Roller Coasters

In Copenhagen I went to Tivoli Gardens. I thought Tivoli Gardens was a place with some nice gardens and a few amusement park rides. WRONG! Tivoli is a small amusement park with some flowers and a green space and a fountain. And guess what? They trick you. Tivoli Gardens. Makes you think you’re visiting a garden. There are two ticket price options. One ticket is just for entry, the other for entry and unlimited rides. I chose the cheaper of the two tickets, entry only, just to see those gardens. You can also buy tickets for rides individually if you want once you’re inside the park. So I get into the park and think to myself, “Stacy, you like roller coasters, this roller coaster looks fun. Let’s buy a ride ticket for it.” (Yes, I talk to myself sometimes like I’m two people. No I’m not crazy…I’M NOT!) I proceed to buy that ticket and get in line. Nope, no go. Get to the entrance…you need 3 ride tickets for the coaster. That is 75 DKK to ride a single ride! I just paid 95 DKK to get into this “garden!” Oh yeah, and the machine dispensed 2 receipts but no ticket. The lovely workers were kind enough to print me an actual ticket when I showed them…so that was nice. I then proceeded to sell that ticket to someone that needed one. Where am I going with this stupid ramble? Well, I didn’t get to ride that stupid roller coaster. I LOVE ROLLER COASTERS! Do you understand this? I could have ridden a new coaster in a country a world away and those bastards tricked me and I didn’t get to ride it! (Can you really justify that much money for a single roller coaster ride? Yeah, me neither.) So back to where I’m going with this…

The lovely "gardens"

I may not have physically been able to ride a roller coaster in Copenhagen but this entire trip I’ve sure been able to ride my own emotional roller coaster. It’s eye opening, retarded, strange, and I guess educational too. One minute I can be just ecstatic! I’m in Europe bitches! The Agent S. invasion is in full swing and I have my minions with me! (My minions are just my dreads, but every invasion needs minions to help invade…right?) I can conquer this land single handedly! Look at me go! Then I can be full of joy, like last night. I couldn’t believe just how full of joy my heart and soul were. This joy is different from my Viking conquering excitement. It’s probably the 2nd time in my life I’ve felt this amazing fulfilling sense of joy! The other time was when I held my first niece and rocked her to sleep for my sister. We were in a dark room and I was just rocking her and staring at her and I was overcome with this amazing sense of joy too. She was such an amazing tiny little creature. (I have been so happy with my other nieces and nephews too and I love them every bit as much…but this one experience was crazy. I think that it must be like what new mothers feel like when they see their babies for the first time.) So I’m sitting in my hostel after an amazing wander about Prague, I’m reflecting on all I’ve seen so far, and all I will get to see still, and I’m just SO HAPPY. Just amazingly at peace and joyful and happy! Then there’s this morning. I wake up, get ready and leave Prague behind. As I’m walking to the train station I start getting melancholy again. Every time I leave a city I get this feeling of sadness. It’s…hmmm…it’s sadness, yes. But it’s not that first major sadness fit I had in Copenhagen. I think melancholy is really what it is. I’ve met friends, I’ve starting learning the city, started learning the language, realized how much I haven’t seen, and it’s time to go. It makes me feel a little down and reflective of everything. It’s these moments I really wish Little Danny Moore was with me. Today seemed a little worse than the other times, I think because there was so much that I REALLY wanted to see; I wanted to see those drawings by the children of Terezin. Now I’ve been to two places where Jews were persecuted and murdered, and I haven’t made it to a museum honoring them yet. The museum was closed by the time I got back from Kutna Hora. I also never even had a moment to find myself a postcard to mail home. That is, oddly enough, killing me! Yeah…postcards schmostcards. But I was doing it to collect the stamps and postcards from each country. I also never found my Czech Repbulic patch for my Wreck this Journal. Grrrr…So that is lame. I have this journal I brought to get something from each country, and got nothing physical from Prague. But, I did “take only photographs and leave only footprints.”

So anyone in Praha still. Send me a postcard! I’ll give you my address! I’d even love it if you mailed a patch with it! Interestingly enough, I think I’m a bit more down today because of some bad CS experiences trying to find a couchsurfing host in Munich. I posted in the emergency couch section and got an offer from someone new to couchsurfing with no references, not verified, not vouched for. Being a stranger in a strange land I don’t know a thing about this person. I don’t even know if they are who they say they are. I replied and said I’d love to take them up on their offer if I could meet them first for coffee or beer or whatever. Just make sure that person is who they say they are and get a feel for them. I trust my instincts. If I felt comfortable with them, I’d stay with them. I tried to make sure I was very polite in my reply, because someone was kind enough to reply to me. I knew I would probably offend them, but I tried very hard not to. Well apparently, the whole Emergency Couch thread can see our communication. A number of people with the exception of one, including the host, wrote just horribly mean messages to me. Many of them mocked paranoid Americans, they were rude to me, and they were basically ignorant rude people. So already, my experience with Munich has been negative.

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin

Berlin is the first city I really explored on my own. Sure, one day I took a free walking tour to find historical places, and yeah, I explored with a hostel friend after the tour…but other than that I was on my own. I’m learning to navigate Europe in different languages. It’s still difficult but getting easier.

Exploring on my own has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are doing things on my own schedule, taking pictures when I want, eating when I want, resting when I want, walking fast, walking slow, because I want to. It’s getting lost and discovering Oranienburger Straße with all the bars, restaurants, clubs, hookers, and a piece of Berlin history that I never knew existed. It’s wandering through eastern Berlin trying to find the wall and seeing dirty streets, youth that appear to be homeless sitting under a tree, seeing the clean side of Berlin with embassies, parliament, the hotel Michael Jackson hung his kid out of, the funky Mitte where I stayed with its youthful culture, shops, restaurants, bars, finding tree lined canals, and seeing the funny German crossing men for pedestrians. (They have little hats on them…they’re great.)

(Recognize this hotel? Think Michael Jackson.)

(Holocaust Memorial)

(Communist mural to show the East how great their life will be under communist rule vs. capitalist rule)

(Photograph of the 250 protesters that were murdered for demanding better wages after they were told they had to work harder and more hours under communist rule)

(The last two pictures are of the book burning memorial. The quote is "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.")

This disadvantages are that when my bank blocks my CC and I’m trying to pay for lodging I don’t have a partner to loan me money until I can find a cash exchange and fix my CC. I don’t get to hug another human regularly. It means that getting lost regularly results in missed sites I really would have liked to see.

But all in all, I’m learning how this all works and really starting to enjoy myself. I’m starting to appreciate my wander around Europe for what it is, a wander around Europe. Are there things I wish I’d seen? Absolutely. Can I come back again and see them? Most likely. (Given that they’re still around when I return.)

This trip is turning out to be everything I hoped it would be and was afraid I wouldn’t experience during my sad day in Copenhagen. All it took was an understanding that I’m definitely a stranger in a strange land and that’s OK. That’s part of the whole experience. I don’t speak the languages; I have to analyze my money before I pay…and when I get change. (Who wants to be short changed just for being a tourist?) I have to figure out strange city maps, bus maps, metro maps, find my way through train stations, make sure I’m on right train, find foot cream, lose said foot cream, find a restaurant, order, figure out if I have to tip or not, and so many other things. It’s scary, it’s daunting, it’s exciting, it’s learning, and growing. It’s traveling, it’s an adventure and it’s fun! I’m excited for all these same adventures in new cities over the next few weeks. Now I’m on my first train to another country and this experience is fun too! I get to see the German and Czech country sides, meet some Colombians who are going to see Prague with me, realize there are Mexicans sitting with us as well, and seeing that I can understand other languages. It may only be Spanish, but it brings comfort.

So Auf Wiedersehen for now Germany, I will see you again in a few days, this time in your southern mountains and hello Prague. I still remember how to say “Give me beer” in Czech, so that should come in handy. Here’s to another 22 days of adventures of Agent S.

East and West

When I was 13 the year was 1989. I was in 9th grade and had a world history class that was mandatory for all 9th graders. In addition to learning about world history we had to memorize all the countries and their capitals. This was in the first semester of 9th grade, which meant August - December. November 1989 the world as I had grown up knowing it started to change. The Wall came down. You all should know which wall...but for those that don't, it was the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev was the president of Russia (formerly known as the U.S.S.R.) and Reagan was the president of the US. The cold war came to an end. I went from having to memorize just the U.S.S.R. and its one capital, to having to memorize all new countries and their capitals that were all once a part of the U.S.S.R. I also had to memorize just one Germany and its capital. We were actually given all new study sheets because of the major world change.

I was old enough to understand that this was a massive historical event and was moved at the images I saw on the television of East and West Germany reuniting. Families and friends, in the same city, separated by mere meters, reuniting. I remember getting chills and watching the television fascinated with this. I was still too young to fully appreciate what this meant in the long term, but I understood anyway. I understood that a war torn country, divided, was finally reuniting. I understood that this meant people could be free. That they didn't have to live in fear any longer.

Now it's 24 years later. I'm 24 years older, and I still remember those images vividly. The sledgehammers, the crowds, the tears, the joy, the cheers. So powerful that time was. Now 24 years later here I am in Berlin and I get to see this for myself. It was so amazing to see the remnants of the wall firsthand. Today I visited the East Side Gallery, an art gallery on the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall on, you guessed it, the east side of the wall. I was shocked by how moved I was at some of the art, and how profound some of it is. I'm so grateful I got to see this place firsthand. I will now shut up and let you explore the images and take from them what you will.