and his dad gave me a ride to the bus stop. Took 1.5 hours to London. Took 1 hour tube to the airport. Plane ended up being delayed. Saw 3 movies on the plane. Alan picked me up at LAX and we had a great, cheap Mexican lunch to celebrate my return.
I came back with German soap, Portuguese suntan lotion, Spanish toothpaste, French shampoo, British deodorant, French shaving cream and Spanish razor blades.