happy to be greeted by friendly/suspicious US customs agents, who independently accused each of us of being potheads and smuggling drugs back into the US. alas, we had to give up our contraband.
we really knew we were home when the big, jolly black dude burst out laughing upon seeing jordan do his hardcore dance.
philly!!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Home from Rome
Hello again.
To let you all know. Josh Veit, Matt Curtis, John Bninski, and me, Jordan R, are all back safely in the USA. It was quite a blast. We hit up Rome, saw the Colosseum, all of the Imperial Fora, the really great art museum (what's its name? Bernini, Rafael, etc.)
Pub Crawls are not cool.
There will be a more interesting finishing post later tonight.
Jordan
To let you all know. Josh Veit, Matt Curtis, John Bninski, and me, Jordan R, are all back safely in the USA. It was quite a blast. We hit up Rome, saw the Colosseum, all of the Imperial Fora, the really great art museum (what's its name? Bernini, Rafael, etc.)
Pub Crawls are not cool.
There will be a more interesting finishing post later tonight.
Jordan
Monday, June 8, 2009
Venice - home of water and tourists
Venice is a pretty remarkable city. For those of you who don't know (I didn't know), Venice consists of a cluster of small islands with footbridges interconnecting them. Literally no streets, just waterways where streets would otherwise be, which makes navigating the city pretty slow. Even between the five of us we managed to make wrong turns and get off track multiple times while we were wandering about. If only we still had our resident directions expert, Mr. Josh K. Carroll, but alas, our dear fellow left us for the States about five days back.
The ride into Venice was beautiful. Terry Wang and I climbed to the highest level of the cruise ship as it rolled into the port, and from there we could see most of the city since Venice doesn't have many tall buildings. It was weird seeing the waterline right up against the bases of the buildings. Many appeared to be abandoned, since it probably doesn't take much for the water level to rise a few inches and flood lower stories.
We quickly realized that Venice is almost entirely a tourist city. Soooo many tourists. I think Terry's hand guidebook said that the actual city population is around 60K, but there must have been another 20-30K tourists crawling about as well. Kinda annoying, but then again, we're part of the problem so look who's talking. Jordan and I took full advantage of the demographics and played a few games with our unsuspecting fellow tourists. Whenever we noticed a pack of American sightseers, one of us would run ahead to the nearest shop or intersection. As they approached we would try to "sell" them something or otherwise attract their attention using a combination of made-up Italian words, wild gesticulations and the aggressive acosting technique we learned from the street vendors in Istanbul. We were usually ignored.
Another crowd pleaser, which received more positive feedback, was to pick out a bunch of American tourists walking in the opposite direction as us. As they approached, we'd make eye contact, shout out "High-five for AMERICA!" and then throw out an overly-enthusiastic high-five. Most people got a kick out of this one, as did we.
As for the "real" tourist stuff, I mostly have to defer to Terrbear (our favorite nickname for Terry); as usual he left us in the dust and managed to visit 5 museums over the course of 4 hours.
We did manage to make it to one musuem, Academia, and our 1.5 hour stay testifies to the fact that we quite enjoyed it. Get this: not only did Jordan enjoy it, but he stayed an extra half hour because he like it so much. Now that I've built up the suspense, Academia is home to the work of Venician artists from the 14th to 17th centuries (if my memory serves me right). As expected, almost all of it was religious/Catholic, which is usually a huge turnoff for me. But, unlike the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Academia boasted a variety of different styles and subject matters which kept us all pretty interested. Exhibit cards with explanations of the subject matter and some history around the painting also greatly enhanced the experience. One of the coolest painting was this maassssive piece that spanned a 60'x30' wall, depicting...ummm...something religious having to do with one or more of Mary, the Crucifiction, some saints being martyred or something like that.
In other news, John Bninski's list of nicknames has grown once again. The latest addition comes from John's former Spades partner, Jordan. While the two of them were playing against Matt and I, Jordan started calling John "Johnny Appleseed." By round two of the game, it was shortened to just "Appleseed." And by round four, even that was too much of a mouthfull and Jordan was simply referring to his partner as "Seed." Lol. John's other nicknames include "Technical John," "Logical John," and my personal favorite, "Hour-long John."
Well, the guys are finally rollin out of bed. I probably don't need to say this, but "the guys" doesn't include Terry - he was of course up at the crack of dawn to hit the sites. Gonna check out the statue of David at the Galeria, and then head to Rome later this afternoon.
- Josh
The ride into Venice was beautiful. Terry Wang and I climbed to the highest level of the cruise ship as it rolled into the port, and from there we could see most of the city since Venice doesn't have many tall buildings. It was weird seeing the waterline right up against the bases of the buildings. Many appeared to be abandoned, since it probably doesn't take much for the water level to rise a few inches and flood lower stories.
We quickly realized that Venice is almost entirely a tourist city. Soooo many tourists. I think Terry's hand guidebook said that the actual city population is around 60K, but there must have been another 20-30K tourists crawling about as well. Kinda annoying, but then again, we're part of the problem so look who's talking. Jordan and I took full advantage of the demographics and played a few games with our unsuspecting fellow tourists. Whenever we noticed a pack of American sightseers, one of us would run ahead to the nearest shop or intersection. As they approached we would try to "sell" them something or otherwise attract their attention using a combination of made-up Italian words, wild gesticulations and the aggressive acosting technique we learned from the street vendors in Istanbul. We were usually ignored.
Another crowd pleaser, which received more positive feedback, was to pick out a bunch of American tourists walking in the opposite direction as us. As they approached, we'd make eye contact, shout out "High-five for AMERICA!" and then throw out an overly-enthusiastic high-five. Most people got a kick out of this one, as did we.
As for the "real" tourist stuff, I mostly have to defer to Terrbear (our favorite nickname for Terry); as usual he left us in the dust and managed to visit 5 museums over the course of 4 hours.
We did manage to make it to one musuem, Academia, and our 1.5 hour stay testifies to the fact that we quite enjoyed it. Get this: not only did Jordan enjoy it, but he stayed an extra half hour because he like it so much. Now that I've built up the suspense, Academia is home to the work of Venician artists from the 14th to 17th centuries (if my memory serves me right). As expected, almost all of it was religious/Catholic, which is usually a huge turnoff for me. But, unlike the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Academia boasted a variety of different styles and subject matters which kept us all pretty interested. Exhibit cards with explanations of the subject matter and some history around the painting also greatly enhanced the experience. One of the coolest painting was this maassssive piece that spanned a 60'x30' wall, depicting...ummm...something religious having to do with one or more of Mary, the Crucifiction, some saints being martyred or something like that.
In other news, John Bninski's list of nicknames has grown once again. The latest addition comes from John's former Spades partner, Jordan. While the two of them were playing against Matt and I, Jordan started calling John "Johnny Appleseed." By round two of the game, it was shortened to just "Appleseed." And by round four, even that was too much of a mouthfull and Jordan was simply referring to his partner as "Seed." Lol. John's other nicknames include "Technical John," "Logical John," and my personal favorite, "Hour-long John."
Well, the guys are finally rollin out of bed. I probably don't need to say this, but "the guys" doesn't include Terry - he was of course up at the crack of dawn to hit the sites. Gonna check out the statue of David at the Galeria, and then head to Rome later this afternoon.
- Josh
Friday, June 5, 2009
Boaty Boat
Hello world.
Here is the fastest summary every of our trip so far -
1. 24 Hours in London, National Gallery, British Musuem, Local bars
2. 4 days in Ireland, island of Galway with forts and cliffs, Guinness tour, great hostel and local bars, little poker
3. 2 days in Hamburg - stayed with couchsurfers who were members of a leftist resistance group, checked out local culture, took a boat tour of the port, went to the beach, played some poker
4. 2 days in Berlin - JC and I broke it down germantechnoindustrial style in this weird venue and got our grrove on. Pub crawl and great walking tour with focus on history of germany and berlin
5. 3 days in Istanbul - crazy taxi cab drivers that wanted to steal all of our money, great hostel with an even greater front desk lady (Burgu), beautiful views and the Hagia Sofia (1400 year old cathedral). Cool bazaar, and GREAT dance club for me and JC. Met a lot of cool friends, but also feared for our lives (sort of haha)
6. 1 day in Thessilonica - Checked out the local sites and eateries, cool city
7. 1 day in Athens - Saw the Acropolis, ie; the Parthenon, Temple of Dionysus, couple museums, and sheer awesomeness
8. 2 days in Aegina, Greek island - scooters and too much fun. Nothing like renting scooters for 15 euro each and booking it around a medium sized island. Great vacation from our vacations. Mad beach time and good sunburns
9. Crazy ride to get on this boat - 1 hour boat to a 3 hour bus to this 31 hour boat to Venice
10. We are ON A BOAT! haha
I've had a lot of very stimulating thoughts from this trip. I will not go into detail, but here are some things that have affected me -
1. History has been transformed in a product that is sold, and has become an activity that every tourist demands and consumes. Part of me is disgusted by this, and part of me appreciates that people are willing to pay to educate themselves about the past.
2. There are sometimes abnormal tendencies of other tourists to seek out "old things" and "city sites" even when the things and sites are mundane and boring. While some of the things we have visited have been extremely stimulating and thought-provoking, some of the sites and musuems have been less interesting than playing chess with a 6-year old.
3. This vacation is absolutely wonderful, despite the fact that I have no idea where I am going to be in 3 monthes.
4. The guys that I am with are outstanding dudes. John Bninski knows the entire dictionary and political situations of most countries. Terry Wang has seen every musuem in every city and also met every person in each city we visited. Matt continues to amaze me with random knowledge about varied things from the Old to Middle to New Kingdoms in Egypt to expansive knowledge of film. Josh Carroll seemingly has a great grasp on what's hot in music, with a specific focus on electronica. Josh Veit has been a amazing social glue and regenerative spirit so that, even with inevitable conflict, he maintains a cool demeanor and helps us cool down. I've been able to get a more detailed grasp of the character of these men, and while they are obviously not perfect, they are certainly extraordinary and if you don't know these guys in depth, you should pursue it because they are worth it. Also - they've had a lot of patience with me on this trip as sometimes I can be a bit unbearable and I appreciate it a lot.
5. I miss home a lot. I've eaten tons of American food and dishes while I'm over here, but it isn't the same.
6. It's stupid how many people speak English in these countries. If you know English and not a lick of another language, you could easily do 90-95% of Europe with only little disadvantage. We have been continually blessed (albeit sometimes shafted in hilarious ways) with people who speak English that help us find bus stations, hostels, restaurants, and ticket counters. Awesome.
7. The dollar isn't doing well against the Euro, especially when the minimum wage in some of these countries is 8.75 euro/hour. Goodbye, recent poker winnings.
/
8. Italy will be cool. Did I mention I can't wait to get back to Philly?
Here is the fastest summary every of our trip so far -
1. 24 Hours in London, National Gallery, British Musuem, Local bars
2. 4 days in Ireland, island of Galway with forts and cliffs, Guinness tour, great hostel and local bars, little poker
3. 2 days in Hamburg - stayed with couchsurfers who were members of a leftist resistance group, checked out local culture, took a boat tour of the port, went to the beach, played some poker
4. 2 days in Berlin - JC and I broke it down germantechnoindustrial style in this weird venue and got our grrove on. Pub crawl and great walking tour with focus on history of germany and berlin
5. 3 days in Istanbul - crazy taxi cab drivers that wanted to steal all of our money, great hostel with an even greater front desk lady (Burgu), beautiful views and the Hagia Sofia (1400 year old cathedral). Cool bazaar, and GREAT dance club for me and JC. Met a lot of cool friends, but also feared for our lives (sort of haha)
6. 1 day in Thessilonica - Checked out the local sites and eateries, cool city
7. 1 day in Athens - Saw the Acropolis, ie; the Parthenon, Temple of Dionysus, couple museums, and sheer awesomeness
8. 2 days in Aegina, Greek island - scooters and too much fun. Nothing like renting scooters for 15 euro each and booking it around a medium sized island. Great vacation from our vacations. Mad beach time and good sunburns
9. Crazy ride to get on this boat - 1 hour boat to a 3 hour bus to this 31 hour boat to Venice
10. We are ON A BOAT! haha
I've had a lot of very stimulating thoughts from this trip. I will not go into detail, but here are some things that have affected me -
1. History has been transformed in a product that is sold, and has become an activity that every tourist demands and consumes. Part of me is disgusted by this, and part of me appreciates that people are willing to pay to educate themselves about the past.
2. There are sometimes abnormal tendencies of other tourists to seek out "old things" and "city sites" even when the things and sites are mundane and boring. While some of the things we have visited have been extremely stimulating and thought-provoking, some of the sites and musuems have been less interesting than playing chess with a 6-year old.
3. This vacation is absolutely wonderful, despite the fact that I have no idea where I am going to be in 3 monthes.
4. The guys that I am with are outstanding dudes. John Bninski knows the entire dictionary and political situations of most countries. Terry Wang has seen every musuem in every city and also met every person in each city we visited. Matt continues to amaze me with random knowledge about varied things from the Old to Middle to New Kingdoms in Egypt to expansive knowledge of film. Josh Carroll seemingly has a great grasp on what's hot in music, with a specific focus on electronica. Josh Veit has been a amazing social glue and regenerative spirit so that, even with inevitable conflict, he maintains a cool demeanor and helps us cool down. I've been able to get a more detailed grasp of the character of these men, and while they are obviously not perfect, they are certainly extraordinary and if you don't know these guys in depth, you should pursue it because they are worth it. Also - they've had a lot of patience with me on this trip as sometimes I can be a bit unbearable and I appreciate it a lot.
5. I miss home a lot. I've eaten tons of American food and dishes while I'm over here, but it isn't the same.
6. It's stupid how many people speak English in these countries. If you know English and not a lick of another language, you could easily do 90-95% of Europe with only little disadvantage. We have been continually blessed (albeit sometimes shafted in hilarious ways) with people who speak English that help us find bus stations, hostels, restaurants, and ticket counters. Awesome.
7. The dollar isn't doing well against the Euro, especially when the minimum wage in some of these countries is 8.75 euro/hour. Goodbye, recent poker winnings.
/
8. Italy will be cool. Did I mention I can't wait to get back to Philly?
We're on a BOAT!
Against all odds, we managed to catch our boat from Patras, Greece to Florence, Italy at 12 am this morning. Keeping with our practice of just barely catching rides we should otherwise miss, we rushed to an 8:00 bus in Athens that would take us to Patras, only to find that it was sold out. So we caught the 8:30, knowing full well that the three hour ride would be cutting it super close to the 12:00 departure of the ferry. Not only that, but we were told that you are supposed to arrive 2-3 hours in advance to board the ferry, but that definitely wasn’t happening. Fortunately the whole 2-3 hour thing was likely the advice of a hyper-prepared, uber-careful old granny, so we played it cool and just strolled aboard the ship ten minutes before the berth, no big deal.
Spent the evening hanging out with these four LDS (Mormon) peeps who are on a six-week eurotrip. Upon learning that they all go to BYU, I was surprised to find out that one of them grew up in Jersey, and she and Matt have many mutual friends. Hung out at the bar until late playing spades while enjoying some great Hefeweizen. I'm a fan.
The boat is the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to a cruise ship. Eight decks open to passengers, on-deck pool and hot tub, three bars, disco dance floor, slot machines, and even these bizarre submarine/lifeboats. For only 40 euro, we’re livin it up. Sleeping last night was definitely not too comfortable (40 euro price includes your choice of carpeted floor or cushioned dining booth for sleeping arrangements) but since we’ll just be chillin all day on the ship that should be remedied shortly. The ride lasts 30+ hours, meaning two nights and a full day aboard.
Quick recap of the last few days:
Writing this in a Word document without Internet, so I gotta go find a signal. I’ve been wandering around trying to find a location with both a decent wireless signal and power outlet access for more than 30 minutes now, and i'm getting a bit miffed. Paid 14 euro for 24-hr internet access, and we gotta get our dollaz worth, so I’m off to search again.
- Josh
Spent the evening hanging out with these four LDS (Mormon) peeps who are on a six-week eurotrip. Upon learning that they all go to BYU, I was surprised to find out that one of them grew up in Jersey, and she and Matt have many mutual friends. Hung out at the bar until late playing spades while enjoying some great Hefeweizen. I'm a fan.
The boat is the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to a cruise ship. Eight decks open to passengers, on-deck pool and hot tub, three bars, disco dance floor, slot machines, and even these bizarre submarine/lifeboats. For only 40 euro, we’re livin it up. Sleeping last night was definitely not too comfortable (40 euro price includes your choice of carpeted floor or cushioned dining booth for sleeping arrangements) but since we’ll just be chillin all day on the ship that should be remedied shortly. The ride lasts 30+ hours, meaning two nights and a full day aboard.
Quick recap of the last few days:
- Greek Island of Agina. Never seen water so blue before. Rented hotel from cute little old couple for 16 euro a person with beachfront view. Rented mopeds for 8 euro a person. Awesome.
- Athens. Terry saw everything in sub-10 hours. The rest of us were content to visit the Parthenon and a few other sites.
Writing this in a Word document without Internet, so I gotta go find a signal. I’ve been wandering around trying to find a location with both a decent wireless signal and power outlet access for more than 30 minutes now, and i'm getting a bit miffed. Paid 14 euro for 24-hr internet access, and we gotta get our dollaz worth, so I’m off to search again.
- Josh
Ex-post post: Arriving in Athens three days ago
It’s 6 am. Just rolled into Athens from Thessalonica via a sleeper train. Six guys crammed into one sleeper room; pretty tight quarters. Some of us slept.
Found a hostel, 20 euro a night. Not bad. No wireless internet, though. We’re really roughin it.
Terry Wang is a machine. The rest of us are eating free breakfast and then going to bed, but Terry Wang ignores such pleasantries. He’s off to break a Guiness Record: most museums and historical sights visited in a 14-day period. Right now he’s at 56.
It’s 7:30 am. Free breakfast just started. I’m going to eat, and then maybe pay 3 euro to use the internet.
It’s 7:45 am. Bedtime.
Josh
Found a hostel, 20 euro a night. Not bad. No wireless internet, though. We’re really roughin it.
Terry Wang is a machine. The rest of us are eating free breakfast and then going to bed, but Terry Wang ignores such pleasantries. He’s off to break a Guiness Record: most museums and historical sights visited in a 14-day period. Right now he’s at 56.
It’s 7:30 am. Free breakfast just started. I’m going to eat, and then maybe pay 3 euro to use the internet.
It’s 7:45 am. Bedtime.
Josh
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Fun times
It's 9:30am (i think) and Jordan and I were just awakened by a conductor to be informed that our sleeper car from Istanbul, Turkey to Thessalonika (sp?), Greece is half an hour from arriving. We were speculating last night abut where we were riding through and if we would have a shot at making it home if we fell out of the train without our wallets, as we were seemingly in the middle of nowhere. But this morning the landscape is beautiful - kilometers of wheat fields, a few red rick looking ruins, at the moment broken by one small mountain rising in the distance.
We are coming into the city now. I'd like to talk a bit about our nights out in Istanbul but I'm not sure I'll have time to finish now. We'll see how it goes.
Friday night we headed "downtown" without a clear picture of how we were getting where we were going, although I did know the name of the street from researching online: Istiklal Caddesi. After a few mishaps we managed to get on a tram going the right direction, and Terry was even able to meet 3 American girls, an Australian guy and a South African guy who were going the same direction (one of the girls even went to Bryn Mawr!) and knew how to get there, so we ended up tagging along with them, which was fortunate as we had a transfer to make. But we made it. We were looking to start with something more chill (it was around 11pm at this point) and the other group wanted something else, so we split with them (and frankly I think the other two gents were quite happy to be rid of us so they could have the girls to themselves). But little did we know that it would not be the last we saw of them...
Istiklal Caddesi is a wide walking-only boulevard in the middle of the Northern part of European Istanbul. It is about 2km long and goes from Taksim Square in the north gently downhill to a big tower in the south whose name I don't recall (Terry went there and knows, it starts with a G). Lined with bars, hookah, clubs, and live music on both sides and down most side streets, it is significant as the hub and nearly the extent of the night life in most of Istanbul, a fascinating place in a city otherwise much older and more conservative. This seems to be the line where the battle between new liberal and secular culture and old conservative and religious culture is being fought. Or perhaps the place where they are flirting, "talking", and thinking about going on a date. Hard to say.
[fast forward 24 hours.. now writing from our hotel in Athens. Back to back nights on sleeper trains takes a lot out of a man.. sleeping soon.]
After wandering down a few side streets we found a hookah bar we liked the look of and ordered a few milkshakes and some hookah. We ended up just chilling there for about an hour and a half, and it was very enjoyable. Great way to relax, place was cheap and the guys working there were friendly. Around 1:30am Jordan and I decided we wanted to hit some dancing, Istanbul clubs supposedly open until 4-5am. I knew the names of a few places that had stuff going on, but only had a sketchy map, so we wandered around more. We found some upbeat live music and the same girls again, but it was on a narrow street with too much traffic and too many Turkish guys creeping in the back and staring at us, so we left quickly. Josh and Matt split off to find something more chill (which they did, a guitar and violin playing chill schnazz on another side street where they stayed for a few hours) while Jordan, Terry and I wandered around looking for this club. We ended up walking up and down the boulevard a couple of times before finally zeroing in and getting someone to show us exactly where it was. Turns out the place, Club 360, is in an apartment building, so there is no indication of it from outside. We trekked up 7 stories only to find that Terry, wearing shorts, couldn't get in. So we did the friendly thing and sent him home so that Jordan and I could have a good time and he could live vicariously through us.
The place had no cover, was at the top of this building, had a deck where you could look out on the city, and the dj was bumping the house tunes. Even though it was after 2 there was more standing around than dancing, so we decided to get things bumping. Long story short, we danced for about an hour and a half and had a really great time. There was also an MC and he knew what was up, which was a lot of fun. And lo, the same 3 girls and 2 guys showed up AGAIN... although by this time they were all pretty attached so we didn't dance with them much. We ended up walking out with them and splitting cabs back since we were staying close by. We arrived to hear the Aussie yelling at his cabby for charging too much. They fought for a few minutes, threatened to call the police. We offered to pay both fares and ended up just paying reasonably for ours and peacing. Walking back to the hostel we met a dog, which we learned from the girls the turkish word was "chipek" (pronounced kuh-PEK). He was a great dog and followed us home after we ditched everyone else even though one of the girls seemed to want us to hang out...
Saturday night actually ended up pretty similarly (not by chance, we had a great time Friday so a repeat sounded good) except for a few key factors. I will highlight these. Foremost, Jordan's hair. Pics should be up soon. Second, the football match.. apparently the Istanbul regional team (Cola Turka? or something) beat another team in a big match that evening, and the streets were crazy. We took two cabs and almost lost each other since the cabbies wouldn't go near Taksim square. My cab also got ripped off pretty hard, with the guy charging a lot and dropping us far away. I think he also pulled some sleight of hand on me to get me to pay even more (switching bills when I wasn't looking), which I realized, but couldn't prove. I was impressed enough with the trick that I let him have it rather than argue for 10 more minutes...
Similar story with the hookah, except we got an especially good waiter at a different bar, which was very enjoyable. We also tried Ouzo, which was delicious and a great experience. All this time people were marching up and down the street with flags and jerseys, cheering, singing, and blowing air horns. Fortunately we were down a side street far enough that it was chill. Terry wanted to see 360, so we headed back over for more fun. The girl at the door had told us the previous night that usually they only let people in with 1:1 gender ratio, so we were concerned. Fortunately, Terry worked his magic and we met a group of girls and a few guys from Rutgers at the door who we walked in with and hung with for a while. One of them I think had a younger brother in Wharton that Jordan and Terry knew. We hung with them for a bit but then a bunch of them left so that was mostly it. This time they forced us to buy drinks or pay cover, so we first picked up glasses off another table, but ultimately bought some 12 lira beers (which were worth probably a fifth of that). The place was a lot more crowded, so we danced in the back for a while. They also had a drummer playing along for a while with the dj which was pretty cool. Terry met some awesome people as usual and left around 2:30.
We danced all around again. Jordan and I are really great dancers, and also generally awesome looking (especially in a club mostly of guys in jackets) so we always attract a lot of attention (the good kind), and tend to get things moving. It is a lot of fun. This was true both nights. The DJ was also really great both nights, doing a lot more mixing and scratching than I have seen in a while, and his musical picks were spot on. At one point, the waiter came into the middle of the crowd to get us to buy more drinks. One of the girls from before was still hanging around. I turned to Jordan as if to talk, and the waiter then turned to the girl. She started arguing with him, and we used the diversion to escape to the other side of the room and avoid paying anything else. Maybe a dirty trick, but it worked out. We danced next to a couple of other girls for a while and watched maybe a half dozen guys make advances on them, which as always was hilarious. And ended up being the last people dancing before leaving around 4am when they hit the lights.
This is where things get really interesting.
We skipped the guys trying to sell cabs by the door and walked up a block to catch one in an alley. As we had learned, we said "meter, meter" instead of haggling a price (the meter price to the hostel was around 12-15 lira, negotiating usually got us 20-25), and the guy assented. We told him the district, but he didn't seem to speak english. 5 minutes into the ride we got off a highway and instead of crossing the bridge as we had on other rides, got on another highway. Jordan and I started wondering what was going on as the price went up to 15.. then 20.. the guy was flying down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic very closely, and we had no idea where we were. Signs were unfamiliar, and we started repeating the district and asking where we were going, with no response except him pointing vaguely. 25.. 30.. We seemed to be at an airport, and he missed a turn that was supposed to be where we were going. We started raising our voices, wondering if we were being taken somewhere to be mugged, or what. Finally we were on the coast, but approaching from the other side. The cabbie seemed to have gone up to a much further away bridge and driven across the whole island only to circle around from the back side. By the time we got somewhere vaguely familiar the fare was 40 lira. We asked him to stop on a side street outside a hotel. I handed him a 20 and we got out. He also got out and started yelling at us in Turkish.
I pulled out the map to show him the route and try to explain. He grabbed the map, then opened the door and grabbed me as if to pull me back in the cab. We were also basically yelling at this point, although there was no sign that either of us understood the other in the slightest. He continued to pull on me. He turned an grabbed something small out of the door of his car. He said something about the police, and at first I thought it was a phone. "Fine," said Jordan, "please call the police so we can explain this." To make things better, a call to prayer started from the nearby mosque. He gestured at it as if to say "how dare you fight me during this." Jordan indicated his respect for it and said, "you are the one being disrespectful by trying to cheat us in front of this mosque." He grabbed Jordan, who shook him off. Then grabbed me. I couldn't see his other hand, holding what was not a phone. I heard a flick and saw something shiny in my peripheral vision.
"Oh shit." I thought, "he's got a knife."
I turned (still in his grip) to look. Thank goodness, it was not a knife. It was a telescoping metal night stick that looked like it would hurt quite a bit, and he was brandishing it at me and looking more upset by the second. I pushed him away from me and backed up. We traded more verbage and didn't let him gain any ground on us. He didn't make another move, and we turned (cautiously) and walked away. He continued to yell, but the crisis seemed to be averted as we moved off the street into the hotel courtyard where we figured we were safer. A few minutes later, we looked and he had driven away.
We began to walk "back" (not too sure where we were), both completely amped. I'm sure that was more adrenaline than I've had in my body in some time. I would have pitied anyone who tried to jump us at that point. Happily, we found chipek again and I felt even safer walking back with him (he always barked at taxis so we figured we were safe if the guy showed up again). We found our way back safely and hit the sack, although after the events of the night it took a while to fall asleep...
Epilogue: we found chipek again the next day on our way out (he was a great and loyal dog) and he followed us most of the way to the tram. We got some pictures of him before he headed off into the sunset, so if you see the ones of the big yellow dog with Jordan, those are him.
John covered much of the daytime stuff. Lots of people harassing you to eat at their restaurant. Beautiful views - walking/driving along the coast is incredible. We also went in the Hagia Sophia, which was one of the first big Christian cathedrals to be built, back in like 400AD, although it has been a mosque since 1453. Very grand, incredible to be inside, and some amazing art and architecture. What scope and breadth of history we have seen on this trip.
I sure do like to write long posts. Sleep now. Athens later [we met some Athenian girls at the train station last night who gave us some good tips]. Home tomorrow for me, so this might be my last post. Miss y'all.
-jc
We are coming into the city now. I'd like to talk a bit about our nights out in Istanbul but I'm not sure I'll have time to finish now. We'll see how it goes.
Friday night we headed "downtown" without a clear picture of how we were getting where we were going, although I did know the name of the street from researching online: Istiklal Caddesi. After a few mishaps we managed to get on a tram going the right direction, and Terry was even able to meet 3 American girls, an Australian guy and a South African guy who were going the same direction (one of the girls even went to Bryn Mawr!) and knew how to get there, so we ended up tagging along with them, which was fortunate as we had a transfer to make. But we made it. We were looking to start with something more chill (it was around 11pm at this point) and the other group wanted something else, so we split with them (and frankly I think the other two gents were quite happy to be rid of us so they could have the girls to themselves). But little did we know that it would not be the last we saw of them...
Istiklal Caddesi is a wide walking-only boulevard in the middle of the Northern part of European Istanbul. It is about 2km long and goes from Taksim Square in the north gently downhill to a big tower in the south whose name I don't recall (Terry went there and knows, it starts with a G). Lined with bars, hookah, clubs, and live music on both sides and down most side streets, it is significant as the hub and nearly the extent of the night life in most of Istanbul, a fascinating place in a city otherwise much older and more conservative. This seems to be the line where the battle between new liberal and secular culture and old conservative and religious culture is being fought. Or perhaps the place where they are flirting, "talking", and thinking about going on a date. Hard to say.
[fast forward 24 hours.. now writing from our hotel in Athens. Back to back nights on sleeper trains takes a lot out of a man.. sleeping soon.]
After wandering down a few side streets we found a hookah bar we liked the look of and ordered a few milkshakes and some hookah. We ended up just chilling there for about an hour and a half, and it was very enjoyable. Great way to relax, place was cheap and the guys working there were friendly. Around 1:30am Jordan and I decided we wanted to hit some dancing, Istanbul clubs supposedly open until 4-5am. I knew the names of a few places that had stuff going on, but only had a sketchy map, so we wandered around more. We found some upbeat live music and the same girls again, but it was on a narrow street with too much traffic and too many Turkish guys creeping in the back and staring at us, so we left quickly. Josh and Matt split off to find something more chill (which they did, a guitar and violin playing chill schnazz on another side street where they stayed for a few hours) while Jordan, Terry and I wandered around looking for this club. We ended up walking up and down the boulevard a couple of times before finally zeroing in and getting someone to show us exactly where it was. Turns out the place, Club 360, is in an apartment building, so there is no indication of it from outside. We trekked up 7 stories only to find that Terry, wearing shorts, couldn't get in. So we did the friendly thing and sent him home so that Jordan and I could have a good time and he could live vicariously through us.
The place had no cover, was at the top of this building, had a deck where you could look out on the city, and the dj was bumping the house tunes. Even though it was after 2 there was more standing around than dancing, so we decided to get things bumping. Long story short, we danced for about an hour and a half and had a really great time. There was also an MC and he knew what was up, which was a lot of fun. And lo, the same 3 girls and 2 guys showed up AGAIN... although by this time they were all pretty attached so we didn't dance with them much. We ended up walking out with them and splitting cabs back since we were staying close by. We arrived to hear the Aussie yelling at his cabby for charging too much. They fought for a few minutes, threatened to call the police. We offered to pay both fares and ended up just paying reasonably for ours and peacing. Walking back to the hostel we met a dog, which we learned from the girls the turkish word was "chipek" (pronounced kuh-PEK). He was a great dog and followed us home after we ditched everyone else even though one of the girls seemed to want us to hang out...
Saturday night actually ended up pretty similarly (not by chance, we had a great time Friday so a repeat sounded good) except for a few key factors. I will highlight these. Foremost, Jordan's hair. Pics should be up soon. Second, the football match.. apparently the Istanbul regional team (Cola Turka? or something) beat another team in a big match that evening, and the streets were crazy. We took two cabs and almost lost each other since the cabbies wouldn't go near Taksim square. My cab also got ripped off pretty hard, with the guy charging a lot and dropping us far away. I think he also pulled some sleight of hand on me to get me to pay even more (switching bills when I wasn't looking), which I realized, but couldn't prove. I was impressed enough with the trick that I let him have it rather than argue for 10 more minutes...
Similar story with the hookah, except we got an especially good waiter at a different bar, which was very enjoyable. We also tried Ouzo, which was delicious and a great experience. All this time people were marching up and down the street with flags and jerseys, cheering, singing, and blowing air horns. Fortunately we were down a side street far enough that it was chill. Terry wanted to see 360, so we headed back over for more fun. The girl at the door had told us the previous night that usually they only let people in with 1:1 gender ratio, so we were concerned. Fortunately, Terry worked his magic and we met a group of girls and a few guys from Rutgers at the door who we walked in with and hung with for a while. One of them I think had a younger brother in Wharton that Jordan and Terry knew. We hung with them for a bit but then a bunch of them left so that was mostly it. This time they forced us to buy drinks or pay cover, so we first picked up glasses off another table, but ultimately bought some 12 lira beers (which were worth probably a fifth of that). The place was a lot more crowded, so we danced in the back for a while. They also had a drummer playing along for a while with the dj which was pretty cool. Terry met some awesome people as usual and left around 2:30.
We danced all around again. Jordan and I are really great dancers, and also generally awesome looking (especially in a club mostly of guys in jackets) so we always attract a lot of attention (the good kind), and tend to get things moving. It is a lot of fun. This was true both nights. The DJ was also really great both nights, doing a lot more mixing and scratching than I have seen in a while, and his musical picks were spot on. At one point, the waiter came into the middle of the crowd to get us to buy more drinks. One of the girls from before was still hanging around. I turned to Jordan as if to talk, and the waiter then turned to the girl. She started arguing with him, and we used the diversion to escape to the other side of the room and avoid paying anything else. Maybe a dirty trick, but it worked out. We danced next to a couple of other girls for a while and watched maybe a half dozen guys make advances on them, which as always was hilarious. And ended up being the last people dancing before leaving around 4am when they hit the lights.
This is where things get really interesting.
We skipped the guys trying to sell cabs by the door and walked up a block to catch one in an alley. As we had learned, we said "meter, meter" instead of haggling a price (the meter price to the hostel was around 12-15 lira, negotiating usually got us 20-25), and the guy assented. We told him the district, but he didn't seem to speak english. 5 minutes into the ride we got off a highway and instead of crossing the bridge as we had on other rides, got on another highway. Jordan and I started wondering what was going on as the price went up to 15.. then 20.. the guy was flying down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic very closely, and we had no idea where we were. Signs were unfamiliar, and we started repeating the district and asking where we were going, with no response except him pointing vaguely. 25.. 30.. We seemed to be at an airport, and he missed a turn that was supposed to be where we were going. We started raising our voices, wondering if we were being taken somewhere to be mugged, or what. Finally we were on the coast, but approaching from the other side. The cabbie seemed to have gone up to a much further away bridge and driven across the whole island only to circle around from the back side. By the time we got somewhere vaguely familiar the fare was 40 lira. We asked him to stop on a side street outside a hotel. I handed him a 20 and we got out. He also got out and started yelling at us in Turkish.
I pulled out the map to show him the route and try to explain. He grabbed the map, then opened the door and grabbed me as if to pull me back in the cab. We were also basically yelling at this point, although there was no sign that either of us understood the other in the slightest. He continued to pull on me. He turned an grabbed something small out of the door of his car. He said something about the police, and at first I thought it was a phone. "Fine," said Jordan, "please call the police so we can explain this." To make things better, a call to prayer started from the nearby mosque. He gestured at it as if to say "how dare you fight me during this." Jordan indicated his respect for it and said, "you are the one being disrespectful by trying to cheat us in front of this mosque." He grabbed Jordan, who shook him off. Then grabbed me. I couldn't see his other hand, holding what was not a phone. I heard a flick and saw something shiny in my peripheral vision.
"Oh shit." I thought, "he's got a knife."
I turned (still in his grip) to look. Thank goodness, it was not a knife. It was a telescoping metal night stick that looked like it would hurt quite a bit, and he was brandishing it at me and looking more upset by the second. I pushed him away from me and backed up. We traded more verbage and didn't let him gain any ground on us. He didn't make another move, and we turned (cautiously) and walked away. He continued to yell, but the crisis seemed to be averted as we moved off the street into the hotel courtyard where we figured we were safer. A few minutes later, we looked and he had driven away.
We began to walk "back" (not too sure where we were), both completely amped. I'm sure that was more adrenaline than I've had in my body in some time. I would have pitied anyone who tried to jump us at that point. Happily, we found chipek again and I felt even safer walking back with him (he always barked at taxis so we figured we were safe if the guy showed up again). We found our way back safely and hit the sack, although after the events of the night it took a while to fall asleep...
Epilogue: we found chipek again the next day on our way out (he was a great and loyal dog) and he followed us most of the way to the tram. We got some pictures of him before he headed off into the sunset, so if you see the ones of the big yellow dog with Jordan, those are him.
John covered much of the daytime stuff. Lots of people harassing you to eat at their restaurant. Beautiful views - walking/driving along the coast is incredible. We also went in the Hagia Sophia, which was one of the first big Christian cathedrals to be built, back in like 400AD, although it has been a mosque since 1453. Very grand, incredible to be inside, and some amazing art and architecture. What scope and breadth of history we have seen on this trip.
I sure do like to write long posts. Sleep now. Athens later [we met some Athenian girls at the train station last night who gave us some good tips]. Home tomorrow for me, so this might be my last post. Miss y'all.
-jc
Sunday, May 31, 2009
We're ın Turkey
ISTANBUL is HUGE.
Thıs fact began to make ıts way ınto our conscıousnesses as our flıght from Berlın, whıch was an exhaustıng, cramped, 3am-to-6am affaır, made ıts way over the cıty. Gıven what I could see from my wındow, there dıdn't seem to be much ın the way of a buılt-up cıty center, but the resıdentıal and commercıal dıstrıcts' streets full of low-slung buıldıngs seemed to just keep goıng and goıng. We took a bus from the aırport, and that further reınforced our perceptıon of Istanbul's sıze. We kept drıvıng and drıvıng, around the outskırts of the cıty; eventually we dıd see a consıderable group of taller buıldıngs in one part of the cıty, but mostly ıt was more of the same smaller streets crowded wıth 4ısh-storey buıldıngs. We left our bus and then took a taxı, for another good long rıde. I commented on the cıty's sıze to our drıver. He grınned assent. "I was born here, and I don't know Istanbul." Eleven mılliıon people lıve ın thıs fascınatıng, busy, ancıent cıty on the Sea of Marmara. Off the coast we could see many cargo shıps; Istanbul ıs of course a busy marıtıme cıty.
Other ıtems of note:
There are lots of mosques here, and we can hear the prayer call from the loudspeakers on theır mınarets. It's pretty cool.
Jordan has been hıttıng on the young woman who works the desk at our hostel. He says he's ready to marry her and move wıth her back to the US.
Traffıc ıs a lıttle anarchıc ın Istanbul. The streets are generally narrow, wındıng, and bumpy (paved wıth cobblestones). Lanes are ıll-defıned or nonexıstent. "Do you thınk pedestrıans have rıght of way here?" asked JV after a few cars zoomed by us wıthın ınches. I thınk physıcs has rıght of way here.
We've been to thıs huge market, partly open-aır and partly covered, called the Grand Bazaar. It's tremendous. Jordan and JC got fantabulous paırs of knock-off Converse sneakers. Jordan's are red-whıte-and-blue USA-flag sneakers. They have amusıng names lıke Conwersıon Stars and Only Stars.
Turkısh tea ıs served ın curvy lıttle glasses; ıt's pretty strong and quıte good. Turkısh coffee ıs also great: ıt's a lıttle lıke espresso, very dense and thıck, and much better than some alleged "Turkısh coffee" I've had at some places ın the States.
We all trıed Turkısh delıght ın the market here. It was very good. Beıng all Chrıstıan kıds who have read C S Lewıs, we got a partıcular kıck out of ıt
Thıs fact began to make ıts way ınto our conscıousnesses as our flıght from Berlın, whıch was an exhaustıng, cramped, 3am-to-6am affaır, made ıts way over the cıty. Gıven what I could see from my wındow, there dıdn't seem to be much ın the way of a buılt-up cıty center, but the resıdentıal and commercıal dıstrıcts' streets full of low-slung buıldıngs seemed to just keep goıng and goıng. We took a bus from the aırport, and that further reınforced our perceptıon of Istanbul's sıze. We kept drıvıng and drıvıng, around the outskırts of the cıty; eventually we dıd see a consıderable group of taller buıldıngs in one part of the cıty, but mostly ıt was more of the same smaller streets crowded wıth 4ısh-storey buıldıngs. We left our bus and then took a taxı, for another good long rıde. I commented on the cıty's sıze to our drıver. He grınned assent. "I was born here, and I don't know Istanbul." Eleven mılliıon people lıve ın thıs fascınatıng, busy, ancıent cıty on the Sea of Marmara. Off the coast we could see many cargo shıps; Istanbul ıs of course a busy marıtıme cıty.
Other ıtems of note:
There are lots of mosques here, and we can hear the prayer call from the loudspeakers on theır mınarets. It's pretty cool.
Jordan has been hıttıng on the young woman who works the desk at our hostel. He says he's ready to marry her and move wıth her back to the US.
Traffıc ıs a lıttle anarchıc ın Istanbul. The streets are generally narrow, wındıng, and bumpy (paved wıth cobblestones). Lanes are ıll-defıned or nonexıstent. "Do you thınk pedestrıans have rıght of way here?" asked JV after a few cars zoomed by us wıthın ınches. I thınk physıcs has rıght of way here.
We've been to thıs huge market, partly open-aır and partly covered, called the Grand Bazaar. It's tremendous. Jordan and JC got fantabulous paırs of knock-off Converse sneakers. Jordan's are red-whıte-and-blue USA-flag sneakers. They have amusıng names lıke Conwersıon Stars and Only Stars.
Turkısh tea ıs served ın curvy lıttle glasses; ıt's pretty strong and quıte good. Turkısh coffee ıs also great: ıt's a lıttle lıke espresso, very dense and thıck, and much better than some alleged "Turkısh coffee" I've had at some places ın the States.
We all trıed Turkısh delıght ın the market here. It was very good. Beıng all Chrıstıan kıds who have read C S Lewıs, we got a partıcular kıck out of ıt
Saturday, May 30, 2009
5 days in 5 paragraphs
This is a bird’s eye view of our time in Germany (Hamburg and Berlin) since it hasn’t been covered yet, with a few anecdotes that especially impressed me. Other people may come back and fill in more details of their own later. I hope they do. Otherwise it will be a shame as it was a really good time.
[
1. We met some great people in Hamburg, including Jonas who we couch surfed with, who was part of a leftist movement and talked with us about that. Couch surfing was very cool. We also met some of his friends including a drifter girl who had been through Sydney, India, and all over Europe busking, selling chalk art, and living in a treehouse in the jungle. She had some pretty cool stories to tell. Not to mention an investment banker from Munich who told us all about how America’s crazy propensity to borrow beyond our means to repay were screwing us over. It was also really cool to live in a residential rather than tourist part of town and see more what normal life was like, and hang out with normal people about our age. It was communal style and we cooked and ate with the people, and it was great hanging out with them.
2. We also wandered around and found more of the alternative part of town, including some squatting areas and very cool graffiti. There was also a cool public park area where we hung out for a while and talked with some girls who were on a climbing wall. We rode a great ferry and hung out on a beach. And had lots of good food and beer. It was cool to have a more chill city with more downtime, although there were many beautiful sights too. My favorite was St. Nikolai’s Cathedral, which looked awesome in its own right, but was mostly bombed out in World War II and only partially reconstructed. I don’t really know how to describe it except that it was haunting and just very cool to see and walk around in, thinking about what it might have looked like before. It reminded me of a giant skeleton. I think Terry took some pictures.
3. Berlin was more hectic – we had a good train ride over including a good game of ghost and something else I don’t remember. Josh was doing a phone interview on the train and kept losing his phone connection which was unfortunate but pretty funny considering that it worked out okay I think. We had a room to ourselves at the hostel, which was nice. The first night the other guys went on a pub crawl while Jordan and I went to a Techno show. I think they had fun, they can talk about it or whatever. We had a great time with a cool venue. The first group was very industrial and dirty sounding, which was super cool and very German, while they sang over it. They didn’t do anything really except sing over their tracks which were almost entirely prerecorded, but they had a friend in a full spandex body suit and red mask who moshed in the crowd which was super inappropriate for the rest of the dancing so it was really funny. They kind of reminded me of the presets and had a cool look about them as well. We also further enjoyed being able to leave the venue, buy beer, drink it on the street and go back. What a weird law.. I felt like a delinquent the first couple of times I did it. The second band was technically a lot better, but they were more chill and downtempo so we enjoyed it less. We thought there was another group and then DJs playing, but apparently it was somewhere else or something, so everything ended at like 2 for us, which made me pretty sad. But whatever.
4. The next day we went on an epic walking tour all over Berlin, which was really great in finding out everything about the history of the city. It was pretty fascinating and our tour guide, from Dublin, was very entertaining, although it was 20% laughing at him and 80 with him, but no sweat.
5. There were a couple of cool looking girls on our tour who kept conversing in another language who asked John to take a picture of them at one point, and the other guys made funny faces behind them, which they laughed about. They hung around after the tour was over and ended up basically following us around for like 20 minutes, which kind of weirded us out (but not too badly since they were cute). We ended up talking with them and hanging out with them for a couple of hours, including walking through a museum (several in Berlin are free Thursday evenings) and getting dinner. They were Portuguese, and I think one of them was studying in Germany and spoke relatively good English, while her friend was visiting from Portugal and spoke less. Nice company and decent conversation, but we ended up splitting after dinner. We walked around some more but had to leave for the airport by like 11pm to head to Istanbul so it was a fairly uneventful night.
]
The plane to Istanbul sucked. Cramped, uncomfortable, and it left at 3am. No one got much sleep or if they did it wasn’t refreshing at all. We got into the airport in Turkey around 7am local time.
But more on that later.
-jc
[
1. We met some great people in Hamburg, including Jonas who we couch surfed with, who was part of a leftist movement and talked with us about that. Couch surfing was very cool. We also met some of his friends including a drifter girl who had been through Sydney, India, and all over Europe busking, selling chalk art, and living in a treehouse in the jungle. She had some pretty cool stories to tell. Not to mention an investment banker from Munich who told us all about how America’s crazy propensity to borrow beyond our means to repay were screwing us over. It was also really cool to live in a residential rather than tourist part of town and see more what normal life was like, and hang out with normal people about our age. It was communal style and we cooked and ate with the people, and it was great hanging out with them.
2. We also wandered around and found more of the alternative part of town, including some squatting areas and very cool graffiti. There was also a cool public park area where we hung out for a while and talked with some girls who were on a climbing wall. We rode a great ferry and hung out on a beach. And had lots of good food and beer. It was cool to have a more chill city with more downtime, although there were many beautiful sights too. My favorite was St. Nikolai’s Cathedral, which looked awesome in its own right, but was mostly bombed out in World War II and only partially reconstructed. I don’t really know how to describe it except that it was haunting and just very cool to see and walk around in, thinking about what it might have looked like before. It reminded me of a giant skeleton. I think Terry took some pictures.
3. Berlin was more hectic – we had a good train ride over including a good game of ghost and something else I don’t remember. Josh was doing a phone interview on the train and kept losing his phone connection which was unfortunate but pretty funny considering that it worked out okay I think. We had a room to ourselves at the hostel, which was nice. The first night the other guys went on a pub crawl while Jordan and I went to a Techno show. I think they had fun, they can talk about it or whatever. We had a great time with a cool venue. The first group was very industrial and dirty sounding, which was super cool and very German, while they sang over it. They didn’t do anything really except sing over their tracks which were almost entirely prerecorded, but they had a friend in a full spandex body suit and red mask who moshed in the crowd which was super inappropriate for the rest of the dancing so it was really funny. They kind of reminded me of the presets and had a cool look about them as well. We also further enjoyed being able to leave the venue, buy beer, drink it on the street and go back. What a weird law.. I felt like a delinquent the first couple of times I did it. The second band was technically a lot better, but they were more chill and downtempo so we enjoyed it less. We thought there was another group and then DJs playing, but apparently it was somewhere else or something, so everything ended at like 2 for us, which made me pretty sad. But whatever.
4. The next day we went on an epic walking tour all over Berlin, which was really great in finding out everything about the history of the city. It was pretty fascinating and our tour guide, from Dublin, was very entertaining, although it was 20% laughing at him and 80 with him, but no sweat.
5. There were a couple of cool looking girls on our tour who kept conversing in another language who asked John to take a picture of them at one point, and the other guys made funny faces behind them, which they laughed about. They hung around after the tour was over and ended up basically following us around for like 20 minutes, which kind of weirded us out (but not too badly since they were cute). We ended up talking with them and hanging out with them for a couple of hours, including walking through a museum (several in Berlin are free Thursday evenings) and getting dinner. They were Portuguese, and I think one of them was studying in Germany and spoke relatively good English, while her friend was visiting from Portugal and spoke less. Nice company and decent conversation, but we ended up splitting after dinner. We walked around some more but had to leave for the airport by like 11pm to head to Istanbul so it was a fairly uneventful night.
]
The plane to Istanbul sucked. Cramped, uncomfortable, and it left at 3am. No one got much sleep or if they did it wasn’t refreshing at all. We got into the airport in Turkey around 7am local time.
But more on that later.
-jc
Jordıe jord brıngıng ıt hot
Hello,
I wıll be typıng a wee bıt now.
We arrıved ın Hamburg May 25th. We made our flıght, and we had arrangements to stay from couchsurfing.org wıth a person ın Hamburg. We took the train per hıs dırectıons, and found ourselves at thıs weırd stop ın Hamburg. We walked to a convenıence store, asked polıtely ın englısh ıf he knew where veddeler street was, and he just muttered somethıng ın German and then the other two large dudes sort of scowled a lıttle further. There were also lıke 9 or 10 teens outsıde. We felt a lıttle uncomfortable and trıed to fınd a plug somewhere, but then just realızed that we were hopelessly lost.
The problems were amplıfıed by the fact that matts computer dıed from battery and that we dıdn`t have jonas`s number. We started gettıng a lıttle angry at each other, and ıt was dıffıcult to contınue havıng patıence. Fınally we fıgure out that we can access the ınternet, whıch had the phone number to jonases place.
We called hım, and after a serıes of weırd mıscommunıcatıons despıte hıs good englısh, we got to hıs house.
I won`t try to characterıze jonases house, but ıt defınıtely was an ınterestıng place ın and of ıtself. I wıll wrıte later about ıt.
Istanbul rocks by the way.
I wıll be typıng a wee bıt now.
We arrıved ın Hamburg May 25th. We made our flıght, and we had arrangements to stay from couchsurfing.org wıth a person ın Hamburg. We took the train per hıs dırectıons, and found ourselves at thıs weırd stop ın Hamburg. We walked to a convenıence store, asked polıtely ın englısh ıf he knew where veddeler street was, and he just muttered somethıng ın German and then the other two large dudes sort of scowled a lıttle further. There were also lıke 9 or 10 teens outsıde. We felt a lıttle uncomfortable and trıed to fınd a plug somewhere, but then just realızed that we were hopelessly lost.
The problems were amplıfıed by the fact that matts computer dıed from battery and that we dıdn`t have jonas`s number. We started gettıng a lıttle angry at each other, and ıt was dıffıcult to contınue havıng patıence. Fınally we fıgure out that we can access the ınternet, whıch had the phone number to jonases place.
We called hım, and after a serıes of weırd mıscommunıcatıons despıte hıs good englısh, we got to hıs house.
I won`t try to characterıze jonases house, but ıt defınıtely was an ınterestıng place ın and of ıtself. I wıll wrıte later about ıt.
Istanbul rocks by the way.
FOUR DAYS NO UPDATES: WAT
Well we are stıll alıve but it has been harder to make updates the last several days for a few reasons that I wıll now elaborate.
Reason 1: we are lazy
Reason 2: we are ın europe
Reason 3: the keyboards here are really annoyıng (note the lack of dot over my ı's)
Reason 4: Berlın moved very quıckly, and we dıdn't have wıreless ın our room (note: the second part of thıs reason may not be true)
Reason 5: Thursday nıght we were ın route to Istanbul (a very annoyıng trıp) and last nıght we were out untıl 4am and we can't get on the ınternet after 1am here (on publıc computers, no wıreless at hostel)
These are the reasons. However we have had many adventures whıch we wıll soon share and have taken many photos whıch we wıll at some poınt share (no wıreless makes the ınsta upload hard)
We are consıderıng changıng our plans about greece after talkıng to some kıds from UConn last nıght, and takıng some ferrıes to do some ısland-hoppıng... apparently there ıs some ıncredıble stuff to see. Unfortunately I'm flyıng home from Athens on Wednesday so I may mıss some of thıs but I'm sure the other guys wıll fıll us all ın on what happens.
also of UPDATE status: just now Jordan and I bought some converse knockoffs ('Look Lıfe Sports') at the bazaar and we are very happy wıth them. hıs are AMERICA colored and mıne are red and black. pıcs soon (or ıt dıdnt happen)
Humbly Rockın & Rollensteının,
jc
Reason 1: we are lazy
Reason 2: we are ın europe
Reason 3: the keyboards here are really annoyıng (note the lack of dot over my ı's)
Reason 4: Berlın moved very quıckly, and we dıdn't have wıreless ın our room (note: the second part of thıs reason may not be true)
Reason 5: Thursday nıght we were ın route to Istanbul (a very annoyıng trıp) and last nıght we were out untıl 4am and we can't get on the ınternet after 1am here (on publıc computers, no wıreless at hostel)
These are the reasons. However we have had many adventures whıch we wıll soon share and have taken many photos whıch we wıll at some poınt share (no wıreless makes the ınsta upload hard)
We are consıderıng changıng our plans about greece after talkıng to some kıds from UConn last nıght, and takıng some ferrıes to do some ısland-hoppıng... apparently there ıs some ıncredıble stuff to see. Unfortunately I'm flyıng home from Athens on Wednesday so I may mıss some of thıs but I'm sure the other guys wıll fıll us all ın on what happens.
also of UPDATE status: just now Jordan and I bought some converse knockoffs ('Look Lıfe Sports') at the bazaar and we are very happy wıth them. hıs are AMERICA colored and mıne are red and black. pıcs soon (or ıt dıdnt happen)
Humbly Rockın & Rollensteının,
jc
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
how i almost missed my flight to hamburg
disclaimer: i wrote this at 2:30am in the morning in a stream of consciousness style based on how i remembered it. some facts maybe a little off and i noticeably shift from past tense to present tense at some point during the narrative.
like josh mentioned, we had a late start to the airport. we knew that the flight was at 9:20am (departure) and that it took roughly 25 minutes to get to the airport from the hostel in dublin where we were staying. the alarms were set for 7:00am, but since jordan's eyelash curlers took 45 minutes to warm up, we didn't begin hailing taxis until roughly 8:05am i think.
jordan, terry, and i finally found a taxi driver parked outside a convenience store and hightailed it to the airport. on the way, the kind driver discussed the merits of ireland's conversion to the euro (or lack thereof) and different countries he had visited in europe.
important info/spoiler: when we get our boarding passes, we find out that "the gate closes at 8:50am."
8:30am
we were flying ryanair, a discount european airline. the only thing they were predictable about was having strict regulations on check-in and baggage limitation procedures. when we got to the airport, we sped inside looking for the same ticket kiosks that we had seen in the london-stansted airport. we had purchased very inexpensive tickets, but you have to be careful and follow the fine print or they can smack you with tons of fees. we had checked in online to avoid paying 40 euro per person, but still didn't have our boarding passes. with jordan and terry waiting in two different lines, i talked to a ticketing representative to figure out what we needed to do to get our boarding passes. unfortunately, she informed me, we would have to a) wait in line, pay 40 euro a person and recheck in, or head down a floor and use an internet station to reprint out boarding passes. the caveat being that in 10 minutes, the ability to check in online or in person would end.
8:35am
terry and i frantically run downstairs looking for some place to print passes. i finally find 4 computers hidden behind a massive support column and start emptying my pockets of change in a desperate attempt to make the online check-in deadline. for those of you who have never been to europe, they have way more denominations of coins than we do: 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, 1 euro and 2 euro. let's just say that i think that was the most money i have ever paid to use a computer for the least amount of time - probably something akin per minute to what you would pay to use a computer when you had to program them with punched cards. anyways,
8:37am
i navigate to the check-in page and print the passes. it takes us 2 minutes to find the printer hidden on the side of the desk (more like a giant receipt machine than a traditional printer). terry and i run back upstairs and find that john, josh c, and josh v have arrived. i quickly distribute the BP's (what cool people call boarding passes) and we get in line to have our visa's validated
8:46am
[side note: the airline required that you have some stupid stamp on your boarding pass that basically said you had a passport. it was an incredibly dumb, redundant, time-wasting step because we had to manually enter all your passport information when we checked in and also show the passports when we got our bp's.]. i get my stamp and start to head to the security line, which is pretty much the length of the line to meet snow white at disney world and notice some angry irish women talking with terry about his boarding pass. apparently, the printer didn't print his barcode on his bp. big problem. thankfully, one of the non-boisterous ones helps him out and he meets me in the security parade. josh, josh, jordan, and john never show. it's every man for himself.
8:56am
i get through security, momentarily pause to see which direction i need to book it in, and start running. i look on my ticket and there is a giant "79" next to my name and flight number surrounded by a bolded square. great, gate 79. i see a sign for D60-80 and i take off. i'm weaving through old people, hoppin over little ums, diving through couples holding hands. they have those horizontal people accelerators here too, and im running twice as fast as i could by myself (probably not really but for the purpose of dramatic storytelling let's pretend i was). at this point,
9:04am
our flight is leaving in about 15 minutes and im only focused on getting to our gate and seeing if maaaaaaaaybe i could somehow convince the airline to let me on the plane and maaaaaaaaaaybe stay the departure for 5 more minutes so my boys could make it. in my head i was already thinking about what our other options were. to my grand misfortune, gate 79 is perhaps more than a mile from the security checkpoint. im sprinting down this hallway and that, finally coming to the end of the terminal. then i have to go down some stairs and more hallways to reach this small room where 79 is.
9:06am
i reach the room and head towards the agent's station. its just this mini pulpit with no electronic sign or any indication as to the status of the flight. there is no ryan air agent at the ryan air podium, and no plane near the terminal. i sat down nearby, dejected but determined to solve the new problem we now faced. i took out my laptop and tried to find a wifi signal while simultaneously calling terry to inform him of our grounded status. his phone is off, great.
9:11am
i find no wifi signal so i can't see what other possible flights we could hop on later that day. i don't even know if that's possible with our carrier, but figured it was worth a try. then my computer dies. great. i didn't really know what else to do - i had no idea where josh, josh, jordan, john, and terry were or when they would show up. i just started praying, talking about how i felt and what was going through my head, asking that everything would turn out okay.
9:14am
for some reason i decided to take out my boarding pass and read it. i notice in small black print the phrase "for boarding and gate information, please check the monitors." in my head, there's this little voice going "noooooooo..." i grab my stuff and run back to the original terminal from the ghetto small one i had just been in (seriously, like this little shack place). there are monitors right near the stairs and my eyes dance to the Dublin-->Hamburg spot. i see " D64 go to gate." since it didn't say "now boarding" or something to that effect, i figured there was maybe a 1% chance that i could make the plane. the time reads
9:20am
my plane should have left. i get to gate D64, which is just about as close as it could be (remember i was in D79). i see that our flight hasn't left yet and that there is a long line of people waiting to board. scanning the line, i see a flustered group of fine young men greeting a sweaty running man in a yellow pilam tshirt and i run to catch up. josh, josh, jordan, john, and terry all give hearty sighs of relief and ask me where i've been. jordan wasn't too happy after running up and down the airport looking for me, but he and everyone else quickly recover, just thankful that we're making the flight.
thanks god
[matt]
like josh mentioned, we had a late start to the airport. we knew that the flight was at 9:20am (departure) and that it took roughly 25 minutes to get to the airport from the hostel in dublin where we were staying. the alarms were set for 7:00am, but since jordan's eyelash curlers took 45 minutes to warm up, we didn't begin hailing taxis until roughly 8:05am i think.
jordan, terry, and i finally found a taxi driver parked outside a convenience store and hightailed it to the airport. on the way, the kind driver discussed the merits of ireland's conversion to the euro (or lack thereof) and different countries he had visited in europe.
important info/spoiler: when we get our boarding passes, we find out that "the gate closes at 8:50am."
8:30am
we were flying ryanair, a discount european airline. the only thing they were predictable about was having strict regulations on check-in and baggage limitation procedures. when we got to the airport, we sped inside looking for the same ticket kiosks that we had seen in the london-stansted airport. we had purchased very inexpensive tickets, but you have to be careful and follow the fine print or they can smack you with tons of fees. we had checked in online to avoid paying 40 euro per person, but still didn't have our boarding passes. with jordan and terry waiting in two different lines, i talked to a ticketing representative to figure out what we needed to do to get our boarding passes. unfortunately, she informed me, we would have to a) wait in line, pay 40 euro a person and recheck in, or head down a floor and use an internet station to reprint out boarding passes. the caveat being that in 10 minutes, the ability to check in online or in person would end.
8:35am
terry and i frantically run downstairs looking for some place to print passes. i finally find 4 computers hidden behind a massive support column and start emptying my pockets of change in a desperate attempt to make the online check-in deadline. for those of you who have never been to europe, they have way more denominations of coins than we do: 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, 1 euro and 2 euro. let's just say that i think that was the most money i have ever paid to use a computer for the least amount of time - probably something akin per minute to what you would pay to use a computer when you had to program them with punched cards. anyways,
8:37am
i navigate to the check-in page and print the passes. it takes us 2 minutes to find the printer hidden on the side of the desk (more like a giant receipt machine than a traditional printer). terry and i run back upstairs and find that john, josh c, and josh v have arrived. i quickly distribute the BP's (what cool people call boarding passes) and we get in line to have our visa's validated
8:46am
[side note: the airline required that you have some stupid stamp on your boarding pass that basically said you had a passport. it was an incredibly dumb, redundant, time-wasting step because we had to manually enter all your passport information when we checked in and also show the passports when we got our bp's.]. i get my stamp and start to head to the security line, which is pretty much the length of the line to meet snow white at disney world and notice some angry irish women talking with terry about his boarding pass. apparently, the printer didn't print his barcode on his bp. big problem. thankfully, one of the non-boisterous ones helps him out and he meets me in the security parade. josh, josh, jordan, and john never show. it's every man for himself.
8:56am
i get through security, momentarily pause to see which direction i need to book it in, and start running. i look on my ticket and there is a giant "79" next to my name and flight number surrounded by a bolded square. great, gate 79. i see a sign for D60-80 and i take off. i'm weaving through old people, hoppin over little ums, diving through couples holding hands. they have those horizontal people accelerators here too, and im running twice as fast as i could by myself (probably not really but for the purpose of dramatic storytelling let's pretend i was). at this point,
9:04am
our flight is leaving in about 15 minutes and im only focused on getting to our gate and seeing if maaaaaaaaybe i could somehow convince the airline to let me on the plane and maaaaaaaaaaybe stay the departure for 5 more minutes so my boys could make it. in my head i was already thinking about what our other options were. to my grand misfortune, gate 79 is perhaps more than a mile from the security checkpoint. im sprinting down this hallway and that, finally coming to the end of the terminal. then i have to go down some stairs and more hallways to reach this small room where 79 is.
9:06am
i reach the room and head towards the agent's station. its just this mini pulpit with no electronic sign or any indication as to the status of the flight. there is no ryan air agent at the ryan air podium, and no plane near the terminal. i sat down nearby, dejected but determined to solve the new problem we now faced. i took out my laptop and tried to find a wifi signal while simultaneously calling terry to inform him of our grounded status. his phone is off, great.
9:11am
i find no wifi signal so i can't see what other possible flights we could hop on later that day. i don't even know if that's possible with our carrier, but figured it was worth a try. then my computer dies. great. i didn't really know what else to do - i had no idea where josh, josh, jordan, john, and terry were or when they would show up. i just started praying, talking about how i felt and what was going through my head, asking that everything would turn out okay.
9:14am
for some reason i decided to take out my boarding pass and read it. i notice in small black print the phrase "for boarding and gate information, please check the monitors." in my head, there's this little voice going "noooooooo..." i grab my stuff and run back to the original terminal from the ghetto small one i had just been in (seriously, like this little shack place). there are monitors right near the stairs and my eyes dance to the Dublin-->Hamburg spot. i see " D64 go to gate." since it didn't say "now boarding" or something to that effect, i figured there was maybe a 1% chance that i could make the plane. the time reads
9:20am
my plane should have left. i get to gate D64, which is just about as close as it could be (remember i was in D79). i see that our flight hasn't left yet and that there is a long line of people waiting to board. scanning the line, i see a flustered group of fine young men greeting a sweaty running man in a yellow pilam tshirt and i run to catch up. josh, josh, jordan, john, and terry all give hearty sighs of relief and ask me where i've been. jordan wasn't too happy after running up and down the airport looking for me, but he and everyone else quickly recover, just thankful that we're making the flight.
thanks god
[matt]
Hamburg, day 2
We've been in Europe a week now. Hamburg, our present location, is a pleasant city, and until this afternoon we had lovely weather - perfect for wandering around in a park, which we did, and climbing up the base of a huge stone statue of Bismarck that we found there. This statue was pretty imposing; it was perhaps 30m tall, made of grey stone, and depicted the Chancellor standing straight up in a cloak, holding a massive sword in both hands, with muscular eagles perched at his feet on either side of him. The base had lots of crevices and handholds that made for good climbing, which JV took full advantage of.
Food here has tended to be heavy on the meat and potatoes, with not a lot of vegetables or fresh anything. I made sure to get fresh tomatoes and orange juice for the lunch we made for the apartment today. We made lunch for everyone today - part of the couchsurfing idea is that you have a bit of give and take with your hosts - and the apartment we're in is full of guests now, so cooking for everyone meant a fair amount of food. It's a very punk set of people, as we expected. We've had an interesting stay on Veddeler Bruckenstrasse. Our host, Jonas, taught us how to skip fares on the trains. We'd noticed that nobody checked our tickets on the way out to Jonas's suburb. Jonas instructed us that if we were ever caught skipping fares, we should just show our foreign passports and give foreign addresses. The Hamburg authorities follow up with fare-jumpers by mail, and if your address is outside Germany, they never go to the trouble. But we've never been troubled so far - skipping fares in Hamburg is literally as easy as walking. You just walk onto the trains; there are no turnstiles or anything, and then you walk off. We are all a bit curious as to whether the Hamburgers in general pay their fares or not. No-one seems to force them to. I recalled Alexander Herzen's comment to the effect that the German is stopped by his conscience where the Russian is stopped by a policeman.
Yesterday we walked through downtown Hamburg to St. Nicholas', which is a church spire that has been preserved, surrounded by several sculptures, as a monument to victims of the Nazi regime. The spire is there; most of the church is not - I guess it was destroyed by the Allied bombing - but on the ground, different colored stones trace the outline of where the church once was. There was an elevator in the spire, which you can take up to see the view, but it was closed when we were there. We also wandered by St. Michael's church, which had a big dramatic statue of St. Michael beating down a demon over the door.
Food here has tended to be heavy on the meat and potatoes, with not a lot of vegetables or fresh anything. I made sure to get fresh tomatoes and orange juice for the lunch we made for the apartment today. We made lunch for everyone today - part of the couchsurfing idea is that you have a bit of give and take with your hosts - and the apartment we're in is full of guests now, so cooking for everyone meant a fair amount of food. It's a very punk set of people, as we expected. We've had an interesting stay on Veddeler Bruckenstrasse. Our host, Jonas, taught us how to skip fares on the trains. We'd noticed that nobody checked our tickets on the way out to Jonas's suburb. Jonas instructed us that if we were ever caught skipping fares, we should just show our foreign passports and give foreign addresses. The Hamburg authorities follow up with fare-jumpers by mail, and if your address is outside Germany, they never go to the trouble. But we've never been troubled so far - skipping fares in Hamburg is literally as easy as walking. You just walk onto the trains; there are no turnstiles or anything, and then you walk off. We are all a bit curious as to whether the Hamburgers in general pay their fares or not. No-one seems to force them to. I recalled Alexander Herzen's comment to the effect that the German is stopped by his conscience where the Russian is stopped by a policeman.
Yesterday we walked through downtown Hamburg to St. Nicholas', which is a church spire that has been preserved, surrounded by several sculptures, as a monument to victims of the Nazi regime. The spire is there; most of the church is not - I guess it was destroyed by the Allied bombing - but on the ground, different colored stones trace the outline of where the church once was. There was an elevator in the spire, which you can take up to see the view, but it was closed when we were there. We also wandered by St. Michael's church, which had a big dramatic statue of St. Michael beating down a demon over the door.
Monday, May 25, 2009
galway, inis mor, aran islands, ireland pictures. yay!
 |
| ireland pt 2 |
more pictures to come, as well as my story to how blessed we were to make the flight this morning, as well as what an interesting few days it has been.
[matt]
Dubiln to Hamburg
Hey team,
I'm writing this from a German keyboard and computer, so not only is spellcheck flagging almost every word, but some of the kezs are jumbled around to accomodate extra characters. Thatäs right, the kezs. Hah, there it is again. Kezs = keys, thatäs = that's. Other fun characters include ö, ü and ä. Schrecklich (awesome)!
After very nearly missing our 9:30 flight out of Dublin this morning, we arrived in Hamburg around noon. Before I relish in our mishaps in Deutschland, let me add a little detail to the airport story.
Despite JC's warnings, our hometeam leaves the hostel and splits up into two cabs to reach the airport at 8:20 AM, just a hair over an hour before the flight is scheduled to leave. Group one arrives at 8:45, and immediately finds that the Irish don't believe in self-check-in kiosks, but instead insist on waiting in line to print off your boarding pass. This takes about 15 minutes, but no big deal since it takes about the same amount of time for group two to flag down a cab, and they are just arriving. The lads hop in line to get their Visas checked, and while they wait they come to notice that, according to their boarding passes, the gate closes in approimately...5 minutes ago. Uh-oh.
Still hopeful that whole "gate-closed" thing is an exaggeration, Matt and Terry break through the Visa and security checkpoint ranks and run ahead through the terminal. The rest of the group finally makes it through, but by the time they begin their mad dash through the crowd the flight is scheduled to leave in less than ten minutes. Things are looking pretty bleak for our protagonists. But wait! Jumpin Johosophat, the flight has been delayed and hasn't even started boarding yet!
Only one problem: where's Matt Curtis? He and Terry were aparently split up when they first busted through the checkpoint. While the group splits up again to frantically search for their MIA compadre, Curty sits alone at his presumed gate, supposing that it is empty simplz because the flight has already left. Finally wondering if something is amiss, he glances at the boarding/departure screen and nearly poos his pants when he realizes that he's at the wrong gate. Turning on the afterburners he speeds through the terminal and runs into his exasperated amigos just minutes before they step aboard their flight - frazzled, frustrated yet entact. Crisis averted. Thanks God.
Check out Curty's post for his version of the story.
Since we're trying to keep this blog PG-rated, you'll just have to ask JC for his version. It's a little more verbally...colorful than this account.
Now on to Hamburg.
Moving from the United Kingdom to mainland Europe is stepping into the big leagues. No longer are all the signs written in English, is it easy to get directions, does the culture somewhat mirror our own, or can we navigate public transportation with ease. So while we were jovially shouting German phrases back and forth (thanks moms for that trusty handbook) as we stood in line in Customs at the German airport, when we reached Hamburg proper and tried to locate our couch-surf* house the mood was a little more subdued.Thanks to a pair of English-speaking German ladies we found our way to the train station, but when we got off the rail things started getting interesting.
Jordan had received directions to our host, Jonas's house, but these directions were unfortunately stored on Matt's laptop which had just run out of battery. We had managed to copy down, about two lines, but there wasn't enough context or completion to the manuscript to make much of it. After squabbling a bit over our next course of action (again, you'll have to ask JC for his version of this for the full story), we forayed into the Fatherland in search of a power outlet.
Disclaimer: if you are a mother, continue reading at your own risk. Some of these things may frighten you and/or cause you to hop the next flight over here to drag your son back home.
Commercial establishments were few and far between. We managed to find what appeared to be a general store, but the store owner neither spoke English nor seemed to take very kindly to our motley crew. We started to feel uncomfortable as we moved into another room in the store and could feel that all eyes were fixed on us. A group of early twenty-somethings had given us the same stare-down when we'd first entered the store, so as we fumbled around in the second room trying to find the right outlet converter to fit with the laptop power cable, we started rethinking our strategy.
The store was nearly silent as we made our way out, and we were once again met by the less-than-cheerful stare of the young adults milling outside the store. As we walked away, Jordan muttered what was already going through all of our heads: "That's the most physical threatened I've ever felt." Yep, glad we got that one out of the way early.
Moms you can open your eyes again, the scary part is over.
After arriving back at the train station, we spent another 20 or 30 minutes trying to interpret the directions or find another solution to our predicament, and then Matt remembered that we could use his phone to access the directions to Jonas's house and his phone number. With a quick phonecall, Jonas directed us to literal (and proverbial) other side of the tracks, and reassured us that the neighborhood was fine to walk around in. He was definitely right, and within five minutes we had met up with him in a much safer and inviting neck of the German woods.
Even though the trainstop was only a 7-minute walk from the house, the whole ordeal took us well over an hour, so by the time we arrived at our final destination we were far past ready to take a load off.
It's late, so I'm going to call it quits for now and let someone else fill you in on the rest of our day. Quick version is, great afternoon in downtown Hamburg and on a beach alongside the river that flows through town.
Gute Nacht,
- jv
* See other post for explanation and stories around couch-surfing
I'm writing this from a German keyboard and computer, so not only is spellcheck flagging almost every word, but some of the kezs are jumbled around to accomodate extra characters. Thatäs right, the kezs. Hah, there it is again. Kezs = keys, thatäs = that's. Other fun characters include ö, ü and ä. Schrecklich (awesome)!
After very nearly missing our 9:30 flight out of Dublin this morning, we arrived in Hamburg around noon. Before I relish in our mishaps in Deutschland, let me add a little detail to the airport story.
Despite JC's warnings, our hometeam leaves the hostel and splits up into two cabs to reach the airport at 8:20 AM, just a hair over an hour before the flight is scheduled to leave. Group one arrives at 8:45, and immediately finds that the Irish don't believe in self-check-in kiosks, but instead insist on waiting in line to print off your boarding pass. This takes about 15 minutes, but no big deal since it takes about the same amount of time for group two to flag down a cab, and they are just arriving. The lads hop in line to get their Visas checked, and while they wait they come to notice that, according to their boarding passes, the gate closes in approimately...5 minutes ago. Uh-oh.
Still hopeful that whole "gate-closed" thing is an exaggeration, Matt and Terry break through the Visa and security checkpoint ranks and run ahead through the terminal. The rest of the group finally makes it through, but by the time they begin their mad dash through the crowd the flight is scheduled to leave in less than ten minutes. Things are looking pretty bleak for our protagonists. But wait! Jumpin Johosophat, the flight has been delayed and hasn't even started boarding yet!
Only one problem: where's Matt Curtis? He and Terry were aparently split up when they first busted through the checkpoint. While the group splits up again to frantically search for their MIA compadre, Curty sits alone at his presumed gate, supposing that it is empty simplz because the flight has already left. Finally wondering if something is amiss, he glances at the boarding/departure screen and nearly poos his pants when he realizes that he's at the wrong gate. Turning on the afterburners he speeds through the terminal and runs into his exasperated amigos just minutes before they step aboard their flight - frazzled, frustrated yet entact. Crisis averted. Thanks God.
Check out Curty's post for his version of the story.
Since we're trying to keep this blog PG-rated, you'll just have to ask JC for his version. It's a little more verbally...colorful than this account.
Now on to Hamburg.
Moving from the United Kingdom to mainland Europe is stepping into the big leagues. No longer are all the signs written in English, is it easy to get directions, does the culture somewhat mirror our own, or can we navigate public transportation with ease. So while we were jovially shouting German phrases back and forth (thanks moms for that trusty handbook) as we stood in line in Customs at the German airport, when we reached Hamburg proper and tried to locate our couch-surf* house the mood was a little more subdued.Thanks to a pair of English-speaking German ladies we found our way to the train station, but when we got off the rail things started getting interesting.
Jordan had received directions to our host, Jonas's house, but these directions were unfortunately stored on Matt's laptop which had just run out of battery. We had managed to copy down, about two lines, but there wasn't enough context or completion to the manuscript to make much of it. After squabbling a bit over our next course of action (again, you'll have to ask JC for his version of this for the full story), we forayed into the Fatherland in search of a power outlet.
Disclaimer: if you are a mother, continue reading at your own risk. Some of these things may frighten you and/or cause you to hop the next flight over here to drag your son back home.
Commercial establishments were few and far between. We managed to find what appeared to be a general store, but the store owner neither spoke English nor seemed to take very kindly to our motley crew. We started to feel uncomfortable as we moved into another room in the store and could feel that all eyes were fixed on us. A group of early twenty-somethings had given us the same stare-down when we'd first entered the store, so as we fumbled around in the second room trying to find the right outlet converter to fit with the laptop power cable, we started rethinking our strategy.
The store was nearly silent as we made our way out, and we were once again met by the less-than-cheerful stare of the young adults milling outside the store. As we walked away, Jordan muttered what was already going through all of our heads: "That's the most physical threatened I've ever felt." Yep, glad we got that one out of the way early.
Moms you can open your eyes again, the scary part is over.
After arriving back at the train station, we spent another 20 or 30 minutes trying to interpret the directions or find another solution to our predicament, and then Matt remembered that we could use his phone to access the directions to Jonas's house and his phone number. With a quick phonecall, Jonas directed us to literal (and proverbial) other side of the tracks, and reassured us that the neighborhood was fine to walk around in. He was definitely right, and within five minutes we had met up with him in a much safer and inviting neck of the German woods.
Even though the trainstop was only a 7-minute walk from the house, the whole ordeal took us well over an hour, so by the time we arrived at our final destination we were far past ready to take a load off.
It's late, so I'm going to call it quits for now and let someone else fill you in on the rest of our day. Quick version is, great afternoon in downtown Hamburg and on a beach alongside the river that flows through town.
Gute Nacht,
- jv
* See other post for explanation and stories around couch-surfing
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Trance/Grime in Ireland
[Caution: This post is long, and most of it is about music that you may not know about or like. Proceed accordingly. Written mostly on Saturday afternoon on the bus to Galway]
When we walked into our hostel on Thursday I saw an ad for a show Friday night, Armin Van Buuren. I have never seen this world famous trance DJ before, and he’s been on my list, so I knew I shouldn’t miss this. I also made a goal for the trip to see a good show while in Europe to see how the dynamics were different and this fit the bill nicely (although I would love to see another show in Germany and plan to look for opportunities to do so). I grabbed a ticket online Friday morning.
Later on Friday I ran across a record shop in a Dublin alley and stepped in for a few minutes while the other guys went on ahead to dinner. After stepping in and immediately beginning to bob my head and tap my foot to the track playing I knew I was likely to be there for a while, so I didn’t want them to have to wait around. I found a number of vinyl and used CDs that I would have loved to get my hands on and continued to really enjoy what they were spinning in the place. But it wasn’t until I moved to the new releases that I found the real goldmine… whole stacks of albums labeled things like “Electro”, “Dubstep/Grime”, genres no respectable store in the States would ever carry. I knew I would have to cash in on this, and began scouring. I found several albums I had been looking for, but I can find that stuff on Amazon easily, so I thought I could do better. I pulled out a couple and asked the guy behind the counter to show me some others like them that were good and things I would never find in America. He pulled out half a dozen more and set me to listening through them. It was great chatting with the guy and having some connection as I’ve found so few people into this stuff before… there aren’t many in Philly who seem to be down with even listening to it, and only a handful that seek it out, collect and spin it. I ended up grabbing albums by The Plastician and Kotchy89 (I think.. don’t have it on me as I write this so the name may be a bit off). As a bonus, the guy threw in another still unreleased mix album, and info on another show that night by the guy who we had been listening to through the PA. I was super bummed since I already had tickets to Van Buuren. I ended up missing this show as we watched Naruto until too late to go, but I also got the site where I could download another mix with some of the tracks, so no complaints. And as I’ll explain, Armin was really great…
Anyway, after Naruto last night I headed out alone, no one else willing to brave the night or the dance with me (they all ended up going out later though, the jerks!). It was a bit cool but still felt good in just a t-shirt, which was fortunate as that was all I had. I had no idea what to expect, so I decided to leave my passport and credit card at the hostel and just take cash, a map, and a photo ID in case things got crazy… fortunately (unfortunately?) they didn’t, but I had my passport # and Matt’s cell number written on my inner arm just in case. It was a half hour walk to south Dublin and Tripod, the venue, and I really enjoyed it. Walked through a new part of the city (Grafton St) that was really cool at night (good enough to check out again today, which someone may write about later), and saw many interesting folks. I made friends with some cute, possibly German? girls, but I couldn’t help them find what they were after, not being local myself, so they were soon on their way. There was a huge line at the venue, and I probably looked the fool trying to figure out how to get my will call ticket (I’m sure more than one person thought “idiot American”, oh well) but got in and grabbed a drink (my standard for shows although they didn’t have any monster or red bull, but the Irish substitute, called Burn, was pretty good too) just before Van Buuren came on.
Within 15 seconds of the first womp womp, about the time the synth kicked in, the entire front of the room started a rousing chant of “Whoomp! There it is! Whoomp! There it is!” I doubt there are many cities in the world besides Dublin that would greet a famous trance DJ like this. The fact that this chant continued on and off all night, is one that I hope has not been shared with any other AVB show, and said a lot about what was to come. I really found it hard to believe. The dance floor was a lot sparser near the front than I’m used to, and I situated myself off to the side near one of the two big speakers, almost at the front, for most of the show. There was a projector screen blocking the view of the DJ booth from this angle (boo! Bad venue! Bad!) but I moved more central quite a bit as well so I could see fairly well. The music was really great. I enjoyed it a lot more than Tiesto last summer for some reason. Trance is trance, and as someone who doesn’t study the genre, I don’t think I recognized a single song, but there were some epic drops and builds, lots of great drum lines, and some really really good hooks and vocal loops, and I danced like a maniac for most of the night despite my feet being exhausted already.
Perhaps more interesting was the crowd. Most of the people there did not look especially different than the normal mix we have seen on the streets here, which was surprising as the same show in the States would be full of alts, faux-alts, candy ravers, and a mix of other indie stereotypes, besides the normal slight majority of mainstream guys in button downs who like to jump too much. I did see a few people who would fall neatly into the above mentioned groups, but I could count them on my two hands. Even so, and perhaps because of the space, the average quality of dancing was higher than I’m used to at these shows. Most interesting of all, everyone was extremely friendly and happy for us all to be there. I had my back slapped, my hand shaken or high-fived, and drinks waved to me more in the three hours than I usually get in half a dozen shows, and there was a lot less angry pushing and such. The girls were pretty standard other than the lack of interesting costumes as mentioned above. No one brought glo sticks and I didn’t see much in the way of more intricate dancing either, which was disappointing, but I did my best to represent.
Armin went on at 12:30 and played until after 3am, which was pretty amazing to me. On the walk back I did some great people watching on the street and it was again, a nice night. I headed over to the bar where the other show was happening but it looked like it had wrapped about the same time. Oh well. Made it to bed around 4am, truly a great night.
[later note: sat night in Galway (more details on that later) I met a street performer who was doing Po (sp?) and talked with him about this briefly. Apparently it is very uncommon in Ireland and he actually picked it up in France a few years ago. He was also crazy interested in burning man and we talked about that for a while. He looked like the guy from mgmt and had fun harassing passersby with his swinging balls of flame.]
-jc
When we walked into our hostel on Thursday I saw an ad for a show Friday night, Armin Van Buuren. I have never seen this world famous trance DJ before, and he’s been on my list, so I knew I shouldn’t miss this. I also made a goal for the trip to see a good show while in Europe to see how the dynamics were different and this fit the bill nicely (although I would love to see another show in Germany and plan to look for opportunities to do so). I grabbed a ticket online Friday morning.
Later on Friday I ran across a record shop in a Dublin alley and stepped in for a few minutes while the other guys went on ahead to dinner. After stepping in and immediately beginning to bob my head and tap my foot to the track playing I knew I was likely to be there for a while, so I didn’t want them to have to wait around. I found a number of vinyl and used CDs that I would have loved to get my hands on and continued to really enjoy what they were spinning in the place. But it wasn’t until I moved to the new releases that I found the real goldmine… whole stacks of albums labeled things like “Electro”, “Dubstep/Grime”, genres no respectable store in the States would ever carry. I knew I would have to cash in on this, and began scouring. I found several albums I had been looking for, but I can find that stuff on Amazon easily, so I thought I could do better. I pulled out a couple and asked the guy behind the counter to show me some others like them that were good and things I would never find in America. He pulled out half a dozen more and set me to listening through them. It was great chatting with the guy and having some connection as I’ve found so few people into this stuff before… there aren’t many in Philly who seem to be down with even listening to it, and only a handful that seek it out, collect and spin it. I ended up grabbing albums by The Plastician and Kotchy89 (I think.. don’t have it on me as I write this so the name may be a bit off). As a bonus, the guy threw in another still unreleased mix album, and info on another show that night by the guy who we had been listening to through the PA. I was super bummed since I already had tickets to Van Buuren. I ended up missing this show as we watched Naruto until too late to go, but I also got the site where I could download another mix with some of the tracks, so no complaints. And as I’ll explain, Armin was really great…
Anyway, after Naruto last night I headed out alone, no one else willing to brave the night or the dance with me (they all ended up going out later though, the jerks!). It was a bit cool but still felt good in just a t-shirt, which was fortunate as that was all I had. I had no idea what to expect, so I decided to leave my passport and credit card at the hostel and just take cash, a map, and a photo ID in case things got crazy… fortunately (unfortunately?) they didn’t, but I had my passport # and Matt’s cell number written on my inner arm just in case. It was a half hour walk to south Dublin and Tripod, the venue, and I really enjoyed it. Walked through a new part of the city (Grafton St) that was really cool at night (good enough to check out again today, which someone may write about later), and saw many interesting folks. I made friends with some cute, possibly German? girls, but I couldn’t help them find what they were after, not being local myself, so they were soon on their way. There was a huge line at the venue, and I probably looked the fool trying to figure out how to get my will call ticket (I’m sure more than one person thought “idiot American”, oh well) but got in and grabbed a drink (my standard for shows although they didn’t have any monster or red bull, but the Irish substitute, called Burn, was pretty good too) just before Van Buuren came on.
Within 15 seconds of the first womp womp, about the time the synth kicked in, the entire front of the room started a rousing chant of “Whoomp! There it is! Whoomp! There it is!” I doubt there are many cities in the world besides Dublin that would greet a famous trance DJ like this. The fact that this chant continued on and off all night, is one that I hope has not been shared with any other AVB show, and said a lot about what was to come. I really found it hard to believe. The dance floor was a lot sparser near the front than I’m used to, and I situated myself off to the side near one of the two big speakers, almost at the front, for most of the show. There was a projector screen blocking the view of the DJ booth from this angle (boo! Bad venue! Bad!) but I moved more central quite a bit as well so I could see fairly well. The music was really great. I enjoyed it a lot more than Tiesto last summer for some reason. Trance is trance, and as someone who doesn’t study the genre, I don’t think I recognized a single song, but there were some epic drops and builds, lots of great drum lines, and some really really good hooks and vocal loops, and I danced like a maniac for most of the night despite my feet being exhausted already.
Perhaps more interesting was the crowd. Most of the people there did not look especially different than the normal mix we have seen on the streets here, which was surprising as the same show in the States would be full of alts, faux-alts, candy ravers, and a mix of other indie stereotypes, besides the normal slight majority of mainstream guys in button downs who like to jump too much. I did see a few people who would fall neatly into the above mentioned groups, but I could count them on my two hands. Even so, and perhaps because of the space, the average quality of dancing was higher than I’m used to at these shows. Most interesting of all, everyone was extremely friendly and happy for us all to be there. I had my back slapped, my hand shaken or high-fived, and drinks waved to me more in the three hours than I usually get in half a dozen shows, and there was a lot less angry pushing and such. The girls were pretty standard other than the lack of interesting costumes as mentioned above. No one brought glo sticks and I didn’t see much in the way of more intricate dancing either, which was disappointing, but I did my best to represent.
Armin went on at 12:30 and played until after 3am, which was pretty amazing to me. On the walk back I did some great people watching on the street and it was again, a nice night. I headed over to the bar where the other show was happening but it looked like it had wrapped about the same time. Oh well. Made it to bed around 4am, truly a great night.
[later note: sat night in Galway (more details on that later) I met a street performer who was doing Po (sp?) and talked with him about this briefly. Apparently it is very uncommon in Ireland and he actually picked it up in France a few years ago. He was also crazy interested in burning man and we talked about that for a while. He looked like the guy from mgmt and had fun harassing passersby with his swinging balls of flame.]
-jc
!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!
A couple of noteworthy anecdoes to weave into earlier posts:
Matt and Jordan have been keeping their eyes peeled for a casino that deals Texas Holdem, so on Thursday evening we pass a likely candidate. Curtis takes a stop, and the guy at the reception informs Matt that membership is required for entry. No trouble, though, since membership is both free and simple. While he's speaking with the receptionist, this pair of lads step in line behind us. They're about my height, a little stockier though and wearing the standard muted colors with jeans and several top layers much like 95% of the other Irish locals we've seen so far. While Matt finishes his paperwork, the guys flash their membership ID's and begin to move towards the casino entryway. Soon I realize that their target, however, is not the swinging doors but the corner of the room where I now stand leaning up against the wall. They look friendly enough, so at first I'm not too nervous. The bigger of the two moves ahead, however, and beelines it towards me, and before I know it he's posed a quarter meter (that's lss than one foot for all you Yankees out there) from my face. My heart's thumping pretty hard in my chest, and my hands subconsciously brace my body between the perpendicular frame of the corner. His body language and the sardonic smirk on his face reassure me that he hasn't accosted me to deliver a blow to the stomach, but I still don't know what to expect.
Only about two seconds have passed up until this point, and yet it feels like Neo has turned on bullet time. Finally, his mouth slowly opens and at once movement and sound return to a normal speed. With his face within inches of my own, he lets out a heavily accented "We'll see you crazy fuckin Amerian bastards later!" At the same time I feel two slight pinches towards the top of my chest. I look down to see the man’s hands grabbing my nipples. He gives them a playful yet firm twist, and then releases as my chest heaves, letting out a couple tons of air. Still not sure how I should react to this bizarre chain of events, I manage to get my vocal chords vibrating again and a nervous, forced chuckle falls out with my response. "Yeah, yeah we'll see you later." I blink and the two Irish blokes are gone. And I'm still alive. Cheers!
- jv
Matt and Jordan have been keeping their eyes peeled for a casino that deals Texas Holdem, so on Thursday evening we pass a likely candidate. Curtis takes a stop, and the guy at the reception informs Matt that membership is required for entry. No trouble, though, since membership is both free and simple. While he's speaking with the receptionist, this pair of lads step in line behind us. They're about my height, a little stockier though and wearing the standard muted colors with jeans and several top layers much like 95% of the other Irish locals we've seen so far. While Matt finishes his paperwork, the guys flash their membership ID's and begin to move towards the casino entryway. Soon I realize that their target, however, is not the swinging doors but the corner of the room where I now stand leaning up against the wall. They look friendly enough, so at first I'm not too nervous. The bigger of the two moves ahead, however, and beelines it towards me, and before I know it he's posed a quarter meter (that's lss than one foot for all you Yankees out there) from my face. My heart's thumping pretty hard in my chest, and my hands subconsciously brace my body between the perpendicular frame of the corner. His body language and the sardonic smirk on his face reassure me that he hasn't accosted me to deliver a blow to the stomach, but I still don't know what to expect.
Only about two seconds have passed up until this point, and yet it feels like Neo has turned on bullet time. Finally, his mouth slowly opens and at once movement and sound return to a normal speed. With his face within inches of my own, he lets out a heavily accented "We'll see you crazy fuckin Amerian bastards later!" At the same time I feel two slight pinches towards the top of my chest. I look down to see the man’s hands grabbing my nipples. He gives them a playful yet firm twist, and then releases as my chest heaves, letting out a couple tons of air. Still not sure how I should react to this bizarre chain of events, I manage to get my vocal chords vibrating again and a nervous, forced chuckle falls out with my response. "Yeah, yeah we'll see you later." I blink and the two Irish blokes are gone. And I'm still alive. Cheers!
- jv
Friday, May 22, 2009
223 pictures of graduation and europe part 1
223 pictures of graduation and europe part 1
http://picasaweb.google.com/matt.a.curtis/GraduationEuropePt1?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDVqtXTnd6pZQ&feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/matt.a.curtis/GraduationEuropePt1?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDVqtXTnd6pZQ&feat=directlink
some brief thoughts
just wanted to share something that i've been very impressed with so far in europe. for the most part, both the english and the irish people have been extremely kind to us. there have been more than a few occasions where a random stranger has gone out of his or her way, completely unsolicited, in order to help us. for example, a woman in england stopped and offered to take our group picture. or the gentlemen in ireland that got off on our bus stop from the airport and walked us to our hostel because we weren't sure where it was. or the bartender in ireland that showed us where to find some good pints and a cool atmosphere. in general, i perceive that these cultures are much more outgoing, friendly, and kind than ours is. it is much easier to approach people and they are much more forgiving. i wonder why that is.
right now, we're hanging out in our hostel's general meeting area since its pretty nasty outside. a few of us are planning on doing a walking tour later today, then hitting up the hostel bbq, then going to the pubs later tonight. tomorrow, we're most likely going to head out to galway and to some nearby islands for the next two days.
[matt]
right now, we're hanging out in our hostel's general meeting area since its pretty nasty outside. a few of us are planning on doing a walking tour later today, then hitting up the hostel bbq, then going to the pubs later tonight. tomorrow, we're most likely going to head out to galway and to some nearby islands for the next two days.
[matt]
another dublin perspective
[written around 2am on friday morning in the beautiful old cellar of our hostel] DUBLIN (AP) - Six American youths found trouble today in the form of the jet lag that had been chasing them for the last several days. They had successfully evaded it since landing in Europe using a combination of wits, willpower, and caffeine, but around 11am this morning, soon after checking in at their hostel, they made a major mistake by heading over to the Guiness Brewery, the largest brewery [ed- anywhere? fact check plz]. For a few euro they toured the Storehouse, which explains the process by which this famous stout is produced 24/7/52 and sent to all the world. A fascinating exhibit, it also explained transportation and famous advertising campaigns (of special interest to Mssr. Curtis) It ended at the top of this, the tallest building in the city, where we could survey this beautiful town and enjoy some complimentary pints (due to some friendly new acquaintances, some of us got more than one).
We also ran into some Penn State kids who had mutual friends and quickly befriended them, chilling for a while there. After all our running around and with a few new friends, relaxing there was one of the highlights of the trip so far (except for Comrade Bninski, who promptly fell asleep, to the amusement of the older Irish gentleman sitting next to him). Our new friends led us to a lunch spot which ended up being pretty mediocre, but we were all so exhausted by that time that we barely noticed. Finally, we met our old friend jet lag on the walk back to the hostel, where he showed us to our room where we engaged with him in excellent and gripping conversation for the next 7 odd hours.
Awaking from slumber around 10:30 (sans Jordan, who slept until 2am or so), our intrepid heroes made it down to the Temple Bar district, grabbed food at a late night burger joint, and wandered around until we stumbled upon The Stag Head, one of the more famous, and ostensibly the oldest pub in this part of the city. It seemed great, except that it had just closed for the night. Outside, a friendly local directed us down a side street to the Foggy Dew, a great pub that was open until 1, where we grabbed a round of drinks and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I also got the sports schedule for the weekend - apparently there is a rugby final on Saturday, hope we can find a good spot to watch that. We headed home to chill for a bit before (hopefully) sleeping until a reasonable time in the morning.
I feel kind of tired so we should be good. My body abandoned all efforts to establish a reference point on the local time a few hours after we landed in London and has been loudly complaining ever since, so I'm looking forward to some regularity.
-jc
We also ran into some Penn State kids who had mutual friends and quickly befriended them, chilling for a while there. After all our running around and with a few new friends, relaxing there was one of the highlights of the trip so far (except for Comrade Bninski, who promptly fell asleep, to the amusement of the older Irish gentleman sitting next to him). Our new friends led us to a lunch spot which ended up being pretty mediocre, but we were all so exhausted by that time that we barely noticed. Finally, we met our old friend jet lag on the walk back to the hostel, where he showed us to our room where we engaged with him in excellent and gripping conversation for the next 7 odd hours.
Awaking from slumber around 10:30 (sans Jordan, who slept until 2am or so), our intrepid heroes made it down to the Temple Bar district, grabbed food at a late night burger joint, and wandered around until we stumbled upon The Stag Head, one of the more famous, and ostensibly the oldest pub in this part of the city. It seemed great, except that it had just closed for the night. Outside, a friendly local directed us down a side street to the Foggy Dew, a great pub that was open until 1, where we grabbed a round of drinks and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I also got the sports schedule for the weekend - apparently there is a rugby final on Saturday, hope we can find a good spot to watch that. We headed home to chill for a bit before (hopefully) sleeping until a reasonable time in the morning.
I feel kind of tired so we should be good. My body abandoned all efforts to establish a reference point on the local time a few hours after we landed in London and has been loudly complaining ever since, so I'm looking forward to some regularity.
-jc
Dublin, day two??
Good morrow,
I didn't mention before that we spent only 24 hours in London. We got to see the National Gallery, British Museum, and The Black Horse Bar.
Twas a very good day. I don't know how i managed to pull this off, but I fell asleep at around 3:30 PM yesterday (we all took 5+ hour names because we slept in the airport and on the plane the previous night because of all these crazy logistic issues, what we do for discount tickets $1.50 to fly to ireland per person) and woke up around 2:30 AM. So Matt and I did what any two good ol' Irish chaps would do and found a casino where Texas Hold Em was being played and sat down to gamble some euros. I made 100 euro, and Matt lost a little bit. Good times were had by all. However, I just got back and its 8:30 AM here. I will never be on a good sleep schedule, so whatever.
Yesterday we destroyed the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE® tour by abusing the taste test, getting free drinks in their rooftop bar, and meeting some PENN state kids who are doing the same thing as us. It was pretty fun.
We got home, checked in, and I'll someone who was awake last night fill you in on what they did.
-Jordan
I didn't mention before that we spent only 24 hours in London. We got to see the National Gallery, British Museum, and The Black Horse Bar.
Twas a very good day. I don't know how i managed to pull this off, but I fell asleep at around 3:30 PM yesterday (we all took 5+ hour names because we slept in the airport and on the plane the previous night because of all these crazy logistic issues, what we do for discount tickets $1.50 to fly to ireland per person) and woke up around 2:30 AM. So Matt and I did what any two good ol' Irish chaps would do and found a casino where Texas Hold Em was being played and sat down to gamble some euros. I made 100 euro, and Matt lost a little bit. Good times were had by all. However, I just got back and its 8:30 AM here. I will never be on a good sleep schedule, so whatever.
Yesterday we destroyed the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE® tour by abusing the taste test, getting free drinks in their rooftop bar, and meeting some PENN state kids who are doing the same thing as us. It was pretty fun.
We got home, checked in, and I'll someone who was awake last night fill you in on what they did.
-Jordan
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Dublin, Ireland
Hey guys,
We just got to our hostel. It's pretty great so far. The french toast was grand. It's very clean, and feels just like a college dorm for the most part. There are also a lot of young people here. We are going to do the guiness tour I think right now, and we are excited for another very full day.
More pictures to come soon!
Jordan
We just got to our hostel. It's pretty great so far. The french toast was grand. It's very clean, and feels just like a college dorm for the most part. There are also a lot of young people here. We are going to do the guiness tour I think right now, and we are excited for another very full day.
More pictures to come soon!
Jordan
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
some quick pics
brief upload, in an internet cafe, we'll try to organize and label the pictures later.
Flickr photos
[matt]
Flickr photos
[matt]
London Pt. 2: i love parentheses
I write now from the Gatwick Express, the train we are taking to Victoria Station to meet up with Terry Wang (he flew into Heathrow from JFK) before taking on London. After waking Jordan up from his floor-slumber in Charlotte, we had a roughly 7 hour flight to London-Gatwick. The plane was huuuuuuge. It had 7 seats across in each row, configured as 2/3/2. I ended up seeing Gran Turino and Seven Pounds while intermittently sucking down some so-so airplane food (choices were alfredo pasta or bbq chicken), both of which (the movies, not the food) were excellent – I highly recommend Clint Eastwood’s Gran Turino.
When we arrived in London, we made our way through an extensive maze of hallways to find the entrance to customs and the UK. I’m sure that me stumbling from lack of sleep, Jordan dancing and singing down the corridor, Bninski joking about Josh Veit stealing US passports, and Josh Carroll continuously refering to his new friend “Rick” (the Euro guidebook) made for a wary sight. We bought tickets for the Express from some currency exchange place after avoiding their roughly 7.5% premium to the spot and headed to the tracks. After momentarily pausing to check for some secret-Harry-Potter false brick wall at the station, we boarded the train to central London.
I just got a call from Terry saying that he had landed and that he would meet us in an hour at the tourism center at London-Victoria. We’re thinking of hitting up the British Museum, Hyde Park, the Tower of London, Tralfagar (sp?) Square and/or a few other places before heading back to the airport and flying to Dublin around 6am.
Onward!
[matt]
When we arrived in London, we made our way through an extensive maze of hallways to find the entrance to customs and the UK. I’m sure that me stumbling from lack of sleep, Jordan dancing and singing down the corridor, Bninski joking about Josh Veit stealing US passports, and Josh Carroll continuously refering to his new friend “Rick” (the Euro guidebook) made for a wary sight. We bought tickets for the Express from some currency exchange place after avoiding their roughly 7.5% premium to the spot and headed to the tracks. After momentarily pausing to check for some secret-Harry-Potter false brick wall at the station, we boarded the train to central London.
I just got a call from Terry saying that he had landed and that he would meet us in an hour at the tourism center at London-Victoria. We’re thinking of hitting up the British Museum, Hyde Park, the Tower of London, Tralfagar (sp?) Square and/or a few other places before heading back to the airport and flying to Dublin around 6am.
Onward!
[matt]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
peace out, philly
the spring sun comes early, especially if your name is matt curtis or jordan regan and your circadian rythm mirrors that of a bat. but this morning, even after staying up late enough to witness the light creep into the corners of the sky, my head popped off the pillow with ease. after throwing the last of my belongings into a suitcase i was over to pilam, and soon thereafter the posse, sans terry wang, was in a cab and off to the philly airport.
an easy check-in, a quick stop and burger king and we were aboard our flight to charlotte, NC. eager to leave our mark on the territory, jordan took the lead and promptly spilled the better part of his large coke all over the floor of the airplane. but remembering his mother's urgings to always clean up after himself, jordan carefully placed an airtravel magazine over the puddle and relocated to an empty seat across the aisle. good work, team.
for now we're on layover in charlotte, our next flight leaving at 5 somethin-or-other this evening. we'll probably find ourself at Carolina Beer Co., this restaurant/faux-brewery across the boarding area before too long.
- jv
an easy check-in, a quick stop and burger king and we were aboard our flight to charlotte, NC. eager to leave our mark on the territory, jordan took the lead and promptly spilled the better part of his large coke all over the floor of the airplane. but remembering his mother's urgings to always clean up after himself, jordan carefully placed an airtravel magazine over the puddle and relocated to an empty seat across the aisle. good work, team.
for now we're on layover in charlotte, our next flight leaving at 5 somethin-or-other this evening. we'll probably find ourself at Carolina Beer Co., this restaurant/faux-brewery across the boarding area before too long.
- jv
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