Bangkok, Part 2

It's hard to believe that it's only been 4 days since our first post, because it feels like we've seen a whole world of culture and learned many new things about our travel habits and getting around in Southeast Asia. We're in Hanoi, Vietnam, right now, but we wanted to wrap up our thoughts on Bangkok. Hanoi post coming soon!

The big goals for Day 2 in Bangkok were to see the Royal Palace and to explore Chinatown (weird, right?). That sounds like a very easy thing to accomplish, but we completely wore ourselves out and walked over 8 miles in one day! We left the hotel intent on taking the local boat ferry up the river to get to the Royal Palace. While the first day we had been confused about how this system works (because, there's no actual system) and were bombarded by tourist-trap expensive "long-boat" tours, on day 2 we were confident and deftly (kind of) brushed off the aggressive advances of the tour promoters and made our way to the boat. After forking over our $1 (for the two of us) we arrived at the Royal Palace.

The first thing we noticed is that there are Chinese tour groups EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I think that all 1 billion Chinese citizens all came to see the Royal Palace this week. Maybe America's reputation of being the loud, obnoxious tourists is going to be lessened in the future by the Chinese's arrival. The second thing that we soon discovered is that they are VERY strict about the dress code for visitors in the Royal Palace. Men and women need to have their legs completely covered. This has led to the fascinating introduction of a thriving industry around holy sites: elephant pants! Countless vendors sell cheaply-made pants with elephant patterns on them for about $3. Emily and I are a bit skeptical about the authenticity of the strict dress code, and think it was invented solely to grow the local elephant-pants economy, but oh well. The unintended consequence is that nearly all the backpackers in Southeast Asia have a strange uniform of elephant pants and light cotton t-shirts.

But we digress...the Royal Palace was truly amazing, and you have to see the pictures to really get a sense of the grandeur of the place. They've kept the grounds and buildings immaculately restored, which was really cool to see. The grounds are filled with golden temples and giant sculptures of "guards." I'm not even going to try to describe it, and will post all the pictures later. The highlight of the Royal Palace is the chapel of the Emerald Buddha. The centerpiece is the Emerald Buddha, a Buddha image carved from a single piece of jade. They don't seem to know where it originated, but it is highly revered and they take it VERY seriously. The Emerald Buddha has different clothes for the various seasons, which the king himself (who was born in Harvard -- BOO!) changes. The Emerald Buddha sits on a gigantic golden throne, and the whole room is watched over very closely by guards who make sure that no one is taking pictures or pointing the soles of their feet towards the Buddha (but really, a scary guard with an insanely hairy mole made another man delete a picture off hhis camera, and yelled at me for the positioning of my feet!).

After a nice air conditioned lunch of pad thai and soup, we headed for Chinatown. I'm not sure what we thought Chinatown was going to be like, but it was so much crazier than we could have anticipated. It's a several square block section of the city that is one continuous market. The whole thing is covered, and there are store fronts, vendors, and shops on all sides. You get the sense that it just goes on forever, which it basically does. It's basically the Shuk in Jerusalem, x100. There are a lot of cloth wholesalers, knock-off designer bag stores, and strange food stalls. It's a strange place because you can get ANYTHING you could imagine, but it's impossible to figure out how to navigate the place or find what you want. We walked around in a bit of a daze for at least an hour, just soaking in the sights, sounds, and smells. 

Once we were sick of the smells of Chinatown, we headed towards the outdoor flower market. We're not sure how this economy is profitable, because there seem to be countless flower vendors and I just can't imagine that so many people need to buy flowers everyday, but they're still in business so it must work. It was very beautiful and smelled amazing, but we were quite worn out by that point, and headed back to the hotel for a nap and a relaxing dinner near the hotel for our last night in Bangkok.

A quick note on the taxi situation in Bangkok before we move on to Hanoi. Basically, every taxi is trying to COMPLETELY screw foreign tourists, and it's kind of difficult to stop them. We had some costly mistakes at the beginning, but became total pros by the end. What would you expect to pay for a short taxi ride in the States, $8? $10? That's what we figured too, and that's how they get you. When we first got to Bangkok, we had a 10 minute drive to our hotel. "300 baht" said the taxi driver. That seemed reasonable, being about $9. We paid him, and everything seemed fine. The next day, we had the manager of the hotel call us a taxi to take us to downtown Bangkok, which should have been a 40 minute ride. He told us it would be a 500 baht flat fee, which we should pay the hotel. Seemed reasonable, only about $15. Our first night out in Bangkok we took a Tuk-Tuk: a taxi-cart pulled by a motorcycle. We had a 20 minute ride, which the driver demanded 300 baht for. It was about this time that we started doing some online research into the taxis, and found that you're supposed to ALWAYS get the meter, as it is about 3 times cheaper. Once we started doing this, the fares dropped to absurdly low prices. 15 minute ride across town? $2. Hour-long ride back to our hotel? $4. Return trip to the airport? $9. The hardest thing about the taxis is finding one that's willing to play the game honestly! We had countless taxis turn us away when the first thing we said was "meter, ok?" It was like they were disappointed that they couldn't squeeze us for some more baht. Ok, enough whining about that. It's a good example, however, of how valuable (and difficult) it is to get "insider" information while traveling.

And that was it for Bangkok! Kind of amazing that we only had a few days there, but we tried to make the most of it. We'll pass through a few more times, as it's a hub of travel in SE Asia, but for now we're moving on to Vietnam, starting with Hanoi! Post to come soon.

On the road again...

Photos/more photos to come:

Captain's Log: Star date...oh, who the heck knows what day it is any more. A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away (the time was Tuesday morning, and the galaxy was Washington, DC -- and yes, I am aware of the absurdity of mixing Star Trek and Star Wars references) Emily and I embarked on our grand tour of Southeast Asia. Because we don't start work until September 28, we'll be traveling around Southeast Asia for the next 5 weeks, which means that the Intrepid Traveler is back in action baby! We're going to be visiting Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia in what should be quite an adventure. 

We start out in Bangkok, where I'm currently writing this post while drinking an ice-cold Chang lager (it's not Yuengling, but it'll do). Getting to Bangkok was no small feat, however. We had a 15 hour flight from DC to Dubai, a 7 hour layover in Dubai, and another 6 hour flight from Dubai to Bangkok. We discovered that the Dubai International Airport is quite close to the downtown area, and so we decided to get out of the airport and explore the city a bit. I was worried about two former Birthright participants with Israel stamps trying to go into the United Arab Emirates for no apparent reason, but my fears were entirely unfounded; apparently, the UAE ain't got nothing on the TSA. "Ever been to the UAE before?" "Nope." "Do you have any friends or family here?" "Nope." "OK, enjoy your visit." Crazy stuff. Anyways, the part of Dubai that we saw was incredible. About 20 years ago, Dubai decided that they wanted to be a major international city, and chose to construct dozens of new skyscrapers. So, they took an area of the desert on the outskirts of Dubai, and just up and turned it into a modern city. There's giant skyscrapers next to empty lots of sand, which will probably spring into tall buildings in the next couple years. We went to the Dubai Mall, which boasts its own indoor aquarium (where you can go shark diving), an indoor ice skating rink, AND access to the largest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. For the next four years (until 2019 when Saudi Arabia finishes their behemoth tower) the Burj Khalifa is the tallest man-made structure, and it is insane! Some 160+ stories, the Burj Khalifa totally dominates the Dubai skyline. We got to the mall before most of the shops opened, but were able to go up to the observation deck of the tower on floor 124 (the elevator takes you up 124 flights in 60 seconds!). This wasn't near the top of the building, but even from that height the tops of the other skyscrapers look tiny. It was quite an impressive site.

 After coming down from the Burj Khalifa we walked around the rest of the mall. Dubai (and I'm sure other parts of the Arab world) is a crazy combination of traditional Muslim culture and modern Western influence. In one part of the mall, there's a traditional Arab Souk where men wearing long white gowns and Khafias walk briskly in front of their head-to-toe-clad wives; turn the corner, and you run into a Shake Shack and Tim Horton's. Weird. After taking in the culture for a bit more we headed back to the airport, where we had another flight to get to Bangkok. We arrived at 1am, and after clearing customs and getting our bags (YES, they both made it!) we headed to our hotel, which was near the airport. 

This morning, after a restful night's sleep, we had breakfast at the hotel and relaxed a bit by the pool (surprisingly nice for the price we paid -- $35 for the night, which we're coming to find is quite standard for good rooms). Google Maps said we were only 30 minutes from our next hotel in downtown Bangkok -- WRONG. New Asia lesson: while Google Maps may be reliable in the States, traffic in Bangkok can spring out of nowhere, and taxi drivers are insane and might not take the best route, even when driving for a flat rate. Nearly an hour and a half later, we made it to our hotel, a highly recommended hostel in the center of town. This isn't your grungy, dorm room, get kidnapped and murdered hostel though (breathe easy, Becky Batt). It's basically a 3 star hotel, with a common area where fellow backpackers hang out, play pool, use the computers, and watch TV. We've got our own room with a king-size bed, shower, A/C, hot water -- Emily and I are both pleased. 

The goal for today was to explore Wat Pho, and to eat Pad Thai (I know, we set the expectations high over here) and we accomplished both of them! Wat Pho is one of the most famous sites in Bangkok,

and one of our must-sees on this trip. It's a large Buddhist temple complex next to the Bangkok Grand Palace. We took the advice of the front desk guy in the hostel and traveled by boat up the river. After a 10 minute walk to the water, we paid about a dollar and were dropped off 20 minutes up the river right by Wat Pho. After some quick Thai street food (I don't want to know what kind of meat it was -- sorry Liam -- but it was delicious!) we headed into Wat Pho. It was absolutely stunning, there's really no way to describe it. It's a huge complex of interconnected courtyards, temples, and Buddha statues. All the buildings have beautifully colorful roof patterns, and everything is gilded with gold, gems, and mother of pearl. We saw the huge

Reclining Buddha statue, but the highlight of the day was yet to come, because Wat Pho is also home to the school of Thai/Buddhist massages. For $12, we each got an hour-long full-body Thai massage. I don't want to make anybody too jealous, so I'll just stop there. 

Feeling relaxed from our massages, we took a walk to a place I had read was supposed to have the best Pad Thai in Thailand, Thip Samai. It really was fantastic, and was a great culinary way to top of what was a great first full day in Asia; hopefully just the start of things to come! Emily and I are now just schmoozing in the hostel lobby, trying to stay awake a little longer so we can sleep through the night, but fading fast. I think it's about time to give in and head to bed. Tomorrow we're exploring the Royal Palace, Thai Chinatown, and some other sides, sounds, and smells. Here's our soundtrack of the day: One Night in Bangkok. Enjoy!  http://youtu.be/RAIFOR0Tmyw

Trip to Berlin

Get to all my photos from Berlin here.

This past weekend I traveled to Berlin. It hadn't been high on my priority list of places to visit coming into the semester, but I heard a lot of great things from people about the city during my travels, and the fact that my grandmother and her friend were going to be there that weekend sealed the deal. I took an overnight train from Paris to Berlin, although this time I (the more experienced traveler from my trip to Switzerland) paid the extra money to get a couchette rather than a regular reclining seat. The difference was that I actually slept a bit this time (emphasis on a bit). The train was an hour late getting in (so much for German efficiency) and after 16+ hours on a train I arrived in Berlin, where my grandmother (Grandmere) was waiting for me.

After dropping off my bags and Grandmere and Judy's hotel, we spent the next several hours exploring the city and various museums. It was a very interesting day, filled with a variety of visits. We saw the memorial to the book burnings that happened at the beginning of the Nazi oppression of the Jews. The memorial is very unique; in the square where the book burnings happened there's a glass square and you can look down into a sort of bunker that's filled with empty bookshelves. We also visited the "Contemporary Fine Arts", which Judy and I both found interesting but was not quite up Grandmere's alley. Finally, we saw a famous bust of Nefertiti in a museum mainly dedicated to Egyptian artifacts. One thing that sticks out about Berlin is the fact that over 80% of the city was destroyed after WWII (our bad, sorry Germany), which means that all the buildings have been reconstructed in the last 70 years, but they've done an amazing job rebuilding the buildings to look like they've always looked.

Before dinner I checked into the hostel I was staying at (City hostel Berlin). This hostel is probably my favorite I've been to. Cheaply priced, the hostel was clean and large and had a great atmosphere. The size of a small hotel, it had a game room, a bar, and free breakfast, with lots of people (young and old) intermingling. After moving in and taking a shower I walked over to Grandmere and Judy's hotel (a 5 minute walk) and we went out to dinner at a good Italian place. The main attraction for the night was attending the symphony orchestra at the concert hall across the street from their hotel. This was a really unique experience, something I definitely would not have done on my own. I'd never been to that kind of concert, but I really enjoyed it. The star of the show was Gil Shaham, an Israeli-American Grammy-winning violinist, considered to be one of the best in the world. He was amazing.

The next morning I woke up after not enough sleep for a 9 A.M. Sandeman's New Europe free walking tour, only to find that the earliest one was at 11. After watching people at the Brandenburg Gate for a little while I decided to make the most of my 2 unexpected hours of free time and walk around West Berlin a bit. I spent 2 hours walking along the river and checking out some interesting places, people, and graffiti. When it was actually time for the tour, I headed back to the starting point. I really liked the tour I took with this company in Madrid, and their Berlin tour was just as good. I was only able to stay for two thirds of the tour (because I had to meet Grandmere and Judy for lunch), but I found it extremely interesting. The tour guide gave us a lot of information on the history of the city, and we saw a lot of famous and unique landmarks. We started at the Brandenburg gate and saw the Holocaust memorial, and bunker where Hitler killed himself (now a parking lot), some old Nazi buildings, sections of the Berlin wall, and Checkpoint Charlie.

After meeting up with Grandmere and Judy and getting lunch, we went to the Holocaust memorial and museum. The memorial consists of thousands of large concrete slabs of varying height that you can walk through. It is a very powerful monument, and the museum was very moving. I think it's amazing and brave that the Germans rather than fleeing from the past have erected this memorial criticizing the things that their country did in the past. After leaving the museum we met up with my cousin Judy from Switzerland and her boyfriend Mikael and had a drink with them. It was good to see them, and such a treat seeing Judy twice in a few months!

The big plan for the night was dinner at a very classy restaurant (the Gendarmerie), so we went back to our respective housing establishments and got prettied up for dinner. The food was amazing, maybe one of the best dinners that I've ever had. I don't want my readers to get too jealous, so I'll leave it at that.

Sunday was a busy travel day, with multiple transfers and a few close calls involving me running through train stations, but I managed to make all of my trains with no problems. Overall, I really liked Berlin and would love to go back as I feel like I didn't see close to enough. Berlin is really an amazing city, and unlike anywhere else I've been. It's extremely clean, modern, and safe, and everyone I met was extremely nice and spoke fluent English. There's so much to do, and I would love more time to do it all.

This weekend's been much more relaxing. It's my last weekend in France, and I wanted to spend it in Aix. This past week was all papers and projects and presentations, and it's been nice being able to just relax in preparation for finals next week. Yesterday I went to the beach at Cassis with some friends and spent the whole day next to (and in) the Mediterranean. Today I'm going to spend working and in a park with some people from the program. Next week at this time I'll be home! I'm going to miss Aix, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting home and getting into my summer!

Spring Break

For the past week I've been on spring break from classes, and took the opportunity to travel to Venice and Greece, with a lot of stops along the way. You can see all my pictures from spring break here.

The adventures began last Friday at 6 A.M. with what was supposed to be a 14 hour set of train rides to Venice. Aix => Marseille => Nice => Ventimiglia => Milan => Venice. However, as I was on my way to Ventimiglia, and almost across the border into Italy, the train I was on stopped and everyone got out. After talking to some other Americans who were trying to get to Italy, I found out that the Italian train workers were on strike, and that we were in a small French town near the border on the Mediterranean called Menton ("The Pearl of France"). I was able to get my train tickets pushed to the next day, and tried to take this unexpected road block in stride. I set off walking and exploring the old town, trying to keep in mind that there are worse places to be stranded than the French Riviera. Despite the circumstances, I really liked Menton. It's right on the coast, with good beaches (I had a nice nap there), a gorgeous old city, and an interesting cemetery with a lot of Americans and British.

The next day I was finally able to make it to Venice, although I still didn't get in until that evening. After hearing a lot of good things about it, I decided to try Couchsurfing on my trip to Venice. I got in touch with a guy named Alfredo who lives in a town outside of Venice called Padova. He was waiting for me at the station, and we walked back to his apartment which was only a few minutes walk. When we got there, he made me some good rice for dinner, and I got to know him a bit. Alfredo has been using couchsurfing for over 2 years, and has hosted over 120 people! After dinner we drove into Padova, and he gave me a really good tour. I liked Padova, reminded me a bit of Aix. That combination of small-town feel with a history yet still a good nightlife. We saw the basilica, the cathedral, the Jewish ghetto, and the large central square which is apparently the second largest in Europe!

As I only had one day in Venice, the next day I made an early start and was on my way by 8:30. After the half hour train ride, I got dropped off right in the middle of Venice, and almost immediately got lost. I'd heard that Venice is one of the most confusing cities in the world, and I quickly discovered that even the posted signs aren't helpful; trying to get to the famous Rialto Bridge I ended up going in a big circle. Luckily, Alfredo had loaned me a very detailed guide book with a great map. Once I started using it I didn't have many problems, and was able to make it to the Rialto Bridge, and then to Plaza San Marco. Unfortunately, Saint Mark's Basilica wasn't open until the afternoon as it was Sunday, but it looked amazing from the outside! I was able to visit the famous Doge's Palace, which was extremely interesting. This Palace was basically the center of all administrative life in the Most Serene Republic of Venice, and housed the Doge, the Republic's leader. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures to be taken inside, but I was able to take some. It took several hours to walk through the whole thing, and some of the highlights were the armory, the prisons, and the meeting chambers for the Grand Councils. In every room there were dozens of magnificent works of art, which seems to be a recurring theme in Venice!

After leaving the Doge's Palace I made my way to the old Jewish Ghetto. Before being captured by Napoleon, the Venetians kept all the Jews of the city on one small island, locked into the ghetto. They were restricted to being money-lenders, second-hand sellers, and doctors. The Jewish population of Venice is tiny now, and there are only 3 families who actually live on the island. The Judaica museum provides a guided tour in English, and I was able to see three synagogues in the ghetto. What struck me was how cramped for space they were. I'm used to seeing synagogues being whole buildings, but in the ghetto their synagogues were merely floors in the apartment buildings. The ghetto actually has some of the largest residential buildings in Venice, as the Jews were forced to expand vertically rather than horizontally. After seeing the rest of the museum, which houses many historical Jewish-Venetian documents, I walked around the ghetto, got lunch, and was given Shmurah Matzah by a local Chabbadnik!

My next stop was the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, which is a HUGE friary church. What's amazing about it is that from the outside it is very unassuming and plain; all brick walls, not many ornaments or statues. But inside it is phenomenal. Dozens of huge paintings and sculptures by some of the most famous Venetian artists. In the same square as Santa Maria was the San Rocco church which I was not incredibly impressed with, and an exhibit on Da Vinci's inventions. It was an interactive exhibit made from his sketches, which meant that you can touch and play with the devices; very cool! Some of the things he was drawing were so far ahead of his time: planes, submarines, scuba diving gear. After all of this walking around, I went to a nearby garden and people-watched for a little while. Having gained back some energy, I decided to try to do something that Venice is great for: getting lost! This is harder than you would think. As Venice is all little islands, if you can't get to a bridge to the next island you'll just end up walking around in circles. However, while in the midst of one of my circles I ran into (nearly literally) a friend from my program in France who I didn't even know was going to be in Venice!

Having a few hours to kill before I needed to be back at Alfredo's, I realized that it would be a shame to visit Venice and not get onto a boat. The gondola rides are extremely expensive, so I hopped on a vaporetto, which is a canal bus, for 6 euros. The line that I was on went all the way around Venice, out past the island of the dead, and out to Murano, known for it's glass-making. All in all it was an hour and a half ride, with one of the most amazing sunsets I've seen. Definitely worth the time and money. The next day I had a very early flight out of Venice.

I was up pretty early, as I had to catch the first bus from Padova to the airport in Treviso, about an hour ride. My final destination was Greece, where I was meeting up with friends, but to get cheap airfare I flew Ryanair to Bari, Italy, and had a day there. I got in to Bari, and did not have the best of days. It was sunny and hot, and after a little while of carrying my bag it began to get very heavy. I saw the city's cathedral and basilica, neither of which I was very impressed with after having been to Venice. Although they were both rather large, the quality and quantity of art was lacking compared to the Venetian landmarks.

I eventually decided that I had had enough of walking around, and tried to get to the hostel I had booked. This turned out to be a disaster. The information included on the reservation sheet was completely useless in finding the hostel. I tried calling them multiple times, but each time was hung up on by someone who spoke no English. I went to the tourism office to try to get help, but they never opened up. After waiting there for 2 hours, I went back to the airport and spent the night there. It really wasn't a bad airport to spend the night in! They had a good food court, cheap and fast wifi, and a whole floor that was exclusively for people spending the night, complete with lounge chairs. I settled in for what wasn't the worst night ever. At 1 A.M., I woke myself up and had a Skype Passover seder with my family/family friends. They set up a laptop on the table, and I was able to see, hear, and talk with them which was very cool. I had scoured the food court for supplies earlier and had been able to get a bottle of wine, spicy mustard (to replace horseradish), lettuce, and salt water. Add that to the matzah I already had, and I was all set to participate. It was an amazing testament to the wonders of technology that we were able to do that, and made me feel a lot better. Definitely made my day.

Early that morning I flew in to Kos, one of the islands in Greece. It was rainy and gross all day, and I mostly stayed inside a restaurant while I waited for the 1 P.M. ferry to Rhodes where I was meeting my friends. After a 4-hour ferry ride, followed by an hour bus ride, I finally arrived in Lindos, a town on the south of Rhodes, the 2nd largest island in Greece. 8 of us from my program had rented a villa on the island which, as it was pre-tourist season, was very cheap. It had lots of beds, a big kitchen, big living room, and a pool. The next morning we walked into town and rode donkeys up to the acropolis. This wasn't THE acropolis of Rhodes, but is actually more impressive to see, in better condition, and more significant from an archaeological point of view. The view from the top was magnificent, and the ruins were very overwhelming.

After walking back into town, we spent a few hours exploring Lindos. Lindos is a very cute town right on the water, and is almost a resort town. In the summer it's apparently packed, but we went at just the right time; we essentially had the town to ourselves. It's a very popular British destination, so everyone speaks English, and there are a lot of British expatriates living there. We ended up making friends with two British bartenders, and spent a lot of time with them over the next two days. We met a lot of interesting people that night at the bar, and had a very international crew: Greeks, Danes, Americans, and Brits. The next morning Chris and I slept in late, while the others in our group left for Bari. After a late start we went in to town to meet some of our new friends. That afternoon it poured, but this didn't stop us from meeting the Brits for dinner. They took us to what they declared the best restaurant in Lindos, and I don't doubt it. The food was incredible. My favorite was the appetizers we got, which were a combination of garlic bread and bruschetta, with feta cheese on top. Amazing.

The next morning we were up extremely early (again) to fly into Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia. Again, our final destination was Marseille, but Ryanair doesn't fly direct so we had a day in Cagliari. Unfortunately, it rained all day so we didn't get to see much of the city. By the evening it had let up, so we left the B&B we were staying at to go get some dinner (pizza!). Getting off the bus at a random stop, and going into a random pizza place, we ran into 4 of our friends from France. The odds of that happening are mindblowing, as Cagliari is a pretty big city. We went back to their hostel, which had it's own bar area, and met lots of new friends. Again, it was a very international group: Canadians, French, Spanish, Americans. We ended up going to another bar and staying out way to late, which made going to the airport the next day pretty rough, but I've had 2 days since then to bounce back, and I feel refreshed and ready for classes tomorrow! Only one more major trip left, and then it's back to the States. Next week I'll be meeting my grandmother in Berlin for the weekend. Until then!

Weekend in Aix (sorta)

This weekend was a big deal for me, as it was my first weekend fully spent in Aix-en-Provence! Well, kind of. The reason I didn't travel this weekend is that I had a mandatory class trip for my Provence class on Friday. The class is all about Provence, its history, its culture, but it has a specific focus on how Provence has been presented in film. We've watched a lot of films, but the most significant films portraying Provence are those by the 20th century directer Marcel Pagnol. Part of our trip was to go see the town where he lived and where he is buried.

The main purpose of our trip was to go to St. Maximin, a town a half hour from Aix, and the famous cave nearby. Apparently, Mary Magdalene traveled to France and lived for 30 years in solitude in a cave. After she died she was buried, but her relics (aka her bones) were removed and put into the cathedral in St. Maximin. Usually I find that cathedrals are more impressive on the outside than on the inside, but the one in St. Maximin was quite ordinary from the outside. However, the inside was phenomenal. The basilica is huge, and very ornately decorated. There's on of the largest pipe organs I've ever seen, which was eerily playing while we were there. Everything's old and gold encrusted, but the most magnificent thing was a 10 foot tall hardwood winding staircase that must have been 5 feet in diameter but was ornately carved out of a single piece of wood. In the crypt under the main room is what everyone comes to see; the relics of Mary Magdalene. You go up to a display case and staring back at you is a human skull. It may have been one of the creepiest things I've ever seen, but this relic has developed a huge cult following, and people make pilgrimages to St. Maximin to see the skull. At certain times they take it out and parade it around. Weird weird weird. I was definitely ready to get out of there after a few minutes (being a nice Jewish boy in a church and all).

After seeing the relics we drove to the base of a nearby hill and spend 45 minutes hiking up to the famous cave. There wasn't a lot to see inside; it was just a cave that they've put statues and homages to Mary Magdalene in. After a while we headed back down, and headed home. That night I got to enjoy my first night in Aix, and prepared for a big Saturday adventure.

One of the most famous features of Aix is the nearby mountain, Mont St. Victoire. The painter Cezanne, who lived in Aix, painted Mont St. Victoire every day, and he's famous for the paintings. Hiking to the top is something that everyone who spends time in Aix should do, and I'd been meaning to go for a while. Saturday morning two of my friends and I met up at the bus station and got the bus towards St. Victoire. It's a 20 minute bus ride, but we unfortunately got off a stop too early. We started heading through the woods on a path towards the mountain, but as we kept going the path got smaller and smaller. At one point we came to an unbelievably gorgeous lake, and there was an intersection: one way went towards a dam, the other along the lake. It looked like if we walked along the lake we could loop around and get to the mountain. However, as we kept walking, the lake kept extending, and the trail kept getting less defined until we were just pushing through bushes and climbing over rocks. We finally decided to turn back, and when we got to the dam we found that there were lots of people there, that there was a parking lot, and that that was where you start from. Having already wasted an hour and a half, we ate a quick lunch and hurried towards the mountain.

The hike up was pretty intense. Steep, rocky, and treacherous, we hiked up for two and a half hours before finally reaching the summit. Looking back, it was amazing to think we'd hiked as far as we did. There's a 13th century chapel built close to the top, and at the very summit is a huge cross called the "Croix de Provence". The view of the Provence landscape was unbelievable, and it was such a rewarding feeling to have made it to the top.

Something cool that we saw was a group of a dozen people paragliding around the summit of the mountain. I had never seen this before, but it was amazing. Like the name implies, it's a combination between parachuting and hang-gliding. The rider is in a harness underneath the parachute, but the parachute is a specially designed light-weight aerofoil, which allows for lift. The ride starts off by running down a short hill, and is picked up by his chute. Because of the design of the parachute, these guys are actually flying, they're not just in a controlled fall. One guy we saw was in the air for three hours. They control themselves through weight placement and hand controls which are connected to the parachute. It looked like an unbelievable feeling, and it was amazing seeing a dozen of these paragliders soaring along over the mountain. Very cool.

We made it down the mountain in an hour and a half (took us two and a half hours to get up), and had a difficult time finding the bus stop. However, we asked some girls where it was. They didn't know, but were going back to Aix and offered to drive us. In Aix we descended upon a kebab stand, headed home and showered, and then went out for a much deserved night out.

Today I'm taking it easy (imagine that!) getting work done, and trying to make plans for my spring break. I'll be spending a few days in Venice, and then going to Greece for a few days, with stops in Bari and Cagliari. Looking forward to it!

Sweet Times in Switzerland

All my pictures from my trip are here.

Last weekend I made my way across the border to visit my cousin (once removed?), Judy, in Switzerland. I took an overnight train Thursday night, and when I got to the train station it was eerily empty. It felt very ghostly, and I was anxious to leave and get on my way. However, when I'd booked tickets, the lady working had asked if I wanted a couchette or not, and I'd said "whatever's cheaper". This meant that I was confined to a reclining seat the whole night, making sleep almost impossible. Luckily, I had an empty seat next to me, but I still probably only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep during the entire 10 hour train ride. That trip was quite a complex one: trains from Aix-en-Provence to Marseille, Marseille to Mulhouse, and Mulhouse to Basel. When I finally got to Basel I was greeted at the train station with open arms by Judy, and we set off for her town of Dornach, which is about 20 minutes from Basel.

Dornach is a really cute, small town. It's tucked into the foothills of the mountains, and just a few minutes away from some amazing hiking trails in the woods. The town has the safe and friendly feel of most small towns, and in some ways reminded me of the things I like about Aix-en-Provence.

After we dropped my bag off at her apartment, Judy and I headed to Luzern for the day. It's about an hour drive, and I promptly passed out in the front seat of Judy's car. I was awoken as we were getting closer to Luzern to see the Alps spread out before us. I'll never get sick of that view. Seeing the snow-covered peaks rising out of the ground looks to perfect to be real. It looks like something that's been painted on to the sky. Unbelievable.

I really liked Luzern. It's a town built right on a beautiful lake at the foot of the Alps, which makes for an amazing view. We spent a few hours walking around the town, getting lunch, walking along the lake, and enjoying the view. It was a really relaxing day, and after the last few travel weeks was just what I needed.

The next day Judy's boyfriend, Mikael, came in from Denmark. We started the day by going up into the hills behind Dornach and hiking for a few hours with Judy's dog, Gina. It's amazing that just a few minutes from her apartment are such amazing hiking trails. The views from the edge of the hills looking out over the Swiss countryside were amazing. I absolutely love the Swiss landscape, with its rolling green hills, and small, pristine villages tucked away. Really an amazing country.

Saturday afternoon we went into Basel, which was another amazing Swiss city. It's the third most populous city in Switzerland, but is still small enough that it manages to avoid the grittiness of most large cities. I got a very knowledgeable walking tour of the city from Judy and Mikael, and got to see all of the sites. One of the things that struck me was how much effort the city puts in to restore and maintain all of the old architecture that really gives Basel its unique feel. We saw all the points of interest, took a ferry ride across the Rhine, and had dinner sitting next to the river.

Sunday morning it was time to go home, and I left not looking forward to the trip back (partially because it was an 8 hour train ride, partially because the weekend had been so refreshing). I said goodbye to Mikael and Judy at the train station, and after trains to Mulhouse, Lyon, Marseille, and Aix, was back at home and preparing for the week ahead.

The Other Side of France...

Check out pictures from my weekend here.

This past weekend I made my way all the way across the country, from south coast to north coast, and visited my great aunt and uncle (Chris and Myriam) at their vacation house in Normany. I was lucky enough to be able to spend the weekend traveling with one of my close friends from high school, Victor, who is spending the semester studying in London. As he goes to school at USC in California, I haven't gotten to see him much since we graduated, and this weekend was a great opportunity for us to catch up.

I woke up early Friday morning, and made the by now familiar trip to Paris; bus to the bus station, bus to the TGV station, train to Paris. I really am starting to become quite the pro at traveling. I've got packing down to a routine, and it's nice having the feeling that everything I need is in my backpack. Victor and I had arranged to meet in the center of Paris, and as it was his first time in France we decided to spend the day touring Paris. As I'd spent a week there this past summer, I acted as tour guide. It gave me a sense of being more than just a tourist, being able to show someone else around what is rapidly becoming my adopted homeland. I met Victor at Notre Dame, and from there we headed to the Marais (Jewish quarter) to go to my favorite falafel place, L'as Du Falafel. On the way we stopped at the Pompidou Center, Paris's inside-out modern art museum. Walking through the Marais is such a surreal experience which Victor and I (having both visited Israel) really got a kick out of. Looking around, it feels like you could be in the old city. All the store signs are in French and Hebrew, there are Jewish stars everywhere, and Orthodox Jews are everywhere. Inside L'as Du Falafel we heard locals routinely being greeted with "boker tov", and when the host led us to a table I instinctively said "todah". Very weird feeling.

From the Marais we walked about 20 minutes to the Louvre, then through the Tuillerie Gardens, up the Champs D'elysee, saw the Arc de Triomphe, and walked down to the Eiffel Tower. It was a gorgeous day, almost too hot, and we were able to see a good bit of the city. After taking the metro to the train station, we got on a train to Caen and headed for Normandy. Three hours later we arrived in Caen, and had an hour and a half before the next bus to Chris and Myriam's town departed, so we went looking for food. We settled on a pizza place, and unknowingly wandered in to a great travel story.

The owner of the place was a very nice guy, and he and I had a good conversation in French about where we were from, where we were going, etc. Victor and I each ordered a pizza, only understanding what 80% of the words were on the menu. When our pizzas came, mine had some sort of salami on it, and Victor's appeared to have bits of sausage all over it. Victor laboriously picked the pieces of sausage off of his pizza (being Kosher) and, not having time to return the pizza, ate it anyways. When we had finished the owner came over to clear our plates and asked Victor if he was a vegetarian. Victor, not wanting to get into the merits of Judaism, said yes. The owner, not believing him I guess, said (in French) "you know there's no pork in it?" He then went on to explain (all in French) that all of the meat in the pizza place came from a kosher butcher. Ignoring the fact that he sells meat to a pizza place, Victor and I couldn't believe the odds of being served kosher meat in the middle of a small town in France.

We made it easily to Chris and Myriam's, and spent a while catching up and talking with them. They graciously offered to drive us around to where we wanted to visit on Saturday, which was unbelievably helpful. The sights in Normandy are quite spread out, and I don't know what we would have done otherwise. The first place we visited on Saturday was the American military cemetery and memorial at Omaha Beach. They have a nice museum that you can walk through, with stories, testimonials, history, and videos to see. Outside is the cemetery, the one seen at the end of Saving Private Ryan. We actually went and saw the graves of the brothers who the Ryan brothers were based on. The whole experience is really quite powerful, and a bit difficult. Standing there looking out at over 9,000 white crosses (and Jewish stars), you really get a sense of how many American lives were lost in the fight for France and freedom. At the same time, I have no doubt that it was a sacrifice that needed to be made, and I felt incredibly proud to be an American. In my mind, that is one of the greatest things that our country has ever done.

Next we went to Mulberry Harbor. This was where the British forces landed, and where they pulled off a remarkable engineering feat. They constructed a harbor in England in pieces, towed the pieces across the channel, and sunk them in place off of the French coast. This allowed them to be able to dock and unload their battleships which were much to large to come to shore. Many pieces of the harbor are still there, and there's an excellent museum that shows the history of the harbor and its design. The museum also showcased the many different nations that were part of D-day that are not usually recognized (Canada, Czechoslavakia, French freedom fighters, etc.)

Our last stop of the day was in the town of Bayeux. I really loved this town, and it reminded me a lot of Aix, although with a slightly different atmosphere and architecture. There's a magnificent cathedral there, which really stands out in the small town. Bayeux is home to the famous Bayeux Tapestry which we went and saw. The 70 meter tapestry was commissioned in the 11th century and details the story of William the Conqueror. If you really want to know the story, go see it (or you could use Google). It was a very interesting thing to see, and a fascinating look back at how stories were told to the illiterate masses BEFORE they had TV. Go figure.

When we got back to Chris and Myriam's house we had a few hours of sun left, so Victor and I walked over to the beach (only a few hundred feet). Although it was nice getting near the water and getting my feet in the sand, I must say that I like the Southern coast much better. There's something about the Mediterranean that feels more...tropical maybe is the word I'm looking for. The Northern coast just feels rocky and...coastal. Impressed by my massive...word picks? The next morning Chris and Myriam drove us to Caen and walked us through the market, past the castle, and down by the cathedral. I really don't know what we would have done without them. It was so nice having our own tour guides for the weekend. It was so nice having such a relaxing travel weekend for a change; not a big group of people, not having to worry about lodging, not having to worry about transportation.

Interesting side note; every train I'd gone on, someone was very careful about coming through the train and checking everyone's ticket. I had two contrasting experiences on this trip though. On both Paris-Caen trains our tickets weren't checked (much to Victor's disgust, as he needn't have spent 60 euro on tickets) (didn't cost me anything with my Eurail pass). However, on the train back from Paris to Aix they not only checked my ticket, but also asked for a passport, which I luckily had thought to pack.

As I was on the train back to Aix, it was really apparent how diverse this great country is. In just six hours I went from one side of the country to the total opposite side. From green pastures in Normandy to rugged hillsides in Provence. The two regions feel like entirely different countries. The people, the buildings, the landscape, the colors; it was like walking between two different worlds. I loved Normandy, but the whole time it just amplified the fact that THIS world is where my heart is.