10 Days. 4 Countries. 5 Friends. Eurotrip.
Last week was my winter break from school in France so I had a great Eurotrip with friends from school.
Day 1
We left Aix at 9 AM to start our adventure. Our destination: Bayeux.
Well it took us about 11 hours to get there. Ironically, this weekend of vacation was the same weekend of vacation as the rest of France. The French school system is divided into 3 zones with different schedules, but they all had to line up on this one weekend. For me, that meant that many seats on the trains were full so we had to figure out a way (without paying an arm and a leg extra) to get where we wanted. That being said, we left Aix and arrived in Marseille where the last in the group (Jean-Michel) was to meet us. Well he didn’t get there in time, and we had his Eurail pass. Oops. After a lot of scrambling and running back and forth in the train station, we hid all of his stuff behind a bright green defribulator… and left him.
We went until Lyon where we had to change trains and then took a couple more hours to get to Paris. And there was Jean-Michel. He luckily found his things and changed his train so that he ended up arriving in Paris before us. From Paris, we all changed stations and traveled a few more hours to Bayeux.
We arrived in Bayeux, which is in Normandy, France, in the dark with a fine mist covering all. You may know Bayeux for the Bayeux Tapestry… didn’t make that connection until I was there; silly, I know. The cathedral was lit up and showed us our way to the hotel. After finding that, it was time to find food. Not an easy task. It definitely isn’t tourist season in Bayeux and we were lucky to find a pizza place to grab a bite to eat. From there, we just took an easy night at the hotel hanging out and talking.
Day 2
Today was about visiting D-Day beaches and the American Cemetery. Being that it wasn’t tourist season, we had to take a taxi there. There was a bus, but it barely gave us any time to do anything… the bus driver told us to steal a car for a solution, but we went with the taxi instead. So we arrived at the cemetery and went into the museum portion. It was interesting to see all of the pictures, see what the soldiers dealt with, and understand the events leading up to the invasion. After the museum, we went to where the cemetery and memorial are. It is incredible how many stones are there to commemorate fallen soldiers. It really is a powerful place.
We strolled past the gravestones and took in what all this meant. Then we had to visit the beach. It was absolutely crazy to imagine just how different that beach would have been on D-Day. Hiking back up towards the museum, we found numerous monuments dedicated to different divisions. We also found abandoned bunkers. They were quiet, cold, and a bit creepy, but you can walk right into them, into the spaces where soldiers hid to find a safe place.
After spending some good time understanding history, we returned to Bayeux. We decided to go out and explore the city. It’s really quite cute, with cool, old architecture. And it has an awesome cathedral. When we were there, it just happened to be the time when someone started playing the big organ. That was pretty cool. We also visited an art gallery and took some fun pictures in a red photo booth.
For the evening, we bought dinner from the grocery store and had another night hanging out at the hotel.
Day 3
We woke up bright and early to catch our train to Strasbourg. Well first Paris and then Strasbourg. In Paris, I met up with Caroline (a French girl I met in Norway who now works with Oxfam in Paris). She was a blessing showing us how to get between stations, showing us the Opera house and around Paris during our two-hour stop. Seeing Caroline was great also because I’ve been missing Norway, and she was some sort of connection.
After a few more hours on the train, we arrived in Strasbourg. Strasbourg is pretty cool, good vibe and lots of German influence (because it is right by the border between Germany and France). My group made the way to the hotel before going back out to explore the city more. We found an incredible cathedral there as well, even better than the last. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg is huge, with incredible gothic architectural influences.
We had a delicious dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce and wine, which we made back at the hotel.
Day 4
Another early morning and before long we arrived in Munich. Well we arrived at Munich-Pasing (the station on our tickets). We should have stayed on the train a bit longer, because where we got off was 10 km away from the hostel. We proceeded to get on the tram (illegally… oops!... but we couldn’t figure out how to pay).
The hostel was nice though. While we were waiting for the rooms to open up, we decided to visit the city center and explored aimlessly.
Evening rolled around and we went to Hofbrauhaus, the famous brewery in Munich. It had a lively atmosphere with a live band and people dressed up in all sorts of silly outfits. It seemed a little touristy at first, but then I realized that the locals were hanging out there as well. There was a whole group of old guys (maybe 60s?) drinking their beer and singing songs. Fun fact: Hofbrauhaus stops serving pints at 6 pm… from then on, you can only buy liters. Also: the most that an employee can carry is 16 full liters. Dang! Another thing: If you’re not too into beer like me (I know, why go to Munich when I don’t like beer? But whatever.), try the Radler; it’s half beer and half lemonade.
Day 5
Another serious day. We visited Dachau Concentration Camp just outside of Munich. It was very interesting and educational. Seeing some of things is not quite like reading about them. The camp sits right next to a former SS training camp, and that is now a training area for German riot police. We even saw some of them out in uniformed and in formation. There was a lot at the camp… including the administration building where people were stripped of their identity, the open area where they were lined up and forced to stand sometimes as a form of torture, the cells where political prisoners were kept, the barracks where thousands lined up like sardines in the bed, the experiment rooms, various memorials and places for religion today, walls where prisoners were shot, and lastly the gas chambers and crematorium. This last area was the worst, it didn’t help that there was a voice in my head repeating, “Get out! Get out!” Needless to say, I wasn’t one of the people that ambled through the area slowly. It was get in, look, get out.
So after our tour of the camp concluded, it was time for a break, so naturally we went across the street from our hostel to the brauhaus. A couple guys from the tour that also were staying at the hostel joined us. Demitrius and Drew are backpacking through Europe for 2 months... A bit jealous! From the brauhaus, we went downtown to Marienplatz and found an Irish bar. I know, why go to an Irish bar in Germany, but it was fun. It was actually one of my most memorable experiences from the trip when I had an entire conversation… in American and German sign language, English, and German. I was able to remember some basic sign language from my classes in elementary school, and along with some help of a hearing German girl who spoke English and some writing on a paper, we talked with two deaf German guys. They were pretty cool asking about my studies, the U.S., politics, motorcycles (that Jean-Michel has) and other various things. I cannot explain how accomplished I felt after this! Across culture, across language, meaningful conversation. Great experience.
Day 6
Wednesday was to Amsterdam with a stopover in Frankfurt. We stopped at the airport so it was too far to have the opportunity to explore the city. Everyone was hungry and the boys chose where to go… well they chose Hooters. Who could have guessed?
Of course there was more time on the train, and we arrived in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is chill. It is true that they have their reputation for prostitutes and coffeeshops, but it’s not just about that, it’s about how they handle it. The prostitutes are registered with the city, just like a tour guide. They must be 18 years of age (they’re thinking about raising it to 21) and an EU citizen. Fun fact: the oldest prostitute working right now is 84… apparently she has a pretty long waiting list.
Also: marijuana is in fact illegal in Amsterdam. But official laws are different than what really happens. To get by in Amsterdam, you have to follow the three rules. 1) It must be discreet 2) It can’t hurt anyone else 3) It must be good for business.
So our first night in Amsterdam was spent mostly looking around. We walked through the Red Light District and saw the women working in the windows. It was kind of surreal to see exactly what I had heard. They really do just hang out there, wearing skimpy clothes, and looking at people.
We also met a nice girl from Germany that was traveling alone and staying in our hostel. We pretty much adopted her right into the group and did things together all of the nights we were in Amsterdam.
Day 7
This was the first day we actually got to sleep in and didn’t have to be anywhere and do anything right away. We took our time getting up and then made our way to a free walking tour. The guide was pretty awesome and little hippyish. He fit right in with the city. The tour was informative and we saw the narrowest street in the Red Light District, the highest part of the city (at 1.3 meters), Rembrandt’s house, the widest bridge, the Old and New Church (there’s quite a connection between church and the prostitutes… back in the day sailors could go to confession and be absolved of their sins before their night with the prostitute since they knew they’d be leaving early in the morning and didn’t have time to go afterward), the section of town redesigned in the 70’s by “students on acid” (lots of yellow), the narrowest house ( I could have hugged it!), and we finished up outside the number 1 tourist spot in Amsterdam (Anne Frank’s house). We also learned about the canals that surround the city. Apparently they are three feet deep with a layer of muck, a layer of old bikes, and a layer of water. There is even a guy who works to take out the bikes with a big machine and he cleans them up and sells them to be re-used. There really are bikes everywhere. I loved it (even if it could get a little scary trying to cross some streets). In fact, there are about 3 bikes for every one person.
After the tour, we took some time to rest before a night out on a bar crawl. We paid 17 euro to be toured through 5 bars and a club in the Red Light District and received a t-shirt. It was fun to meet all the different people on the crawl because they were coming from all over the world. There were people from Chicago, Japan, and Brazil to name a few and tour guides from Ireland and Peru!
Day 8
The next morning came early with having to check out at 10 AM (and not getting back until 4 AM the night before). We were switching hostels because the prices became a bit outrageous on the weekends so we moved to another place a bit outside of the downtown area. On the way to the next place, the boys had the lovely decision to ditch us. Well, the girls did just fine getting to the hostel, and I still don’t understand why they looked so shocked to see us arrive so quick and easily.
Then it was time to explore the area that we were in now and get some food. We also made our way to the coffeeshop called De Dampkring, which is featured in Oceans 12… when George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matsui are speaking completely unintelligible things and Matt Damon chimes in and ends up ruining the whole deal. Confused? Watch the movies.
That night we went back to the Red Light District to meet up with our German friend Lara. When we were hanging out at a pub, we ran into the guys from the pub crawl the night before. I guess the manager thought we were super cool people and gave us wristbands to get free entrance into the club on the bar crawl. Two of the people in our group went back to the hostel early because they were pretty tired, but I was having fun, so I stayed with the other two and we partied the night away. Literally. I didn’t get back to our hostel until 6 AM after dancing at the club until 4, walking Lara back to her hostel, riding a bike with the other two (yes, just a regular bike meant for 1), and walking a long ways.
Day 9
8:15 AM rolled around and it was time to get up (yes, after 2 hours of sleep). I went with Patrick and Cate to do some last minute tourist shopping before meeting at the train station to get to Brussels.
Luckily, our hotel was right next to the train station in Brussels, but too bad that was a bit far away from the town center. We took the metro to see the Atomium, which was designed for the 1958 World Fair and represented an iron atom. It’s a really cool structure that you can climb all around inside. They have an exhibit on concrete and even a spot where kids can have sleepovers (next time!). I thought it was an interesting spot at least.
From there, we hopped back on the metro to get downtown. There we saw the cathedral, sampled some tasty Belgian chocolate, and got some Belgian waffles.
Shortly after we returned to our hotel and after getting food, the crisis began. I saw a strange bug crawling on my friend’s backpack. Well I asked what is was, and as we continued investigating, we found more in his bed. Ew. Ew. Ew. Well everyone freaked out. We shook our things off as best we could, packed, and got out of there. We fought with the owner for at least a good half an hour trying to get our money back, then just trying to get a receipt saying we were checking out at 11:30 pm. And no, they were not being helping, and not knowing how to run a business. We had even brought a bug down to show them. They will not be getting good reviews. We ended up at another hotel (a lot cleaner and nicer), where the person working took pity on us and gave us a room meant for a maximum of two. Everyone got into the room, stripped on extra clothing, and went in shifts to check every single thing for bugs. Luckily, there were none. We separated the bed, and the girls took the mattress while the guys got the box spring to sleep on.
Day 10
The train left a bit after noon, so we lounged around in the morning. We weren’t too excited to get out and see things after the night before so we just took it easy. They train went straight from Brussels to Aix (well just outside Aix) and it was a 5 hour ride. It passed uneventfully for the most part… besides some minor pranks between friends… and we found ourselves back in Aix.
This past week was sooo much fun. I know everyone was tired, but I still wish it hadn’t ended. I loved being able to meet people along the way and have different interactions with different cultures. Coming back to Aix is nice for having some good food again (I was lacking vegetables a bit on the trip) and being able to know where I am and where to go, but it still doesn’t feel like home. I guess I’m just a traveler and I am so excited to experience this world.
