Hi all, just posting to let you all know that I have arrived safely in Prague. I met up with Jamie in Frieberg (not the same Frieberg you may have heard of, this place is SMALL) a few days ago and hung out there with him for a few days. He showed me around and we got to see a surprise car show. We were just walking around an old mine site when about 20 classic cars pulled up out of nowhere. Pretty sweet.
Prague is one cool place, I'll have to post some pictures at a later time. Needless to say, there's a lot of cool architecture and stuff here, and plenty to see and do. And did I mention that everything is incredibly cheap? I think the Czech Republic is even cheaper than Germany, and everything in Germany cost about half as much as anywhere else I've been to date.
I SHOULD be meeting up with Adam tonight sometime (we'll see how that works out), and I'llbe sure to keep you all updated on our extensive travels.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Going Back...
Alright, here are just a few promised photos of Copenhagen and Holland, for your enjoyment.
Starting with Copenhagen:
The Palace (I forget the real name).
The Other Palace
A really cool statue
The Little Mermaid
The largest Diesel Generator in the World from 1932 to 1962
There's a lot more, but time is a bit of an issue right now.
And now, on to Holland:
My Grandparents' old house (if you can call it that). No one has lived here since they left, and I don't blame them.
The Delta Works
Rotterdam from up on high. On the left you can see the coolest bridge in the world.
Although the birdge is really not that big when you see it up close.
But neither is anything else in Holland when you go to Madurodam.
This is what every street in Amsterdam looks like
A Windmill (there are surprisingly very few of these kicking around).
Hmmm, eel... (This picture is mostly just to keep Jeremy away).
A beach near Den Haag. The water was a beautiful 19 degrees.
A war cemetary. Really something you have to visit for yourself, pictures don't do it justice.
An really old town that we toured. Filled with canals, many of the houses have roofs made of reeds. Pretty cool to see.
Hans and Pe's house, where I stayed.
Some of my younger cousins, and of course, some big wooden shoes.
And let's end off the same way we ended every day in Holland, with a beautiful sunset.
Starting with Copenhagen:
The Palace (I forget the real name).
The Other Palace
A really cool statue
The Little Mermaid
The largest Diesel Generator in the World from 1932 to 1962
There's a lot more, but time is a bit of an issue right now.
And now, on to Holland:
My Grandparents' old house (if you can call it that). No one has lived here since they left, and I don't blame them.
The Delta Works
Rotterdam from up on high. On the left you can see the coolest bridge in the world.
Although the birdge is really not that big when you see it up close.
But neither is anything else in Holland when you go to Madurodam.
This is what every street in Amsterdam looks like
A Windmill (there are surprisingly very few of these kicking around).
Hmmm, eel... (This picture is mostly just to keep Jeremy away).
A beach near Den Haag. The water was a beautiful 19 degrees.
A war cemetary. Really something you have to visit for yourself, pictures don't do it justice.
An really old town that we toured. Filled with canals, many of the houses have roofs made of reeds. Pretty cool to see.
Hans and Pe's house, where I stayed.
Some of my younger cousins, and of course, some big wooden shoes.
And let's end off the same way we ended every day in Holland, with a beautiful sunset.
Where East Meets West
Alright, so working backwards, our next stop is Berlin.
Berlin is a fantastic city: lots to see, lots to do, and nothing ever closes. Just a few examples of the cool places I've been:
A Really Tall Building
The Berliner Dom
Berlin's answer to the Arc de Triomphe
The beautiful Opera House
One of many beautiful churches
Well in Berlin, I went to several museums, including:
The Pergamonmuseum, which focuses on the Fact and the Myth of ancient Baylon. This was my favourite museum, but unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures.
The Bode-Museum, which contains sculpture from Greece and Turkey. The building itself was beautiful, and I've posted my favourite of the sculptures below. It's actually a pair of sculptures, one depicting the Final Judgement, the other showing the fall of Satan and his legions. Both are done in amazing detail, and all those little figures you see are no bigger than my thumbnail.
The Alte museum contained Greek and Egyptian art and was also quite impressive.
I hit up the National Gallery (yawn) as well as the GDR museum, about what life was like in the former East Germany. The GDR Museum was pretty neat, but awfully small. But I do have a whole bunch of cool GDR facts to tell everyone now.
Of course, I had to check out Checkpoint Charlie (a former border crossing point in the Berlin Wall) and the museum there, which was all decidedly underwhelming. There's nothing left of the checkpoint to speak of and the museum was pretty mediocre, really only talking about successful and failed escape attempts. I did visit the longest section of the wall still standing, though, and that was pretty neat to see.
Throughout the city, you can see these oddly placed bricks. These denote where the Berlin Wall used to be.
Well in Berlin, I checked out an old concentraion camp, which was really something else. Chilling, to say the least. After the prisonners were liberated by the Russians during the war, the camp was turned into a Soviet camp to hold political prisonners, so it kind of has a doubly terrible (and maybe ironic?) history.
A few more sites for the photo obsessed (you know who you are):
An old, bombed-out church. Beautiful in a way.
A Holocaust Memorial. The blocks are over 2 meters high in places, and it's really neat to walk around between them. There are hundreds, if not thousands of large, concrete blocks.
The Berlin Gate (less impressive than I was lead to believe).
A cool Soviet war memorial
And of course, no Berlin photo album would be complete without a picture of the Reichstag.
So that's Berlin, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.
Berlin is a fantastic city: lots to see, lots to do, and nothing ever closes. Just a few examples of the cool places I've been:
A Really Tall Building
The Berliner Dom
Berlin's answer to the Arc de Triomphe
The beautiful Opera House
One of many beautiful churches
Well in Berlin, I went to several museums, including:
The Pergamonmuseum, which focuses on the Fact and the Myth of ancient Baylon. This was my favourite museum, but unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures.
The Bode-Museum, which contains sculpture from Greece and Turkey. The building itself was beautiful, and I've posted my favourite of the sculptures below. It's actually a pair of sculptures, one depicting the Final Judgement, the other showing the fall of Satan and his legions. Both are done in amazing detail, and all those little figures you see are no bigger than my thumbnail.
The Alte museum contained Greek and Egyptian art and was also quite impressive.
I hit up the National Gallery (yawn) as well as the GDR museum, about what life was like in the former East Germany. The GDR Museum was pretty neat, but awfully small. But I do have a whole bunch of cool GDR facts to tell everyone now.
Of course, I had to check out Checkpoint Charlie (a former border crossing point in the Berlin Wall) and the museum there, which was all decidedly underwhelming. There's nothing left of the checkpoint to speak of and the museum was pretty mediocre, really only talking about successful and failed escape attempts. I did visit the longest section of the wall still standing, though, and that was pretty neat to see.
Throughout the city, you can see these oddly placed bricks. These denote where the Berlin Wall used to be.
Well in Berlin, I checked out an old concentraion camp, which was really something else. Chilling, to say the least. After the prisonners were liberated by the Russians during the war, the camp was turned into a Soviet camp to hold political prisonners, so it kind of has a doubly terrible (and maybe ironic?) history.
A few more sites for the photo obsessed (you know who you are):
An old, bombed-out church. Beautiful in a way.
A Holocaust Memorial. The blocks are over 2 meters high in places, and it's really neat to walk around between them. There are hundreds, if not thousands of large, concrete blocks.
The Berlin Gate (less impressive than I was lead to believe).
A cool Soviet war memorial
And of course, no Berlin photo album would be complete without a picture of the Reichstag.
So that's Berlin, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.
The Firestorm
Of course, I'm talking about Dresden. What a beautiful city. I just got in today, and I have to say, this city is simply stunning. Also, I have USB access again (Yay!), so I can post some much awaited photos. I'll start with Dresden and work backwards from there.
I have to say, I wasn't expecting much from Dresden, seeing as how it was ravashed during the war. But this city really blew me away. It's stunning, to say the least. These pictures are just a few examples of the incredible architecture found here. A beautiful city, worth visiting if only for the spectacular buildings.
I have to say, I wasn't expecting much from Dresden, seeing as how it was ravashed during the war. But this city really blew me away. It's stunning, to say the least. These pictures are just a few examples of the incredible architecture found here. A beautiful city, worth visiting if only for the spectacular buildings.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Alright, so I've left Copenhagen (after a very brief visit). It was a pretty cool city, lots of cool statues and fountains throughout and some decent museums. I checked out some ruins below the big castle they have there, as well as a museum about some sculptor (although I THOUGHT I was going to a museum about ancient weapons, and I didn't realize my mistake until it was too late.) I also checked out DieselHouse (on Jamie's suggestion), which discusses the history of the diesel engine and also has what was the largest diesel engine in the world from 1932 until 1962. Finally, I hit up a couple of jazz clubs, which were pretty fun.
I'm still having no luck finding a USB outlet anywhere, so no pictures (again), but I promise to get some up ASAP.
On my way to Germany, my train drove onto a ferry and we got shipped across a channel. That was pretty neat (I got some duty free stuff, like chocolates, on board the ship). Meanwhile, Berlin is pretty cool, tons of stuff to see and do here, it's a great city. It kind of reminds me of Paris, to be honest, but in a good way. Anyway, more on that later. Bye for now.
I'm still having no luck finding a USB outlet anywhere, so no pictures (again), but I promise to get some up ASAP.
On my way to Germany, my train drove onto a ferry and we got shipped across a channel. That was pretty neat (I got some duty free stuff, like chocolates, on board the ship). Meanwhile, Berlin is pretty cool, tons of stuff to see and do here, it's a great city. It kind of reminds me of Paris, to be honest, but in a good way. Anyway, more on that later. Bye for now.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Quick Update
OK, no lengthy update this time. Just letting everyone know that I´m safe, and that Copenhagen is a beautiful city. It´s really relaxed and pretty, and it has more bronze statues than the rest of the world combined. There´s lots to see and do here, even if it does get a little chilly at night.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The Lowlands
Hello all, and sorry for the long delay. I hope you all didn't miss me too much. For the past little while I've been very busy visiting Holland. Unfortunately, no pictures right now, but I'll be sure to get some up soon.
Since I've arrived in the Netherlands, I've spent a day in Amsterdam, and then I went to stay with my relatives Hans and Pe, Pieter and Jaqueline, and their sons Lars and Jelle. They showed me all over the country, and it was fantastic.
On the night I arrives, Hans took me out to show me my grandparents old house. Well, not much of a house, really, more like a shack. No one's lived there since my grandparents left over 50 years ago, but it's still standing. Really something to see.
Over the next few days, we went to the Delta Works (basically massive dams which keep the North Sea out of Holland), Rotterdam (the busiest port-city in Europe, I think), Den Haag (just outside the city are some beautiful beaches, and the sea there is actually quite warm at 19 degrees) and Madurodam (a miniature Holland, basically models of all of Holland's landmarks, built with exquisite detail).
We also went to a small village (that I can't remeber the name of, off hand) that is built entirely in traditional style. The city is filled with old canals, the result of excavating fuel for fire. Most of the houses have roofs made of reeds, and many of the houses are only accessible by boat. It was a really neat place. We went to an old steam pump that was used (from 1883 to 1983) to pump water out from behind the dykes.
Finally, we went to a war cemetary. It is the largest Canadian war cemetary in Holland, with 6200 graves, nearly all of them from April of 1945. It gives me chills just thinking about it. It's definitely something that has to be seen to understand.
We had a good Dutch BBQ one night, with home made smoked eel. Definitely not for everyone, but I loved it! Don't ask me what eel tastes like, though: there's nothing like it.
I think that was everything (lots of stuff, I know). Tonight, I'm taking the night train to Copenhagen, and maybe I can upload some pictures there. But for now, I'm off.
Since I've arrived in the Netherlands, I've spent a day in Amsterdam, and then I went to stay with my relatives Hans and Pe, Pieter and Jaqueline, and their sons Lars and Jelle. They showed me all over the country, and it was fantastic.
On the night I arrives, Hans took me out to show me my grandparents old house. Well, not much of a house, really, more like a shack. No one's lived there since my grandparents left over 50 years ago, but it's still standing. Really something to see.
Over the next few days, we went to the Delta Works (basically massive dams which keep the North Sea out of Holland), Rotterdam (the busiest port-city in Europe, I think), Den Haag (just outside the city are some beautiful beaches, and the sea there is actually quite warm at 19 degrees) and Madurodam (a miniature Holland, basically models of all of Holland's landmarks, built with exquisite detail).
We also went to a small village (that I can't remeber the name of, off hand) that is built entirely in traditional style. The city is filled with old canals, the result of excavating fuel for fire. Most of the houses have roofs made of reeds, and many of the houses are only accessible by boat. It was a really neat place. We went to an old steam pump that was used (from 1883 to 1983) to pump water out from behind the dykes.
Finally, we went to a war cemetary. It is the largest Canadian war cemetary in Holland, with 6200 graves, nearly all of them from April of 1945. It gives me chills just thinking about it. It's definitely something that has to be seen to understand.
We had a good Dutch BBQ one night, with home made smoked eel. Definitely not for everyone, but I loved it! Don't ask me what eel tastes like, though: there's nothing like it.
I think that was everything (lots of stuff, I know). Tonight, I'm taking the night train to Copenhagen, and maybe I can upload some pictures there. But for now, I'm off.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
City of Sprouts
Since I was in the area, I figured I had to check out Brussels. And what a gorgeous city it is. It's hip, trendy, and there is a ridiculous amout of food everywhere. They have these things called Gaufres, which are deep-fried waffles, with sugar baked in, simply delicious!
Not sure what the big deal is, his grave is exceptionally plain in a sea of ridiculously extravagant graves.
On to Brussels. Gorgeous city, not too big, but just packed with shopping, eating and things to do and see. For example, they have a musical intruments museum, with the largest collection of instruments in the world (including a thoromin (sp?)). What makes this museum cool is that you get a set of headphones, and when you stand near an instrument, you get to hear it played. Really cool museum, definitely worth a visit.
Before I forget though, while in Paris, I checked out this graveyard a few blocks from my hostel. Really famous place, it has the graves of Edith Piaf, Chopin, Proust, and this guy:
Not sure what the big deal is, his grave is exceptionally plain in a sea of ridiculously extravagant graves.
On to Brussels. Gorgeous city, not too big, but just packed with shopping, eating and things to do and see. For example, they have a musical intruments museum, with the largest collection of instruments in the world (including a thoromin (sp?)). What makes this museum cool is that you get a set of headphones, and when you stand near an instrument, you get to hear it played. Really cool museum, definitely worth a visit.
The Atonium (Brussels' answer to the Eiffel Tower) is worth checking out. It's not too special other than the fact that it looks really cool. And if you're a materials engineer, you'll be pleased to know that this building is, in fact, a blow-up of the microstructure of iron.
Today, I went to Brugge, a city in northern Belgium noted for its medieval style. It's a tourist nightmare, but still neat to see. Known as the Venice of the North, due to its many canals and old stone bridges, it's definitely unique.
Well, that' all for this report. Tomorrow, I'm going into Amsterdam, before touring around Holland with my relatives, who have been kind enough to let me stay with them and show me around. Until next time.
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