End of my Europe Era (for now)

Greetings from Brussels...

I just saw my traveling companions to the airport and made my way back here to an internet cafe to check my email, etc.... Quite disappointed to discover that the entry I wrote in Berlin never appeared, or it was lost maybe. That is a shame, because it was a good one.

So then= how to catch up on all that has gone on since I last wrote in Prague? Impossible. Especially when I have a time limit on this computer.

The last night in Prague was great. Our neighbours next door in our hostel invited us over so we went and had a great time hanging out with them. They were 3 guys from Argentina and we had a lot of fun drinking wine and swapping stories and pictures of our travels across Europe. It was also great to hear about Argentina=a great way to end our time in the magical city of Prague.

Then it was on to Berlin. There is so much to say about Berlin, a city that felt very unlike all the other European cities we visited. In truth, it was my least favourite city, but at the same time it was also the city that has haunted me the most. How can it not?? I stood right above the bunker where Hitler committed suicide. We went on a walking tour in Berlin led by a very animated British fellow, Henry. The sights included the Brandenburg Gates, the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Nazi buildings, and much more. In addition to that, we visited a concentration camp on our own, Sachsenhausen. It was no Auschwitz, and I think the girls I was with were disappointed that there were not more gas ovens... But for me, my imagination was racing as it was, and I do not think I could have handled any more than what I already saw.

Berlin was mostly levelled by bombing during the war, so it is a city of paradoxes. On the one hand, haunting reminders everywhere of its past (Hitler AND Communism). On the other hand, its economy is booming. There were corporations and skyscrapers everywhere, which I am not really too impressed with. Also, the city is like one big construction zone, neither peaceful nor slow=paced. (yes, I cannot for the life of me figure out the dash key==where is it?? it is not on this keyboard)

After that, Paris. I expected to be shocked by the rudeness of the French people. What rudeness? I did not see any, just a lot of very refined, classy and polite people. Paris involved getting tangled in too many Tourist Traps. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Can you believe it? What a waste of precious Euros. Then we went to the Louvre. Also a colossal waste of time. It was soooo busy there that you could not even SEE anything. After about an hour of sweating and rushing about, the three of us were so claustrophobic and frustrated that we just left. Good thing too, because the two other girls were on the verge of a an all=out fight. See? That is what the Louvre does to people.

oops. I forgot. No trip is complete without getting stopped by the police, right? In Berlin we got hauled off the tram on our way back from the concentration camp (while we were in the middle of reflecting on gas chambers and horrible scientific experiments on humans). We had made a minor error on our tickets (we forgot to validate them), so the police pushed us off and slapped us with a hefty fine. They kept looking at us very sternly and saying, "In Berlin, this is CRIME=inal offense." So what could we say? We pleaded ignorance, but it did no good. As the police said to us, "This is the shit of Berlin." Germany is just too organized and efficient==I think that is why I do not like it.

So after Paris it was to Amsterdam. Our hostel ended up being right in the middle of the Red Light District. Heh heh. Oops. Amsterdam was very pretty during the day. The houses by the canals are beautiful, and they are all different colours, unlike in Paris where everything was cream=coloured. It was also amusing to see how the houses and buildings along the canals are caving in and leaning in crazy directions. We went to the Anne Frank house, and to the Van Gogh museum. Both great.

Now how about that Red Light District??? Hmmm, interesting place. Since this blog is PG=13, I will not say much. It was both sad and humorous. Of course we took several strolls around the area, since our hostel was right there. I felt sad seeing the women "for sale" in the windows because it was such a commercial atmosphere, and so many of them looked around my age. But what was worse was watching all the men milling around, and also the men standing outside of the houses trying to drum up business. Even to us, 3 younger women. This is what we heard as we passed one (in a British accent): "Live sex show. Student discount. Educational." What a salesman.

I could not sleep very well that night after we saw all that. There was one funny sight though. All along our journeys we have run into Japanese tourists (of course), who seem to enjoy traveling in CLUMPS. So I guess they figured they needed to take in the Red Light District as well, since it is just another tourist sight: The night we were out we saw a pack of Japanese, at least 50 of them moving together, men AND women. If you can, try to imagine narrow European streets (Amsterdam had some of the narrowest streets I saw). Then imagine a huge clump of Japanese tourists trying to squeeze down one of the those. What is worse is that they got into a big fight and started yelling at each other. One minute they were pointing at the girls in the windows and chattering and taking pictures. The next minute they were yelling and shoving each other. Everyone on the street started watching the Japanese instead of the girls. It was amusing.

So the Red Light District also had a lot of "coffeeshops" with a lot of aromas of burning cannabis (like how I am being cryptic?). However, after Jamaica, this was not shocking to me.

All of this is way too long. Big apologies. But it brings me up to today, here in Brussels. We only got to spend one day here, which is a pity because it seems like a lovely city. As I mentioned earlier, the 2 girls I have been travelling with left today. I do not leave until tomorrow morning which means that I will be spending tonight sleeping in the airport. Not a wonderful prospect. It also means I get the rest of today to hang out in Brussels here. I have already been approached by a group of men from Dubai who asked me if I wanted to "go disco" tonight. So I think I will just try to lay low today.

Tomorrow I fly into Washington DC. I will spend a few days visiting brother John, and then return home to Iowa on the 15th. I am looking forward to some things at home, but mostly I am not ready to return.

Oh. One funny thing I remembered from Poland. A lot of the young people there were dressed in black clothes: black jeans and Doc Martens and black T=shirts of heavy metal bands. They also had the classic trench coats and long greasy hair. I remember how that was really big in North America quite a while ago. And it still is, for small groups of young people. But in Poland, there were hordes of them, black hordes moving in packs.

Speaking of black, my hair is no longer brown.

I have been on here long enough by now, so I need to end this. If there has been one bad thing about this trip, it is that it has been so busy that I have not had enough time to process and think through all the things I have seen and done. I am actually quite exhausted by now. My brain is stuffed full of things, and it just keeps on thinking and thinking, and I still never get through all the things I want to think about. Perhaps my few days in Virginia visiting John will give me some good time for that.

OK, off to wander around Brussels a bit longer.

Au revoir (I can not find the exclamation mark key either)