Germany

Before taking off from Zurich, I had to laugh as I was packing away the last of my things and I had to make the decision of what to do with the so ever helpful toiletry case that Air France had given me to aid ease the loss of my luggage (pic left). Of course I threw the mofo out after a little picture to remember the appropriately representative slogan, and the good times me and the bag had together.

Well, my first taste of Germany came via the Autobahn, as I scooted up from Zurich to Darmstadt with a ride that Claudia set up for me. Talk about Benzes, Beamers, and Audi´s !!!!! You´re rollin at 130-140 K per hour, passin on the left, and all of a sudden you get the highbeams in the ass to move over as a "family car" or wagon just blitz past you at 160-170......No Problem! It´s pretty crazy, but it seems to work alright.


Frankfurt

From Darmstadt, I took the train straight to Frankfurt and met up with Claudia. I am so full of it to have so many good friends! Claudia (left in left pic) came to meet me at the train station with her friend Katarina (right in left pic). Katarina just moved to Frankfurt and was nice enough to receive us. We went straight into town to get some drinks. Started with some Apple Wine ! Which is the indigenous drink of the Hessen area....not bad....a little bitter.....you usually drink it with carbonated water.

This next part is for Claudia since she hasn't heard this story before. Then we went to an Irish bar and I met my new best buddy (for the next hour or so). A true jovial and loud german named Berndt, who greeted me with "Where are you from ?.......... Canada !!! ..... I love Canada !!....but I would never go there for vacation...but I love Canada !!! " And then to fullfill my first hours in Germany, Berndt offered me a shot of, as he said it incredibly fast, " YEABEREISTER !!!!!! ", and after having him repeat it thrice, I realized he meant Jagermeister, so.... (pic right with Berndt) I couldn't turn down a shot of Jagger from a german dude. It was kinda bitter sweet though as Berndt was supposedly a ICE (high speed german train) conductor and was taking off in 3 hours, completely pissed, to operate the Frankfurt-Hamburg train. He was a nice fella but a little on the unprofessional side.

Frankfurt is a well known german city, and I had heard the name a few times, but it's not because it's so beautiful, or has an extensive history, it's because it is pretty much the business capital (pic left), but especially, the main flight hub in Germany so you hear the name quite often because of that. It is also the only german city that boasts a skyline. laadee friggin daa ! Well, it's still nice and so Claudia and I did the tour in just over 2 hours and that was enough. (pic right of the Main river with the cathedral) There was also a very cool structure to indicate one of the metro stations from above ground (pic left).


It's actually really nice, even Claudia was surprised, how friendly germans are towards travellers. As soon as they here english spoken, they ask where I am from and get into a good conversation. I think the beard kinda helps too cause no one, no where, sports one so people take notice and usually realize I am a tourist from my attire (especially the beard!).



Weisbaden

Next, we went to spend a night in Weisbaden at another of Claudia's friends', Ianna. Not much to do in Weisbaden but it was a wine festival with many kiosks of regional wines and great german staples like brautworst. We scored a little table with the bavarian style band playing, and had a few bottles of really good white wine (pic left with the girls). It was a really good night, and once being relatively intoxicated, Claudia and Ianna watched the DVD of an old german sitcom. I was interested to see what it was all about, but you can see the novelty intrigue wore off very quickly (pic right of me "watching" the TV).


Trier

The next day, kinda hungover, Claudia and I made our way to her place inTrier on a gorgeous train ride that follows the Rhine river all the way. There are vinyards all along the route, and also many castles and beautiful villages. Places I would really like to go back and visit.

Then we hit Trier. The first night, Claudia had invited me to a wedding. Actually no wedding, but just the party since the couple had gotten married last year. I had my first weissbeer, or weitsen beer (white or wheat beer) which is a staple of that area and all of Germany actually. Free alkeehawl, and great buffet but we were tired and the party kinda died early so...... meh!

Trier is so rich with old Roman ruins and monuments. Really gorgeous to visit! The city center is quite breath taking too, with the classic german houses (pic left). The Porta Nigra (pic right) gains access into the city center, or old town. I took a tourist pass that gave me access to the main monuments, so off I went to dwindle in impressive roman history.

The Dome Cathedral (pic left) was really impressive, and so were the carvings and dome ceilings from within. Then I checked out the Basilica but it was the Palace and backyard of the palace that were impressive..........straight out of a renaissance novel (pic right).


But the piece de resistance for me was the Kaisertherman, the old roman thermal bath house (pic left). You can walk underground in all of the stone passage ways (pic right) and see the bathpit remains, and with all of the grass and vegetation growing everywhere, it's so peaceful ! It was kinda spooky and beautiful at the same time.

I also checked out the arena. That was pretty impressive too (pic left). Going into the underground barracks to see where the warriors or whatever was kept down there. Pretty cool especially with the vineyards in the background.
Another big sight in Trier is Karl Marx's house as he was born and lived in Trier. Quite a name to incorporate into the town history! I checked out the house and took a picture but I really should've taken a picture of the incessant groups of Japanese people that flock towards, take rounds of pictures and then get back on the bus. This is a familiar Trier activity it seems.
The main sight in the surrounding area, and all of Deutschland is beer. Germans love beer, and they're damn good at making it! And the small town of Bitburg is just 30 minutes away so the well known brau is brewed there (pic right). I really like the slogan as Bitte means please, and ein is of course one.

I also met some of Claudia's friends. The coolest were Bianca and Miguel. They had us over for coffee. They were so welcoming and it was so cool talking spanish, and english, and listening to them talk german. A great lingual menage a trois.

Luxembourg

While in Trier, Claudia's friend Katarina (now in Frankfurt but kinda still in Trier) was leaving on vacation with her boyfriend Stefan to go to the States. They were leaving from Luxembourg airport, and were leaving Claudia their car. So....... we left with them, dropped them off at the airport and then hit Luxembourg city for the day. It's only a little over an hour from Trier so it was the perfect opportunity to check it out. It was so perfect, and Katarina and Stefan are also super amazing people. Just cracking jokes and laughing and smiling all the time. My friends, and there friends are just awesome people. I am so full of it to fall upon these great characters all of the time.

And what a gorgeous town. It is the city of bridges and aqueducts (pic left), and ahhh man is it ever green and lush......full of vegetation. It was a little empty and boring at first since it was a Sunday, but then we found the lower old town with the river running through it.........OHHHH CRAP is it ever gorgeous (pic right). Of course, with such majestic scenery and beautiful views, you do feel a little high class.......well obviously with good reason......I mean come on.......look at me ! (pic left). Just a nice walk in a sheltered and well kept wilderness (pic right with Claudia up ahead)


Back in Trier, Catou (a friend from the Douglas back in Montreal), and her boyfriend Matthieu joined the band wagon since they were heading up to Leiden, Netherlands for a neuroscience conference that Catou was taking part in. I was going to use their services in the way of a ride up there myself. They will be in europe for a month vacation as Matthieu has his own neuropsychology conference in Austria in late September.

First action with Catou and Matt, Claudia set up a wine tasting at a vineyard / guesthouse that her parents always buy their wine at. This was in the amazingly beautiful town of Urziger. The whole city, and area, is wrapped by the Mosel river on one side, and the vineyard hills on the other. The Mosel valley is well reknowned for its great white wine and Riesling grapes. We tasted a few wines (pic right), from dry "trocken", to semi-dry, and to sweet, and with various years and quality of grapes in between. The couple that take care of the vineyard / guesthouse are just so sweet and we had a great time with Claudia doing her regular duties of wine tasting translator. It was a really cool experience and the wine was so good.

I usually hate white wine but this was good, sweet, and really cheap stuff, so I bought two bottles.....well bought.......I thought someone had paid globally for all of the bottles we took, but no, and when we called the couple to tell them I hadn't paid, they said, "oh, consider it a gift"..........I really have the biggest horseshoe up my ass it's not even funny.

Then, the sweet couple suggested to check out a classic Mosel valley town just up the road. I forget the name of the town , but man was it ever nice. Surrounded, and immersed in the vineyards of the countryside (pic left), and the small, small town square was totally representative and really nice (pic right).

Another great day in the books !

Claudia was just perfect! She had all of these things organized, and I saw a bunch of cool stuff with her, as she was my personal guide and translator. We didn't do that many towns, but what we did was to the point, and it seemed we kept on moving all the time. It seemed like we were together for almost 2 weeks, but really it was only almost 1 week. Right ? Hey Dr. Buss ?

I had such a good time for my quick intro to Germany, and it was all thanks to Claudia !

Claudia was also attending the conference in Holland, so she left early, and Catou, Matt and I went up in their rental car later (pic left). We tried to visit the Bitburger brewery but couldn't get in.....You have to reserve ahead. Then we were passing quickly by Belgium so we stopped in Liege for a beer and fries. It was tasty but nothing to see really in Liege. Kinda grey!

So we took off after the beer and went straight to Leiden, in the Netherlands. Catou and Matt had booked a B&B there. So friggin sweet......they snuck me in...........we had a nice heineken (pic left) and I slept on the floor........had a nice shower the next morning, and then went with them to check out the conference. I wanted to see my supervisor from the Douglas, Dr. Jens Pruessner, and atleast shake his hand. He's such a cool guy. Everyone is always respected on the same level as soon as you meet him. He is a really intelligent man, and has been a superb mentor in the past couple of years. He was actually presenting at the conference and it was nice to see a master at his work (pic right). Calm, collective, and the question period is answered with prepared slides.......what a pro ! It was really cool cause after his talk, we got to chat and he was happy to see I was having such a good time and he gave me some suggestions since he had done relatively the same trip on his motorcycle when he was my age. And I got a free breakfast, and lunch at the conference........what a deal man !!

Leiden is a really gorgeous town with all of the canals and old buildings. So cool! The nicest difference in Holland are the bikes. Holy shit are there a lot of bicycles.....and they're not new expensive bikes with shocks or skinny tires....no sir......there about 30 years old with the semi-curved handle bars, and two speeds, and everyone is on a bike. NO EXCEPTION! It's so cool to see people of all kinds racing by. Girls all decked out going to the bar; rapper kids with their music blaring (pimp my ride style). and businessmen in suits.........all passing by on their grandma style bikes........it was so cool!

After the conference experience, I took the train only a half hour to THE DAM! That's right, Amsterdam!

I shall save this for the next entry since it's getting exhaustive already, and I have a brand new era in my life that starts in Amsterdam. It has to do with a special lady that I met in the red light district..............................You'll have to wait for the next time for the juicy details.

Later ! Love you guys !

Paris
(A little prolonged hiatus)

Well, I finally did discover Paris since I was grounded there for a little extra time due to the fact that my backpack with all of my clothes and shoes, and thus life, was still somewhere in information limbo. I was incredibly lucky that my cousin Alex could fork over his appartment and let me stay there as long as I wanted. I figured my bag would show up the next day since they had localised it the day after we landed in Paris.......welllll........No dice!

I waited in Paris instead of moving on 'cause I had the bare essentials: thong sandals, one pair of bobettes, one pair of shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and the wonderful t-shirt Air France gave me to somehow replace the 22Kg of wardrobe I had in my bag. At first it was fine, I was actually happy to get the little toiletry kit and it was all shits and giggles, but after 5 days in Paris, I was getting worried. It's not the fact that it was 5 days, but mostly because it had been 4 days that they had localised the bag in Nice (our connection from Corsica to Paris) and that they were waiting on a confirmation to send it to Paris.

Well while waiting, I was really happy to find out that some awesome quebeckers I had met in Carcassonne were now in Paris. Chantale and Simon (pic left) are planning on staying in France for a couple of years and they came to Paris to set up shop. So we checked out the town, walking everywhere, and having great fat lunches and suppers with mondo bread, cheese, apples and wine......classic, cheap, damn tasty, and makes you feel nice and relaxed (had supper across La Seine just looking at the Hunchback's backside......pic right). It was really sweet to meet up with them and actually check out more of Paris. There was a reason after all for the lost bag! It had to be the reason. Obviously I killed my boomerang feet walking with the thongs, but it was well worth it.

Simon and Chantale have been using CouchSurfing pretty much everywhere, and really meeting cool people. For now, they were staying with a french chick in the Red Light district (3ième arrondissement), really near the Louvre, Notre-Dame (pic left) and sweet pedestrian areas. We walked through the 5th, 6th, and 7th districts with St. Germain street and lots of nice trendy areas.We also went to check out the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in the east end 20ième. This is the high class cemetery and we saw the tombstones of Edith Piaf, Molière, La Fontaine, and that of the Lizard Queen himself (pic right). The cemetery was quite nice, and especially in the northern WWII sector where there were really cool sculptures (pic left ) and a little guy that was just irresistable .....mmmmmm......... (pic right)


Well, Chantale and Simon landed themselves some long term jobs in Paris so they were appartment shopping and seemed to be settling in nicely. They really kept me grounded and made me further realize how we can be well off and content with not much. We were all 3 feeling spoiled with our bread, cheese and wine, and easy life-style by the water. We kept on saying, "Ostie qu'on s'fait chier hein"......"les Francais sont chiens"......et "crisse que la vie est dur"........Obviously they were sarcastic, reflective comments, and the French people are so incredibly welcoming, sympathetic, and love interacting with quebeckers especially! I still have nothing but great memories, and experiences...........The only bump in the road is the loss of baggage, but hey!........gotta keep movin' so..........



Chamonix-Mont Blanc

I decided to pack my "things" (took me forever) after the 7th day in Paris waiting for a confirmation, and went staright to Chamonix (pronounce the "x") with a night train. I told Air France to send my bag directly to my friend Ursina's in Zürich. The ride was decent and pretty cheap, and I arrived pretty early in the crazy gorgeous scenery of the Alps and of course the pièce de resistance, Mont Blanc (pic left)(pic right of ice on the mountain). I couldn't really spend too much time in Chamonix since I had lost some time while in Paris, and I had to keep moving on to make it to Zürich for the 10th or 11th inorder to be in shape for Street Parade. I had also lost the opportunity to visit Zermatt and Interlaken in Switzerland. So, I met up with my contact for an appartment this fall, Alex, a quebecker that's been in Chamonix a couple of years now and was looking for a roomate. I could only meet him after he finished work so I hit the town to pass out CV's in sports shops. It was beautiful sunny day but it was still cold in the mountains. Good thing I bought some pants, shoes and a sweater before leaving Paris. Looking at this town, I can't wait to come back and hit those insane slopes.

I had my first psychological downfall though while I was in the middle of this picturesque village. The 1st negative thoughts of my trip. I was surrounded by mountains, lakes, rivers, and thus hiking trails galore, and I couldn't enjoy any of them cause I had no gear, my feet were cut up, and I had my day bag heavy and full of crap. I sat on a bench in a square, and pondered what the hell I would do if my bag never showed. I can't buy another bag, jacket, clothes, (about 2 grands' worth) and just forget all the stuff I bought in Morocco (that was still in the bag). I just told myself to get to Zürich, and there I would be with some really good people, have a good time, and the bag should show up there since I'd be spending about a week there.

So then I met up with Alex, I checked out the appartment and he invited me to stay for the night, which was cool. He is a really good kid and it looks like I would have no problem living with'em but it'll only be in December, not October like I thought. I was too early for the job applications and they'll only take decisions by the earliest mid-November. So that means more travel time for me.......Maybe Greece for October if Kosta can get off his fat ass and come join me !!!!! Hey Spike ! Hey Spike ! Too bad for the appartment cause Alex will have to change places since he'll have no one to share the cost. Check out the view from the balcony (pic).


Zürich

The train ride through the Alps towards Lausanne was just amazing. Sliding on the edge of the mountains, looking so so far down below in the ravines of the incessant valleys. It was so fun being glued to the window and just staring at everything.......so green, lush, and little villages spurting randomly on the mountainside (pic).......all classically Swiss. So beautiful!

Then I arrived in Zürich without Ursina, or her freshly crowned husband, knowing (they just got married June 30th). I couldn't get through to them from France and I wanted to get movin' so I called them only from Zürich, left a message and beelined to their place. I had a great time on the way there. I put my bag down, and a bottle of wine I had broke without my knowledge. Of course, the only thing that was RUINED was my sleeveless hand woven shirt, that I bought in Morocco. Kind of a pisser, but holy shit was I ever happy to finally get to their place, and they were happily waiting for me.

These two are almost one of a kind. They are so cool, positive, smart, great, active, and incredibly welcoming people. They had MY room set up, with Ursina's laptop for whenever I needed. The room is usually her office but she offered it completely to me during my stay. They made me awesome suppers (swiss fondu no doubt......pic left), and great breakfasts (musli with yogurt), and payed for a lot of my stuff like food, and some transport since they want the guest to feel at home and have a good time, and they feel bad since things are so goddam expensive in Switzerland and Zurich. I actually read in the newspaper on the train ride over that Zurich was the 4th most expensive city in the world to live in......Oslo being 1st......but it nonetheless boast also being the city with the best quality of life in the world. An honour that it swaps with Vancouver almost every year.

It was also a nice surprise to find out Ursina has a little bun in the oven. She's 5 months gone, and is as cute as ever. These 2 are really something else. They are so into each other, and you can see so easily it's a respectful and shared lifestyle. That kid is gonna grow up in a friggin healthy (both psychologically and physically) environment. But...... because of the pregnancy, Ursina couldn't come out to the Street Parade. A bit of a bummer, but the baby's health is numero uno. Ursina still had a day off from her 2 week break, and we went to the picturesque city of Luzerne. It was pissing rain though. We saw the main sites: The bridge, Mt. Pilatus in the background, and the sleeping lion carved within the side of the mountain (pic right).

We also visited a pretty cool Glacier museum that was erected on top of rocks with huge glacial potholes, which 1st showed evidence that there were glaciers there during the last ice age. The best time we had was probably in the mirror fun house at the museum. I ran into myself a few times cause of course your visual perception is completely skewed. Super cool though. (pics) (Ursina is actually on my left in this pic) Then we had a sweet lunch (pic bottom left, and walked along the well known lake (pic bottom right) before heading back towards Zürich. We met Beda at his work place and took a boat for about an hour zigzagging across the lake of Zürich. We went to a festival with kiosks with good food and beer everywhere, and there was a fireworks competition on the edge of the lake. Pretty cool and relax. Oh I was kept active even though it rained a lot while I was here.

On Saturday, August 12th, it was go time, and Beda took the relief for Street Parade like a pro, and man I hit the best festival I've been to so far. Of course we got dressed up (pics left + right), obviously I had to use his clothes, and we hit the Parade (pic right). Ursina's sister Marian also came alomg to join in the dancing festivities. It's such a nice scene cause almost 600,000 people get together to listen to electronic music and follow love mobiles around the Parade route dancing. The route follows the lake, and there are also stationary stages on the side of the road. There are about 30 love mobiles, each with about 40 people aboard dancing, each with their own Dj, and humassive sound systems pumping out great tunes that engulf everything around them. You can follow the mobiles or stand on the side of the road and watch and listen to the various parties go by you every 5 minutes. Of course there are some freaks (like a completely naked guy with nothing but a blue wig, and a chick giving a super sexy dance in her g-string as she only shows her ass from 3 floors up within a hotel balcony), but they add to the atmosphere, and the best part is just that, the atmosphere. The whole city, even the older generation just enjoys it for what it is, and are curious to see all the action. It draws so much tourist spending, just like the Gay Pride in montreal. With all those people (pic left), and drugs and booze, there's never any trouble; just good vibes all around! Even the train station is used as a huge hall to host some free music sets until midnight (pic right). Also what was cool is that it stopped raining and was actually sunny most of the afternoon, just enough time for the parade and then it rained again. There are many good pics on snapfish, go check it out!

And then, later on, there are of course afterparties everywhere, and when in Rome.........huh, HUH!! So I paid the 50 francs to go to a slammin' party (Moving-City) with multiple floors and rooms, and open areas, and of course a crazy Dj lineup (Dj Rush, Chris Liebing, and Adam Beyer). I made it until 6am, and that's just because the beats were so sick. I went alone since Beda had had his dose already for the day, but I made many super cool Swiss German buddies at the party......Really good time!!!!

On the Tuesday, it was finally sunny in Zurich so I checked out the town. It is worth the whole quality of life designation. Everything is so clean and open, and welcoming, especially for a relatively big city. The whole public transport system is amazingly well organized, and so practical that almost everyone uses it. It's expensive for tourists but atleast all of the Swiss are doing their part for reducing green house gases, and they prove that if you have a good public transport system, people will use it. It is a scenic town also (pic left) with all of the clock towers, canals, lake, classic swiss architecture, and funky unique additions to museums......This is outside of the Kunsthaus museum. It looks like a box that is made from mirror walls (pic left); kinda nice already...... but then you step inside and voila (pic right). You can leisurely take a number 2, watch the traffic go by and not have a care in the world...........I find it so neat. I want one!!!!


And what did I get after 2 weeks (14 days almost to the exact hour) of calling and hassle and getting the runaround? That's right, my friggin' backpack from a courier (pic); intact, with everything in it, and perfect timing 'cause I planned to leave for Germany the next day. Câlisse il y'était temps!!!!

So Ursina and Beda helped me out incredibly and got my feet back under me. Ursina really gave me the "keep on going, and don't give up" talk which is all I needed. I just needed a fellow traveller, good friend, and someone with a liberal mind to give me a little kick in the ass. And Beda is like a big brother to everyone he knows, and I wasn't an exception. They both really took good care of me, and I appreciate it so much!! I extremely adore Ursina and Beda, and there's no reason why they shouldn't get anything but good vibes and experiences throughout their life 'cause they're such good and positive people themselves. This picture just tells it all. We went to the top of Zürich, hiking in their back yard, to get up the tower just in time for the remnance of the sunset.

Next stop Frankfurt to meet up with Claudia, then Catou + Matt, my sweetie Androu, and then Matt in Potsdam.........hot damn I got some good friends!

Tschüß......................(bye in German)