The Long and Winding Road

The last few days have been full of fun and surprises. On September 9th Michael and I boarded our last long train ride, a 7 hour adventure from Berlin to Amsterdam, with a 20 minute stop in Amersfoort, which I assume is in The Netherlands. This was my second time in Amsterdam, because as you recall, I spent 6 days there way back when in June. We stayed in an area I had not visited, so that was kind of fun, and we ran into my sister and her boyfriend! They hadn't intended to still be there, but Monica was suffering from a swollen face infection and remained in the city because of her connections to a doctor she found while there. Though the disease distorted her appearance (only slightly), her personality was unchanged so we enjoyed a dinner at the Burger Bar while avoiding faux-hippies, "too cool for school" jocks, and stoned guitarists who fell a bit too in love with Amsterdam's unique culture.

We stayed 2 nights in Amsterdam, making sure Michael got the full tour of the Red Light District. On September 11th we headed to Bruges, Belgium, a location both of us have been looking forward to ever since we planned to go to Europe. Bruges was the location for a movie Michael and I liked, called "In Bruges." My dad took me to see it last year and then I showed it to everyone, and I consider it one of my favorites. Because of this we were extremely excited to go there and take pictures of all the places that were featured in the movie. And guess who we saw there? Monica and Christian! They decided to stay there an extra night and surprised us in the lobby of our hostel, since they knew where we were staying and Bruges is a small town. We went to one of the bars that was in the movie, and today we climbed the big belfry tower that is in the movie so many times. Right when we got to the top of all 366 stairs the bells began ringing. It was glorious. We had an almost perfect 360 degree view of the city untouched by world wars, and it was a perfect way to end the "backpacking through Europe" portion of my summer.

Now I am lying in my bed in Brussels, waiting for my 8 am train ride to London where I will meet my grandma. In 5 days I will fly back to the United States of America, and in 8 days I will move into my new apartment in Davis. In 11 days I begin my Junior year of college (although professors have scheduled a walkout to protest school funding or something, so we will see). Oh and in 2 days I turn 20 and I am no longer a teenager. How weird is that? I would like to stay a teenager. 19 has been good to me. But I guess it cannot be avoided.

Tomorrow is my last non-metro train ride for a long time. This year you may find me on the Amtrak to Berkeley or Santa Cruz just to reminisce about traveling through Europe. I will surely miss my trains and the time I got to spend staring out the windows into foreign countrysides, pondering whatever popped into my head at the moment.

London Calling

Warning: This post has very little to do with London, I just like the song and its quasi-relevance to what I'm going to say.

I have gone on long enough without actually saying where I'm going (besides Denmark), so here is an itinerary that I can bet you will change almost immediately, as it tends to do.

June 16 - Fly to Europe
June 17 - Arrive in Athens
June 17 - 21 Spend time in Athens
June 22 - June 30 Spend time on Greek Island
July 1 - August 16 - Spend time in Copenhagen
August 17 - Fly to Spain from Copenhagen
August 17 – 20 Spend time in Madrid
August 21 – 22 Spend time in Ibiza
August 23 – 27 Spend time in Barcelona
August 28 – All day traveling to Nice
August 29 – All day traveling to Zurich
August 29 – 31 Spend time in Zurich
September 1 - 3 Spend time in Munich
September 4 – 7 Spend time in Berlin
September 8 – 10 Spend time in Amsterdam
September 11 – 12 Spend time in Brussels/Bruges
September 13 – Take chunnel to London
September 13 – 17 Spend time in London
September 18 - Fly back to US of A

So in a way, London is indeed calling. Also Sicily might be added in there if Nicolaj wants me to go there with his family, or I will just go straight to Copenhagen and begin my month and half of embarrassing myself by trying to speak Danish