europe: disney to the alps

[written sunday, jan. 25th]

wednesday was a lovely day. we took the train to fussen, about 2 hours from munich, and the closest town to the ever famous neuschwanstein castle. this castle was built by ludwig ii in 18---and was designed to be what he thought a truly medieval castle should be -but it was never completed because he died unexpectedly (probably suicide). neuschwanstein is the model for disney's castle and is pretty much the romantic ideal i picture when i think of medieval castles. the castle sits high up in the mountains surrounded by trees and almost hidden from view until you arrive at the gates. white frosted trees, snow laden walks, and low foggy mists made the castle's gates, towers, and terraces even more idyllic. snow started falling on our way back from the castle and lizzie and i felt like we were in narnia as we made our way down the mountain. we got the train back to munich and went to bed early after readying for the next day in rothenburg.

after a rather interesting day of traveling (see my blog for more stories), we finally arrived in rothenburg early thursday evening. my parent's friend, lisa, has a cousin in bad windsheim who was wonderful enough to let us stay with him. james picked us up from the station at rothenburg and took us to his home where his wife and daughter had prepared a traditional german meal of pork roast, potato dumplings, and purple cabbage (like sourcraut). it was wonderful! the ripley family was great company (and they had an amazingly comfy guest bed christened "the princess bed.") the next day, barbara and jackie took us to rothenburg and we walked through blustery snow to the "christmas village" where they had thousands more ornaments in one place than i've ever seen in my life put together. we visited a church where they had a beautifully carved wood alter. then we walked through the snow down cute little streets and after getting cinnamon-sugar schneeballs, a traditional pastry, barbara dropped us off at the train station.

we got the train back to munich (much less trouble getting back than getting there) and then on to salzburg where we found our hostel (after only one wrong turn!). we were dead tired so we went straight to bed. the next morning we ate our nutella on bread and went out to see the sights and hear the sounds of salzburg. first we hiked up to the kapuziner monastery and got some great shots of the city. then we walked around down cute, narrow, winding streets, saw the glockenspiel, and found our way up to the hohensalzburg fortress. on our way down we tried opening some big metal gates thinking they would be locked, only to find ourselves in a crammed graveyard outside the church of st. sebastion. i love walking through graveyards (morbid, i know), so that was pretty sweet. we walked through beautiful squares, taking picture after picture, shared a huge bacon and cheese pretzel, and visited one of the most uniquely gorgeous churches i've ever seen (probably one of my top 3 favorite churches). we found the house where mozart was born and the home where he grew up (nearby across the river), promenaded through the schloss (palace) mirabell gardens (which are supposedly the most beautiful wedding venue in the world), and enjoyed one of my favorite things -crisp apple strudel -before making our may back to the hostel to spend the evening journaling, doing much needed laundry, and packing up to leave early the next morning.

the alarm went off at 7am and lizzie and i reluctantly crawled out of bed, loaded up our huge packs, and got to the station in time for the 8:30 train to zurich -which didn't exist. i don't know what i read, but we spent a lovely 2 hours in the station before catching the 10:30 train. i'm now writing this from that very train, where i'm looking out at the snow covered alps and the sounds of music are still running through my head.

travel happens. as much as we try to plan our time -how we are going to get from one place to the next, when we are going to leave, when we will arrive, where we will stay, etc. -it usually ends up happening quite differently than we expected. take today for instance.

we had planned to go to rothenburg and we knew it would be a bit more complicated than normal because it's a smaller town and a bit out of the way. so last night we looked up the train schedule, wrote down which connections we'd need with times and platform numbers, etc. and were all set. or so we thought. according to the schedule, we'd leave at 10:55am and get to rothenburg about 1:30pm. no problem, right?

after breakfast at our hostel (they had peanut butter and bananas -i was a happy happy camper!!), we set out to catch the 10:55 train to nurnburg. all well so far, we arrived in nurnburg and found our connecting train to ansbach right across at the next platform. we both commented on how much we like traveling by train -especially in germany where the system works like clockwork. maybe this is where we jinxed ourselves?

i don't know exactly how it happened, but we got off at the wrong stop -a random little town just minutes from where we should have gotten off. after looking at train schedule postings and getting very confused, we realized our mistake and sat down (outside in the cold because little towns apparently don't keep their stations open on thursday afternoons) to wait for the next train. the train came along after a bit, and we got up ready to get on, only to be confused by the signs in the window which looked like it was going right back to where we came from, which we definitely didn't want. we paused for like 2 seconds (literally) to think this over, and as soon as we realized we did indeed want this train, the doors were closing and there was no getting on.

so we sat back down, determining to get on the next train no matter what. a while later, the train pulled in and we were inside before your mom could go to college. (which is not very long). we rode along until we came to ansbach, which is where we'd wanted to be in the first place. at ansbach, we looked up our next stop in a computer, found the time and platform, and were there in mere seconds only to realize the train was just leaving and it didn't seem to be the train we wanted. so we went inside to wait for the next train which was scheduled for an hour later.

after an hour, we went to wait at the platform where we met a guy who asked if we needed help, and informed us that there were "no trains" to rothenburg. oh. he said we'd have to take a bus, so we went out to the bus station to check things out. we found a stop for rothenburg, attempted to read the time table, and sat down (outside in the freezing cold) to wait for the 3:45 bus. you should know that doing sudoku with mittens on is hard work. 3:45 rolled around, there was no bus. 3:50 came, and still no bus. when it was 3:55, we decided we'd read the schedule wrong and went inside to ask someone. at information, i was again told there were indeed "no trains" to rothenburg. right. so we found some seats inside the station where it was semi-warmer, sat down to wait for the next train, and continued our sudoku fest.

at 4:40, we were standing out at the bus stop, hoping hoping hoping that a bus would show up as we were supposed to meet people in rothenburg at 6pm. lo and behold -a bus rolled up at 4:50 and we were overjoyed to see "rothenburg" across the front. 70 minutes later we were craning our heads out the windows of the bus and squinting to read signs in the dark so we could figure out where we are. after much frustration at lack of lights, we found out we were in rothenburg and decided to get off at the next stop. it was 6:05 when the bus pulled up at the rothenburg station (and we saw a train just leaving for the station we took the bus from...what??!) we hurried outside and looked around for james, who was supposed to meet us at 6pm. after a few minutes we found him and he was super nice about us being late, and very understanding about the trains. it turned out he works in ansbach where we just spent the last 3 hours of our lives, and had to drive out of his way to pick us up in rothenburg. isn't it ironic? (a little too ironic, i really do think).

so what was going to be a 2 hour morning/early afternoon train ride and then day spent in rothenburg turned out to be 2 hours on the train, 3 hours waiting at train stations, and another hour on the bus. good times.

like i said, travel happens. you scheme and plan, but half the time all you can do is cross your fingers and hope you get there within the month. i'm not good at that -i like to know. but i also like to travel -and this is what traveling is -it just happens.

europe: munich beginnings

update from munich: we thought we were going to have internet at our hostel, but when we got here 2 nights ago, the wireless wouldn't connect because we use firefox. ha. anyway, we just tried it again this morning, and lo and behold, it works!! so we've been in munich for 2 nights now. we went on a city tour yesterday and walked all over in the pouring rain-trying-to-be-snow-but-was-mostly-slush. lovely. today looks about the same. we're planning on taking the train to neuschwanstein castle today, then we'll be back here for the night. look on facebook for pictures, coming soon!

europe: vienna

greetings from munich. well actually i'm writing this on the train from salzburg, but by the time i send it i'll be in munich. unfortunately, they don't have internet on trains yet, but that's probably next.

it's been a few days since i wrote, and lots and lots has happened since then. lizzie and i spent two days in krakow, poland (i've been trying and trying to pronounce it correctly, but i can't get it) this last thursday and friday (i won't tell you how long it just took me to figure out what days those were). on thursday we walked all over the city and saw wawel castle, st. mary's basilica, and the old town square (which reminded us a lot of st. marcs square in venice). it's a beautiful city.

then on friday we visited an anything-but-beautiful place -auschwitz-birkenhau. this was the largest concentration camp run by the nazis during ww2 and is about an hour and a half from krakow. birkenhau was the main camp where thousands of polish, hungarian, austrian, german, czech, etc. jews were sent to be dealt with. it was quite a sobering experience -seeing the barracks, work places, gas chambers and crematoriums where literally millions of lives were destroyed. one really interesting thing (that i hadn't seen at dachau) was a section of the museum telling the stories of local polish families who were dedicated to helping camp victims in any way they could. one older couple even adopted a 5 year old boy whom they were able to rescue from the camp. i was reminded that there are light and hope even in the darkest of places.

on friday night we took a night train (our first this trip!) to vienna (wien, as they say). two girls who were also backpacking were so nice as to wake us up in the middle of the night to tell us we needed to switch trains, and we found ourselves in the lovely, very cold city of vienna at 6:15 saturday morning. we spent the day seeing the sights (trying to stay warm AND see the city by riding trams all over and later sitting in starbucks as long as our shared latte would let us). vienna is gorgeous and i felt the need to be a bit more posh in order to fit in, but that's ok.

late saturday afternoon we took the train to graz where my grandma has friends who were so wonderful as to have us over. the koidl family home was everything two wanderers could have dreamed of -great company, delicious food (we had schnitzel twice!!), a warm bed, etc. etc. etc. we went to church with the family on sunday (the english translation service was most excellent and they sang "i'm trading my sorrows" in english! lizzie and i have both decided we want to learn german and worship songs seem to be a great way to start) that afternoon, elizabeth (mrs. koidl) gave us a tour of graz. a beautiful city that has a seems to have found the balance between traditional and modern. we played games with the family that night (a highlight for lizzie and me) and and stayed up too late drinking tea. it was a wonderful time.

we were up early this morning (monday), and georg (mr. koidl) took us to the station where we got the train back to vienna. today was not nearly so cold, so we had a much better time galavanting around the city. we went to the belvedere palace, karlschiche (st. charles church) and schonburnn palace (where we were very excited to see the labyrinth, but found it's closed nov. - march! one of the downfalls of traveling during the low season). we were very impressed with the palace grounds and decided we need to watch pride and prejudice again asap.

we had planned on catching a train straight to munich from vienna, but after several little frustrating events added up into missing our train, we ended up catching a different train to salzburg and getting on a train to munich from there. having eurrail passes is nicer than ever when things don't go as planned -which they often don't -you just make some adjustments and wallah! all is good again.

i'm constantly reminded of God's hand holding us every step of the way...people who've never met us before treating us like family, train times working out in spite of spoiled plans, warm train cars to sleep in, etc. etc. thank you so much for your prayers -it's so wonderful to know we're loved even far away. coming next -munich. maybe i'll figure out why it sounds like munchkin in german (munchen) and if there's any correlation to the popular term of endearment. =) danka shu und al vede zaine!

europe: krakow edition

here's the next part of our adventure. first of all, we're safely in krakow, poland. we're staying at a hostel where we accidentally booked only tomorrow night instead of tonight, because we were off a day in our dates. oops. fortunately they had space available and we are able to stay here despite our confused traveling dates.

some of you already know, but we got another surprise this morning. yesterday when elizabeth's purse was stolen, i had immediately gone through my stuff to check if anything of mine had been lost. i had thought i found the envelope with half of my money in it (i had my money split up in two places, this was one of them), and thought i was only missing my camera. but this morning i realized my money was gone as well. so the guy made off with both of our money and both our cameras, along with elizabeth's passport, credit cards, ipod, etc. anyway, that was a bit of a shock. at that point we were ready to call our trip off and come home, but we got on the train to poland as planned, just taking one thing at a time.

while on the train, we were both stressing out, of course...trying to figure out what in the world to do. both of us are planners and worriers, so we decided to write numbers/dates/etc. out and see what we could figure out. we ended up coming up with a budget (made up of other half of my money which we still have). we figured out that we can do the next 17 days through to paris, using our 15 day eurrail passes, with a budget of 45 euros a day (for both of us). it seems very doable. we were just looking at some exchange rates online, and it looks like we might have even more than that if the euro/won/dollar exchange rate is as good as google says it is (which seems to differ when we go to money exchange places, ha).

when i got online tonight, i literally had dozens of emails from family/friends/people i don't even know from all over europe offering to help us in any way they could. it's amazing and overwhelming. so no matter what happens, God is here and somehow we're seeing Him more now that our plans are not going according to schedule. funny how that happens.

oh, good news!! we got up at 6:30 this morning and were at the US embassy by 8:30 to get lizzie an emergency passport. everything was fine (excpet we had to go get new passport photos since the ones we had done were .2 cm. too small, ha). so elizabeth has a passport and we could leave prague! yay!

for now, we're in krakow tonight and tomorrow and then we'll take a night train (cutting down on lodging costs!) to vienna on the 17th. then we'll see from there.

more updates to come as they happen....thank you all so much for your prayers and offers to help, etc. you are amazing and we've been blessed.

the europe chronicles -prague 3, poorer and wiser

so, as you've heard, we had a bit of a mishap here in prague this morning with elizabeth's purse (with passport, 1000 euros, credit cards, camera, ipod, etc.) being stolen. we spent the day going to police stations, getting sent to other police stations, finding the US embassy only to find it closed, hanging out in a police station waiting room for hours along with everyone else who got mugged in prague today. it was a bit of a damper day, compared to what we were planning on doing -exploring the jewish quarter. but plans change. at this point, we're planning on going on with the trip, we'll just have half the budget we planned on. so we'll see how that goes. our biggest worries are paris and london and the rest of england where it will be more expensive for lodging. other than that, we'll cut out more expensive tours and live on oatmeal and spaghetti. ha. thank you for your prayers! lots of reminders that we are not the ones in control...and life goes on without pictures of prague (both our cameras were stolen and we hadn't downloaded the pics off them yet).

the europe chronicles -prague 2, mishap

elizabeth's purse was just stolen out of our hostel room. a guy came in late last night (after we were asleep) and slept in the bunk down from us. he was still asleep this morning. elizabeth and i and the other girls staying here were in and out of the room this morning, while he continued to sleep. then we went across the hall to the kitchen to eat breakfast, came back a couple minutes later and he was gone and her purse was gone. we searched the room and it's not anywhere. i went down to the street to check just in case, but didn't see anything. we talked to the lady in the office and she has no record of anyone checking in last night or leaving this morning. she told us where the police station and us embassy are, and we're going to go make a report, but i doubt there's much they can do. i have a copy of elizabeth's passport, but that's all. please pray for us..jayne (who is online) just got ahold of elizabeth's dad and he's going to cancel her credit cards, etc. there was over 1000 euros in lizzie's purse, all our money for until we got to england. i have quite a bit of won, but all her money is gone. we were planning on going to krakow tomorrow, but we'll see how things work out.

the europe chronicles -prague 1

i should know how to say "hello" in czech by now, but i'm not that good. i'll listen more closely tomorrow. so we're here in prague. today we slept in (didn't go to sleep till late last night since we had slept on the train coming from berlin). we ate oatmeal and granola bars for breakfast and then set out, maps in hand, for old town square. it wasn't far from our hostel, which was really nice. all of prague that i've seen so far is beautiful -but the old part of town is gorgeous with all its ornate buildings and cobblestone streets. we saw the astronomical clock and tyn church (which was closed today, so we'll have to go tomorrow), we walked through the old square market, and took picture after picture. we walked across the charles bridge and up steep, narrow streets to prague castle. we got there about an hour and a half before they closed, so we just did the short tour of the castle. we went through vitis cathedral (from the 1300's, where st. wenceslas is buried) and st. george's basilica, and walked down golden lane (where all the goldsmiths who worked for the king were at), and went in a tortue tower (ahhhh!). we probably could have spent a bit more time with our audio guides, but we felt good about it. it's FREEZING here!!! that's not understated at all. elizabeth and i wore lots of layers and wrapped our scarfs around our faces and wore big hats and gloves and it was still the coldest we've ever been. but we were outside all day, so that doesn't make things easier. we walked quickly and tried to stay distracted by the sights. we got back to our hostel about 5:30, made tea to help us thaw out, laid down to rest for a minute, and then ended up sleeping for nearly 3 hours. guess we were tired. we went out at about 8 and found stuff for spaghetti at a nearby mini-market...made dinner...planned out some budgeting stuff...and now we're about ready for bed. i'm so thankful for a place to sleep where it's nice and warm! this hostel is perfect for what we need -all the basics, a kitchen, and cheap!

the europe chronicles -berlin

guess where we went last night!! jayne told us she had a surprise for us and didn't tell us what it was until we were standing across the street -she took us to see the nutcracker ballet at the state opera house here in berlin!! it was amazing. i kept thinking katie and carrie would be so jealous. the opera house was gorgeous and they did the entire ballet, of course...probably nearly 3 hours. the story was a little different though -began with a flaskback to marie (clara) being kidnapped during the revolution. then she is adopted and during the rest of the play she is the kind of "shunned" sister. anyway, i'll have to look up the story and actually read it in english. jayne translated the german from the program.

today we walked all over...mostly east berlin. we went to the reichstag building (old parlamont), and then we were really cold from walking around, so we went to starbucks and hung out for a good little while and got all warmed up. that was like perfect. then we braced ourselves and went back out and jayne took us to a bunch of cool places. we went to the holocaust memorial which is about the size of a block and covered with grave shaped stones of all different heights. (we very inappropriately decided it would be the perfect place to play hide and seek). then we walked through "the topography of terror" which is the longest preserved portion of the berlin wall. very cool to actually see. then we walked around through beautiful squares (platzes) and eventually came to "checkpoint charlie" which is where the allies made set up camp. (my information is probably not all there, and i don't have time to really elaborate, so give me) lots of grace =)).

now we're back at the hostel in the warm and we're thinking about eating, i think. the hostel is super nice and we have a 4 bed room in which we are the only three, as of now. last night i got to sleep on a super high bunk bed. that was exciting. i'm quickly using my precious internet time, so i'm going to get off and save some for later.

but we're here and it's wonderful. jayne will be with us until sunday, then we'll be on our own. kind of scary. but it will be a grand adventure, i'm sure.

elizabeth, jayne and i went to the jewish museum in berlin today, and all i can say is you need to go. i can't give any justice to a description of the museum -what it looked like -all i can do is try and tell you how it felt. the museum is housed in a grey squarish building with jagged slits placed randomly on all sides. my first impression was a building that had been cut apart, mangled, burned, left for dead -then later found, piece by piece, and put back together. the parts belong, but they don't fit the way they should. the sight is eerie and uneasy, appropriately.

you walk in on the first floor and are instantly struck with the feeling that things aren't right -and they aren't. the floors are sloped, the walls are dead white, the hallways jag out at uneven points, and there is nothing giving order to the way you should go. there are three hallways -the axle of exile and the axle of continuity run parallel and then the axle of the holocaust cuts through them with no regard for either. it was disorienting, confusing, uncomfortable, scary, and anything but numb. i kept looking behind me and searching for elizabeth and jayne because i felt like i was lost and i needed constant reassurance that i was not alone.

the only things on the white walls are black windows telling stories of men, women, and children affected by the holocaust. parents who sent their children to countries ahead of them, planning to join them soon, only to be arrested before they could leave germany. husbands and fathers taken before they could help their families to safety. postcards from mothers in concentration camps assuring their children not to worry -things are not as bad as they seem. letters urging friends and family to "keep your chin up," "God is near."

at one end of the axle of the holocaust is the holocaust tower. it's a huge stone cave type tower with only a slash in the top that lets in the tiniest bit of light. the first time i walked in the huge metal door, i turned around and walked right back out. there was no one else in the room, and i was literally blasted with the darkness, the cold, the vast emptiness and yet almost solid mass of despair. i couldn't do it. and victims of the holocaust couldn't either -but they had no choice. it's something no one should ever experience -it's the epitome of loneliness and the opposite of how humans are made to thrive. i went in again later with jayne and elizabeth, but still couldn't handle it for more than a few seconds. it was so real.

when leaving the first floor, the stairs stretch on and on and continue into the wall at the top. leading nowhere. the next floors documented jewish history from day one to the present, it was beautifully done, well arranged, and full of information, but the first floor is what makes it real. i can't describe it, -i felt so helpless and small. and yet it made me more resolved to live in a way that demonstrates the immense respect and love i believe each person deserves and is created to experience.

the world is not right. it's not right at all. i'm reminded of this daily -when i see a homeless person on the street or a parent screaming at an obstinate child on the subway. sometimes i wonder if it's good to be so aware -if a passive optimism isn't just as effective or even better than a deep sorrow at what i see behind pasted smiles. at this point, i can't go back, so i have no choice. but what i do have is a hope that dives down deeper each time i see joy behind tears.

a few resolutions for the new year:

-do something scary/uncomfortable everyday
-say "i love you" more
-hug more
-floss
-write/talk to God everyday
-read at least one "literary classic" per month
-learn one piano piece a month
-study a language -either french or german
-study for and take the GRE
-write a "real" letter once a week

that's enough, i think. even if i don't carry them out to a tee, it's more a matter of being aware of where i'm coming from and where i'm going. here's to 2009!!