The second half

The second part of the adventure begins in Berlin. After Moh left for Egypt, Mark and I hung out with Josh, played German Settlers of Catan and did a little more site seeing. Finally we decided it was time to hit the road, or in this case, the rails. First stop, Prague!

On Moh's recommendation, we stayed at the Clown and Bard Hostel. This was truly a great location, we had a shared room with a common kitchen, free internet access and a bar in the basement. We had three roommates each night, but they changed over the course of our stay. The first set were English rugby players, who coincidently both loved beer and got along great with Mark. The second set included two English guys, and a Canadian who'd recently finished mining engineering at Queens. These three had been on the road for over a month, which I'm sure factored into their carefree attitude and general lack of concern for anything. They were pretty great guys though. There were also two Danish girls in the room over who gave us an introduction to the Danish language. Needless to say we didn't get much further than 'cheers' and 'my name is ...' - the pronunciation is extremely difficult.


The neighbourhood where we stayed in Prague


The view from our room in the Clown and Bard Hostel

In Prague we also took an amazing tour of the city and visited Prague Castle. On our last night Mark and I got separated and I ended up wandering the streets until the Metro reopened at about 4:30am. Regardless, Prague went on to be one of our favourite stops.




Prague Castle and Cathedral

Long long escalators are a favourite of the Prague Metro system

After Prague we decided to make our way to Budapest. Because our EuroRail passes only covered up to the border of the Czech Republic, we had to book our own tickets. Clever young men that we are, we decided to be thrifty and take the bus. I actually didn't think it was too bad, but for Mark it was somewhere near the worst seven and a half hours of his life. We decided to take the train on the way back, even though it cost us twice as much.


The bus ride from Prague to Budapest

In Budapest we stayed at a hostel pretty far from the city centre, which really limited how much we could do. It also lacked the social atmosphere of the Clown and Bard, which we really missed. Fortunately we did get to take in a little Red Bull Air Racing which featured pilots from all over the world flying under two of the main bridges in Budapest.


Red Bull Air Racing

On our last day we decided to take in one of the famous public bath houses. Fed by natural hot springs, the baths included several large outdoor pools as well as countless indoor pools at different temperatures from 20 to 40 degrees. Although expensive, we both felt a lot better after a few hours in the pool.


Public baths in Budapest

After Budapest we made our way back west to Hamburg, our final stop before making the trip to our new home in Copenhagen. In Hamburg we stayed in a beautiful hostel in the heart of a very trendy area with restaurants and bars throughout. This is where we met a group of people from Frankfurt, who subsequently invited us to a free concert in the city centre.


Free concert in Hamburg

We also had the opportunity to climb the Hamburg clock tower. I have no idea how many steps there are, but it was one hell of a climb. I'm not sure the view was worth it, but we probably needed the exercise anyway.


One of several giagantic bells


The view

Hamburg is most famous for the Reeperbahn, one of the largest red light districts in Europe. Although the less wholesome entertainment is still bountiful (and increasingly expensive), the area has begun to be dominated by regular nightclubs and bars. Perhaps not surprisingly, this is where I ran into Kadish, a friend from Waterloo who is studying in Sweden this fall.


Kadish and I met randomly on the Reeperbahn

After Hamburg we boarded our final train to Copenhagen. We weren't exactly sure how we were going to get past the large stretch of water between Denmark and Germany, but it turns out they put the whole train on a boat, which was pretty exciting to say the least.

Although it was a pretty amazing trip, Mark and I were both very very happy to have a permanent bed to sleep in. I'm sure we'll be taking another trip soon, but for now Denmark is home.

Young, hip and adventurous

I'm not exactly sure what I expected out of Europe. Traveling Europe is so romanticized; it's 'the thing to do' when you're young, hip and adventurous. Since I am, after all, each of these things, it should seem only natural that I find myself hopping on that shiny shiny bandwagon. But I don't think I ever expected to 'do Europe', as they say. I originally wanted to go on an international study exchange to Singapore, but my fellow exchangee Mark felt that a country which, until recently, outlawed chewing gum, might be a little too restrictive for someone who enjoys person freedom as much as he does. For some reason the exchange office at Waterloo ruled out Australia, and that didn't leave too many countries which offered courses in English. From this point onward, I think Denmark was more or less chosen at random from a small group of other European countries including England and Sweden.

For me, the adventure begins in Frankfurt, Germany. Frankfurt is a hub of several things.. European culture is not one of them. Airports are. This is where I met up with Mohini and had the opportunity to sample the famous Frankfurt Apfelwein (¨Appelvine¨ - feel free to imagine a German accent at this point).


Apfelwein in Frankfurt

The next day we took a train to a small town on the Rheine River where we hopped on a ferry for a couple hours, looked at the gorgeous castles and vinyards and tried to stay awake (I was still a little jetlagged at this point).




Castles and towns along the Rheine River

After our little float down the river, we caught a train to Brussels, Belgium. My first impression was that Brussels looked more like I imagined Eastern Europe to look, but this may have just been the area near the train station. The streets were dominated by Middle Eastern people, there was a carnival happening and little markets dominated the street. Later we made it into the city centre with all the touristy things one hopes to find in Belgium including waffles, beer and the infamous statue of the little boy peeing (which is also infamously overrated).


Moh checking out the waffles in Belgium

After a night in Belgium, Moh and I made our way to Den Haag, the Netherlands where we stayed with Jenia and Dennis. Moh had met Dennis on an earlier trip to Austria, and he invited us to come and stay with him and Jenia while we were in the Netherlands. 'Couch Surfing' has become extremely popular in Europe, either officially through the website couchsurfing.org or as a simple invitation between fellow travellers or friends of friends of friends. Jenia and Dennis's hospitatlity turned out to be rather limitless and we ended up staying twice as long as we had intended. While in Den Haag we took day trips to Leiden and Amsterdam. My favourite parts were the architecture as well as the Dutch cheeses.




Architecture in Den Haag


Cheese in Leiden

From the Netherlands we took the train back to Leipzig in Eastern Germany where Moh had been working for the summer. This was my first taste of Eastern Europe and also a great opportunity to meet some of the friends Moh had made and get a taste of her life over the summer.


An amazing dinner with some of Moh's friends in Leipzig


A bike trip, cut short by the impending rain

Several days later, we caught the train to Berlin to meet Mark at the airport. Here the three of us stayed with Josh, another friend Moh had made on an earlier trip. Located in East Berlin, Josh's apartment was amazing and his hospitality was again phenominal. In Berlin I was most interested in the Berlin Wall and World War II.




One of the few remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall


The Jewish Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

At this point Moh had to catch her flight home (well actually to Egypt for a short tour, before flying back to Canada) and Mark and I were alone in Europe for the first time. Next stop, Prague!