Blog. Failure. I started this entry over a month ago... I was writing brief descriptions and putting up pictures of our last few destinations (with Margaret and Sarah), I may just finish with pictures.... Enjoy! Maybe I'll put up some Aix posts in the near future...?
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Our past four destinations: Salzburg, Austria; Lake Bled, Slovenia; Plitvice Lakes & Dubrovnik, Croatia, have been one fairy tale after the other. It's hard to believe this chapter of my adventure [traveling with Margaret & Sarah] is about to come to an end! Here's a (hopefully) brief update of our latest tales, really I think the pictures tell a much better story than my words.
Salzburg: August 19-21
As you may or may not realize the majority of the Sound of Music movie was filmmed here in Salzburg! After the movie came out the tourism industry in Salzburg boomed and of course we couldn't come all this way without going on the "Original Sound of Music Tour". We only had a day or so actually in Salzburg, but we loved it. The tour was great and a nice change of pace to have someone else in charge of the map/directions/information etc. And we definitely embraced the tourist stereotype by posing for Sound of Music pictures.
Lake Bled: August 21-22
We had a little less than 24 hours in the beautiful Lake Bled area of Slovenia. You probably haven't heard of it, but we found it--courtesy of Rick Steves I think, and it was definitely worth the trip. We took the train from Salzburg, changed once, and had to take a taxi to our hostel. We spent the rest of the day on the lake with lots of Slovenians, and ate some pizza for dinner--actually I ate an entire pizza... oops.
Plitvice Lakes: August 22-24
Woke up early... Hiked around the beautiful national park with TONS of waterfalls.
Dubrovnik, islands, and Korcula: August ??
Incredible finale to an incredible trip!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Prague, Budapest, Vienna: imperial entities.
Prague: August 9-14
Our five-day sojourn in the Czech Republic began unexpectedly in the city of Pardubice when we accidentally missed our stop in Prague and went 115 km past! Life lesson #729: Don’t trust the train workers with limited English who tell you that the train stops twice in Prague! We eventually made it to Prague and to our favorite hostel yet: Sir Toby’s.
Prague was great. We decided before arriving that we wanted to stay there a little longer in order to take it easy, catch our breath after the whirlwind first three cities, and enjoy the atmosphere of the city. People talk about the magical aura that hovers over the unique city of Prague—the latest hotspot for tourists these days. After having been there I’m not sure I fully tapped into the aura that you hear about—I very much enjoyed the city, but I’d say what really made it unforgettable for Margaret, Sarah, and me were the people we met and experiences we shared. Our hostel was full of characters—we met all kinds of people from all walks of life: British, Australian, American, French, Bosnian, Czech, to name a few. Meeting people in this way has been an incredibly eye-opening experience. There is a sort of instant bond between us, regardless of how different they may be from me, it exists because of being fellow travelers on a journey somewhere. Many people, I think, are looking for more than just the next site, city or pub, but in fact they are searching for something greater to fill the empty God-shaped void inside of everyone. I think I am learning more from these traveling peers than I realize even right now.
Other highlights of Prague were: Stumbling upon a park of apples, pears, and peacocks! It is a rare treat to be able to walk through a park and get free snacks growing from the trees! Also, exploring the Jewish Quarter and the synagogues and memorials in that area. We took a free walking tour, went to the Prague castle, John Lennon Wall, Mucha museum, and climbed the hill to the famous beer garden/café. We also did laundry, slept-in, and ate McDonalds—(yeah, we did, and it was awesome).
On Friday morning we said au revoir to Sir Toby’s and our new friends and took the train to Budapest!
Budapest: August 14-16
We arrived in Budapest on the Friday of their biggest weekend music festival of the year, the “Sziget Festival” (sp?). Consequently, we had a hard time finding a place to stay, but got lucky and ended up having our own room in a small B&B-style hostel. First of all, I had a completely incorrect mental image of this city. Mainly due to my own ignorance, but anyway, I was blown away by the beautiful architecture and historic look of everything. We spent the afternoon/evening exploring the Buda side of the city and then ate my favorite traditional dish so far: Chicken Goulash with Goulaska—delicious, especially the Hungarian pasta over which it was served.
On our full day in Budapest we started with the famous cakes and coffee at Lukos (sp?). Yum. Then we went to the House of Terror museum. No, not a haunted house or London Dungeon type tourist trap, it’s an actual legit museum, and by far one of the most magnificent I’ve ever been to. The house on Andrassy Boulevard (the Champs Elysée of Budapest) was the former headquarters of the Nazi and Soviet regimes in Budapest and the site of interrogation, torture, and completely inhumane treatment of people. The museum depicted Budapest’s tragic history dominated by the occupation of the Nazis and then the Soviets. It was a lot of history to take in—and I’m sure I still don’t really understand exactly how it all happened, but the museum was effectively moving and thought-provoking—truly a must see if you or anyone you know is going there.
We spent the rest of the day exploring, the riverbank area. I went inside the Four Seasons [Trey], and it was beautiful occupying the former Gresham Palace. Dinner was discouraging because when we finally found a place to eat, we were turned away because the waiter said we had to order three full [huge] meals, and we really just wanted soup and salad [tourist-exploitation at its finest]. We found somewhere else eventually. One of THE things to do in Budapest is to “bathe” at one the mineral bathhouses sprinkled throughout the city. Our hostel recommended one “where the locals go” and after dinner we decided to rally, and check it out. This particular bath is open from 10pm-4am on the weekends, so you can imagine the crowd we found there. But we had so much fun! It was really relaxing and a great experience to go down in the books. The next day we went to the WAMP market before taking our afternoon train to Vienna. Our hostel owner recommended this so called “fashion market” which is only open one Sunday a month, and it was not a disappointment. Tons of really beautiful handmade jewelry, clothes, paintings, etc, and lots of fun since we haven’t bought anything this whole trip.
Vienna: August 16-19
In my opinion, going to Vienna from Prague and Budapest was definitely a rung up on the ladder of developed countries. We were overjoyed to switch back to the Euro after using Czech and Hungarian currencies, but not as much overjoyed about everything being more expensive.
Great dinner our first night in Vienna with the first green food (salad) I’d had in while. The next day we walked around the Hapburg palace area, museum quarter, and Rathaus park. We took the tram to see Kunst Haus—the house with no straight lines with a permanent exhibit of Hundertwasser’s work. It was interesting, but I’m glad to say that we went on half price ticket day. Afterwards we went to the famous Demels Café for the classic mélange and Sacher Torte (coffee and chocolate cake).
Because the Vienna Opera, Boys Choir, Philharmonic etc. all go on vacation for July and August, the city has an incredible film festival where each night they play a different opera, ballet, or concert in the park. We made a picnic from the grocery store and went back to Rathaus Park to claim our seats for the evening. A gigantic screen was set up in front of the Rathaus (parliament building) and with incredible high quality audio and video we watched/heard a 2008 concert filmed in Berlin: Waldebühne 2008- Los Ritmos de la Noche, Gustavo Dudamel. It was outstanding… and best of all, completely free! We came back to our hostel to find that we now had two roommates who happen to be from Paris! It was so fun chatting with them, two girls traveling around together—definitely made me grateful for the French practice I’ve had.
Our last day was similar to the first, more exploring of Vienna. We ate some bizarre but famous open-faced sandwiches from Trzesniewski, took a tour of the Opera house, St. Stephen’s, and found a wine tavern outside the center. We couldn’t resist going back to the film festival for another show, which turned out to be Mozart’s Requiem—amazing. Low point of today: everything I ate was in the beige/brown-color family, that’s no good…
And that pretty much brings me here, on the train to Salzburg sitting with two older retired Austrian and Swiss women who just finished a 10-day bike trip along the Danube—so legit. I’m riding past vibrant green countryside, farmhouses, barns, trees, and cottages. The sky is blue…and our train has air conditioning! Am I dreaming or is this real?!
Thanks for reading,
c.
Our five-day sojourn in the Czech Republic began unexpectedly in the city of Pardubice when we accidentally missed our stop in Prague and went 115 km past! Life lesson #729: Don’t trust the train workers with limited English who tell you that the train stops twice in Prague! We eventually made it to Prague and to our favorite hostel yet: Sir Toby’s.
Prague was great. We decided before arriving that we wanted to stay there a little longer in order to take it easy, catch our breath after the whirlwind first three cities, and enjoy the atmosphere of the city. People talk about the magical aura that hovers over the unique city of Prague—the latest hotspot for tourists these days. After having been there I’m not sure I fully tapped into the aura that you hear about—I very much enjoyed the city, but I’d say what really made it unforgettable for Margaret, Sarah, and me were the people we met and experiences we shared. Our hostel was full of characters—we met all kinds of people from all walks of life: British, Australian, American, French, Bosnian, Czech, to name a few. Meeting people in this way has been an incredibly eye-opening experience. There is a sort of instant bond between us, regardless of how different they may be from me, it exists because of being fellow travelers on a journey somewhere. Many people, I think, are looking for more than just the next site, city or pub, but in fact they are searching for something greater to fill the empty God-shaped void inside of everyone. I think I am learning more from these traveling peers than I realize even right now.
Other highlights of Prague were: Stumbling upon a park of apples, pears, and peacocks! It is a rare treat to be able to walk through a park and get free snacks growing from the trees! Also, exploring the Jewish Quarter and the synagogues and memorials in that area. We took a free walking tour, went to the Prague castle, John Lennon Wall, Mucha museum, and climbed the hill to the famous beer garden/café. We also did laundry, slept-in, and ate McDonalds—(yeah, we did, and it was awesome).
On Friday morning we said au revoir to Sir Toby’s and our new friends and took the train to Budapest!
Budapest: August 14-16
**Had some camera issues lately. All of the Budapest Pictures, and lots of the others are courtesy of Sarah N.!
We arrived in Budapest on the Friday of their biggest weekend music festival of the year, the “Sziget Festival” (sp?). Consequently, we had a hard time finding a place to stay, but got lucky and ended up having our own room in a small B&B-style hostel. First of all, I had a completely incorrect mental image of this city. Mainly due to my own ignorance, but anyway, I was blown away by the beautiful architecture and historic look of everything. We spent the afternoon/evening exploring the Buda side of the city and then ate my favorite traditional dish so far: Chicken Goulash with Goulaska—delicious, especially the Hungarian pasta over which it was served.
On our full day in Budapest we started with the famous cakes and coffee at Lukos (sp?). Yum. Then we went to the House of Terror museum. No, not a haunted house or London Dungeon type tourist trap, it’s an actual legit museum, and by far one of the most magnificent I’ve ever been to. The house on Andrassy Boulevard (the Champs Elysée of Budapest) was the former headquarters of the Nazi and Soviet regimes in Budapest and the site of interrogation, torture, and completely inhumane treatment of people. The museum depicted Budapest’s tragic history dominated by the occupation of the Nazis and then the Soviets. It was a lot of history to take in—and I’m sure I still don’t really understand exactly how it all happened, but the museum was effectively moving and thought-provoking—truly a must see if you or anyone you know is going there.
We spent the rest of the day exploring, the riverbank area. I went inside the Four Seasons [Trey], and it was beautiful occupying the former Gresham Palace. Dinner was discouraging because when we finally found a place to eat, we were turned away because the waiter said we had to order three full [huge] meals, and we really just wanted soup and salad [tourist-exploitation at its finest]. We found somewhere else eventually. One of THE things to do in Budapest is to “bathe” at one the mineral bathhouses sprinkled throughout the city. Our hostel recommended one “where the locals go” and after dinner we decided to rally, and check it out. This particular bath is open from 10pm-4am on the weekends, so you can imagine the crowd we found there. But we had so much fun! It was really relaxing and a great experience to go down in the books. The next day we went to the WAMP market before taking our afternoon train to Vienna. Our hostel owner recommended this so called “fashion market” which is only open one Sunday a month, and it was not a disappointment. Tons of really beautiful handmade jewelry, clothes, paintings, etc, and lots of fun since we haven’t bought anything this whole trip.
Vienna: August 16-19
In my opinion, going to Vienna from Prague and Budapest was definitely a rung up on the ladder of developed countries. We were overjoyed to switch back to the Euro after using Czech and Hungarian currencies, but not as much overjoyed about everything being more expensive.
Great dinner our first night in Vienna with the first green food (salad) I’d had in while. The next day we walked around the Hapburg palace area, museum quarter, and Rathaus park. We took the tram to see Kunst Haus—the house with no straight lines with a permanent exhibit of Hundertwasser’s work. It was interesting, but I’m glad to say that we went on half price ticket day. Afterwards we went to the famous Demels Café for the classic mélange and Sacher Torte (coffee and chocolate cake).
Because the Vienna Opera, Boys Choir, Philharmonic etc. all go on vacation for July and August, the city has an incredible film festival where each night they play a different opera, ballet, or concert in the park. We made a picnic from the grocery store and went back to Rathaus Park to claim our seats for the evening. A gigantic screen was set up in front of the Rathaus (parliament building) and with incredible high quality audio and video we watched/heard a 2008 concert filmed in Berlin: Waldebühne 2008- Los Ritmos de la Noche, Gustavo Dudamel. It was outstanding… and best of all, completely free! We came back to our hostel to find that we now had two roommates who happen to be from Paris! It was so fun chatting with them, two girls traveling around together—definitely made me grateful for the French practice I’ve had.
Our last day was similar to the first, more exploring of Vienna. We ate some bizarre but famous open-faced sandwiches from Trzesniewski, took a tour of the Opera house, St. Stephen’s, and found a wine tavern outside the center. We couldn’t resist going back to the film festival for another show, which turned out to be Mozart’s Requiem—amazing. Low point of today: everything I ate was in the beige/brown-color family, that’s no good…
And that pretty much brings me here, on the train to Salzburg sitting with two older retired Austrian and Swiss women who just finished a 10-day bike trip along the Danube—so legit. I’m riding past vibrant green countryside, farmhouses, barns, trees, and cottages. The sky is blue…and our train has air conditioning! Am I dreaming or is this real?!
Thanks for reading,
c.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
London, Amsterdam, Berlin... my my my
I think I can officially be deemed the “worst-blogger-ever”! It has been so hard to find/make the time to update my blog since I left France, even though I really do enjoy doing it. Here I guess is where I try to mentally go back in time to the 4 or so days I was in London, then Amsterdam and Berlin, and attempt to pretend that I’m not actually on the train from Berlin to Prague… even though I am.
London: July 30-August 4
*A lot of these pictures are from Sarah and Margaret's camera! I wish I had a way to distinguish them (because they're much better than mine), but thank you Sarah and Margaret for sharing!
I had a somewhat bumpy arrival into London late Thursday night (or rather, early Friday morning). I won’t bore you all with the series of events that led to my landing in London, but can sum it up with: a malfunctioned metro on the way to the airport; overweight baggage-rearrange; an escort past the security line; one hour flight delay, oh wait “we were just kidding, four hour flight delay!” (putting me leaving Marseille at 11:30pm); got on the wrong plane, yep that happened, then got off the wrong plane “Mademoiselle Urley, this is not your flight!”; train into London Central at 1:30am, taxi queue at 2:30; arrival at Graham’s dorm: 2:45am. Needless to say I was EXTREMELY happy to see Margaret and Sarah when I got there who had been so sweet to wait up for me even though they were extremely tired and jet-lagged themselves.
We kicked off our August adventure with a bang the next day, seeing the British Museum (even getting there before it opened!) and then afterwards I took the bus to Oxford to see my friend Morgan before she left the next day to go home! Oxford was SUCH a highlight of the London trip for me. It felt as though you could breathe in the academic air that seemed to be flowing through the spires, gardens, streets, and 39 colleges of Oxford University and somehow exhale as a scholar (if only it were that easy). Being with Morgan was a dream and she was the best tour guide I could have asked for!
Saturday was a morning at the National Gallery, highlight for me was the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait by Van Eyck that we studied pretty intensly in Art History 111. They had a great collection there that gave a good sense of how painting progressed over the years. We saw the afternoon matinee showing of Les Miserables, beautiful and more moving than I remember it from when I saw it at age 10! That night we happened upon a true gem, “Gordon’s Wines from the Woods” it was supposedly the “oldest” wine bar in England, but the basement setting with low arched, cave-like ceilings and candlelit atmosphere was truly remarkable.
Sunday we went to All Souls church, which we really enjoyed and met a lovely family from Chattanooga! We had a picnic lunch before going to the Tate Modern, which we all loved! Later we relocated from Graham’s dorm because they were back in town, we were so blessed because Will Parker’s host family in Notting Hill invited the three of us to stay in their classic Notting Hill 1800s house.
Our last day in London was a roller coaster of funny logistical mishaps—we keep referring to the street smarts learning curve that we are steadily climbing as we continually learn from (and pay for) our mistakes. The day was concluded with arriving to Wicked (which we were SO excited about) 45 minutes late! Never trust directions from just anyone—lesson learned. But for the majority of the production that we did see, it was phenomenal, really great acting, singing, dancing, etc. Just great.
I came into London with a bit of culture shock honestly. I didn’t realize how much I had settled into my comfortable routine in the South of France, and didn’t expect how much London would feel comparatively similar to the US. It was a great adjustment though: back into the Anglophone world and into friendships with Margaret and Sarah for which I am incredibly grateful. I hav a feeling that we are not alone on this journey with much to learn, experience and understand as we continue on our trek around Europe!
Amsterdam: August 4-7
We left London accompanied by Will Parker, headed for Amsterdam excited to move on our journey, but at the same time it wasn’t necessarily easy to leave “our home” in Notting Hill and the English-speaking familiarity. We made it there and to the apartment we had found via Craig’s List! The “apartment” was great—really more of a big room in this “historic mansion” as they called it. But we had a fridge and beds, it was clean, and the guy who owned it was friendly and helpful.
We spent our two days in Amsterdam seeing the Anne Frank Museum, walking around the city, and then on the second day biking outside the city. We rented bikes, hopped on the ferry across the canal and rode in some beautiful countryside and farmland—and I rocked a helmet for Uncle Chuck, even though everyone said I didn’t need one! I loved the uniquely quaint Dutch houses that we passed by and tried to take pictures of upside-down with my left hand while riding the bike—almost took out some locals in the process.
We ate pancakes and biked through the disheartening red light district later on, and we just took in the “scene” of Amsterdam; very different from London, a much younger crowd and heavily sprinkled with hippies. No, we didn’t go to any “coffee” shops in case you were wondering, we got enough out of our Amsterdam experience just being there, people watching, and trying to understand and appreciate our cultural differences. And then before we knew it, it was time to catch the train to Berlin!
Berlin: August 7-9
When telling people (back in the US and abroad) that we were going to visit Berlin I often got a variety of responses, usually though, a quizzical expression wondering why we were going there. And to tell you the truth, I wasn’t really sure myself except that it made for a nice stop in between Amsterdam and Prague. After having been there for the past two days I can now tell you whole-heartedly why we went to Berlin—we went to encounter a city unlike any other; a city still trying to crawl out of the hole it fell into years ago, a city with a bizarre and unfinished history disguised by building facades made from gigantic posters and characterized by countless attempts to appear better/more successful/more competitive than it really is.
We came to Berlin with no expectations, but we were ecstatic with what we found there. The first night we ate at an organic restaurant called “Foodorama” which was great and a nice change of pace after pancakes with not-so-organic meats etc in Amsterdam. The best thing we decided to do was to go on the Fat Tire Bike Tour of Berlin the next day. It was GREAT. So nice to not have to worry about navigating the maps on our own and looking at buildings wondering, oh I bet that’s significant, but I don’t know what it is. Our guide, “Wolf” apparently is the owner of the company and decided to take a break from the office work to lead our tour! We definitely lucked out with him, as he told us all about what we were seeing and what had happened there, and it was fascinating to see the city, the remnants of East and West Berlin, the parking lot now in the place of Hitler’s Bunker, Museum Island, Checkpoint Charlie, and of course the “Wall” just to name a few of our stops. I would highly recommend anyone to take a Fat Tire tour if you ever have a chance!
We also happened to be in Berlin for the weekend of the “World’s Largest Beer Fest”. Who knew?! There was a mile of road taken up by over 400 something different brewers of beer. There were SO many people there, I heard the number 800,000 from somebody. But we stuck it out, enjoyed the scene and not being huge beer fans, we tasted a few, and turns out they aren’t all that bad!
And that brings me to today, as I am on the train from Berlin to Prague enjoying the view from our window and the chance to catch up on sleep—and the blog. I’m feeling blessed to be here and to have the opportunity to explore Europe like this. I am so grateful for my travel companions, Sarah and Margaret, and their flexibility, patience and sense of adventure that is making this trip better than I could have imagined. And mostly I am grateful that we aren’t alone on this—that everywhere we go the Lord goes with us and is watching over us constantly. I am looking to grow in my understanding of the Kingdom of God along this trip, and the reminder of His presence is encouraging in that process. Thank you for your prayers…
Blessings and peace from Europa!
catherine
London: July 30-August 4
*A lot of these pictures are from Sarah and Margaret's camera! I wish I had a way to distinguish them (because they're much better than mine), but thank you Sarah and Margaret for sharing!
I had a somewhat bumpy arrival into London late Thursday night (or rather, early Friday morning). I won’t bore you all with the series of events that led to my landing in London, but can sum it up with: a malfunctioned metro on the way to the airport; overweight baggage-rearrange; an escort past the security line; one hour flight delay, oh wait “we were just kidding, four hour flight delay!” (putting me leaving Marseille at 11:30pm); got on the wrong plane, yep that happened, then got off the wrong plane “Mademoiselle Urley, this is not your flight!”; train into London Central at 1:30am, taxi queue at 2:30; arrival at Graham’s dorm: 2:45am. Needless to say I was EXTREMELY happy to see Margaret and Sarah when I got there who had been so sweet to wait up for me even though they were extremely tired and jet-lagged themselves.
We kicked off our August adventure with a bang the next day, seeing the British Museum (even getting there before it opened!) and then afterwards I took the bus to Oxford to see my friend Morgan before she left the next day to go home! Oxford was SUCH a highlight of the London trip for me. It felt as though you could breathe in the academic air that seemed to be flowing through the spires, gardens, streets, and 39 colleges of Oxford University and somehow exhale as a scholar (if only it were that easy). Being with Morgan was a dream and she was the best tour guide I could have asked for!
Saturday was a morning at the National Gallery, highlight for me was the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait by Van Eyck that we studied pretty intensly in Art History 111. They had a great collection there that gave a good sense of how painting progressed over the years. We saw the afternoon matinee showing of Les Miserables, beautiful and more moving than I remember it from when I saw it at age 10! That night we happened upon a true gem, “Gordon’s Wines from the Woods” it was supposedly the “oldest” wine bar in England, but the basement setting with low arched, cave-like ceilings and candlelit atmosphere was truly remarkable.
Sunday we went to All Souls church, which we really enjoyed and met a lovely family from Chattanooga! We had a picnic lunch before going to the Tate Modern, which we all loved! Later we relocated from Graham’s dorm because they were back in town, we were so blessed because Will Parker’s host family in Notting Hill invited the three of us to stay in their classic Notting Hill 1800s house.
Our last day in London was a roller coaster of funny logistical mishaps—we keep referring to the street smarts learning curve that we are steadily climbing as we continually learn from (and pay for) our mistakes. The day was concluded with arriving to Wicked (which we were SO excited about) 45 minutes late! Never trust directions from just anyone—lesson learned. But for the majority of the production that we did see, it was phenomenal, really great acting, singing, dancing, etc. Just great.
I came into London with a bit of culture shock honestly. I didn’t realize how much I had settled into my comfortable routine in the South of France, and didn’t expect how much London would feel comparatively similar to the US. It was a great adjustment though: back into the Anglophone world and into friendships with Margaret and Sarah for which I am incredibly grateful. I hav a feeling that we are not alone on this journey with much to learn, experience and understand as we continue on our trek around Europe!
Amsterdam: August 4-7
We left London accompanied by Will Parker, headed for Amsterdam excited to move on our journey, but at the same time it wasn’t necessarily easy to leave “our home” in Notting Hill and the English-speaking familiarity. We made it there and to the apartment we had found via Craig’s List! The “apartment” was great—really more of a big room in this “historic mansion” as they called it. But we had a fridge and beds, it was clean, and the guy who owned it was friendly and helpful.
We spent our two days in Amsterdam seeing the Anne Frank Museum, walking around the city, and then on the second day biking outside the city. We rented bikes, hopped on the ferry across the canal and rode in some beautiful countryside and farmland—and I rocked a helmet for Uncle Chuck, even though everyone said I didn’t need one! I loved the uniquely quaint Dutch houses that we passed by and tried to take pictures of upside-down with my left hand while riding the bike—almost took out some locals in the process.
We ate pancakes and biked through the disheartening red light district later on, and we just took in the “scene” of Amsterdam; very different from London, a much younger crowd and heavily sprinkled with hippies. No, we didn’t go to any “coffee” shops in case you were wondering, we got enough out of our Amsterdam experience just being there, people watching, and trying to understand and appreciate our cultural differences. And then before we knew it, it was time to catch the train to Berlin!
Berlin: August 7-9
When telling people (back in the US and abroad) that we were going to visit Berlin I often got a variety of responses, usually though, a quizzical expression wondering why we were going there. And to tell you the truth, I wasn’t really sure myself except that it made for a nice stop in between Amsterdam and Prague. After having been there for the past two days I can now tell you whole-heartedly why we went to Berlin—we went to encounter a city unlike any other; a city still trying to crawl out of the hole it fell into years ago, a city with a bizarre and unfinished history disguised by building facades made from gigantic posters and characterized by countless attempts to appear better/more successful/more competitive than it really is.
We came to Berlin with no expectations, but we were ecstatic with what we found there. The first night we ate at an organic restaurant called “Foodorama” which was great and a nice change of pace after pancakes with not-so-organic meats etc in Amsterdam. The best thing we decided to do was to go on the Fat Tire Bike Tour of Berlin the next day. It was GREAT. So nice to not have to worry about navigating the maps on our own and looking at buildings wondering, oh I bet that’s significant, but I don’t know what it is. Our guide, “Wolf” apparently is the owner of the company and decided to take a break from the office work to lead our tour! We definitely lucked out with him, as he told us all about what we were seeing and what had happened there, and it was fascinating to see the city, the remnants of East and West Berlin, the parking lot now in the place of Hitler’s Bunker, Museum Island, Checkpoint Charlie, and of course the “Wall” just to name a few of our stops. I would highly recommend anyone to take a Fat Tire tour if you ever have a chance!
We also happened to be in Berlin for the weekend of the “World’s Largest Beer Fest”. Who knew?! There was a mile of road taken up by over 400 something different brewers of beer. There were SO many people there, I heard the number 800,000 from somebody. But we stuck it out, enjoyed the scene and not being huge beer fans, we tasted a few, and turns out they aren’t all that bad!
And that brings me to today, as I am on the train from Berlin to Prague enjoying the view from our window and the chance to catch up on sleep—and the blog. I’m feeling blessed to be here and to have the opportunity to explore Europe like this. I am so grateful for my travel companions, Sarah and Margaret, and their flexibility, patience and sense of adventure that is making this trip better than I could have imagined. And mostly I am grateful that we aren’t alone on this—that everywhere we go the Lord goes with us and is watching over us constantly. I am looking to grow in my understanding of the Kingdom of God along this trip, and the reminder of His presence is encouraging in that process. Thank you for your prayers…
Blessings and peace from Europa!
catherine
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
august plans
A little behind on my blogging... Can't catch up now, because I'm busy planning for August! Headed to London Thursday to meet Margaret and Sarah, say hey to Grah and Morgan and from there--the adventure begins. I can't believe my time here in Marseille is almost done! It has been an immense blessing and answered prayer--look for more to come in the next couple days on that.
For now, I'm going to try and add a google map of where we're headed--I can barely keep track of it myself (I think you can click on the little balloons). Thank you for your prayers thus far and please continue to pray for Margaret, Sarah and me as we embark on our voyage!
je vous embrasse,
catherine
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Videos
So what exactly am I doing over here? Matt Blick (fellow intern) spent 6 months in Europe making films for the different MTW teams and these are clips from the France film he made.
I think you have to copy and paste the link and type in the password below. Enjoy, and let me know if it doesn't work!
Chapter 1 Password: FranceMTW1
http://vimeo.com/3080023
Chapter 2 Password: FranceMTW2
http://vimeo.com/3084021
Youth Chapter Password: FranceMTWy
http://vimeo.com/3084155
*All videos were produced, filmed, and edited by Matt Blick
Friday, July 17, 2009
les aventures continuent
As Lucie kindly reminded me yesterday, most blogs usually have more than one post... so here I go!
After finishing up an exhausting but rewarding week of English Club, fellow intern Matt and I took the bus to Aix-en-Provence on Saturday to meet up with some Vandy friends and see my future home for the upcoming fall semester. I absolutely loved the charming little city that is Aix. From the grungy, more sketchy metro stop in Marseille, it was incredibly refreshing to step off the bus and into Aix. We walked into town and met up with Nathan P. who was awesome and volunteered to be our tour guide and entertainer for the day. We did what most people seem to do in that city--walk around, eat, listen to music, and above all "chill". It definitely has a different feel than the city of Marseille: quieter, smaller, quainter, and chic-er. As much as I have truly loved getting to know Marseille and all it has to offer (which is a lot given it's the second largest city in France), I definitely think I will feel right at home in Aix this fall! (Kate, Kate, Claire, Whitney, etc... get excited!) We wandered the small streets, stopped by the Vanderbilt-in-France Center, saw some of the students' living situations and went into an art exhibit and a couple churches. It was exactly the kind of day Matt and I needed and it was great to get a feel for how things are done by the Vandy students in Aix. (I forgot my camera though, so thanks Matt, for the pictures).
Nathan, Me, & Christopher in front of one of Aix's many fountains
A group of Celtic dancers and musicians we came across.
Since Monday I have been working for the first half of each day on a restoration/physical work project with Pastor Pete and a few others. We've been working to re-paint some old shutters that have been burned at another Protestant church downtown. We had to take down and re-hang the shutters every day before we went home because they serve as the primary security measure for the church. Monday and Tuesday we cleaned, scraped, and sanded, followed by a couple of coats of paint and now they are completely revamped. (Not as good as new, but then again they were VERY old to begin with). And today we went and repainted the exterior wall and cleaned up inside the church. In the process my clumsiness came in full throttle as I managed to kick over a can of paint onto my tennis shoe which consequently Pete thought it would be a good idea to pour paint thinner over. In case you didn't know, paint thinner RUINS shoes and eats up the glue that holds the shoe together. Is there a Trak Shak anywhere around here? Don't think so. Guess that means no running for me! I forgot my camera pretty much every day, but I have a couple pictures from the 2nd or 3rd day. None of the complete project though.
Roger (Pete's son) and his friend Mark gave a hand, but wouldn't smile for a picture.
These were the windows we tackled and the bottom half of the wall is what we repainted today.
Two of eight shutters and the view from my perch all week.
Here I go getting long winded again... Sorry. Tuesday the 14th of July was Bastille Day! The national holiday here in France equivalent to the 4th of July in the US. With a box of pizza in hand I hiked up to the top of a hill with Benjamin and Matt to sit on the steps of Notre Dame de la Garde and overlook the city of Marseille, the Vieux Port, and the Mediterranean Sea. Among lots of French people and French smells we ate our pizza and waited for the "feux d'artifice" (fireworks) to begin. And they did, at 10:30, a magnificent show and some of the best fireworks I've ever seen. I tried to take pictures, but they didn't exactly turn out. Anyway, it was worth the hike and the crowd and everything, I loved celebrating France with all the Frenchies.
View of part of Marseille-there was a wildfire going on causing much more smoke/smog than usual.
The top of Notre Dame de la Garde from where I was sitting.
My view.
Feux d'artifices!
My latest adventure was yesterday afternoon after a 30 minute siesta post-painting-shutters, we went to the famous Calanques of Marseille. A "calanque" according to Wikipedia is "a geologic formation in the form of a deep valley with steep sides, typically of limestone, in part submerged by the sea. It can be considered a Mediterranean fjord." We hiked for about an hour, stopping to go up to the lookout point, and then climbing down into the Calanques, where like Wikipedia says, we found crystal blue/turquoise water surrounded by limestone cliffs. We decided to take the "shortcut" from the lookout point which involved sliding down the side of the mountain at a 45-degree angle in large-chunk gravel and walking through injurious thorn bushes. We then spent a couple hours jumping off the different points, swimming around, and hanging out on the rocks before we climbed back out (a little more difficult for sure). It was a great afternoon, I managed to make it out with just some scratches and a bleeding toe.
From the lookout, the calanque that we went swimming in.
The view on the other side of the calanque.
Me, Matt, & Jimmy. Picture courtesy of the self-timer, the rest of our group (two French/American "MKs" (missionary kids), two French girls, and 3 Spanish guys--all in high school) opted out of the hike up to the top.
In the calanque, or at the calanque? I'm confusing my prepositions in English now...
Oops, I've gone long again. I guess I could have broken that into 3 or so separate posts, but given my limited internet, this is the best I can do for now.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for the church here in Marseille. It is small and struggling for growth and currently looking for a new pastor.
2. Pray for the missionaries who work extremely hard and who have truly given their lives to this ministry.
3. For me, pray for more reminders of God's presence here and for a greater understanding of His Kingdom.
much love,
catherine
Thursday, July 9, 2009
le début
*wrote this on Thursday night, but am just now having internet to post it.*
Here I begin the blog that I have been trying to decide whether or not to make in the first place for a while now. I hesitate one because I question my ability to pour out my thoughts and stories to a computer screen, two, because I'm not sure I would even know how to go about doing it, and three because of the fear of becoming "a blogger". But, alas, I have given in because after being here in Marseille for just a week I have realized how difficult it is to keep in touch, and this seems to be the best solution for the moment. So, I have now decided to proudly bear the title "blogger" with the cheesy picture and all (thank you Lucie). And I have titled it “joie de vivre” which literally means “joy of living”, but if you asked a “francophile", they would probably say that there’s really no translation adequate to describe the full meaning of the expression. For me, it’s simply states the attitude with which I intend to carry out the next six months—taking time to find joy everywhere I go and hold onto it even when it’s not easy or when I feel far from home—a sort of joy that transcends my circumstances and materializes as the peace and assurance that is only found in Jesus.
I make no promises regarding the grammatical correctness of these words, the levelof interest, or the presence of a beautiful descriptive Chris-Cole-esque story. I merely intend to keep the people I love informed and will ask for your prayers as I embark on this crazy journey of ministry, adventure, and studying in Europe.
In case you're wondering or forgot why I’m here, to re-cap: For the month of July I am working with the Mission to the World team in Marseille, France building relationships with French youth, young adults, and my host family as well as assisting in various activities—helping run a weeklong day camp to teach English to Middle Schoolers, carrying out a 15-hour French urban ethnological study, participating in a physical work project alongside French youth and adults, and working in the church to help the congregation in whatever ways I can. After the month of July, I’ll be traveling around with some friends before settling back in Aix-en-Provence to study abroad for the fall semester. Making for a total of six months I’ll be here.
So here I am. After arriving in Europe with close to 200 pounds of checked and carry-on luggage :( , (thank you gracious airport people for not charging me extra!) the first few days were a whirlwind of activity. I'll try to be brief, but a lot has happened in the last 7 days! Pretty much immediately after arriving I was taken to Stephanie's house to join the preparation for the weeklong "Club Anglais". I’ve been working with Stephanie (permanent missionary), Benjamin (“BJ”, a year-long student intern), and Matt (intern who has been traveling to the MTW sites all over Europe) to plan and carry out the camp that’s going on this week (Friday is the last day). The “Club Anglais” is a way to make connections with the community and the kids here, the majority of whom are not involved with the Church at all. It’s an opportunity to show Christ’s love to these kids through teaching and speaking English, playing games, doing art, and building friendships with them.
The week so far has been full of joy, long days, laughter, and really, some hard work. I have been grateful for Stephanie’s leadership, Matt and Benjamin’s eagerness to help, and the twenty 11-14 year old kids’ enthusiastic spirits. I have truly fallen in love with these children. They are 99% well behaved, generous, loving, and just plain fun. They love helping me with my French and teaching me the “langue familiar”, the slang words that I don’t know at all. Although I’ll be relieved when it’s all said and done and ready for some time to catch my breath, I will miss their smiles and our bilingual conversations where with tedious joy we all concentrate on every word in order to reach some sort of mutual comprehension.
Fanny
Playing Spoons in the room where we had camp all week
Tie-Dying for the first time ever--brought all the way from Wal-Mart
Nayel making his "Sandwich of Me"
I’m beginning to realize that there’s really no easy way to sum up a week of new cultural experiences, meaningful relationships, and thoughts in a manner that is somewhat concise. If I keep writing as I am, I will never go to sleep, and no one will ever want to read something so lengthy. So here are some recent noteworthy highlights, bullet-style.
Me, Kilpéric, and Balthazar
1. My host family, the Nouvellets: I could not have been blessed with a better French family. I’ve only met 3 of the 5 family members (the dad works in Paris and the oldest daughter is in the States for the summer), but it has been an answered prayer and a dream come true to be with this family. (More later, I’m sure).
2. My mom’s brief stop in Marseille: She had a flight out of Marseille on Sunday after a couple weeks painting in Provence with artist friends. It was unreal for her to be here with me Saturday night—to see where I am, meet my “co-workers”, and especially my French family. It was a blessing, an interesting start to 6 months on my own, and a memorable evening for sure.
3. Trip to Toulon: My “family” invited me to Toulon Sunday night to have dinner with their grandparents, and drop off the youngest son Balthazar for a week of sailing camp. The whole night felt like a dream. The grandparents have a top floor apartment with a beautiful flower-covered terrace overlooking the ocean. We had a traditional French meal, shared family pictures, and the grandparents were incredibly hospitable welcoming me as if I really were part of the family.
Matt, Me, Benjamin
4. Dinner out with BJ, Matt, and Stephanie: We went to a restaurant right on the water in front of a bridge with an incredible view. Ate pizza, told stories, and relaxed.
5. Teaching DeSoto line dances: My “workshop” activity for the week has been teaching the kids the line dances I did every summer (this one too) at Camp DeSoto. They absolutely LOVE them, and are always asking to learn another. It is cool to share something as simple as that but to see the same happiness it brings to these kids as it does to little girls in Mentone, Alabama.
6. I love you: The words that shy, 13-year-old, English-weary, Fanny told me today. I’m grateful for our friendship that has developed over discussing her fervent love for Michael Jackson and the Twilight series—conversations that are deeper and more meaningful than they might seem on the surface because of the trust and love that they have fostered.
I guess I’ll leave it at that for now. It’s time to make a slideshow for the last day of camp! I’d love to hear from you anytime. I’ll try to keep this updated a couple times a week, hopefully so the posts won’t be quite as long as this one.
Prayer Requests: 1. Please pray for our team as we finish up a long week of exhausting work. For flexibility, patience, and strength. 2. Pray for the kids at camp. Pray that they were loved well this week and saw Jesus in that love. 3. And for me, pray for my struggle with the French language right now. It is not coming easily, which is what I expected—but it’s seeming like it’s not coming much at all. It is discouraging and frustrating at times, I feel like a burden to the French speakers who have to listen to me. 4. Pray that I would find time to stop, catch my breath, and rest.
If anyone read all of this, I’m impressed. But thanks for your interest. Right now I’m feeling blessed beyond all measure to be here. Missing friends and family, but gratefully not homesick or discontent at all. Coming back to “Chez-Nouvellet” already feels like home, and what more could I ask for? Rien. Praise the Lord!
**bisous**
catherine
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