Time in Europe

Before I start this, I just want to apologize for the lack of postings to this point. We promised regular updates and have clearly disappointed both loyal readers of this blog.
That said, it’s been an eventful summer to say the least. I finished classes in early May and on May 19th I took off for a month in Europe. Kim was amazingly supportive of me making the trip. Thanks babe.

I visited a friend in London and then spent 5 days in Prague and 3 in Bratislava for a class on central European politics. There were only six of us in the class and we met politicians, academics, social scientists, and the like. It was an eventful time to be there as the Czech Republic held the EU’s rotating presidency and elections to the European Parliament were a few weeks away. I loved Prague but there’s something lost when the people you most want to share it with are on another continent. Bratislava felt like a real working class town. Much of it looked shabby but was quite active and upbeat. The old town was beautiful, but you get the feeling that real life is lived elsewhere. We didn’t get out of the cities much so I guess I’ll have to make another trip to see the countryside.

After Bratislava I took the train up to Krakow, Poland. I was hoping it would go through the mountains of northern Slovakia, but it took the wussy way out and went through eastern Czech Republic. Krakow is a fantastic city with more history than can be consumed in one sitting. Or ten. I guess if a city hasn’t been repeatedly invaded by Asian hordes, it hasn’t really lived. I visited a salt mine outside of town- very touristy, but still very cool. The miners carved statues, chandeliers, and whole chapels out of the salt. Good work Poles.

After Krakow I headed north to Warsaw, but not after purchasing a ticket to the wrong city. That’s what I get for trying to pronounce ‘Warsaw’ correctly to the ticket lady. Apparently I butchered it enough that it was mistaken for ‘Wroclaw’. In Warsaw I stayed with a friend from school whose family is Polish and owns a flat in the center of town. It was great to be shown around and learn a couple things: 1. The city of Warsaw was almost 100% destroyed during WWII. 2. The Polish underground resistance during the war was 68 times more effective than the French resistance as they actually succeeded in resisting. 3. The Warsaw subway is fairly easy to navigate as there’s only one line.

After three days in Warsaw I took an overnight bus to Lithuania (and slept surprisingly well). The forests are beautiful, but the towns we passed looked tired and worn out. The capital city of Vilnius is a compact architectural jewel with beautiful streets and churches. An old tower on a steep hill overlooks the main cathedral square and the whole city. In fact, the entire old town is surrounded by gorgeous hills in which I thought it might be exciting to take a stroll. I was lulled into a false sense of outdoor perfection by their wooded beauty and then blindsided by hills that were completely covered in trash. There was seriously trash everywhere. And tons of it. I was so distraught that I started making plans in my head to lead a clean up team the next day made up of people from the hostel. I really couldn’t believe that the people of Vilnius would allow the hills that surround their city to become the de facto town trash pit. Oh, and it rained on me a lot. And it was cold. I had mistakenly assumed that as it was summer I’d be ok with just a light jacket. Oh no, it was 45 degrees out and raining most of the time I was there. Maybe they didn’t get the “it’s summer now” memo.

A short plane ride brought me to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia which quickly became one of my favorite cities. Despite the fact that it was freezing and raining there as well I would have stayed a lot longer if I could. The medieval city walls and towers are almost all intact as are many of the old churches and merchant houses. There's also a smattering of interesting museums about how the city has developed over the centuries as different powers controlled it. Outside of the old town there are new apartment and office buildings that don’t feel as offensively dreary as many in Eastern Europe. The second day I was there I took a bus an hour east of the city and walked to a hotel I had heard about that rented bikes. The bikes they had were super old school swoop handle-barred girl bikes. But I took it and did a 45km ride that took me up to the coast and past all kinds of houses tucked into the woods each looking more bucolic than the last. The section of coast that I explored was strewn with huge boulders left over from retreating glaciers. Good work glaciers, I love what you’ve done with the place. The guide books promised me endless moose sightings but I was let down on that account.
After Tallinn I took a bus down to Riga, the Latvian capital. By this time I was pretty tired of being cold and wet but I gave Riga a good effort even though I was only there for 24 hours. The market was one of the most expansive I’ve ever seen with row after row of meat, fish, cheese, spices, clothes, shoes, fruits, vegetables, and really anything you could ever want to eat or wear.
The next morning I caught a flight to Brussels followed by a train to The Hague so I could take my Foreign Service Officer test at the embassy. My brief stay at the Hague convinced me that Kim and I need to spend a lot more time in the Netherlands in the future. After my test I went back to Brussels and spent a day exploring the city. Despite bad reports of a stifling city full of bad coffee and ugly people I had a great time. I loved the strange mix of buildings, the beer, and the different people from all over Europe. But my time there was all-too-short and I headed to Nurlu, France to spend a few days with the Baughmans.

Time with the Baughmans was great- besides their exceptionally large family there were some people from the US, so quite a large contingent altogether. I had a lot of time with the family, enjoyed some large family meals, distributed flyers for their church in St. Quentin with Morgan, saw a bit of Andy's soccer practice and had a very relaxing time.
Next I took the TGV to Paris, flew to Birmingham, and spent a couple days with a Jon and Valin Wells and their son JJ. Jon and I met in France 10 years ago when I was studying there and have stayed in good contact since. It was nice to get a weekend with Jon to catch up and see some beautiful countryside.

I finally got home on June 15 after almost a month. Thanks for encouraging me to go Kim; I promise not to do it again any time soon.