The Numbers

January 6, 2010

Well, the trip is officially complete and I am back in good ol’ Winterpeg. I thought I would leave you with some of the essential statistics of the trip.

Cities, towns, and villages visited: 61

Languages heard: 16

Overnight bus and train rides: 9

Police fines: 1

New exotic animals: 8 (macaque, orang-utan, asian elephant, yak, sunfish, wild boar, mountain goats, crocodile)

Biggest loss due to theft: $5

Borders crossed on foot: 1

Legitimate fear experienced: 3 times

Countries visited: 16

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA CAMBODIA THAILANDVIETNAM

CHINA
JAPAN

THE UNITED KINGDOM

FRANCE

POLAND

BELARUS

THE CZECH REPUBLIC

ITALY

SWITZERLAND

PORTUGAL

SPAIN

Most Important Conclusion: The world is a beautiful place filled with beautiful people.

Thanks to everyone for reading and for all of your comments throughout the trip. It was great being able to share the experience with all of you!

-Mitch

Tiles and Laundry

December 13, 2009

My trip in Portugal started in Lisbon, where I met up with Minju for 4 days. We had a great time in Lisbon getting lost in its maze of narrow winding streets, admiring its tiled building façades, and looking out over its sea of clay roofs. We felt very at home in Portugal. The people are friendly and accommodating and always quick to lend a hand. We couchsurfed with two different hosts: Machado and Ricardo. Both guys were great. With Machado, we had many interesting discussions and with Ricardo we shared a lot of laughs.

My favourite parts of Lisbon were the Alfama and Graca districts. These are the old parts of town and many of the buildings are more than a century old. Many of the buildings are decorated in colourful painted tiles, which were extremely popular in Lisbon in the late 19th and early 20th century. Even in the downtown, many of the buildings still have tiled façades. The tiles look nice and give the city a very unique feel. Lisbon is also said to be the laundry capital of the word. Everywhere you look, people are hanging laundry out their windows to dry. Based on our photo habits, we determined that Minju is addicted to the tiles, and I am addicted to the laundry.

In Lisbon, we visited the Castello de Sao Jorge. The castle is built up on a peak and looks out over the city. It closely resembles the type of castle that I used to draw as a kid. We also went to the Belem district, which is home to the spectacular Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, a large gothic monestary, and Lisbon’s Discovery Monument. We also ate the Pasteis de Belem, the original version of the custard pie that Portugal is famous for.

We visited the Lisbon aquarium, which was fun. They have a huge centerpiece tank, which houses sharks, sting rays, eels, eagle rays, zebra fish, tuna, and even the huge and grotesque sunfish. When I first saw the sunfish I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I had to check with Minju to make sure I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing. It is one of the biggest and certainly the strangest looking fish I have ever seen (see below). The aquarium also had penguins, sea otters, and jellyfish. They also had a fish that is capable of producing its own light. Very cool.

From Lisbon we took a day trip to the magical town of Sintra. Surrounded by high mountains, it used to be the summer getaway for Portugeuse royalty. We explored the grandiose gothic palace of the Quinta de Regaleira and the towers and walls in the surrounding park. It is a spectacular combination of architectural and natural beauty.

After a great stay in Lisbon, I headed up the coast to the city of Porto. Porto’s old town has a very authentic feel and it feels largely untouched. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that it is a Unesco world heritage site. The old town is in a little bit rougher shape than Lisbon but that only adds to its charm. There is a beautiful stretch of the old town along the river that separates Porto from its neighbouring town Gaia. Both towns have houses built into the grassy riverbanks. The scenery is spectacular.

My last stop in Portugal was Geres, the huge national park in Northern Portugal. I absolutely loved Geres and all of its natural beauty. I spent two days hiking and mountain biking around its many trails. My hikes took me across rivers, past waterfalls and lakes, and up rock faces. At times, the trail itself was a small stream, and I would have to hop from rock to rock. I climbed a small mountain on the Calcedonia trail, which was challenging and extremely rewarding. At the start of my climb I was surrounded by lush, thick forest, but higher up there was less vegetation and it became extremely rocky. It was very barren up there, but it had a certain beauty to it. The hike took me uphill to one of the highest peaks in the area. It was one of the most peaceful and serene places I have ever experienced. In two days of hiking, I didn’t see one fellow hiker! For the first time on my trip, I actually felt genuinely alone. It was a cool experience.

On my second day I rented a mountain bike and set out for Spain. Actually. It is only about 12km to the Spanish border. The ride was absolutely beautiful. The leaves are changing to bright yellows and reds and the ground was coated in them. The rocks were covered in a thick layer of green moss. I biked past streams and waterfalls. It was awesome. The only downside was that the trail was muddy and wet so I got absolutely covered. It was a small price to pay. After crossing the border, the trail stopped and I found myself on a highway that went straight downhill. I couldn’t resist the temptation and took off down the road. It was an incredible rush.

Next stop, is another stint in Spain, this time stopping in Madrid and the Basque region. Thanks again to Machado and Ricardo for being such great hosts!

-MB

Avoiding the Barber of Seville

December 4, 2009

I decided to visit Spain in two parts, with a visit to Portugal in between. Spain part one was Barcelona, Granada, and Seville and I absolutely loved it. I was amazed by the warmth and friendliness of the Spanish people and the history, art, and architecture that the country has to offer.

I started off in Barcelona. It quickly became one of my favourite European cities. Barcelona is a lively and vibrant city and is essentially a living museum of the work of Antoine Gaudi. Gaudi’s art, architecture, and legacy pulse through the city, highlighted by his most ambitious and grandiose project: the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia blew my mind. It is a large church that was started by Gaudi in the late 1800’s and it still being worked on today. The scheduled completion date is 2020, but knowing the Spanish it will probably be more like 2050. Despite still being in progress, it is considered a masterpiece. Gaudi takes a completely new and refreshing take on religious art. Rather than doing things in the boring Italian way, he sculptures are modern, edgy, and unique.

The Church has 12 large towers (8 complete) that stand out from the city skyline. The size of the Sagrada is incredible, and as you stare up you cannot help but be amazed by the amount of work that has gone into it. Inside, Gaudi built columns that were inspired by trees and the roof resembles a thick canopy of leaves. The light in the church is supposed to mimic the light one would experience in a forest. Gaudi’s work is an incredible fusion of geometry, nature, and art. I love the way that he manages to integrate these three components so seamlessly. His designs utilize paraboloids, caternary curves, and helicoids as well as many other geometric notions. For example, when you look down his staircase you see the spiral that occurs in a perfect snail shell, a pattern that inspired the development of the golden ratio.

I also visited Gaudi’s Park Guell, which is a park full of fantastical and slightly goofy, but certainly unique, Gaudi creations. The houses in the park look like they are straight out of Hansel and Gretel. When standing below one of his many bridges, I felt that I could have been in prehistoric times—or an episode of the Flintstones. I really enjoyed his tunnels and bridges in the park; they were built with shapes and structures that I had never seen used in architecture before. The park is strange, but it is also a lot of fun. While I didn’t love all of it, I certainly had a good time there. Half the time I was amazed by the work, and the other half I was amazed that he had the nerve to do the work.


I went to the Picasso museum, which was cool to see. The museum takes a chronological approach to Picasso’s work, starting with his work at the age of 14 and working up to Picasso’s later years. It was very interesting, and humbling, to see that even Picasso started out by doing very literal and simple paintings. His first works are something that any artist could do. Over time, you see his progression into more interpretive paintings, and eventually, the birth of cubism. My favourite works of Picasso are the paintings he did during his “blue period.” My art tour continued with the Joan Miro Museum, which was quirky and fun.

Some other highlights of Barcelona were napping and reading in the beautiful palm-lined Ciutadella Park, walking through saltwater at the Barcelona beach, eating many tapas meals, and hiking up to Tibidabo and enjoying the view over the city. Barcelona manages to be cultured without feeling pretentious. I love this city!

From Barcelona, I headed south to the historical city of Granada. Granada is famous for the Alhambra, a huge fortress and palace built in the 8th and 16th centuries by Spain’s muslim population. It did not disappoint. The Alhambra’s Palace of Nazareth is probably the most intricately detailed palace that I have ever seen. It is full of stone carvings, whose shapes and designs look very similar to the written Arabic language. The palace has many beautiful colonnades, reflection pools, courtyards, and gardens. It is a spectacular sight.


My favourite parts of Granada were the Albaicin and Sacremonte regions, located on the city’s highest peak. Albaicin is an incredibly beautiful area full of cobblestone streets and whitewashed houses. It feels authentically Spanish and has clearly been untouched by modern development. Walking through the Alcabain felt like going back in time. It has a lookout with a great view of the Alhambra. Sacremonte is the home of Granada’s gypsy population. Many of the gypsies still live in their traditional cave houses, while others live in houses that have literally been built into the side of the mountain. It is amazing that they have managed to preserve this way of life.


My last stop in Spain was the wonderful city of Seville, with its abundance of oranges and palm trees. In Seville, I took in the Spanish art form of Flamenco dancing. While I can’t say that I will ever become a fan, I certainly enjoyed the spectacle. Flamenco is kind of like graceful tap dancing, but rather than tapping the dancers are stomping. The show consists of a guitarist, a singer and the flamenco dancer. There is a slow buildup in intensity of the music and dance and the set culminates with about 5 minutes of flamenceo. All the performers were incredibly emotional and expressive during the performance. It was clear that they cared a lot about what they were doing. I also saw some Spanish guitar, which was excellent in the live setting.

In Seville I also visited the world’s third largest cathedral and the city’s famous bullfighting ring, where they hold bullfights from May to October. After learning about what actually happens in a bullfight I was thoroughly repulsed. The “sport” is disgusting and I find it very difficult to consider the matadors heroes. The matador is given every advantage possible in the fight, and only appears after the bull has been significantly injured. Moreover, the bulls that are chosen to fight have been separated from their mothers shortly after birth. Bulls are known to learn their fighting instincts from their mothers, thus, the matadors are essentially fighting the easiest fight possible. Like myself, many Spaniards have a serious problem with bullfighting and its abolishment is currently a hot topic of debate.


I loved Spain for the warmth of its people, its cozy restaurants, and spectacular art. Next, I am heading to Portugal and then back through Madrid and the northern part of Spain. Buenos Dias!

-M

Bring on the Snow!

November 20, 2009

My climactic experiences came full circle in Switzerland when I was greeted by snow for the first time on my trip. Thanks to a significant amount of prodding from Mom and Minju, I broke down and bought a winter jacket. I was happy to have it!

Minju and I spent a week together in Switzerland and had an amazing time. We started off in Bern, where we couchsurfed with Theo and Serenia. Theo and Serenia were great hosts and they taught us all about the lingual peculiarities of Switzerland. The Swiss have 3 official languages: German, French, and Italian, but German is the country’s dominant language. The Swiss do not speak “High German” (as is spoken in Germany), but rather speak in dialects known as Swiss German. The dialects are so different that Germans cannot understand the Swiss when they visit Switzerland. Each Swiss canton (district) has its own unique dialect. It is considered a great disrespect to lose your native dialect, so when people move to different parts of Switzerland they proudly speak their home dialect. Because of the huge variation in dialect, there is no written Swiss German language and school is taught in High German. Moreover, students must always address their teachers in High German, even though they would speak Swiss German to them in the halls. In short, when the Swiss communicate with one another, they really need to stay on their toes.

Bern is a beautiful city, full of old buildings that have been kept in immaculate condition. The cleanliness of the city rivals Singapore. For me, the coolest part of Bern was all of its Einstein history. Einstein lived in Bern when he was working at the Swiss patent office and when he came up with his theories of relativity. We visited the Einstein Haus, the place where he did most of his thinking. It was really cool to see. Hopefully some of the good vibes can rub off on me! We also visited the Bern Museum of History, where they have a large Einstein exhibit that chronicles his life, his political influence, and his science. We really enjoyed the museum and we are now self-professed Einstein experts. Here is a picture of me and my physics idol spending some quality time together.

After Bern, we headed up to the Alps. We stayed at a great hostel in the town of Gimmelwald, which has a population of 100. Needless to say, we weren’t there for the night life. Gimmelwald is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is surrounded by snow-capped mountains and overlooks a beautiful vertigo-inducing valley. The pictures I had seen of the alps could not prepare me for their spectacular beauty.

It was close to the end of hiking season, but we decided to brave the snow covered trails anyways. We spent two incredible days hiking and taking in the scenery. In two days, we came across less than 5 fellow hikers: it was just us and the alps! The higher we hiked, the more spectacular the views became. I found myself “forgetting” where we were only to look around and be amazed again and again. As we went up, the trail got more and more snowy until eventually we were walking through snow that was above our ankles. Our feet were soaked and we had a few not-so-graceful falls, but we didn’t care. Another perk about Gimmelwald is that they basically have Evain water on tap, running from the mountain springs.

After Gimmelwald, we spent a day in the touristy town of Interlaken. Interlaken is famous for adventure sports but we resisted the temptation and kept our wallets happy. We explored the town, drank some fruit beer, and admired the lake and the mountains. We also stopped at Geneva on our way back to Lyon. We visited Geneva’s famous Calvin church, window shopped the downtown, and played giant chess in a park. We also had a cheese fondue, which was delicious! Geneva is a nice city and, just like Bern, has been preserved very well. I think that Italy could use some Swiss city planners to take care of their old cities.

Next, I am heading to Espagna!

-M

Walk like a Venetian

November 11, 2009

Buongiorno! My Italian excursion began on Oct. 24, when I met up with my Mom in Venice. Venice is a completely unique city that you can’t understand until you have experienced it. There are no cars and the only method of transportation is water taxi, gondola, or on foot. The city is incredibly beautiful: everywhere you turn there are calm blue canals, old colourful buildings, small arched bridges, and gondola drivers dressed in their classic striped shirt outfit. I thought I knew what to expect from Venice based on TV and movies, but the city completely blew me away.




The definite highlight of Venice was exploring (and getting lost in) its maze of canals and alleys. Venice also gave us a lesson in the genius that was Leonardo Da Vinci. We visited a museum that showcased Da Vinci’s many engineering innovations. Everyone knows Da Vinci for the Mona Lisa, but I was amazed at his incredible impact on scientific fields. He invented many machines which are essential to life today such as the gear, the bicycle, a machine that turned rotary motion into alternating motion (which led to the use of pistons in engines), flying machines that were precursors to the helicopter, the flywheel, the differential gear, a precursor to robotic systems, a precursor to submarines, and pulley systems for easily lifting weights. You can make a strong case for Da Vinci being the most diversely talented man in history. We also saw his famous Vitruvian Man sketch at the Accademia Museum, which represented a new mathematical approach to figure drawing and highlights the breadth of his abilities.

As great as Venice was, our next stop, the Cinque Terra, managed to outdo it. The Cinque Terra are five picturesque villages on the west coast of Italy. We spent three days hiking the cliff-side trails that connect the towns and enjoying the spectacular ocean views. The Cinque Terra is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The combination of severe rock cliffs, clear bright blue water, and lush plant life is stunning. The hiking was excellent, and we chose routes that were challenging. The foliage was a cross between Canada and the tropics: within 2 minutes we would see palm trees, pine trees, cacti, and olive branches! I even managed to swim in the ocean a few times which, of course, was excellent. At night, we enjoyed the village of Vernazza and made sure to thoroughly sample their local specialties: pesto and focaccia bread. The village was small and quaint (only one street) and was a nice place to relax.

After Vernazza we headed to Florence, the birthplace of the renaissance. Florence has two images that stand out in my head: the Duomo and Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. The Duomo is a spectacular dome inside the Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore that towers over Florence and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. It has a beautiful red clay roof. We climbed up to the top of the dome and took in the panoramic city view.

David is an incredible sight to see in person. He is 17 feet of raw power. David was carved out of a piece of marble that had been rejected by other sculptors because it was poor quality and was too tall and too thin. Michelangelo was able to convey an incredible amount of emotion in this static statue. David’s face shows very different emotions depending on how you look at it. From the left he looks calm and slightly intimidated, but from the right his expression is resolute and intensely focused. The Accademia museum also had a number of other sculptures, but David was the undoubted highlight.

Florence is a surprisingly small city and you can easily walk anywhere in the downtown area. The buildings are beautiful and the sea of red clay roofs looks spectacular in the afternoon sun. Despite being there in offseason, Florence had an excessive number of tourists. Unfortunately, the flocks of tourists and the shops and restaurants that cater to them make the downtown Florence experience seem pre-packaged and predictable. We did our best to find local parts of town where the ratio of Italians to Americans was more favourable.

After Florence, we headed further south to the town of Sorrento on the west coast. Sorrento is a great little town that is built on ocean cliffs and filled with small shops and great restaurants. From Sorrento, we took a day trip to visit the ruins of Pompeii. The size of Pompeii, its sophistication, and the detail left behind in the ruins amazed me. The city was buried in a pile of ash for nearly 1700 years before being discovered and uncovered. Miraculously, details such as frescoes and sculptures survived the test of time. Some of the most impressive parts of Pompeii were the 10,000 seat amphitheatre and the large forum. From the forum, we had an excellent view of Mount Vesuvius, which covered Pompeii in 79 AD. One of the most interesting and disturbing parts of Pompeii were the plaster castings that have been produced of the humans that were buried alive in the ash. The ash that fell was very fine and it settled around the bodies, forming a nearly perfect mold. Over time, the bodies decomposed and only bones were left but the cavities retained their original shape. By using a plaster mold it is possible to recreate the exact position these people were in when they perished. The positions are horrifying and convey an incredible amount of emotion, pain and suffering.

We also took a day trip to the beautiful island of Capri. Capri has incredible geography. It is thrust up from the ocean with impossibly vertical rock cliffs and is surrounded in the brightest blue water that I have ever seen. We had a simple strategy for our Capri visit: every time you see a tour group (and there are a lot of them) beeline in the opposite direction. We focused more on Capri’s natural beauty than on its designer shopping and spent the day exploring the island on foot.

Our final stop in Italy was Rome. After hearing so many negative things about Rome, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Our first stop was the spectacular Colosseum. It towers at a height of 50 meters and could house anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000 gladiator spectators. It is incredible that they have been able to preserve the structure for so long. Another structure that amazed me was the Pantheon, and its huge dome. It is nearly 20 centuries old and is still considered a feat of engineering. The dome has a diameter of about 40 meters and ranges from 2m to 6m in thickness. It is simple and geometric, which I appreciated after seeing so many overdecorated churches.


The most amazing part of Rome was the Vatican City. I was blown away by Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s School of Athens. The Vatican Museum is one site where braving the crowds is certainly worth it. Rome was also a great city to walk around and we came across many nice piazza’s, fountains, and stores.

Italy was great. See you in the Alps!

-MB