I think it’s an interesting step by the Prague government to deal with the homelessness issue, I wonder how it would effect those of us who look less vagrant?

Yes, I’m thinking back to May when I spent the night at Prague Airport. To be honest, I didn’t notice a huge number of homeless. That was far more of a problem at Praha Hlavní Nádraží when I’d head there to catch a train. Then again, it wasn’t the depth of winter either.

Judging by Prague’s section in Budget Traveller’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports, I’m certainly not the first to do so. In addition there were facilities open to serve those of us there –without a place to sleep or waiting for connections. I wonder how they’d feel if the night time clients were chased out?

“We want to expand our perspective, see each other as locals might and constantly push the limits of our role as tourists,” wrote Duke University junior Casey Dean and NYU’s Billy O’Hare, the magazines editors-in-chief, in a letter featured on the site.

I was vaguely aware of The Prague Wanderer, currently in its second semester, while in Prague this summer but it didn’t seem to have much relevance to our short summer term. I think it’s definitely a good idea to push not only beyond the status of tourists but the often equally negative “college student” perception. For some reason, students who choose to study abroad are regarded as party animals, rather than as people interested in learning about a new culture, language, etc.

My personal favorite at the moment is the Top Ten Column: Recognizing an American in Prague, which includes amusing items like smiling and shell suits. The ‘zine, however, also tackles more important issues such as disabled access in Prague.

I think this ‘zine could prove an interesting connection with other NYU Study Abroad programs as well as other university’s programs in Prague and in other cities.

ETA: WSN’s Interactive Study Abroad Issue

When I think about the trip as a whole, I get Rainbow Tour in my head:

Let’s hear it for the Rainbow Tour
It’s been an incredible success
We weren’t quite sure, we had a few doubts

That’s a change. When I think about travel it’s usually Truckin’ i.e. “… Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.” but I don’t think this trip was quite long enough for that designation.

I wasn’t sure what to think about the two classes initially. I wasn’t sure how intense they were going to be. I mean I’ve handled two semesters of grad school well, but I wasn’t sure about four weeks of class. I also wasn’t sure about four weeks in Prague. Boland summed it up well when he said “People don’t come to Prague for two weeks–they come for three days or three months.”

I like Prague, but I don’t love it. It’s a fun city for a visit, but culturally, it doesn’t have enough to keep me interested for four weeks. I think that’s why, as was the case last time, I travelled out of the country every weekend. The class trips (Terezin, Karlovy Vary, Cesky Krumlov, Kutna Hora) allowed me to see the other parts of the country for free so I was glad to use my weekends to see other places.

My favourite city was still Rome, with Berlin a close second. I’m a history geek, I can’t help it Speaking of being a history geek, I’m currently reading Bruce Feiler’s Walking the Bible (I have Where God Was Born on my TBR) and I’m loving it. We had a good discussion in C&HT re: no one questioning the existence of Caesar, etc due to all the monuments ‘proving’ his existence yet people question the existence of biblical figures because there’s no ‘proof’. I don’t know what I believe, but reading the book makes it interesting to think about especially in light of these two discoveries: Herod/Hatshepsut. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it even more this weekend when Mom and I go to the King Tut Exhibit at the Ben Franklin Institute.

Why isn’t Auschwitz on that list? It is in the sense that it was an amazing educational experience, but I hesitate to call it a favourite. It just seems wrong.
I’ve updated the categories here so that Europe: Summer 2007 shows all the posts from the trip.

I’ve been doing the research for my papers and have tentatively settled on: Socio-Cultural Impacts of Hosting an International Sporting Event in a Non-European Destination and The Impacts of Historical Tourism in a Region. For the sports paper I’ll look at what happened in Nagano, Sydney as well as Japan/Korea for the 2002 World Cup and for the C&HT paper I’ll look at the reuniting of Europe v. it’s history of division. I think both will be interesting.

On another note, while I was travelling in Australia, Skyring said something along the lines of that I was wandering around, leaving a trail of books in my wake. I think I did it again

London: The Sun in My Eyes
Rome: Travels with Charley: I definitely had the most ‘fun’ with this book and am toying with writing it up for BC. Actually started the write up but have stalled.
Prague: 9 books (!) I figured the guide/language books woud go to far better use there than coming back here. Acually, make that eleven! Forgot I switched Crossing Zones midway.
Zurich: My Kind of Place

There would have been more if I had a releasable book at the right time. Now I just need to get better about BCing locally. That would make for two active Rockland County BCers. Christine, do you think your aunt wants some company or enjoys having the county to herself?

I’m also in the process of cleaning up my list of books released in Australia, which is the only one I ever really tracked well. I’m curious to see how many more have been caught. That list is a mess culled from a download of my bookshelf, but I’m cleaning it up to show the essentials and I’ve gotten through “G” so far.

Last minute packing done, I decided it would be far more sensible to take a taxi rather than bring two bags on a tram/subway combo. See, I’m sensible at times! The train left Prague at 9:15. Unfortunately, it was a Czech Railways train which meant sardines. Luckily, my 5 compartment-mates left at Pilzen and I was joined by two wonderful travelers who were returning to Munich to catch a flight back to the US. We performed the usual ritual of sharing food and stories and they had some phenomenal travel stories: house boats in the Kashmir, Jerusalem, Bali… I was sad to see them leave because they were fun to talk to.

I didn’t spend the Euros exactly as planned (ended up spending 5 Euros on the train for a sandwich and Coke Light) but happily finished them up at Munich Hauptbahnhof on a salami baguette and a white chocolate chocolate chip cookie at Starbucks. Yep, finally gave in and it was so worth it. I was tempted to splurge and get the banana mocha drink but that would have required credit card and I wouldn’t have been able to finish off the Euro cash.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Swiss Rail train, the best aspect being the whole train was non-smoking. Simple pleasures. The ride from Munich to Zurich was gorgeous, passing through the towns of Lindau and Bregenz, on the German and Austrian sides of Lake Constance, respectively. The train didn’t mention that we’d be passing through Austria and I can’t put my finger on how I knew, I just had a feeling. I dozed for about an hour outside of Munich and it was only by looking at the train timetable that I realised we were still in Germany. The three countries don’t really look any different at that point. I was slightly bummed that I only got two stamps (out of the CR and into Germany) out of the deal. I am *such* a stamp whore!

There were a few other stops before arriving in Zurich. Got lazy and took a cab to the hostel. Due to time constraints, I didn’t spend much time in Zurich but I did get some really nice night shots (see above and here) as I puttered around the old town. I found Zurich to be very expensive but it seemed to be a really nice city and one I’d like to visit again the future.

In the name of having more time in Geneva, I caught the 8:30 train from Zurich and was AMAZED at the scenery. It was worth overpaying Rail Europe for this. Although it isn’t the greatest photo, this is what I always imagined Switzerland to look like. Dear Swiss Rail: Please clean your train windows so I can have better pics, OK?

Above, too There were fields of sunflowers and gorgeous mountains and an incredible view of Lake Geneva as we approached Lausanne. Got to Geneva around 11:30 and spent the best 7 Swiss Francs of my trip: leaving the backpack in a locker at the train station. I knew I wouldn’t be able to check in to the hostel yet and leaving it there would cost 2 Francs (plus a taxi since I wasn’t walking 10 minutes with both bags!) I wandered down Rue Mont Blanc to the lake and had the fun decision of which cruise. The one I finally chose was ~one hour and had a great view of Mont Blanc and the UN among other things.

After the cruise was a ‘duck hunt‘: never said I wasn’t easily amused, taking ~30 pictures of ducks and swans. Also went to the swatch museum but found it a bit of a challenge to navigate the city with so much (including the tourist offices) closed on Sunday. Tired and sweaty, I walked to the hostel and got the city pass so I could take the tram. I went to the UN, which is a lot nicer looking than the one in NY! Really made me think back on the days that I wanted to be a UN interpreter.

Still tired, I sought out some yummy Pain au Chocolat and called it a night. Spent some time in the air conditioned TV room but turned in early so I’d have time to do some shopping in the morning before my flight. I did, however some reading this haven’t yet gotten their souvenirs because my bag is still somewhere in BA hell, so souvenir shopping details to come at a later date

Forgot that I didn’t need to be at the airport so early for a quick flight to London but checked in early and meandered Geneva Airport. Home late Monday. More on that in the recap post…Off to find some AC. NY is currently channelling Florida!

BA still has no idea where it is, but I can’t imagine it’s going to be lost. There’s nothing that exciting in it. The line was huge at JFK but the staff really tried to keep a sense of humour on a hot, sticky night. Kudos to them.

Switzerland was amazing and there will be photos later. The scenery is just phenomenal.

ETA: I updated my Flight Memory: still only halfway to the moon (since Aug 2001) but I’m getting there. The balance of this summer’s flights (HPN-ORD-LAX-AKL-MEL-ADL-BNE-LAX-ORD-HPN) will help

• 8.20 Euros. Somewhat deliberate as I changed the notes when I returned to Prague in a futile attempt not to have to withdraw any more cKs while here. I figured the ~8 would be enough to get a sandwich and drink at Munich Hauptbahnhof. While I’m at it, Euros. I always hear how hard US coins are because neither the dime nor quarter are marked with monetary value and the nickel is bigger than the dime. Uh… the 50 cent piece is bigger than the one Euro coin, so they’re insane too
• 2.40 pounds sterling. Well I do have a layover at LHR, but that’s going to be as useful as $US. May see if someone else is going to have a more useful layover, though I don’t think they do.
• $3.40 (US) leftover from what I had in my wallet and change made when changing currency at the airport before left.
• 1227 ck. At least that (with the exception of the 27 which accumulates like Japanese one yen coins) is changeable.

And did I mention I only just got rid of the Polish Zlotkys and will be adding Swiss Francs by tomorrow…. There are times like this I don’t believe Europe will ever have one currency. Then again, currency insanity has a tendency of doing my head in.

Off to a final dinner at Chapadlo, the neighbourhood haunt, and then back here to finish packing. I’m being *very good* and throwing lots of random brochures away. Fitting all the class-generated papers into my backpack is proving challenging. I did however get the Strap’n'Lock to work so I don’t have to worry about the bag on the train. It’s funny, when I went looking for that link, I also found the Link Lock, which is what I was after when I bought this lock. The Link Lock was useful while travelling if I wanted to both lock my smaller ‘daypack’ and lock it to something (i.e. with laptop and camera in it) but of course I couldn’t find either of mine before I left.

Can’t  believe I’ll be home in ~75 hours. Eeep. Not sure what internet access at the hostels in Switzerland will be, but I’ll be around on e-mail at least once.

So that photo woud be at the foot of the stairs looking back towards the main door. And yes, human bones form the decoration of Kutna Hora’s Ossuary. I wasn’t happy with most of the photos, hence there not being any posts to the Gallery, but I thought these were pretty cool. I knew Kutna Hora had a ‘bone church’ but this was not at all what I expected. Also a huge number of primary school kids: cannot see that going over well at home “You’re traumatizing my kid!”

Kutna Hora itself was a quiet day. We did the ossuary and then the Church of St. Barbara with its flying buttresses. It was odd: you can take pics at the Ossuary (for a fee) but they’re forbidden at St. Barbara. I didn’t even take any from outside because the camera is completely posessed and I didn’t feel like fussing with it. After the second church, Jana walked us into the town and we were free to explore.

The Alchemy Museum was cool, but it was hot so I happily sat in the shade with a Calippo Lime and my book. Calippo Lime has been a great blast from the past and last night after dinner, we sat on a docked boat on the river for drinks and ended up talking about TV shows and movies we remembered. With classmates ranging from 19-37 it was inevitable that we covered a wide range. It was a good last night together since we split up this evening and two are leaving tomorrow after class.

I can’t believe these four weeks are done. I leave Saturday morning for Zurich and fly Monday from Geneva. Looking forward to Switzerland, but I can’t wait for my bed and a good shower. Simple pleasures.

I love Salem, but this would make for one hell of a Halloween!

“The history of our time is written in the life of Berlin.”

Somewhat frightening that I don’t think I could have said it better myself.

Today in class we had a discussion on what we’d done for the weekend and a discussion popped up on the relevance of The Wall and whether it will matter or not in 200 years. This class is actually an interesting group in that we range in age from 19-37. We have very different perspectives on world history, and two of the younger ones had no real memory of the Wall. I feel strongly that it will matter because the value in a united Europe via the EU (whether we’re talking about those currently in the Schengen area, the 27 current members or how the EU continues to evolve doesn’t matter) is lost if one doesn’t know/remember the fact that less than 20 years ago, freedom to travel was severely restricted.

While I know that history and time change people’s memories, I can’t imagine the legacy of communism fading. It already is though, one example being people’s reactions to Goodbye Lenin! I think you really have to remember a divided Berlin in order to ‘get’ the movie. I’m a history geek, I ‘get’ it (or suppose I would if I’d seen the movie), but I know not everyone sees things the same way. As a part of the class discussion we were talking about preservation v. moving on in the context of The Wall, 9/11 and even the Oklahoma City Bombing. That’s a subject for another post or five though.

Daniel Coats, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany hit on a lot of what I’ve been thinking since I first saw the Wall from the bus on Saturday afternoon:

That is why the lessons of the past are still so vitally important for our future and the future of our children. The Wall, the most prominent symbol of the Cold War and the division of Germany and Europe, has been torn down but it cannot be relegated to the past.

As a newcomer to Berlin, I myself often wonder where the Wall was exactly. Today it is hard to imagine the course of that gray concrete barrier and strip of barren no man’s land that once snaked its way 23 miles through the streets of one of Europe’s proudest cities.

When I was first at Brandenburg Gate, I completely missed the cobblestone path that marks the former path of the wall. It’s more visible on the steps to the Spree, but I wouldn’t say it’s hard to miss. As you draw closer to the Spree, it’s even marked with something I see as similar to a tombstone:

Here lies The Wall? But is it buried? Should it be?

It’s impossible to judge, as an outsider, what people should do with their own city. This is true especially since the people of Berlin had no say in it in the first place: their fate was controlled by the governing powers who ruled the city. In a sense, Berlin and Germany had lost their sovereignty following the defeat in WW II.

Pieces of the wall are still being removed, even officially. Yet the government felt that it had to be done as a “secretly engineered operation”, certainly that wouldn’t be the case if it were done with everyone’s best interests in mind. Even if it was something that was a governmental decision with no input from the public, it needn’t be done in secret. I don’t think anyone is claiming that the Wall needs to remain in its entirety, but I think the sections that have remained for 17 years should continue to serve as an education for locals and visitors.

Another area where this rears its head is in the context of ostalgia, which is a very real feeling among some people in Germany. Ampelmannchen are probably the most visible sign of Ostalgia, right down to a shop dedicated to them in Hackeschen Hofe. The author goes into much further detail about Ostalgia and its role in Berlin today but what struck me was the correlation to the author’s thoughts in Cafe Europa. In Cafe Europa she was speaking of the election of communist leaders in Romania and Serbia following the fall of Communism and the fact that it was what people knew, what they felt safe with. While traffic signals aren’t the same as a political leader, I think the roots are similar. People in East Germany grew up with the traffic signals. They lost so much in the political turmoil of the 80s and 90s that they wanted to cling to something familiar. At least that was how I understood it.

At the same time, I don’t think I can ever understand it. This was something else that Ute and I touched on. As someone born in America, I have no direct experience with communism. I read about it, I studied it, but it was always something that existed ‘over there’. It wasn’t a part of my world. While we were walking, Ute mentioned a discussion at university where she mentioned the falling of the Wall didn’t change her world drastically – the next day, for her in West Germany, nothing had changed in her day to day life. That struck me because learning about it, I’d always imagined the fall of the Wall was huge for Germans. I think I got a lot more out of Berlin visiting it with a German than I would have doing it alone, so thank you for that, Ute. Plus it was just great to see you again

On a lighter note, there was someone with the t-shirt that read “US Leaders on Berlin” – it included Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”, Bush Sr.’s “Hundreds of Berliners from East and West, standing atop the Wall, with chisels and hammers” and of course JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” whether or not he actually called himself a doughnut. I so wish I’d gotten a photo.

156 photos taken, 19 posted.

This weekend’s trip to Berlin is one that’s going to stick with me for some time to come. I really felt like I was walking through history, albeit a mostly unknown history.

Friday night I was up in our lounge where I found a copy of an old edition of Time Out Berlin. I took it with me and although I didn’t read much of it – I’d gone to bed at 2 AM and the insides of my eyelids were pretty – it was an interesting overview of the city and its history. As I explained to Ute when we met up, the German history that’s taught in US schools consists of 20th century “Germany is evil”, so I had very little idea of what else Berlin and Germany was about.

But backtracking a bit… Train left Praha Hlavni Nadrazi at 8:15. First thoughts: yes! Deutsche Bahn train! Although Ute has explained to be that there can be lesser quality Deutsche Bahn trains, as a whole they’re a better quality than those operated by Ceske Drahy (aka Czech Railways). I’m pathetically excited that it looks like next Saturday’s train is Deutsche Bahn too I stayed awake long enough for the ticket checkers to come through, was woken at the border(s) and then basically slept the rest of the way to Berlin. I woke long enough to peer sleepily at Dresden, a city I’d never have heard of if not for Billy Pilgrim.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof reminded me a lot of Kyoto Station or Kansai Airport. Oddly futuristic in its construction but still visually appealing. I found it a bit difficult to navigate, not because of the language but rather its sheer size and signs that don’t differentiate between train and tourist information points. I finally found the Berlin Info store I was looking for and got the city circle tour tickets.

I’ve been fairly grumbly about tours in class-I *hate* guided tours-but these are different. I like the hop on/off because it gives an overview and then I can hop off and see what I want without someone in my ear telling me what I should be seeing and not let me think. I had a laugh with this tape recording. At one point it was talking about the ‘recent reunification’ and I thought ‘well, Berlin is 750+ years old so 1990 is quite recent in those terms’ until they talked about the parliament ‘someday’ moving back to Berlin. Nope, the tape for the English tour is just _that_ old. I laughed and then enjoyed the sights.

I got off at Checkpoint Charlie because I was so curious about it. There is the famous sign as well but the area itself doesn’t really have a historical feel. I think that’s partially due to changes like this and to a lesser degree, this. It’s not that I expect a city never to change and to stay frozen in time, but I think it should retain some of the feel as to (part of) why it’s famous. The museum was a lot better, but I didn’t do that until Sunday so more on that later. I did enjoy the ‘wall’ exhibit on the street, but felt that I couldn’t imagine this touristy area being the site of Soviet/American standoff and I am (barely) old enough to remember The Wall.

After that it was back on the bus to Brandenburger Tor aka the Brandenburg Gate. [NOTE: I realized that I forgot to mention I was using Ute's two posts from her March trip to Berlin as a sort of 'tour guide' as they were part of the reason why I wanted to go to Berlin]. The gate is what I’d consider to be one of the symbols of the city-made amusing by the fact that I couldn’t recognise it on the back of the Euro at dinner, but that’s another story o:). I didn’t have a lot of time there as I needed to get back to the station to meet Ute, and I wasn’t entirely sure how to get there.

I made it, and because I had some time to kill before our 6pm meeting, I stopped to look at some of the Sandsation Sculptures. They were nothing short of amazing, but I fear for their longevity in the next six weeks. I’d no sooner arrived at our meetig point when I heard a voice behind me ‘Welcome to Berlin’. It was so good to see Ute again nearly one year after one of our last get-togethers. (Note to self, must find that shirt-I loved it). We walked along the Spree to dinner at a restaurant where Ute had eaten before. Lots of interesting signs and history inside. I was brave, I had a sausage curry which was quite good.

After dinner we walked back toward the station along the river stopping to take this photo. It kind of goes along with my earlier sentiments, I can’t picture the wall there but I was standing in East and West Berlin. The Reichstag is behind me and because it was so nice out and the line was <30 min, we decided to go up. We did go all the way up the dome, but this photo, from the lower level, is one of my favourites. I also love how the flag is framed. The view from the top was beautiful and it gave me a good vanage point of the city I’d seen from ground level. I think history started to hit me here, German history usually started at school with the burning of the Reichstag so it was an odd feeling to be standing atop it. It was also refreshingly easy to access, with only a metal detector at the entrance.

After the Reichstag, it was time for two very tired people to go back to Ute’s apartment…

The next morning it was off to the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie. I learned so much from the Museum that I’m not sure where to start. I assumed that the museum’s origins would be in 1990 but rather they went back ~30 years to 1962 when it was started by Rainer Hildebrandt. I think the Wall and my thoughts on Berlin are going to be another post, they require too much processing. This museum really made me stop and think, there is so much more to the Wall than what we learn in history. And yes, Ute and I had a giggle when we ran into the obligatory loud (American) tour guide. I felt better when Ute said Germans abroad are just as bad, but this woman was LOUD.

From the Museum, it was off to the East Side Gallery, which I hadn’t heard of before the last month. The photo above is one of the paintings from the Wall and it’s wonderful to see the Wall serving a new function and educating new generations. It’s sad that it’s being defaced, and I wonder if the graffiti is part of the reason we missed the famed Brezhnev-Honecker kiss, since it has clearly deteriorated. As I mentioned abov, it’s hard to picture the wall near Brandenburg Gate, but I also didn’t realize part of it was still standing. I think it needs to remain. I don’t think visitors can understand Berlin without the Wall.

By this point, our feet were hungry and our stomachs tired. Or something like that Ute knew of a place that sold spaghetti ice cream, and I was intrigued. It was delicious! The cafe’s menu offered “Vitamin Spaghetti” and this was a vitamin I’d like to have more often. We still have ~3 hours before my train so we went to Hackesche Hofe where I was able to get a great photo of Berlin’s walk signals and some more understanding of the Ampelmannchen issue, which Ute had mentioned as a great idea for a blog post. It (and other Ostalgia mentions) actually made me think of some of the ideas put forward in Cafe Europa, but I think I need to stew on that for a bit longer.

We still had some time before the train and decided to go to see the Berliner Dom. I’ve seen a fair few churches this week, but this one was absolutely gorgeous. It was something to sit in the pews and think about the damage that the Cathedral sustained in WWII. To imagine sitting there then. We walked around and, in one of the small chapels, I lit a candle. Happy Father’s Day, Dad. Hit with a burst of inspiration (or insanity!) we decided to climb the 250+ stairs to the top of the dome and were rewarded with a gorgeous view over the city. It was a great last thing to do before heading back to the station and eventually, to Prague….

More on Berlin when I’ve ‘digested’ it more. In the mean time, here is Ute’s post on Day 1.

I enjoy Cultural & Heritage Tourism (C&HT) but I don’t like mass tourism. It makes for some interesting discussions. At times I think that World Heritage listing creates more tourism than a destination can handle–and I wonder about the realistic nature of there being some 2.5m sites of interest in the EU (in the text, can’t find a source on line). At what point does that number dilute the value of being a historic site?

I think one of the most interesting discussions we’ve had in class has been on ‘sheeple’ – the people who give no thought to what they want to see and do rather let others do it for them. I can understand listening to recommendations, but I don’t think I’ll ever understand going somewhere just because it’s the done thing. Am I weird?

It’s been interesting to be among some non-travellers and mass tourists when I’m used to the independent nature of backpackers. It certainly makes me see travelling in another light–and then I proceed to hop on a train and do what I want o:)

I’m taking the camera tomorrow, will try to post pics otherwise when I get back from Berlin