Europe: France, Switzerland, Hungary,
Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands
(Sep-Oct/00)
 

    Eiffel Tower, 99 days to 2000

After a few years of incubation, finally got to do my European Tour. France, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands. Here are some of my impressions of the cities I visited and a memories and travel stories I collected during the trip.

Three weeks of vacation, four pairs of underwear in the backpack, train ticket, no reservations, no fixed itineraries. Met interesting people from around the world, explored cities I always had dreamed of visiting, tasted different food and the best beer and wine, visited museums, churches, experienced and learned history.

I stayed in hostels all the time and spend 3-4 days in each city: Paris/France, Interlaken/Switzerland, Budapest/Hungary, Wien/Austria, Praha/Czech Republic, Amsterdam/Netherlands. My typical schedule usually included an overview walk through the city on the first day. Second day, I covered most of the important sights. After that, I had some free time to relax, go off the beaten path, wonder at some residential area, take a side trip.

The thrill of not knowing for sure where I was going to spend the next night and the opportunity to meet a lot of people made the trip much richer than it would be in a pre-packaged deal. Also, I was not necessarily under a $40/day budget, so I could enjoy the advantages of backpacking with the opportunity to splurge here and there to sample the local cuisine, get a real seat at the opera or have an extra beer.
 
 

Several years ago, Roberto and I spent a memorable night in Arraial D'Ajuda (Northeast Brazil) hopping through all the bars and restaurants in town, including a "French" restaurant owned by a Frenchman who felt in love for a Brazilian girl in the white sand beaches and never returned home from a vacation in the tropics. We could not have imagined at that time that we would chat and drink at a real French restaurant in Paris after so many years.

The Seine River helps us to get our bearings in Paris and gives the city the atmosphere and a lot of charm.

Had an overdose of good food, best wine, greatest museums, rich culture. Visited the Louvre, the Notre Dame, Invalides, Luxembourg, Rodin, the tower, the arch, the castle of Fontainebleau. Entered the Sourbone building pretending to be a student and wondered around its classrooms.

The Louvre is great, but it is too big for a short visit. There is too much to see and you end up lost, without knowing what to spend your time with. I went for the standard tourist itinerary and spent some more time with the Egyptian collection.

During the day, ate in the streets (paninis, baguettes and croissants with all kinds of cheeses and pates). Tried crepes and meat dishes. We even had a complete 5 course meal at a small and packed French restaurant. Loved the cheeses and wines. Paris has the best food I've tried during the trip. Knowing someone who lived there helped a little, but it is not difficult to do well with a little common sense, even in the touristy areas.

Still left many things to explore in Paris. Gotta go back sometime. Paris is a wonderful city, specially outside the Champs-Elisee/Tower/Arch circuit.
 
 

Interlaken is kinda half-way between Zurich and Bern and, while not specially attractive by itself, is the perfect base for an exploration of the Swiss Alps. The mountains, always visible from anywhere in town, make its atmosphere.

While waiting for available laundry machines one night, I met and chatted with Min, a Korean girl studying English in England and finishing business college. We talked about life and career and how difficult it is to decide what to do for living... We even mixed our underwear in a single load in the drier.

From Interlaken, took the train up the Jungfraujoch, the mother of the swiss Alps and back. Saw beautiful scenario, small mountain towns and was amazed with being able to reach the top of a 13000 ft mountain by train. No ice axes, no crampons, no sweat. Hiked down the mountain with the most amazing scenery I had ever seen.

Switzerland is very expensive and it is difficult to eat well without spending a fortune. I lived on cheeses, wines and fruits I'd grab at some market. Tried the local "rosti" (something similar to Dennis' hashed browns), sausages and raclette (melted swiss cheese served with some vegetables and pickles).

Because I was by myself most of the time, saved the Fondues to try when I go to Switzerland in good company sometime later.

It is really amazing how easy and convenient (not cheap) it is to explore the Swiss Alps and access some of the most beautiful views without much effort. I would like to come back more prepared and get more of the Alpine experience.
 
 

The Danube, which is not really blue, divides Buda from Pest and helps us to orient ourselves.

Explored the city by foot. Walked from the very European Pest center to the castle district and back. Visited some residential areas. Enjoyed people watching at the square, seating at one of the tables of the Gerbeaud Confiserie. Went to see a concert of classical and folk Hungarian music performed by the Danube Orchestra in very traditional and old settings.

The Gerbeaud confisserie sells ice cream and makes and rolls the Belgian waffle cones from scratch on the spot. You get it still warm from the toaster. Local cuisine is not too creative and the food is based on meat dishes. Had a lot of - if not great - cheap beer at the hostel bar.

Budapest is the place to go for a budget trip. Things are very inexpensive and that allows you to get a lot more for your money.

The Hungarian women were not as sophisticated as in Paris or Zurich, but had an attitude and style that make them my choice as the most attractive I saw during the trip.
 
 

Wien is a beautiful city. Most of the sights and historical buildings are within the "ring", a 3 mile circle in the center of the city. Visited the museum, watched people, looked at the buildings. Went to Sunday mass and listened to the Wien Boy's Choir (Shubbert and Mozart, among others, got their musical kick off as part of this group).

It is not everyday that we have the opportunity to see Opera at the Statsooper with the Wien Statsooper Orchestra (well, if you live there, you have). I went to Opera three nights in a row (saw Stiffelio by Verdi, Idonomeo by Mozart and - the best - Turandot by Puccini). First night, got a real seat. The other two nights, joined the  vagabonds in the standing room (where you can see opera at the best spot in the house - without a seat - for as low as $3).

Stiffelio was ok. Did not like the scenography of Idonomeo. Turandot was great, even better than I remember it when I went to my first opera in the distant 1990 at the Teatro Municipal in Sao Paulo.

Ate wiener schnitzels (breaded/fried veal or pork) and sausages. Of course ate several Apfstrudel versions and also tried other cakes and tortes. They are great, but not much better than the ones I had in Budapest.

Opera and Classical music are as part of popular culture as soccer is in other parts of the world. Wien has style and culture and it is a wonderful destination.
 
 

Spend good portion of the time there exploring the city with Craig, an Australian architecture student from Melbourne I met in Wien. We stayed at the "Boathouse", a very nice hostel by the Vltava river where the owners would address me by name ("Marchio", with an Italian-like accent and intonation) and tell us not to forget our jackets before we left in morning.

The River doesn't have the charm of the Seine in Paris, but it is nonetheless a very good reason to build some of the most interesting bridges connecting both sides of the city.

While Praha is more alike other European capitals than I expected and there are more American tourists than I would like, it still has its very particular beauty. The bridges, the old buildings, the streets, the people. If you go out of the touristy centers, you can still see the old medieval buildings in their original state of oldness.

I spent most of the time simply wondering through the city. Visited the castle district, the central area, some residential areas. Took an interesting bus side trip to Kutna Hora, a small medieval city 1 hour from Prague.

Czech cuisine, as the Hungarian, is based on meat dishes. It is not easy to find a good meal. Restaurants offering too cheap meals to attract the backpackers are not worth the little money. It is better to pay a little more (which is not much compared to other countries anyway) and have a decent dinner.

On the other hand, it is very easy to find veeery good beer and that makes up for anything. I tried some excellent Pilsen beers, including authentic Budvar Budweiser on tap (from which the American brewery stole the name). I maintained the average of 2.5l of beer per day in Praha and Amsterdam, because there is no such thing as too much of a good thing.

From what I heard and read, Praha is changing fast. But it still has its own personality and was the most unique and romantic city I visited. Wished that all those tourists would get out of my way, though.
 
 

Amsterdam is completely different from what I had imagined. Lots of bikes in a city crossed by channels and filled with sinking old buildings. From the central station, turn left for sex (the red light district, where prostitutes expose their merchandise at windows as if it was a shopping mall) or right for drugs (you can order joints and all kinds of grass and powders from the coffee shop menus).

Of course I don't think the city is all about drugs and sex, but that is the impression a backpacker visitor gets in a short and superficial visit. As that goes, it is a good place for pos-teen students to go and experience those things freely. Because my visit was too short to go beyond that surface,  and I was tired at this last stop in my European tour, I did not get to experience the real Amsterdam.

There are good museums, but I my quota of museums and Gothic churches for the year was gone after Paris and Wien. So, I visited only the Van Gogh, which is a very focused, instructive, and complete look at the work of the Dutch impressionist.

The strength if food is internationa. Indonesian food is good but unjustifiably expensive and there are lots of "Argentinean" steak houses catering to tourists. The Heineken beer is good enough.

Travel Bytes
Here are some funny stories, facts and memories I collected during the trip.

• I found a cup of Coca-Cola for $7 in a restaurant in a Paris' touristy area (it was a 500 cc cup, but...). That was more then a glass of French wine or beer. To compensate, you order a sandwich from any small joint in a hidden corner of the city and it is made with the best brie or camembert you have ever tasted. You order "house wine" and it is good French wine!

• On my last night in Interlaken, I was trying to do the laundry. A lot of people did the same and there was a long line. When I finally got a free washer machine, it was very late and the laundry room would close in a hour. One drier became available while both mine and my chatting partner loads finished washing. We looked at each other and... why not? We dumped our laundry in the same drier. It was funny to sort it afterwards. "I think this briefs are yours...", "Uh, nice panties...", "Can you get my bra from inside your pants?", "do you wear this?". We had a good laugh.

• In Switzerland, most people speak at least 2 languages and some people speak a third one (which frequently is English). One day I was walking on a narrow passage between two streets and a 9-year old girl was coming from the opposite direction hiding her bike. I stopped and gave her the way. She was smiling. Then she looked at me puzzled, thought a little bit and said, waving her hand (reminded me of the gesture Kundera describes in "Immortality"): Thank you, Danka, Merci! I guess she did not know how to say "Arigato" or "Gracias" or "Obrigado".

• When traveling from Prague to Amsterdam, I had to buy the train ticket. Since my Europass entitled me to travel first class in Germany and Netherlands, I asked for a first-class ticket to the Czech border. The clerk looked at me, said something in Czech that I interpreted as "you  want first class, right?". I said "Yes, first class". She repeated the question, I confirmed the answer. She shrugged and gave me the ticket. Later, I found that the night train to Amsterdam had only second class cars. Besides paying more than I had too, I still had to ignore the "What an idiot" look the conductors gave me every time they came to check my ticket.

• I had wondered for months why Guinness beer cans have a plastic ball floating inside it. After much wondering I had concluded that the widget did not have any real purpose other than increasing the cost of the can and generating bar conversation. I presented the question at a bar table in Wien. And ex-waiter at a Irish Pub told me that Guinness beer is always mixed with a gas (he couldn't tell which one, but my recent research indicates it is Nitrogen) on the tap, right before being poured into the glass. Under the light of the new discovery, I would think the ball contains the mentioned gas which, somehow, would be released when we open the can.

• I spent a great deal of time traveling with Craig (an Australian architecture student from Melbourne) while in the Czech Republic. One day, we were by the Vltava river and found an interesting building (it has unleveled windows and a hourglass like structure coming out of its facade).  Apparently it is a very famous building by a very famous architect (sorry, don't remember his name, it is the same who design the Museum in Bilbao). Architects study the building in school, but he did not know it was located in Praha. I've never seen someone so excited about a building.

• I arrived in Amsterdam exactly on the day of a soccer game between Holland and Brazil national soccer teams. Watched the game in a pub full of orange-dressed local fans. Holland scored 2x0. Then there was a penalty. The bar was all celebrating the big score. The Brazilian goalkeeper defended the kick. The bar felt in silence. I could not hold myself and let out a "Yeah!". The whole bar looked at me not very friendly. Brazil scored. And scored again. I stayed in my corner, looking down, and smiling to the others as Brazil tied the game. At the end, it was 2x2 and everybody was happy.

• You can get pre rolled "joints" (marijuana/tobacco cigarettes) at many "coffeehouses" in Amsterdam. After considering it and watching other people's techniques for a while, I got a couple of them (they cost a couple of bucks each). Very nervous, smoked the first one. Did not feel anything. Waited for a while. Smoked the second one. Nothing. Either I should have got the "pure" ones or the high from marijuana is just folklore.

• Most hostels segregate boys and girls in different dorm rooms. When I arrived to my room in Amsterdam, it was empty. I left my pack on the bed and went to the shower.  The room was co-ed and two girls had come into the room while I was in the shower and observed in silence when I came out of the shower. I noticed there was someone in the room only after I was dressed and had organized my stuff, when they couldn't keep from laughing. I couldn't really verify whether or not they were impressed by what they saw because they only spoke something that sounded like German.