Oregon again

After 10 uneventful hours on a plane, I heaved my pack onto my back for the last time. My family and two of my favorite country bumpkins greeted me at the gate, waving mini American flags and holding a "Wellcum home too Mollalla Bethy-Lou" sign (tastefully constructed from a vacuum cleaner box - Oregonians are good recyclers). My flight had been delayed and U.S. customs took forever, so Amy and Maggie had to hang out in the airport wearing their Molalla hick costumes for a bit longer than they'd anticipated. They got plenty of odd looks, I'm told. I must say, I've missed those crazy gals.


Now that my feet are back on Oregon soil (and yes, it does feel good), I'm afraid it's time to retire this Europe blog. Thanks for following me along in my travels! Ciao!

P.S. You're welcome to visit me at my personal blog, http://www.bethanymonroe.blogspot.com/ anytime!

Last night in Europe

I'm staying in a hostel in Frankfurt tonight(with free wireless, hence the frenzy of new posts) so that I can catch my plane destined for Portland tomorrow morning. A "Corporate Challenge" of some sort drew thousands of walkers/runners to downtown Frankfurt this evening, turning the streets into a garbage dump with their piles of banana peels and empty bottles. Thankfully, I've already visited Frankfurt and wasn't planning to do any site-seeing today. The banana peels kind of ruin my chances at getting any postcard-perfect images of the city.

Berliner Mauer

Before catching a train out of Berlin today, I took a walk along the East Berlin Gallery - a mile-long portion of the Berlin Wall painted by artists (and many unnamed graffiti taggers)from around the world. The wall was torn down rapidly in 1989 and very little of it remains throughout the city, but a cobblestone line marks where it once stood.

East Berlin has been under major construction ever since the wall came down and now bears little resemblance to its days occupied by the Soviets. One of the few East Berlin symbols remaining are the pedestrian traffic lights. Named "Ampfelmann," the cheery little walk/don't walk character has a little more personality than the typical stick man version.

Smart Cars

I've been seeing these tiny transports all over Europe and finally got to ride in one a couple days ago when I caught a ride home with Anna in her new Smart Car after work (I'd been site-seeing and shopping in the city). They're not really as cramped as they look.

Like heaven on earth

This travel blog just wouldn't be complete without a post dedicated to Nutella - a lovely chocolate-hazelnut spread that Europeans eat like peanut butter. So, I'm digging back into my Europe photo archives for a visual. Between Katie, Mark and myself, I believe we polished off six jars of Nutella in our six weeks of traveling together. It was a bit of an addiction - especially for Katie, although I have little room to talk. Our favorite way to eat it was dipping stick pretzels straight into the jar. Katie even tried Nutella on broccoli and potato chips. My Nutella consumption has tapered off drastically since those first six weeks, but I do enjoy some on my morning toast when the opportunity arises. If you hadn't had the pleasure of eating Nutella yet, I highly recommend it - it's easy to find in U.S. grocery stores.

Other favorite European foods and beverages (some not so easy to find in the U.S.): gelatto, yogurt-filled Milka chocolate bars, durum kebabs (a Turkish fast-food sandwich wrap sold in stands all over Europe), Radler (half lemon-lime soda, half beer. A godsend in Bavaria - it's much less daunting than the liters of straight beer that the locals guzzle), apfelschorle (apple juice and mineral water), Mezzo Mix (cola w/orange) and Fanta (their Fanta is different - it actually tastes like fruit).

Back in Berlin

Audrey and I arrived in Berlin yesterday afternoon and parted ways for the first time in weeks – she is staying with her relatives in east Berlin and I am back with the Kasten family. On our way to Berlin, we had planned to spend a night in Hamburg but discovered that all of the hostels were booked solid. We spent a couple hours in the Hamburg train station trying to figure out where we could find a bed, thinking we might have to ride trains all night or sleep in the station. Instead, we caught a train to Lubeck and found a hostel with space, to our delight.

I’m staying with Dirk, Anna and Dirk’s two children – Sophie and Maxi. They took me to see the castles in Potsdam today. The weather is extremely hot, so we’ve spent the afternoon in the garden soaking in the sunshine and swimming in Werner and Hannelore Kastens’ (Dirk’s parents) pool next door.

Dirk and Anna both speak English (and better than they give themselves credit, I must add!), but the kids have been putting my German comprehension to the test (I’m afraid I’m doing quite poorly, but they’re patient). It’s been fun picking up words from them – and I’m a tad braver trying out my German with kids. Three-year-olds don’t notice if your grammar is horrid! And it really doesn’t take a lot of speaking skills to toss a ball, spin a top or give a high-five. I think kids have a talent for finding commonalities and breaking down cultural barriers.

She's big in Sweden . . .

Audrey has been missing her guitar during our travels, so she was happy to find that our last hostel in Sweden had one available for use in the lounge. The night we returned from the opera, she sat down and started strumming and singing. A few people drifted in and began dishing compliments, begging for more (including one of the opera singers). Soon, an audience of about 10 had gathered to hear her impromptu concert (and all from memory, I might add - she didn't bring her music). Some wanted their picture with her and some of the opera singers asked if she wrote the songs herself. When she answered no, they insisted on co-writing a song. We thought they might actually know a thing or two about songwriting since they were professional opera singers, but no such luck. After about an hour of "composing" they had come up with one verse to a song titled "Yesterday." The lyrics were pretty pathetic, but to their credit, English isn't their first language. Audrey managed to put it to music and the South Africans insist it will be a hit, but I won't be holding my breath. Still, how many Americans can say they composed a song with South African opera singers in Sweden?