A Brief Reprieve

Aloha all,

So I've continued my adventures across Europe, and it went pretty well. I have to say that I really like Prague as a city. Immediately when I got there I was overcome by a feeling of familiarity and comfort. The hostel I stayed at, The Clown and Bard, was a very cool place to be. It is most known for it's 32 bed monster room, where all the single travelers congregate. Basically a bunch of young dudes looking to get drunk for cheap in Eastern Europe. And how! I have to say there are two aspects that I really see to traveling; well traveling as a young person and staying in hostels. The first being to see the cities/places, and seeing what the locals are all about. The second is the people that you do meet in the hostels. It's nice to meet all these people in the same situation you are in, and you all randomly meet to go figure out the city.

I noticed immediately the utter age of Prague, it feels (and probably is) the oldest city I've been to; both in history and architecture. The streets are all cobblestone, weird sculptures everywhere, and remnant graffiti from the Soviet Union days everywhere. The Czech people are a pretty cool bunch, they are standoff-ish, but I got chatting with a couple of them and they were very decent. The bars were a great time, the music of Eastern Europe is definitely different than the west. It's a lot more techno; hard beats, strange synths, and fairly fluid. I dig it. The hostel crew and I went to a few interesting places, and I tried my hand at dancing there. That being said, I need some solid funk when I go back to Calgary.

I met a rather interesting British fellow, and we had some good chats. This was his 14th time coming to Prague, he was saying he going to Prague about once every 2 months or so. I guess I can't blame him, it's really addictive. My favourite city is still Paris, so perhaps I'll be doing the same with belle Paris.


So after the messy good times in Prague, I took the train up to Berlin. Something about Europe just screams to me, "Take the train." Even if the bus is cheaper, it's the place where I'll take a train any day of the week. Berlin was...just so German. Walking off the train I saw this:

I don't think the picture really does it justice, but it was this giant sterile place, with level after level of trains everywhere. My hostel was nice enough to give me an email with explicit directions, the main being take the S bahn 7 into Berlin. Guess which trains I could find? S bahn 1-6, and 11-16. Le sigh. Anywho, the hostel there was about the cleanest place I've been. I should have got more pictures of it, because it was crazy how sterile it was. Everything in white in the the room, except the bed frames in brushed aluminum and the floor was wood. In the halls, everything was white, except the doors being in red. I felt like I was in some existential movie, or like the main character in Garden State when he wakes up initially. But it was a weird contrast when walking around in the streets because everything was covered in graffiti, it was crazy. Here's a bathroom at one of the bars I went to, such a strange contrast.

I guess Germany left me feeling a little alone and confused. The people were friendly enough, but I got the sense that I was intruding, people weren't happy to have me there. In Prague, nobody seemed to care, or they were happy to see a traveler spending some money there. In Berlin, it was a feeling that I was being avoided. I dunno, just weird. That being said, a few of the Germans that I did get to chat with were super helpful and really friendly...when they wanted to be. I know there were a couple of girls that a friend and I ended up going to the bar with, and halfway through the night they must have decided they didn't like us. Because it went from friendly conversation and dancing, to them completely ignoring us. I hate to generalize to everyone, but I tried chatting with a few more, and it was a similar (if not quicker) response. Whatever.

This all being said, I'm glad I went and checked it out. As I always say, there's one way to find out. And you're damn right I did.
Here's the holocaust memorial, to get an idea of the German architecture that is abound in the city:
In other news, I recommend picking up a copy of The Economist from November 3rd-9th. It has a really good special report on the impact of religion in the 21st Century here. Hell, in general it's a damn good magazine to read. It's about the most objective reporting that I've found, and that's as much as I can ask for.

I'll write some more when more thoughts bubble to the surface.
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