Day 64: Luxembourg and The End

Grand total trip miles logged: 30,024

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I woke up in Luxembourg after an unpleasant night in a 6-bed coed dorm room. I happily said goodbye to hostel dorms and prepared for the long journey home to my private and quiet bedroom. After a quick walk to the bus stop and a short ride on the airport shuttle, I arrived early to the Luxembourg airport. Small country, even smaller airport. I did enjoy the fact that the airport only serves international flights, as the entire country of Luxembourg only has one airport. I thought for fun I should repeatedly ask the airline staff, “which way to the international terminal?” But given that it was 8am in the morning, I thought it might be a little too early for stupid jokes. I bought myself two cappuccinos instead to pass the time.

On my way to the bus stop in Luxembourg

After a short flight from Luxembourg, I had a 3-hour layover in Amsterdam before my flight to Boston. Due to the lengthy security screening for flights to the United States, the layover did not leave me with a lot of extra time to say goodbye to Europe. My eight-hour flight home passed uneventfully, and I reached Boston at 5pm. After nine weeks of perfect health and smooth travels, I re-entered the United States. I briefly pondered whether or not I should check, “I have been in the presence of livestock (such as on a farm), during my travels” on my re-immigration card, given that I saw (and therefore was in the presence) of many, many cows on this trip. But I decided that it would be our little secret between the cows and me, so I checked “no.” So far, the local news has not reported the unexpected death of any cows in the state of Massachusetts, so I am standing by my decision.

I was greeted at Logan by my parents and a very excited Lily the Black Lab. We celebrated my return with a wonderful dinner at Tavern on the Water overlooking the Boston harbor and my future hometown. I was relieved that no one ordered sausage, herring, pretzels, roast pig, Nutella, or anything ending in -wurst: I’d seen enough of these foods over the last two months. After a happy feast of lobster quesadillas and bellied fried clams, I was feeling culinarily reacquainted with my homeland.



Back in Boston



Although I was happy to see my family and be back in the USA, the overwhelming emotion I felt upon returning home was a cloudy strangeness. While I was sad to leave but excited to come home, I was also so accustomed to traveling that not having sightseeing plans or modes-of-transportation to catch was slightly disorienting, on top of the mild case of jetlag. The trip was wonderful through the end, and I woke up every morning with a sense of impending adventure.

But the excitement of traveling had been starting to wane. When the trip began, my days started at 7am with a pinch of eager nervousness that I wouldn’t be able to see everything I wanted by the end of the day. By the end of the trip, my days started at 9am with a heap of lazy annoyance that the more upright occupants of my dorm room were preventing me from sleeping any longer. The good news is that one of the goals of this trip was to relax and unwind, but the zeal of traveling was dimming. It was a good time to come home.

Sadly, the morning after I returned, we learned that my 93 year-old maternal grandmother, Linda, had passed away overnight after months of declining health. While the sad news has dampened the happiness of returning home, I can only be grateful that I was with my parents, and not halfway across the world, for the news. I was able to speak with my grandmother once during the trip, when I was in Krakow, but afterwards her ability to talk on the phone deteriorated. Although I was never able to tell her about the rest of my travels, I hope she has in some way learned about the wonderful time that my mom and I had while visiting her childhood home in Estonia.

This journey has ended, but as a well-traveled Australian told me along the way, the best way to end one trip is to start planning your next one. I don’t know where I’ll go next, but for now, I’m happy to pass some time on Cape Cod, and then plan my return to the working world and the move to Boston. My posts, however, will come to a temporary end. Although the blog turned out to be far more time-consuming than I ever expected, I loved the comments I often woke up to in my email in-box on the other side of the globe. After a bit of editing and polishing, I plan on having the blog printed as a bound document, and I know I’ll be grateful I took the time along the way to have this blog as a permanent keepsake. You have my apologies for all the typos and grammar errors along the way.

It was an amazing adventure, and far better than I had ever hoped.

“So long, and thanks for all the herring.”

Day 63: Rhine Valley and Luxembourg

I was hoping for an epic last day, but poor weather rained on my parade...

After hearing rain intermittently during the night, I woke up in very overcast St. Goar and started the day with a climb up the steep hill to the Rheinfels castle. The weather was gloomy, but grey weather seemed fitting for a visit to medieval castle ruins. Burg Rheinfels cwas one of the most impressive castles during its glory years, but the castle fell into disrepair about 200 years ago. The shell remains one of the more impressive castle sights in the Rhine Valley to tour. The rain held off while I was at the site, but after touring for two hours I was ready to go. The grounds were filled with school groups, and passing through dark and narrow hallways with very exuberant wooden-shield and sword carrying children lost its appeal quickly.

Rheinsfeld Castle

Wooden tatues among the vineyards

I wandered back down the hills, through the vineyards, and into town for lunch. During lunch, the rain returned, and I decided to pass on my afternoon bike riding plans - for some reason every time I planned on a bike ride during this trip, it rained. I hope this stops when I get back to Cape Cod!

Instead of bike riding, I decided to take an earlier ferry and see another town along the way. The ferry was so much fun and a fantastic tour of the Rhine. I was amazed at how many castles are concentrated into such a small stretch - many of the castles are in sight of one or two other castles. I wonder how many of these Barons and Princes were friends versus enemies,  given that they were practically next-door neighbors. I also wondered how they were able to find large enough realms and peasants to support the construction of these massive structures, although many of the castles were built over centuries. I'm sure Google could quickly provide the answer to my curiosity; something else to do when I get back home.

Auf Wiedersefehen, St. Goar!



Rheinfels, as viewed from the river


The ferry was the best part of the day, although interestingly, I would place the average age of the passengers at about 70. For a moment I was concerned that I had crashed a senior citizen's tour group. But the crowd didn't seem to mind my presence, and the boat ride was wonderful. After about 45 minutes, the ferry dropped us off at the larger town of Boppard. The town was very picturesque and I was curious as to why it wasn't included in Rick Steves' places to see. My only guess is that the town seemed much more crowded with tourists, although I bet the place was much more happening after 8pm than St. Goar. The hostel in St. Goar locked the front door at 11pm, because there really wasn't any place else for guests to be in town after that hour.

I killed some time waiting for the train to Koblenz at a cafe overlooking the Rhine while enjoying more of the region's dry Rieslings. The train ride to Koblenz was also scenic, with several more castles along the way and lots of vineyards. After changing trains in Koblenz for Luxembourg, I took my last train ride of this trip through the Mosel valley, which was likewise beautiful and filled with vineyards. I arrived in Luxembourg about 7.30pm and walked the 1km to my hostel, although the trip was lengthened by my getting a bit turned around and lost.

Luxembourg seems very nice, although I was warned that the city is a bit dull. I could see that this might be true, although the nightlife looked decent - I passed by several places that were getting started for the night and already crowded. Also, three out of five of my fellow dorm mates came home separately between the hours of 4am and 6am, so I've got to imagine there's something worth staying awake for in Luxembourg.

I, however, spent just long enough at the hostel to grab dinner before heading to bed. While I thought about heading out for one last night to celebrate the end of my trip, I decided I'd be better served getting some sleep to celebrate my return.

There's still my three hour layover in Amsterdam if I decide I need to go out with a bang. Heading home tomorrow. I have lots of mixed feelings, but I'll write more about them when I'm back home!

Day 62: Rhine Valley

I would love to return to the beautiful Rhine Valley, but next time I'm bringing a bike riding and wine tasting partner with me. While the area is perfectly quaint and the white wines are great, the evenings are a little dull and would be better spent with good company.

I said goodbye to Frankfurt early and took a scenic train ride towards my first stop, Bacharach. The town is tiny- so small it doesn't even have a grocery store. Amazingly, Bacharach is one of the larger towns along Rhine and survives entirely on tourism, wine, and its own beauty.  The small restaurants and hotels are wonderfully classic German and the Rhine is beautiful.

Goodbye, Frankfurt!


I had arranged to spend the night in the town's castle that was converted to a youth hostel in the 1920s - or so I thought. The castle was a long, steep, and slick hike up from the train station, and the half-hour climb while carrying my luggage was painful. Finally, I reached the top - only to find that I didn't have a reservation. I swore that I had a confirmation, but after going through my email, I could not find the last email that I thought I had sent with my credit card information. It appeared there had been some operator error on my part, and of course, the hostel was full. Darn. I had really wanted to sleep in a castle. On the other hand, I had somewhat expected this to happen at some point - with 64 days of hotel, train, and airplane reservations, I knew that one kink in the travel plans was bound to happen. Fortunately, the missing confirmation was not a disaster, as another hostel a couple of towns over had room, and I was able to book there for the night.



I sadly made the climb down from the castle, and focused on the relieving fact that I wouldn't need to climb back up again. After reaching the town, I was surprised to find how empty the beautiful city was. I was starting to regret booking the new hostel so quickly after the number of places I passed by with "Zimmer frei" signs - I might have been able to strike a good deal and enjoyed the evening in the beautiful spot.

Views from the climb down

Downtown Bacharach

The oldest building in Bacharach, circa 1320

I decided to recover from the climb and my disappointment with a Rhine valley wine tasting. I popped into a local wine house, and had the place to myself with only a waitress and the owner on hand. The dry Rieslings were wonderful - why is it that the only Rieslings that are shipped to the US are the sticky sweet ones? The Germans are clearly keeping the good stuff for themselves. Smart.

I found the dry rose to be nice, too, but the red wines were far too light-bodied for me. The tasting was fun, and afterwards I spent a bit of time admiring the city before heading to my new hostel down the river in St. Goar.  After a 10 minute train ride, I reached the town, which was slightly smaller and less charming than Bacharach. After a much less steep climb to my hostel, which was sadly not a castle but sat directly beneath one, I checked in for the night. The hostel was on the older side, but I had a well-priced room all to myself. The room included an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner, which turned out to have both the ambiance and quality of a middle school cafeteria lunch. Not surprisingly, half of the hostel's guests appeared to actually be middle schoolers. German Hoteling International youth hostels tend to attract more families and school groups and less of the young and friendly backpacking crowd. While they offer decent and clean facilities, I've found I enjoy the less institutional-feeling and often more fun hostels, but for some reason Hoteling International seems to have a monopoly on the Rhine valley.

Welcome to St. Goar

The Jugendherberge is no castle, but it's near the best castle ruins on the Rhine

The second disappointment, after the food, was that I had an assigned seat at dinner next to a German middle-aged man...with no sense of humor. He was on vacation and biking along the Rhine valley, but still seemed to have no intention of enjoying himself. Another Swiss biker at my table was much more pleasant, but spoke little English. After giving up on enjoying either the conversation or my spaghetti bolognese, I defected from the table to escape to the town. Not much was open, except a wine bar that turned out to have wonderful goulash soup. After a couple of glasses of wine, I felt ready to tackle the hostile hostel again. I spent my evening on the hostel terrace watching the sun set and darkness fall over the Rhine before heading back to my private bunk beds. 

The Rhine at night




Tomorrow is my last full day of the trip, and I'm hoping for a good ending!

Day 61: Frankfurt

After a day touring Frankfurt, I felt confident that I had checked off the city's highlights.

I decided to get out of the city by taking the local train to a recommended suburb, Bad Hamborg. The train ride was less than 20 minutes, but quickly took me away from Frankfurt's skyscrapers, past vast farmlands (and a large IKEA store) to a very nice suburb of Frankfurt. Bad Hamborg looks like what one would expect from an old German town: lots of wooden-beam houses with pretty flowers and the occasional stone turret with medieval-looking bridge. The suburb was much larger than I expected, and had a rather long shopping promenade running through its center. The city had several very nice parks, including the grounds of a former palace. I spent several enjoyable hours wandering the city before deciding I should make my way back to Frankfurt.

Very old houses

Near the downtown

Sculpture in one of the parks - one glass tipped over with red flowers, another with white flowers, mixing to make pink flowers. Given that mixing red and white wine rarely goes well, I was a bit curious about the artist's message here...

Former palace grounds

I got back to the city and slowly wandered before picking up dinner to take back to the hostel. Later in the evening, I ended up at the hostel bar at table with four Canadians (none of whom were traveling together) and two Swedish fellow travelers, and I joined the group for a couple of rounds. One of the Canadians, Scott, was on the older side for hostellers - I'd guess he was about forty-five - and he was on leave from his second tour in Afghanistan. His twenty-something daughter had joined him in Europe to do some traveling on his leave, before he returns to duty in a couple of weeks. His assessment of the situation in Afghanistan was pretty bleak, and he was quite blunt with his opinions. I appreciated that he was willing to talk so openly. While his stories were rather disheartening, the group at the table was quite fun. The evening turned out to be highly entertaining.

I had an early morning planned, so I had to excuse myself earlier than I would have liked. Tomorrow it's off to the Rhine valley, and on my way to Luxembourg.

Day 60: Frankfurt

Frankfurt is a surprisingly enjoyable city.

I started the morning with a much too long jog around the city, and had to sprint back to my hostel when a downpour started. The rain was a good excuse to finally do the laundry I had been avoiding, and I found one of Frankfurt's few self-service laundry mats. The place was not far from my hostel, which meant that it was also right next to the red light district and the less favorable part of town.

The laundry mat was packed full of a cast of characters (including three women that I believe most likely somewhere nearby). Overall though, getting laundry done was largely uneventful, except for the brief visit by a pair of Roma women (somewhat more derogatorily known as gypsies), who left in a huff after unsuccessfully collecting any change or selling any gold rings to the laundry mat patrons. 

After finishing laundry and checking into my new hostel (much better), I started on a self-guided tour of Frankfurt. I found the city surprisingly calm and pleasant, with many wonderful parks and a fascinating mix of modern development and historical sights. Once beyond the interestingly large red light district, the city is very clean, although there are still many beggars throughout the city. Frankfurt is swarming with well-dressed businessmen, but the city feels less hectic than the banking districts in NYC or Shanghai. Overall, the city is quite orderly feeling and the spacious green-spaces create a very pleasant vibe.

I started my wanderings with a tour of the modern banking areas, followed by a quick drop by the very small historic center. Frankfurt's medieval district was completely decimated during WWII, and the city chose to start anew rather than rebuild its older districts. One small square was rebuilt, and it's quite charming but very Disney-esque.

The modern areas:

Old district:

Other spots:

Ruins from Roman bath (Romans had settled the area sometime around 100 A.D.)

The old Opera House

Frankfurt has wonderful bridges over the Main river, and my next stop was across the river to the Sauchen district, home of the apple wine pubs. The drink is called Apfelwein in German, and Frankfurters are very, very proud of their apple wine. They drink it regularly, and it appears to be more popular than either beer or wine locally. I stopped in one of the most famous and historical apple wine houses in Germany to try the famous beverage. I was a little nervous that the wine would taste like alcoholic apple juice, but I was pleasantly surprised. The drink was only a touch sweet, and quite refreshingly light. I still much prefer a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon over an Apfelwein, but the drink is quite inexpensive and has a proof similar to beer, making it an enjoyable choice for lazy and warm summer afternoons.

"Lovers' locks" on the bridge

Apple wine district


Sadly, however, it was not a warm afternoon but a freezing early evening in Frankfurt - I would guess the temperature was in the high fifties. I know 57 degrees isn't really freezing, but it was a bit of a shock to the system after traveling through much warmer climates. I couldn't have been the only one that was cold though, because I noticed that all the apple wine outdoor gardens were nearly empty. 

I made the cold walk back to my hotel and decided to park there for the night. I ended up meeting an FSU medical student who was celebrating (or mourning) the end of his 2-month Europe trip, as he was heading back to Florida the next morning and starting classes on Monday. I spent some time comparing European cities with him and an Italian traveler before calling it a night. 

One more day in Frankfurt, and then this trip is so very close to being over. I have many mixed feelings about the end of this trip, but I am determined to enjoy myself as much as possible before I have to say goodbye to this ridiculously fun adventure.

Day 59: Amsterdam and Frankfurt

Miles logged: 26,102
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I was a little behind adding up the number of miles I've logged, but I was pleased to find that I have now just passed the distance around the equator (which is slightly less than 25,000 miles). I can only hope that my frequent flier miles will also reflect this accomplishment.

Yesterday turned out to be a little less dull than I expected...but the excitement was somewhat undesired.  After dropping Mom off at the airport, I went back to our hotel to grab my bags and check that her flight had left on-time before leaving Amsterdam. I had planned on traveling to Hamburg, but I changed my plans to go to Frankfurt instead. After looking at all the travel time to and from Hamburg and my return flight in Luxembourg, I realized I wanted to take my last week of traveling a little easier. Also, I was looking for a break from being surrounded by tourists after Prague, and Frankfurt seemed like less of a tourist destination. Frankfurt is also much closer to Luxembourg.

 I had until 11am, when Mom's flight left, and 1.30pm to kill some time in a very rainy Amsterdam before catching a 5-hour train to Frankfurt. 

After boarding the train, I grabbed a spot in first class (which my rail ticket specifies) and settled in for what I thought would be an uneventful ride. Although first class was mostly empty, in the seats directly in front of me was a group of four guys who looked like they were in their early twenties and most likely American. The guys quickly spread their belongings across their train table, set up their laptops with iTunes movies quickly turned to play-mode, and had thrown down enough groceries that they appeared ready for a large buffet lunch momentarily. Overall though, they were well-behaved and I didn't mind sitting behind them. 

About an hour passed before a train conductor arrived to check our tickets. The conductor glanced at my rail pass and passport, said welcome, and then moved on to the boys. I was just replacing my iPod earphones when I heard the train conductor say to the guys with a huge load of condescension, "this is a nice train, isn't it?" (The boys agreed wholeheartedly). Train conductor's response: "yeah, well, you're in first class and your tickets are for second class. You can't stay here. You have to move." I saw the guys' look around the nearly empty first class car and look up with an expression that said "really??...." But the conductor clearly showed she wasn't going to budge, and the guys gathered up their spread of stuff to head towards a car in the back.

About half an hour after the guys had been kicked out, I decided to switch sides of the train to get out of the sun that was pouring through my window. I was then sitting directly opposite of where the boys had been sitting. I continued to enjoy my tranquil ride with my "mellow favs" iPod playlist accompanying the now calmly passing German countryside until a group of three casually dressed passengers, two men and one woman, entered my train car. As they approached my seat, one of the men flashed an official badge and stated "Paßkontrolle."  Assuming I was dealing with little more than German Immigration, I handed over my passport thinking this was no big deal. After the man asked me if I spoke German (in German), I responded that I only spoke English. He then asked me where my bags were. I pointed my dufflebag in the overhead rack across the aisle and a seat behind me. Of course, I hadn't moved my larger bag when I switched seats, and my bag was a bit awkwardly far from my new seat. His next response was, "well, what about these?," while indicating to a large suitcase directly above me and another one directly across from me. The boys apparently had decided to leave a couple of their larger bags behind after they got bumped to second class. As I tried to explain, "there was a group of men here that moved to second class...they went that way..." The only response I got from the three German undercover patrol agents was a collective look that clearly conveyed a message of "how could you be so ignorant as to be sitting next to two unidentified and unclaimed large suitcases?" I didn't have a good responsive facial expression to throw back beyond, "don't know? Didn't think it was a big deal?"...but I could feel a label of "SUSPICIOUS" growing on my forehead. Clearly, I should have remembered that the Netherlands' and Germany's drug policies are not exactly compatible and been more careful.

So then the plastic gloves were broken out, first by the badge-flashing undercover officer to search the boys' mystery bags, and second by the female officer (who interestingly was wearing a Maui Hawaii fleece) to search my bags. While I was feeling fully confident on my contents of my luggage, I started to realize that if one of the boys had decided to take some of Amsterdam's finest into Germany as a souvenir I could be looking at a very long afternoon. While the bags were being inspected, the hereto uninvolved but much larger undercover male officer assumed a stance in front of my  aisle that could only have been interpreted as "you're not going anywhere for a moment." After a thorough search, the officers seemed satisfied, but took the two boys' bags and paged them at the next stop - they must have had their names included on their bags. The boys came rushing after the page to grab their luggage, and were scolded for leaving their bags unattended. I figured all was well, got back to the mellow iPod playlist, and felt confident that the rest of the trip would be a smooth ride.

Twenty minutes later my train car was boarded by a drug sniffing dog team. The German Shepherd went up and down the corridor, and the team stopped to pull aside and sniff out my bag - maybe the officers had been tipped off to "check out the girl with the matching pink and white duffle-bags." After the dog seemed more interested in some food mashed into the train's carpet than in my bag, I was given a very polite "Guten Tag, enjoy your visit," and the team moved on. The suspicious label had been cleared from my forehead.

The experience really wasn't scary, and I was actually very impressed at the thoroughness of the process. I can respect that Germany would like to prevent the Netherlands' more tolerant drug policies from leaking past the German border. The other interesting outcome of the experience was that I realized I now understand far more German than I thought. Granted, I can barely speak more than five words, but I was able to follow what was going on and respond to several German questions without thinking too hard. I wish I could have learned more while I was here, but at least it's a start.

I arrived in Frankfurt at 6.30pm, and checked into my hostel which was right next to the train station...and the red light district. After the hostel took 60 minutes to stand in line and check in, I paid for one evening and cancelled my reservation for the following two nights. The hostel's services did not offset its location.

I didn't spend much time touring Frankfurt last night, but instead took advantage of the hostel's wifi to finish some blogging and picture uploading. Frankfurt is more relaxed and peaceful than I expected from Germany's banking capital, and at first glance seems like a good place to take a break for a few nights. More on Frankfurt soon!

Franfurt:

Day 58: Prague and Amsterdam

After grabbing breakfast on a rainy morning in Prague, Mom and I packed up and headed for the airport. Our flight to Amsterdam was short but turbulent. After navigating our way from airport to central train station to hotel, we were ready to start sightseeing in Amsterdam by about 3pm. Our first stop was to the floating flower district, which is pretty but perhaps a little out of season in August. Our next stop was to the Heineken "brewery experience," which was mostly an tribute to and glorification of Heineken's marketing strength. The tour was entertaining, although we agreed it was a little bit silly. One point of the tour included a "ride" where we experienced the brewing process from the beer's perspective through "We Brew You." As we held onto rails while standing on a coordinated-shaking-to-the-movie-display platform, we were transformed from our uneffervescent selves to an exciting bottle of Heineken beer. When we dropped into a vat of wort, the ride jerked and overhead sprinklers misted; when we underwent pasteurization, the room's overhead heaters flared; and when the yeast fermentation stage completed, the ride graciously threw out one thing that has been noticeably missing from this trip...soap bubbles. You get the idea. It was silly.

Just in time for 5pm!

Beautiful historic building as part of the tour


Regardless, the tour's two included beers were not unappreciated, and Mom and I tolerated the loud bar music and flashing images of happy, partying, Heineken-drinking worldly 20-somethings to finish my favorite part of the tour (the two pints at the end). After deciding to walk back to our hotel's end of town to burn off the beer, I took Mom along the main route to see the sights (which ended up including a raging gay-pride weekend festival). After a short relaxation stop at the hotel, we decided to take a break from European cuisine for some Thai food. Dinner was excellent, but by the time we were done, we had lost track of our evening. It was already past 9pm, and the night was turning dark. After unsuccessfully looking for a late-night canal boat ride (everywhere we looked was closed), we walked back along the lighted canals before retiring to our hotel room.

Beautiful but empty boats

Amsterdam's canals at night

I'm glad Mom got to see Amsterdam. I much preferred the quieter neighborhood that Mom and I stayed in, but she also got to see the seedier side of Amsterdam as we were walking home. Mom agreed that many of the tourist areas seem a bit trashy (literally and figuratively).

Sadly, this was the last stop on Mom's trip, and starting tomorrow I'll be back to traveling solo. Having Mom was wonderful, and I'm starting to reach the point where I'm ok with this trip coming to an end...but there's still more fun to be had, and I have just under a week left of this amazing journey. Back to Germany I go!