Luxembourg, Luxembourg

No, that’s not a typo–today we went to Luxembourg the city, in the middle of Luxembourg the country, for our adventuring.

Luxembourg is a pretty mix of modern and ancient spread across rolling hills and decorated with bright-autumn changing leaves. It is also bitterly cold at the moment, but don’t let that deter you–grab a parka and come hang out. =)

Even though we arrived by autobahn, our first stop was the train station. High up on one wall is a large, famous stained glass window featuring a castle at sunset. (They even somehow managed a gradient effect to the colored glass–amazing.)

Afterward, we strolled around the center plaza and ended up lunching at an Italian outdoor cafe. We each got a pizza (because in Europe all pizzas are “personal” size.) Mine was fresh mozzerella, artichokes, and a few varieties of mushroom (which is neat, because in the States I’m typically served the standard generic mushroom.) Charlotte ordered a ham and artichoke pizza, and got a surprise when it was served with a (runny!) egg in the middle of it!

Once we finished eating (except for the runny egg) we headed over to the Modern Art Museum. The first time Erin was here, the walls were lined with small tracks spiralling from ceiling to floor. When you arrived, you were given a marble, and when you reached the top floor, you placed your marble on the first leg of the track and let it clatter around the museum over and over until it hit the ground. She was excited to show us the crazy marble exhibit, so imagine her surprise to find it not only gone–but the main center room filled with sand! (Yes, *sand*.)

The first exhibit contained a car and three paintings, and a good six-to-eight inches of sand. In fact, in order to get to any of the other exhibition halls, we had to cross past the car and clomp through the sand!

The museum is neat for several reasons. First, there’s none of the stereotypical “red circle on black background” modern art paintings. In fact, there were little to no paintings at all. Second, the museum is a revolving collection of exhibitions, rather than an unchanging, permanent set of any one thing. Third, the exhibitions rarely stay longer than 3 months at a time. This means you could come to this museum once every season of the year and it would be a wholly different experience every time!

If I could change anything about the museum, however, it would be to arrange things so that we could see the “real” walls rather than the temporary sheetrock. The bits we could glimpse were covered with frescoes and tapestries and ornate mouldings. But I guess the mind set in Europe is more like, “We have so many old, old buildings–who cares if we turn one into a Modern Art Museum?”

Later, we strolled about the town and in and out of the two main cathedrals. Both had pipe organs on the second story, and one had some kind of shrubbery growing in the baptismal basin. (We have no clue what that was about!)

On that note, have you ever come across something similarly inexplicable in your travels? I can’t be the only one running across runny eggs on pizza and bush-filled baptismal basins. Share your stories!

Tags: cathedrals, food, museums, trains

Madrid, Spain

Still in sunny Madrid this morning, although the weather is not quite as warm as yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to look it up, but I’m guessing low 70s F. I actually wore my fleece this morning on my walk to the Metro, but not much throughout the rest of the day. I’m guessing I’ll get more use out of my wintry clothes over the next couple weeks.

So, today I started out with a hotel-provided breakfast of croissants and cheese slices. I forgot all about the cheese slices on a plate until I saw them this morning, and it made me laugh. It’s some kind of cheese that I don’t know, sliced in a square like Kraft Singles but it’s the color of Swiss (minus holes) and cut super thin. Next I went to the Atocha train station to reserve my tickets and then realized I hadn’t brought my Eurail pass with me. (oops.) So I came back, swung by El Corte Ingles to get some band aids for my ampollos and then up to the room (4th floor) to get my Eurail pass and my mp3 player.

At Atocha (which looks like Jurassic Park inside–very cool) I stood in a long, long line, but not as horrendous as last night, which is good. I was able to get most of my tickets except for Italy and a couple for France, so that’s one hassle mostly hurdled. I then decided to walk to el Museo del Prado and spend all day looking at art with a rented audioguide, but… on my way I passed the sidewalk sale. Those of you who know me well know that I’d rather stick my head in an oven than go shopping, but this was a sidewalk sale of *books*. Books, I tell you! I absolutely, positively, cannot be trusted around books. I think I bought some from every single vendor. I had to throw out all my clothes just to pack them in my suitcase, and it’s only the 3rd day. (OK, I didn’t throw out all my clothes… but that’s the choice I would’ve made if it came to that.) How could I pass it up? Some English-language authors like Robin Cook and Stephanie Bond (translated into Spanish of course) and a ton of Spanish authors, and some from other countries.

So, when I finally made it the half-mile or so to the Prado Museum, my shoulder was already weighed down with more or less my body weight in books. (Or at least it felt that way.) Instead of spending all day at the museum (the beginning hour or so of which was spent book browsing) I stayed until about 5pm (rather than 7:30) before I gave up. I’ll come back in a couple weeks, maybe. (It’s free on Sundays, although more crowded.)

The weird thing about being in Madrid is that although I’m toting the camera everywhere I go, I’m hardly taking any pictures. I’ve been pretty much everywhere (and documented 99% of it on film previously) so there’s no real reason to take yet *another* picture of XYZ statue or ABC fountain. I did notice that the entire city is under major construction (Retiro Park says they’ll be done in 4 months, not sure about the people re-bricking the streets) so I’m interested in coming back in another year or two and seeing the upgrades. I did get to ride in a brand spanking new Metro train, the sort where you can see from one end all the way down to the other end, rather than boxed off cars.

I met some people from Oregon who were in Madrid by way of Ireland, and who told me that people from Edinburgh call people from Glasgow “soap dodgers” (which is a hilarious insult) due to their alleged stinkiness, and that Glasgow is the 2nd most likely place in the world to get stabbed. (#1 is some place in South Africa.) Apparently, gang members in track suits strap machetes to their thighs and stab people–rival gang members and ignorant tourists alike–who wander into their ‘hoods. And these ‘hoods aren’t your typical ghetto… they’ve been razed and replaced with government housing in the form of the tallest skyscrapers in Ireland. So the people on the street basically don’t go near tall buildings, because if they do, they’ll be stabbed. (If I decide to tour Glasgow someday, I’m guessing I better not pack a track suit.)

After all that fun, I came back to the hotel and did some work because tomorrow morning I get up nice and early so I can fly to Frankfurt to see Erin!

Tags: books, food, museums, trains, travel tips

Richmond, Virginia to Williamsburg, Virginia

Today we woke up and went to the hotel continental breakfast. Allegedly, it was open until 9, but at 5 minutes til the hour, the hotel employee ran around locking things in cabinets and blocking access to the microwave. She even scowled over my shoulder, key in hand, while I refilled my apple juice, and lurked around the rest of the (crowded) breakfast area.

We packed up the car and checked out (semi-full) and headed out for our first destination – the Science Museum of Virginia (Rob’s pick). Outside the entrance way was a 70-ton granite sculpture of the earth, soon to be rolled on its correct orbit by the boys. The museum was exceptionally interactive, and we spent a couple hours wandering around, playing with all the experiments. One of my faves was the special chamber where you could watch unstable atoms exploding. That was pretty cool.

Afterwards, we headed to downtown Richmond for the Edgar Allan Poe museum. I jabbed at the doorbell before I realized the sign said closed on Mondays (oops) but the caretaker happened to be home and gave us a mini-private tour of the gardens and one of the buildings. We got to see several original documents as well as several pairs of Poe’s fashionable stockings.

We next set to wandering downtown, heading past the St. Paul Church, Capitol Square Park, the (old) Governor’s Mansion, and several historical buildings. (The boys pointed out the secret symbol hidden in the FedEx logo and discovered another in the DHL truck… photos attached.) We also snacked at City Hall (Andy got a massive Dr Pepper, Rob got cookies, and I got a Ghirardelli square because I know what’s good) before taking the elevator all the way up to the Observation Deck for a look around the city skyline.

Last but not least, we managed to get ourselves horribly lost (followed by wonderfully un-lost) and randomly in front of the Confederacy Museum (which is what we were looking for in the first place when we got lost.) True to form, when we finally broke down and asked directions for it, we were 30 yards from it.

One of the stranger things about the Civil War (to me) was the black soldiers in the military, fighting for the South. The white soldiers didn’t want to fight next to black soldiers because they were uppity bigots and all, so I get that part, but why would black soldiers want to fight for the side that perpetuated slavery???

After that, we piled into the car and headed for Williamsburg, about an hour or so away. Our hotel (the Historic York Street Inn) is conveniently located within walking distance of the main colonial section, and we headed right over to eat dinner and see the sights.

Colonial Williamsburg is filled with 88 of the original early 1700’s homes and buildings, and many more restored ones. Costumed, in-character people man the apothecaries and foundries, give tours of the estates, and so on. However… we did eat dinner just outside the colonial district in an Italian joint, featuring throughly modern pizza, grinders, and Coca-Cola.

Tags: food, lost, museums

Washington, D.C.

Today we woke up around 7:55 and rolled out the door about 10 (as usual). We headed to CVS to get Andy some aloe for his sunburns, and narrowly escaped high drugstore drama in the process. (The cashier screamed murderous threats at a guy on his bike who left a ziploc bag of wonderbread slices in the flip-flop aisle. Don’t ask.)

We ate breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe for the second day in a row (this time much wiser: we knew to get our own food and bring it to the table ourselves) and caught the Metro to Arlington Cemetary.

We wandered the vast winding roads throughout the tombstone-lined hillsides. We visited memorials to various wars, armed forces, and the Columbia space shuttle. We also went to the Kennedy graves as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where we witnessed the changing of the guard.

Afterward, we checked out the indoor exhibits: Women in the Military and Faces of the Military. (The attached brochure image “To Pee or Not To Pee” is about the difficulties women face in being ill-equipped physically and clothing/equipment-wise to relieve themselves during missions, etc)

The Smithsonian was our next stop. The whole mall area was rockin’ with some sort of festival the whole time we were in D.C., but we headed straight to the Air & Space museum once Andy determined that the Arts & Industry museum was under renovation. Shockingly (to me), the museum was *free*. Who knew? =)

The funniest section was the debunking of old myths and propaganda, my favorite of which is the story of life on the moon (also attached – a Must Read).

To round out the night with some high culture, we headed to the National Theatre for the award-winning Broadway musical “Spamalot”. (If you didn’t already know, it’s inspired by Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail. If you don’t know what that is, get thee to a Hollywood Video, stat.) The costumes were great, the set was amazing, the casting perfect, and as for the jokes – hilarious. We belly-laughed through the whole thing and quoted from it the entire next day. If you get a chance (and if you appreciate abject silliness) you *must* check it out!

Tags: museums, shopping, theatre & shows

Paris, France

After leaving the airport, I checked into my hotel to drop off my bags and wandered around the city. I ended up at the Muslim Museum (a giant, 10-story glass building, not all of which is open to the public) where I surprised myself by spending several fascinating hours looking at all the cool artifacts.

Tags: museums

Barcelona, Spain

Today we went to Park Guell, another of Antoni Gaudi’s melty, Seussian masterpieces, which was a lot of fun. It’s a bit of a hike from the train stop, but well worth it. The towers and mosaics were colorful and asymmetric and just plain fun to look at. Some of the buildings even reminded me of gingerbread houses.

Deep inside the park is the Gaudi house, which we got to tour. It’s a pink, layered concoction stuffed with antique furniture and original artwork, including Gaudi’s initial designs for La Sagrada Familia.

There was some sort of religious celebration going on in the park as well. A lot of people grouped in a large circle and sang songs. Other people woke up from their sleeping bags (no tents) and got up to join the celebration with music, chanting, and dancing.

Tags: festivals & fiestas, museums

Barcelona, Spain

Last night, we hopped on the overnight train from Paris to Barcelona. Allegedly, they were first class tickets, which everywhere else in Europe meant a cabin, but on this train apparently just meant a comfortable chair. Well lemme tell ya, no chair is comfortable for 11 solid hours. The first thing we did when we arrived was to book a first class CABIN for the ride back.

Our hotel was right by the Arc de Triomf (yes, spelled like that–the Catalán instead of Castellano kept tripping me up, too) so that was one of the first sights we saw.

Next we went to the Art Museum which looked more like a palace than anything. One of the current exhibions was of fairies, and reminded us of our friend Margarita in Cincinnati. Wish she could’ve seen it. The Place Espanya was neat and gave a nice view. I could see La Sagrada Familia in the distance and it totally whet my appetite for Gaudí archetecture. I cannot wait to see it up close.

We went to the Poble Espanyol, which let me just say was AWESOME. If you ever get to Barcelona, you must check it out. It’s a massive, sprawling trip backward through time, representing various cities in Spain’s past. We had a delicious dinner and left when it was dark, only to come across a wicked cool fountain light show.

Tags: museums, theme parks, trains, travel tips

Vienna, Austria

I began my stay in Vienna with a city tour. The tourguide says that although German is spoken in Austria, it’s a slightly different German with a definitely different accent. Such as the difference between British English and American English.

The tour began on Ring Straße [Strasse], with the Kartner Ring and the Opera House. Here, this street replaced the city walls. All the palaces along this strip go back to the second half of the 19th century.

Next I saw the Mozart statue, the Museum of Fine Arts and National History, the 200 year old town gate, and the Hofburg (Hapsburg) Imperial Palace. The palace has 18 wings and 40 courtyards. Each subsequent emporer went ahead and added on another wing or entire building. At one time, the Hapsburgs also ruled Belgium and Hungary.

I also saw the Heldenplatz, or Heroes Square. It’s been 60 years since WWII and the people plant potatoes there in remembrance.

Next I went by the theater, followed by the Kafe Landtmann, which is 150 years old and a favorite of Sigmund Freud, who lived nearby. Then I saw the university, which was founded in 1365. Vienna has over 100,000 university students. Then I saw the Vienna woods. How could I miss it? The Vienna woods is a forest three times the size of Vienna, the city. And in case you’re wondering, Vienna is not exactly on the Danube, but the canal does run through the city.

Then I went by Vienna’s oldest church, which is a thousand years old, and the St Stephen’s cathedral, which is 800 years old, the oldest gothic building in Austria, and the center of the city. There are 300-some churches and most are Roman Catholic. Some 85% of the population is Catholic.

Vienna also has an amusement park on an island between the canal and the Danube. Its giant ferris wheel was built in 1900 by the same person who designed the ones in London and Chicago.

Vienna has famous coffee houses and a funny coffee history. At first, it was unclear whether coffee was dangerous, so only men were allowed to drink it. Once they were certain that no ill effects were to come of it, women were granted permission to drink coffee as well.

I saw the houses of many famous composers that were born elsewhere, but lived here, such as Beethoven and Mozart. The Hapsburgs were patrons of music and made Vienna the city of music with their generosity.

Next I saw the St Charles church, which is the biggest baroque church and is 300 years old. Then I saw the art temple, in an art nouveau style with a large gold leaf dome.

Vienna, as I’m sure you know, is 400 square kilometers, or 150 square miles. There are 800 parks and 1.7 million inhapitants. 2000 years ago, it was a Roman settlement, and before this, Celtic. The Celts named the river, and the Romans named the city after the river. Nowadays, the city has 23 districts.

I also visited the Schonbrunn Palace, which means beautiful fountain. It was built 300 years ago, and was the favorite residence of Maria Teresa and also Franz Josef. Maria got the palace as a wedding gift, and lived there with her 16 children. (16 children in 20 years! Wow. I hope to stop at a nice, round 2.) The palace ceilings were decorated with boroque frescoes, done by Gregorio Guglielini in the 15th century. There is a rococo gallery with two 23 carat gold plated chandeliers. There are also two chinese rooms, which were trendy in the time of baroque palaces. During WWII, a bomb fell into the palace but didn’t explode. It destroyed a fresco, obviously, but the palace itself was otherwise fine. The original fresco was created in 1761 and restored in 1947, and it was easy to see the difference. JFK met with Russian representatives in this room as part of the first steps toward ending the cold war.

Another room in the palace is the carousel room. At the time, carousel was not a ride, but rather a game much resembling a congo line, but using horse and carriages. There is a painting in this room of the carousel line, with a ball being tossed around–but the ball is actually the head of a Turkish soldier. (It’s fun for the whole family.)

Interesting fact: Emporers and their successors wore red-heeled shoes. No one else was allowed to do so.

Charles I was the last Austrian emporer from 1916-1918. The monarchy collapsed after the end of WWII. He abdicated the throne but refused to renounce the title, because God himself had made him Emporer. (The people didn’t buy this claptrap, so they sent him into exile.)

Napoleon married into the Hapsburg family and his son, Napoleon II, died in this palace.

Another interesting fact: Everyone wore wigs at this time, even the kids and babies. Besides keeping the lice away, it was also a symbol of nobility.

Tags: castles & palaces, cathedrals, museums, random facts & history, theme parks

Paris, France to Brussels, Belgium

We checked out of the hotel and made it to the Metro with all our luggage. Some guy helped me get my suitcase on board, which I thought was nice at the time. (FORESHADOWING!!) Danielle’s train station was the stop before mine, so we hugged goodbye and she went on her way.

When my stop came, that guy from before materialized from out of nowhere. I thought he was just carying on with the Good Samaritan bit, but that is because I am slow to catch on.

He had actually decided to turn stalker, and followed me through my subsequent metro connections all the way into the train station. Since my departure was much later than Danielle’s, I had a little over three hours to kill. When he plopped down on the bench next to me and grinned, I was more than a little creeped out. He wrote down his address and phone number and told me to come over (which was both creepy and bizarre, since clearly I was getting ready to leave on a train) but when he asked if he could take my photograph, I had had enough.

I sprang up and went to the ticket counter and exchanged my ticket for the very next train out of there. They were really nice about it and let me exchange free of charge. I knew Venkat and Anjali weren’t expecting me for another 3 hours, but by this time, I decided I’d rather wait for them in Brussels by myself rather than sit here getting photographed by this weirdo.

So, I make the next train (one leaves every hour for Brussels) and as soon as I land, I call Venkat and Anjali, who luckily were not far away. Boy was I ever glad to see them! They had found a great parking spot on the curb, and we threw my luggage inside, then walked over to the market, where I ate a… well, I forgot what it’s called, but it was surprisingly good, considering it was a naan-like bread filled with feta and honey. (Venkat’s also contained olives.)

We went to their apartment next, which is really nice, with big rooms. Anjali said I could leave my shoes in the hall and I must have made a weird face, because she quickly added, “but you don’t have to.”

“It’s not that,” I was forced to admit. “It’s that I’m wearing the same psychedelic socks I used for my Evil Clown costume last Guavaween and I didn’t want you to see them.”

We snacked on some leftovers (they have the best leftovers in the world. I would eat nothing but leftovers if my leftovers were anything like theirs.) and then set out to walk about town. I saw the Palais de Justice and a WWI/WWII monument. We walked by the atomium, the music conservatory, the Parc du Bruxelles in front of the Royal Palace, and the Eglise Notre Dame du Sablon.

I saw the Museum of Musical instruments, whose building looked so cool that I totally want to go back and explore. The Palais des Congress has a clock tower, which plays a different song every 15 minutes. I saw a lot of Tin-Tin memorabilia and comic books, as well as some for Betty Boop, although I’m not sure why she was so popular.

Brussels is known for more than beer and chocolate (and sprouts)–they are also known for eating fries witih mayo, and mussels in a pot, neither of which I sampled.

I *did* gobble up a waffle, of course, and it was topped with strawberries, bananas, and chocolate. Venkat tells me that’s tourist-style, but all the same, it was delicious.

And, in case you’ve always wondered, Brussels actually has three official city names. Brussel (Flemish), Bruxelles (French), and Brussels (English).

I also felt the golden lady from head to toe, which is supposed to bring good luck. There were a ton of people crowded around the statue, so it must work. I forgot to ask Venkat what the story is behind that, sorry.

I also saw the infamous Mannekin Pis, and Venkat took a classic photo for me. Then we stopped for drinks. Brussels has eating tables and drinking tables. (We sat at drinking tables.) You can tell the difference because drinking tables don’t come with menus. Also–at the drinking tables, at least–you are expected to pay for each round as you go.

Tags: cathedrals, food, museums, trains, travel tips

Paris, France

Everyone from the college program left today, either to go home or to embark on subsequent travels. My plans don’t really unfold until tomorrow when Venkat and Anjali are expecting me. Danielle had a limbo day, too, since her dad and grandmother are driving to Lourdes to meet her tomorrow.

So, we got around and went to the Louvre again.

When we think about ancient civilizations, we tend to think of them as primitive or at least inferior in some way. But I think it’s obvious that they had a much greater appreciation of art than we do today, and consequently, they were surrounded by much more beauty.

Sure, they didn’t have the technology and mass production that we do today, but that only makes my respect for that time period even deeper. All the intricate detail and opulent decoration had to be done by hand. Slowly, carefully, purposefully.

And we are lucky they took the time to do so, so we can still see what architecture/craftsmanship used to mean, now that we live in a time when the most ornate we get is crown moulding.

OK, enough waxing philosophic. Let me tell you more about the Louvre. We started in the oldest section (hence the above rant) and more or less worked our way forward through time. I saw an astrolabe, which was pretty neat, Puget Statues, and the code of hammurabi, which dates back to ancient Babylon and was the first written code of laws.

(We also saw some guy get pickpocketed by a teenager, right in front of the Mona Lisa.)

I saw works by El Greco, Rubens, Goya, Boticelli, Raphael, da Vinci, De La Croix, and–one of my personal favorites–Giuseppe Arcimboldo. If you have no idea who this is, but you live in the state of Florida, bop on over to the Ringling museum, which I believe has several other of his “still lifes”. I “quote” it, because although he typically paints fruit, it always looks like something else. Usually a portrait. And unlike Dalí, who is not above melting or morphing something to achieve an effect (and whom I also like immensely), Arcimboldo’s fruit are really fruit, although you can’t help but see the other image, especially from a distance.

We only stayed a few hours, but Danielle says if you looked at each individual item in the Louvre’s extensive collection for only one second each, it would take three solid months to get through everything. I can’t wait to come back!

We also had a little adventure in the Louvre when we were stopped by a security guard named Lakpar, who thought we were Italian. He discovered we were not, tried to put the moves on us anyway, and finished his speech with a diatribe about how you can’t trust a woman and you better not leave her alone if you have to work late or she’ll be sleeping with your neighbor. (He gave us his phone number, but we did not reciprocate.)

After the Louvre, Danielle and I walked around Paris. We saw the Bastille, which reminded me of Siegessaule in Berlin.

We also went to Invalides and Madeleine before calling it a night. We went out later in search of Wedding Crashers, which we saw advertised all over town, but all we could find was Mr and Mrs Smith (which we decided to pass on) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We ended up getting dinner and relaxing on the Champs Elysees.

Tags: museums, random facts & history, travel tips