'Til I Get There...

So Long Vienna

2011-08-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

My time in Vienna has come and gone. I spent my last day cleaning up the apartment, doing laundry and doing one final sightseeing thing. My parents had told me about hike/walk they did while they visited and I was busy with other things. Basically, I took the tram to the northwest edge of the city to Grinzing and then walked up a large hill through some vineyards to a clearing that gave a panoramic view of the entire city. It was a fitting way to end my time in Vienna giving me some perspective on the city, not to mention it was a perfect day outside.

I have one last day in Paris and then back to Minnesota. Oh, and I happen to have a place to stay in Paris this time around.

Gustav Klimt, Belvedere Palace

2011-08-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

Belvedere Palace, a photo by nathan.langholz on Flickr.

So I know this blog has turned into a lot of art talk, but whatever that's what I'm seeing a lot of. I was reading about Andy Warhol after I visited the Kunsthalle Wien the other day when I came across an Economist article from 2009 about how only a handful of artists have sold a single painting for over $100 million dollars, with Andy Warhol being a new inclusion. Surprisingly, to me at least, included in this list was Gustav Klimt who, to be honest, I had never heard of until I came to Vienna. Wikipedia cites that one of his paintings sold for $135 MILLION dollars in 2006. That's ridiculous. One of the main museums here in Vienna, the Belvedere Palace, houses the largest gallery of his paintings as he is from here, so I decided to go to see what all the fuss is about.

Gustav Klimt seemed to use a variety of drawing, collage, and painting techniques resulting in some interesting art. Most of his subjects included the woman form. The centerpiece of the collection was called The Kiss was a 6 foot by 6 foot piece that is of a man and woman embracing in a kiss. There are all sorts of different golds and definitely catches your eye when you enter the room.

In terms of sites to visit in Vienna the Belvedere may be the most "all purpose" place to visit. It is another fascinating example of a beautiful royal palace, there is a large garden area, a view of the St. Stehpen's Cathedral and the city center, along with a diverse art museum (including a couple Monets and Van Goghs) capped by the Klimt collection. Its closer to the city center than the Schonbrunn Palace and not quite the time commitment, although not quite impressive size wise. The art is probably more representative of historical Austrian art than the Albertina and the palace is a little more impressive. I would definitely suggest the Belvedere if making a short visit to Vienna.

Castle District Prague

2011-08-10T03:35:00.001-07:00

St. Charles Bridge and St. Vitus Cathedral, a photo by nathan.langholz on Flickr.

The Prague Castle did not disappoint as far as old world beauty and great views of the entire city. It is considered the biggest ancient castle by the Guinness Book of World Records although it doesn't look like the medieval castle that one would imagine. There are a number of large halls, buildings, courtyards, and the large St. Vitus Cathedral. This is all surrounded by the castle district which is a number of smaller noble houses, former artisan shops, and other small cathedrals all of which is on a hill overlooking all of Prague. Throughout the centuries the castle has been home to different Kings, powerful members of the Nazi regime, the Communist government, and the current Presidential offices.

There was a royal changing of the guard outside the castle gates, which happens every hour on the hour. The guards are supposed to be stoic like the guards at Buckingham Palace, but seem to have a little more leeway in this regard. As I watched, one of the guards must have had an inside joke with another one of the guards because he could barely keep it together from laughing.

Throughout the day I heard lots of talk about the former communist government and how the older generation is still either heavily involved with communist groups or very wary of it in the current government. In contrast to Bratislava I thought the city itself seemed far more removed from its communist past. There weren't the large grotesque apartment buildings in plain view and with the huge, huge tourist population it has definitely taken advantage of its preserved historical center in a large way.

I got a haircut before I left to Prague as you can see in the picture below. Trying to explain how to cut my hair to someone who only spoke German was a struggle, fortunately its pretty difficult to mess up cutting my hair.

Prague

2011-08-08T00:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here enjoying breakfast in Prague in the nicest hostel I've every stayed in. It's a far cry from my hostel experience in Paris and I'm loving it.

The train ride here was just over 4 hours and was an experience in itself. I was in a six person compartment with two other women one of whom probably didn't stop talking for more then 20 minutes in that 4 hour span in a mix of Czech, German, English and Arabic. She was covered in tattoos and was very pregnant. The other woman was from Bulgaria and spoke to me the entire trip in German convinced I understood every word she said even though I told her I only spoke English. The pregnant woman ate every half hour and was willing to share her huge bag of gummy bears with me. She was also kind enough to help the "poor" American guy find his hostel which was very nice.

As far as Prague goes, every single person I have talked to has raved about their experience in Prague, so maybe the expectations were a little high. I've enjoyed it so far, but outside of the first two hours I have been here it has rained and rained and rained some more. This had made it hard to want to be out around the city. I did join up with a free walking tour yesterday through the Old Town, Jewish Quarter, and finally the New Town. Today I'm hoping to get to see the famed Prague castle without getting rained on.

On another note this is one of the places in the world where beer is literally cheaper than water and just about every other drink. The claim is the Czech Republic consumes more beer than other country in the world per capita. On the menu where I had dinner last night a 0.2 liter coke cost roughly $4.15 while a 0.5 liter of beer was $2.10. With the nearly 10 different Czech beers on tap at every different place I have tried quite a few new beers.

St. John of Nepomuk Sunset, a photo by nathan.langholz on Flickr.

Space is the Place!

2011-08-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

In the past couple days I have crossed some more things off my list of things to do here in Vienna. The most recent two things were the Musuem Quarter's Kunsthalle Wien and the Schonbrunn Palace.

The Kunsthalle is a contemporary art museum which I enjoyed much more than the Albertina's contemporary art selection especially because they were having a huge Space exhibit called Space is the Place!, which included the following Andy Warhol print.

This museum also had a large Salvador Dali exhibit. I had no idea Salvador Dali had such a crazy mustache to go along with his art. I didn't know much about him before going to the museum actually. He was quite the showman and marketer of his own work. I imagine he would have been someone to thrive on Twitter.

The Schonbrunn was the summer palace for the Hasburgs. The inside of the palace was majestic, but the throngs of people on tours and the little listening device that looked like a Zach Morris cellphone everyone received made the entire tour quite unappealing. The huge garden area was a much better experience....except for the hour or so I got lost in the hedge maze. Additionally, it was the first sunny day in a couple weeks it seems, so that was a huge plus.

Also, I would advise anyone still with a student ID to continue to travel with it even if you aren't still in school. A lot of places give you a nice little discount up until the age of 25 or 26 depending on the place.

Danube Canal Graffiti

2011-08-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

Every day...ish I go for a run along the Danube Canal. Its nice because its unimpeded by any stop lights or many people, I can always measure how far I run by the number of bridges I pass, and its thoroughly interesting mostly because of all the graffiti along the walls. There are some very impressive graffiti artists here. Any given afternoon you can spot a couple doing their work.

Yesterday I just decided to walk along the canal to photograph some of it. I ended up talking to a German graffiti artist, Jan, who said he had been doing graffiti since 1994 and has since become a professional graphic designer. Basically, now he said he is a family man only doing graffiti as a creative outlet and no longer doing it in illegal places as well as far less seriously. On this day he was doing a bubble piece of his daughters name Amelie for her first birthday basically entirely freestyle. It was cool to see him working.

Amelie. I'm going to go back and get a photo now that he's completed it.

He didn't want his picture taken, but I took this before I started talking to him.

The most impressive pieces are by this artist named Nychos who is notorious in Europe its seems after just doing a quick google search. He has what he calls his Rabbit Eye Movement so there are a lot of rabbits all over the place in sort of Ren and Stimpy-esque style. I don't know much about graffiti, but since my roommate Mark follows some blogs about it I've started to pay attention a little more.

Some vile creatures for your afternoon walk.

TOR!!!!!

2011-07-26T23:16:00.001-07:00

TOR!!! is equivalent to GOOOOLLLL!!!

Most famous performance attractions here in Vienna are on holiday for the months of July and August. The opera is stopped, the Spanish Horse School shows are on vacation, the Vienna Choir, and for all I know the entire government. I thought I had checked earlier to see if any club soccer would be playing, but it looked like they were on break as well. Luckily the other day I noticed that there were some matches going on so I looked into it again and wouldn't you know, but Rapid Wien FK was playing Valencia CF today. Rapid Wien (Vienna) is the most popular and most successful team in the Austrian Football league. Valencia CF is probably the third most popular and successful team in the La Liga, behind of course Real Madrid and Barcelona. This seemed like a good match to attend even though it wouldn't be a bitter rivalry match or league championship.

My parents and I took the metro 17 stops across Vienna to Gerhard Hanappi Stadium in the south westernmost outskirts to get tickets just in time to miss kickoff. The 15 Euro sideline seats were great outside of the copious amounts of second-hand smoke all around. Valencia started off looking strong and creative, but a nice counter attack by Vienna led to their first goal and a fluke cross going upper 90 resulted in their second taking them 2-0 to halftime. By the end Vienna took it to Valencia, 4-1, with Valencia's lone goal coming in the 90th minute. Being the amateur photographer that I am managed to forget the memory card for my camera. I used a cell phone camera to take some great photos and video.

The blackish blobs on the field are Valencia players. The greenish blobs are Vienna players. This is right after Vienna scored their first goal. Wow, I really need to upgrade my camera so I can get some HD video on here.

Albertina

2011-07-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

The statues of Franz Josef and Prince Eugene outside the Hofburg Palace.

A nice walk through Vienna took my parents and I from Schottentor University past the Rathuas, past the Austrian Parliment, through the Volksgarten, outside the Hofburg Palace, into the Spanish horse training school and finally to the Albertina museum. The Albertina is a former palace of Prince Albert that has been turned into a museum with one of the most diverse collections of art I have ever been to. The following is a list of artists that were housed here:

Michaelangelo
Rafael
Rembrandt
Albert Durer
Monet
Picasso
Henri Matisse
Edvard Munch
Paul Klee
Paul Signac
Robert Delauney
Wassily Kandinsky
Alberto Giacometti

I'm sure I'm missing some, but that's what I could remember off the top of my head. As you can see those artist ranged from Renaissance to different types of Modernism (impressionist, cubist, a bit of surrealism). Additionally, they had a nice old Austrian photography exhibit, a huge collection of the famous Austrian artist, Max Weiler, and a large collection of contemporary artists some of which is hard for me to see as art. My favorite from here was a current Southern California based artist, Kenton Nelson, for his oil paintings of old Americana.

One of Kenton Nelson's painting is a current poster for the Albertina.

Hundertwasser

2011-07-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

It has been a rainy couple of days here in Vienna. Yesterday I went out into the city to find this architectural gem.

I guess from the photo it just looks like a crazy paint job, but the entire building was strange. This apartment building is called Hundertwasser named after the artist who designed it. The outside of the building is all those different colors and was built apparently to try blend with nature; having one of the first green roofs, having trees grow from within the different rooms, and having all the floors be uneven, almost wavelike, to imitate a forest floor. All the apartments are still being rented by actual tenants so I didn't get to see inside, but across the way is a small "village" of shops that he designed in a similar fashion. Going inside this reminded me of a Tim Burton film. A few blocks away was the KunstHausWien museum which he also designed. In my opinion it would be odd to live across from that build and have to look at it all the time.

I think I've mentioned before about how Vienna lays claim to Mozart who did a lot of his composing here while living here for many years. There are some very popular chocolates that are found in store's called Mozart's Corner, Mozart's Place, etc... where tourists from all over go to get their sugar fix. I'm sure he would be proud.

And finally, I came to quite the realization last night as well on my way home. I decided to take the #2 tram around the main ring street of the inner city. I had concluded in my mind's eye of Vienna that it is a much larger city than it actually is, which I think is a result of my skew of city sizes because of LA's sprawl, the fact I was taking the metro everywhere so I don't really get a sense of things relationships to one another, and general lack of knowledge. This is not the case at all. Everything is quite close to everything else giving me reason to plan on running around the entire inner ring, which from the apartment I would estimate to be almost exactly 5 miles or so. Not bad. Obviously there is more spread to the city, but for all intensive purposes I don't plan on visiting much outside the inner city area.

Bratislava

2011-07-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Upon first hearing about Bratislava on my way to Europe it conjured up images of an Eastern Bloc state struggling with their economy. I remembered a scene from Eurotrip circa 2004 in which the characters happen to be in a country to what Slovakia seems like it would be in my head. In the movie the four travelers actually do find themselves lost in Bratislava with "only" $1.83 to their names.

Bratislava and Vienna are considered the two closest capital cities in the world separated by only 40 miles. This makes for an easy day trip by train from Vienna. Arriving in the train station you might think that the country is like the scene from Eurotrip as the buildings are mostly ugly concrete rectangles, most the trains are seemingly falling apart, and it's the most graffiti I have ever scene in one place. Initially, this seemed like the most foreign country I have been to this summer as minimal English is spoken and we thought that they used a different currency other than the Euro. Having to pay 0.40 Euros (they started using the Euro in 2009) just to go to the restroom I realized I would not be opening my own hotel.

Once we made it down to the city center it was apparent that the city had in fact done a very nice job in making the old city a very nice tourist destination. And, although I had to pay a bit to use the toilet, it was the most affordable (i.e. cheap) city that I have visited in Europe as well. So far it goes something like, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, and then well below the rest, Slovakia, from most expensive to least expensive countries. My parents and I spent the afternoon walking around the old town, making our way to the Bratislava castle for a view of the entire city, and then down to the Danube for a stroll along the river. When viewing the entire city from the castle, the dichotomy of Bratislava came into plain sight with the near side of the river being the revitalized old town and the far side being a heaping cluster of cheaply erected apartment buildings pointing toward their very communist history. It was not a very pretty cityscape.

In the main city square near the old town hall there was this extremely popular statue of one of Napoleon's soldiers as an ode to Napoleon's army entering the city on two different occasions. Throughout the old town there were a number of these caricaturesque statues providing some light humor to the historical city.

Had to strike the same pose as the soldier.

It's the World Cup Final!

2011-07-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

What a match that turned out to be last night concluding a great tournament. It was hard not to get behind Japan after the final pk considering what the country has been through and how well they played throughout the tournament. Despite the US playing probably their most complete match of the tournament (outside of the finishing department of course) the Japanese side hung in there over and over again pulling even just when they needed it most. It has been incredible to read about how they had limited training time on an actual field up to the World Cup as a result of the earthquake and aftermath and had been almost setting their sights on next years Olympics as their goal. Good thing they peaked early and played some of the prettiest soccer in this tournament.

My parents and I went to Champions Sports Bar and Grill here in Vienna, which is an American sports bar with the traditional sports bar fare of wings, nachos, cheeseburgers, and beer. The atmosphere was far from American. The American fans were out numbered easily 3:1 by the Japanese fans in the packed bar, chanting "Nippon! Nippon! Nippon!" the entire night. The age range of the Japanese fans was from boys roughly 7 years of age to an older man well over 70. The sense of Japanese national pride was incredible. To be honest I was very surprised at how many Japanese nationals there are in Austria. As I left the bar last night I definitely was not as disappointed in the outcome as I could have been had the game been poorly played or some poor officiating had made a difference in the outcome. Reading some of the quotes today by the captain, Sawa, and to see that the Tweets per second record had been broken during this match, it was evident that Japan was behind their team in full force and couldn't have been a more deserving victor.

Naschmarkt, Sachertorte, and Liechtenstein Palace

2011-07-17T04:45:00.001-07:00

Well this blog has come to a grinding halt...I apologize to all those who have been waiting on pins and needles for my next post. I haven't had much to report on since my last post spending much of my time working on things for my top secret HBO project. I just returned for a run along the Danube canal and its amazing how quickly I fall out of shape especially since it was just two weeks ago I was climbing Mont Blanc, which I was supposedly in half marathon shape for.

In the past week, I have been going to dinner in at Stephensplatz frequently with my parents as well as for lunch with Anne and Mary Ellen Fulton (from Decorah) who were here on a tour. Additionally, I watched the USA grind through for a win in the semifinals over France as well as Japan dismantle Sweden.

The most ambitious day I have had was yesterday where I spent the day with my parents visiting notable Vienna attractions. Our first stop was the Naschmarkt (picture at the top), south of Stephensplatz, which is an outdoor market with fresh fruit, vegetables, baked goods, etc. along with lots of small cafes and restaurants. Here, I tried my first Doner Kebap sandwich, which basically is a Turkish lamb gyro and there are shops in many parts of Europe. I would definitely recommend it. At the end of the market on Saturdays there is a flea market with countless stands of useless crap, strange paintings, and an occasional elephant tusk. From my countless hours of watching mind wasting reality television, I had enough knowledge to know if one was real it could be worth quite the pretty penny, but not enough knowledge to know if it was real. I decided to pass on the tusks.

The next main stop of our day was the Sacher coffee shop, which serves the original Sachertorte, one of Vienna's most famous culinary delights. It is is a chocolate cake only made in Austria since 1832. Quite delicious. And, the final stop was the Liechtenstein Palace only a block and a half from the apartment. The palace is a large museum holding Renaissance to Baroque style paintings as well as the most expensive piece of furniture in the world, which is a badminton cabinet! Really.

My new mode of transportation in Vienna.

Also, for all of you worried about the NFL lockout...the 4th World Championship of American Football was held here in Vienna. As it is the championship of AMERICAN football I am glad to inform you all that, yes indeed, the USA happened to pull through in a hotly contested 50-7 game over the Canadians for a repeat title. I don't think any of the US players on the squad have ever come close to playing in the NFL, but there is still hope for them I'm sure. Apparently, Japan won the first two, but the USA wasn't involved. On that note, enjoy the Women's World Cup final today between Japan and USA. Go USA!

Women's World Cup Quarterfinal

2011-07-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

When I learned the Women's World Cup was being held in Germany this summer I inquired into tickets. To be honest I was only interested in seeing the USA play or possibly Brazil. All the USA group stage matches were already sold out so I looked into the later knockout stage games. There were tickets available to both quarterfinals matches that the USA could end up playing in (depending if they won or finished second in their group). The women's US team being the only team to finish in the top three in all five women's World Cups and one of the favorites to win this edition of the tournament looked like a good lock to win their group. As a result I went with the game in Augsburg where I expected them to play. Disappointingly, the USA lost to Sweden last Wednesday. As a result I got stuck watching a Sweden-Australia women's World Cup match each of whom have really no certifiable women's soccer stars...to be honest I was less than enthused, especially since I no longer had the opportunity to ask Hope Solo out on a date after the game. In any case, I went to the game today which turned out to be exciting with 4 total goals (Sweden 3 - Australia 1). I'm watching the USA - Brazil game on TV right now and so far it has been a far more sloppy game with fewer goal chances so maybe I lucked out some.

Edit: Nevermind. The USA - Brazil game is a lot more exciting than the one I went to.

The women's World Cup in contrast to the men's in South Africa last summer didn't have quite the intensity or fervor surrounding it. The stadium was on the outskirts of Augsburg, seemingly in the middle of no where. In comparison to Africa though it was a breeze to find, with no confusion at all. The game was a sellout of ~25,000 fans so it was a little more intimate than some of the games last summer much more like a Galaxy game. Most of the fans seemed to be from Germany with no more than 100 in each of the teams fan club areas. As a result the fans didn't have a vested interest in either team so everyone cheered whenever someone got close to scoring. Also, the German fans were the most organized and enthused about starting the wave in the stadium I've ever seen. And there were no vuvuzelas! It was quiet in comparison in a good way. In general the fans just seemed plain nice.

Sweden did the hokie pokie after each goal they scored.

Although the game was in Augsburg, I'm staying in Munich; a 35 minute train ride away. Yesterday there was a large Gay Pride festival in the main square with concerts, bratwursts, and lots of beer. Of course I ate two foot long sausages. Later in the afternoon I stopped by the Haufbrau Haus to get some of the famed Bavarian beer. The Haufbrau is a public beer hall that was first started in the 1500s and they sell their beer in liter mugs. It is one of the most famed drinking places in the world now so it was well worth the stop. I can only imagine what this place is like during Ocktoberfest.

Awesome sausage grill.

Slowing Down Summer in Vienna

2011-07-08T11:57:00.001-07:00

Just as I started talking to the cats my parents showed up to stop my insanity. Things in Vienna are going slowly because I know I have 5 weeks here so I haven't rushed off to do very much. Yesterday I went for a walk around town to see if I could come across anything interesting, but basically I just got lost, sweaty, and hot. In the end I just jumped on the metro to St. Stephen's Cathedral, the most well known landmark in Vienna. It's a large gothic cathedral in the same vein as the Notre Dame...having seen over two handfuls of century old churches in Europe so far I wasn't quite impressed as I might have been if it was the first one I'd seen. The roof was pretty cool. Outside there were fifty or so men wearing silly "mozart" type wigs trying to get people to attend the various concerts throughout the city. They did not persuade me.

Tonight my parents and I attended the Rathaus(the city hall) where there is a summer long film festival with outdoor food kiosks from all over the world. I had some Paella and a huge chocolate crepe. Delicious. It is a nice setting for an outdoor dinner and I'm sure I will head back there more than once. This weekend I'm off to Munich for some soccer....and probably some German beer, unless like the men's World Cup the women's World Cup only serves Budweiser, which would be a travesty.

The first cat is Pudge. The one below is Habibi.

The roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Arrival in Vienna

2011-07-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

I have successfully made it to Vienna and have started to settle into the apartment a little bit. The cats, Habibi and Pudge, are getting used to me as well. They each have their own quirks, but don't seem to be overly difficult to take care of. I haven't done much here yet outside of try to find my way around town a little bit. Sugi, Joe, and I were here almost 6 years ago at this point and I am already starting to recognize some places we visited while we were here. Basically, I just wanted to post some more photos from my Mont Blanc week. Enjoy.

Geneva

2011-07-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well I spent a couple days in Geneva because it was an easy bus ride from Chamonix and there is a train all the way to Vienna. Geneva is a nice city, but much smaller than I had anticipated. The focal point of the city is Lake Geneva itself where I spent a lot of time just lounging around in the park by the water. There isn't much to see or do but I took a tour of the Old Town and just sauntered around the shopping area. It's known as the city of watches and banks. I considered getting a Patek Phillipe watch just to fit in, but I think I might be stuck in Geneva for the rest of my life if I actually shelled out the cash for one of those. The most ambitious thing I've probably done here is go out to a bar on a boat that kept me on my toes so as not to end up in the lake. Of course the $15 drinks were very appreciated as well. Mont Blanc can be viewed from much of the city and its pretty amazing to think I was actually at the top just a few days ago. Finally, tomorrow I'm off to Vienna spending 11 hours on a train. Its going to be a long ride. I hope everyone else gets a chance to enjoy their fourth of July more than I do. The picture is Lake Geneva with Mont Blanc in the distance.

Mont Blanc

2011-07-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

Success! Yesterday for my birthday I completed the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in western Europe, standing at 4810 meters (15781 feet). My legs currently are very sore. Before I get into the account of the climb I'll give a bit of a summary of the rest of the week.

Tuesday was probably the most stressful/scary day of the entire course. Our entire group was under the impression that we would be having sort of an easy acclimatization day just going up the cable car walking around a bit, having a snack, maybe reading a bit, then heading down by dinner. This was hardly the case. Instead we spent the entire day participating in scenes straight out of Cliffhanger. I met my guide for the rest of the week Luca, an Italian, and began our hike down a pencil thin snow ridge with thousands of feet drops on either side. We got to what is called the Cosmiques Route. It was rock scrambling, climbing and rappeling for 3 hours at elevation. The entire time there was a huge drop leaving our entire group at wits end. We were told that there would be nothing as technical or scary on Mont Blanc so seeing that we finished this climb we were well on our way to climbing Mont Blanc.

Wednesday was a easy day. We spent the morning rock climbing and improving our scrambling techniques. By 1 we were done for the day having lunch and preparing our kits for the Thursday/Friday Mont Blanc climb. We were told to rest up and be ready to go by 7am on Thursday morning.

The next morning group began our ascent of Mont Blanc. We started at 9 in the morning hiking up to the Gouter Hut at 3800 meters. In all it was a 6 hour hike where we ascended almost 2000 vertical meters. There was one dangerous section called the couloir du Gouter where rocks come bouncing down the mountain side. Basically, we had to look up the couloir to check for rocks and listen to make sure all was clear. Then we ran across the gully which was about 100 yards to the other side. It is the most dangerous part of the entire climb.

The Gouter Hut was an experience in itself. We had dinner and then tried going to sleep at 8 pm in a room of 40 people sleeping side by side most of whom were snoring. It was pretty much impossible to fall asleep at this point. The entire night I maybe slept 1 hour until everyone started stirring for breakfast at 2am.

I began climbing with Luca at roughly 2:30 am in the pitch black in full winter gear and only a head lamp to lead the way. Looking up all I could see was a zig-zag of head lamps showing how high I had to climb. For the next three hours basically all I focused on was one step at a time and the back of Luca's shoes. As the sun started to rise I started getting a pretty bad headache, a bit nauseous and dizzy from the elevation. I started having some doubts about whether I should keep climbing. The wind started picking up as we got higher on the mountain. Finally, by 6:15 am I reached the summit at the same time as my two other group members. It was a great feeling, but it was cold, windy and short lived. We took some pictures for 5 minutes and then started back down.

Following the summit we descended 3000 meters over the next 7 hours which was not very fun at all. Going up was enjoyable, but that's the thing with mountaineering I guess you have to go down. By the time I reached the bottom it was 3 in the afternoon having maybe slept for 1 hour in the past 36 or so. At the end of the hike I was happy to have done it, but I don't know that I ever wanted to do something like that again. I guess I'll have to give it a few weeks.

Below is Mont Blanc on our way down at 7:30am. If you look closely you can see people ascending on the ridge in the top right corner.

Chamonix and the Mer de Glace

2011-06-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

So as I mentioned I was on my way to Chamonix yesterday where I arrived at roughly 2:30 in the afternoon. The train ride in was spectacular as we entered the mountain valley with the domineering Mount Blanc looming over us. At this point I was seriously questioning my decision to enroll in a course to try to summit it. In any case I arrived in Chamonix to extremely warm temperatures and because it is situated at over 1000 km I could instantly tell that the sun was beating down on me much stronger than it does in California. I couldn't check-in until 4:30 so I had an hour and half to meander the streets of Chamonix, which is very much an upscale ski resort/ outdoor adventure town.

I recently read Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakuer so to give you some idea of the area from almost 25 years ago I give you some passages that I found interesting, "…Chamonix, though populated by fewer than eleven thousand year-round residents, has for two centuries been the hippest mountain community on the continent, maybe the entire planet, and not merely in the minds of those who live there. Chamonix, understand is considerably more than the Aspen of the Alps; it's the very birthplace of haute chic. [pg 86 -87]" and "It's this unlikely juxtaposition of radical topography and rarefied continental culture that, for better and worse, begat modern Chamonix. What's different about Cham - as the village is termed in the local patois - is that fully half the people walking past will be clomping along in climbing boots and have a coil of 8.8 millimeter person slung over a shoulder [pg 89-90]." Although from a few years back this remains very much true today all visible within the first hour I was here.

I checked into my room and then set about town to buy the remaining articles I needed for the summit kit. That evening through talking with the rest of my Mont Blanc summit group I learned there majority of them had little to none mountaineering experience and were have similar nerves to me as well. This let me sleep much easier.

This morning I met with my group of five and one guide, Fred, at the train station to head up further into the mountains. I should give some explanation of the group. The company I booked my course online through a British company so a large majority of the other participants in all the courses (not just the Mont Blanc course) are British. To be honest they have some strange slang words so at times it doesn't even seem like they're speaking the same language as me. Jolly good, anyways though. Specifically in my group there is 1 British, 1 Irish, 1 other American, and my roommate is from Hong Kong, but lives in London. He kind of looks like Jackson Felde (for all you Decorah folks), but a bit more chubby. By no means is anyone in the group a hardcore mountain climber, which is very good. Fred, is French.

At the top of the train we had a fantastic view of some major French Alps peaks (I can't remember their names) and the Mer de Glace glacier where we would be spending our day. First, we had a 10 minute hike down to these steep ladders that took us down maybe 900 vertical feet (thats a total guess; I have no idea but it was a lot). In all there were 6 ladders we had to descend mixed with some rock scrambling. At the bottom we had another bit of a hike up to the glacier. Here we proceeded to put on our crampons which seemed to add 2 lbs to the bottom of each foot. It was like I was walking with deadly snow boots all day. The crampons themselves were a bit hard to get used to and did a number on my ankles. Initially it was difficult to trust them as I kicked them into an ice wall. Basically, the entire day was spent walking the glacier and doing some ice climbing. Fred was a quiet guide, patient, but definitely very knowledgeable. Fortunately, the weather was fantastic and I didn't wear much more than a long sleeve and pants on the glacier. Hiking it was almost too hot. Hopefully it stays this way as we get to higher elevations. By the end of the day during the walk back up the ladders to the train I was pretty tired, but fortunately no blisters so the forecast for success for the next few days is promising.

At the top is a photo of the back drop for our hiking all day. Below is the Mer de Glace glacier (the longest glacier in all of France). The grey, dirty looking stuff at the bottom of the photo is the actual glacier itself. When you're actually one it it looks a bit more like ice and not so cruddy.

I didn't have anyone take pictures of me today on my camrea because we have a former photographer in our group so hopefully she took some good ones of me that I hope to get in the coming days. Here's one of the some of the group on the ladders returning from the glacier.

Au Revoir Paris

2011-06-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

As I write this I'm well on my way from Paris to Chamonix. I had a great time in Paris; I can't believe it came and went so quickly! I saw a lot in my four nights there, but it is definitely a city worth revisiting. Now though I've had enough of city life and am looking forward to getting out in the Alps to do some hiking/mountaineering.

The past two days I spent at the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Sacre Coeur, Montmarte, and the Luxembourg Gardens. There were some disappointments (Starry Night not being at the Orsay because of renovations) and surprises (drinking Heinikens on the grassy hill at Sacre Coeur overlooking all of Paris with some fantastic people). The Louvre did not disappoint as it is such an impressive, magnanimous structure that you could get lost in for hours with all the different corridors and wings. I no clue how much of the museum I saw in my over four hours there, but I imagine if I returned I would finding a number of things that I missed. Montmarte was a charming area a of town with its quaint streets, colorful store fronts, and relaxed nightlife of getting drinks on the sidewalk bar patios. Throughout I continuously ate "un sandwich du jambon et gruyere" (ham and cheese on a baguette) for lunches and snacks. Overall, one of the things I became most impressed with was the metro, which was a breeze to use and allowed you to almost anywhere in the city reliably and quickly. I could get used to life in Paris pretty quickly I think.

Writing in both my journal and this blog brought back a lot of memories from my previous trips to Paris with my family so many years ago and trying to write about it as my first exercise in travel writing in first grade. I had the task of completing a travel story as an assignment so I choose one particular trip to Paris. Each day we had the task of first writing this story in a lined notebook and once we had that completed we had to type in on one of those prehistoric computers that used floppy discs. I managed to drag out a 3 day trip into some 60 odd pages simply by writing roughly 9 words per 8.5 x 11" piece of paper thinking the longer the story was the cooler I would be. Obviously, that worked out. This of course extended weeks beyond the original assignment and I barely got started typing the thing on the computer at all. One thing I've always questioned from that is how I ever got graded. In the end I always look back at that ridiculousness as my first foray into travel writing that helps me remember some of the trips I have taken.

So I tried out a new pose inside the Louvre. Since this is a family friendly blog I kept it PG.

Normally, I haven't been too into sculpture as a medium, but while at the Louvre I was really impressed by their marble statue collection. I spent a lot of time in these galleries and had a little fun with it taking pictures of statues that look like people I know. Who might this be?(maybe a little longer hair in the sculpture) Guess in the comment section.

Finally a picture outside the Louvre.

Gorilla Sighting at the Eiffel Tower

2011-06-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

I thought I might post before the end of the day and let you all know once again I found a hostel last minute….if you care. Oh, and I found a hostel for the next two nights as well. Not the same one as tonight but at least I don't have to worry about it the rest of the time I'm in Paris! In trying to find all these hostels, I'm getting to be a pro on the Paris metro and understanding the layout of the city quite a bit.

Comical moment of the day: A Chinese woman was getting her picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower. A woman in a full gorilla suit snuck up on her while putting her arm around the Chinese woman's shoulder. The Chinese woman shrieked multiple times running off into the park over 100 yards, at least, leaving her husband behind. When she finally returned she begrudgingly took a picture with the gorilla suited woman still whimpering in fear at the sight.

So yes, I went to the Eiffel Tower today. It's a very cool structure and something you should see once, but the lines are a pain. I probably waited in line over two hours to get to the top. On the way down I was so fed up with lines, I just jogged down from the second story. I know guide books advise showing up early, but I'm sometimes I'm lazy and I guess I had to pay for it today. Heed the advice.

From there I went for a long walk to the Arc de Triumphe, down the Champs Elysees, to the gardens surrounding the Louvre, where I went to my first museum of the trip, the Museum Orangerie, which had a nice collection of Monet's Waterlilies, Picasso, Cezzane, and Renoir's. I feel so cultured. I should note that also early this morning I tried to go to the national Picasso museum, but apparently it is closed until 2013! Future travelers to Paris beware.

Oh, I might try a new a pose in one of these photos in front of these famous landmarks at some point….maybe. Suggestions? Also, the lady that took this photo reminded me that some people think I look like a young Tom Cruise…really? I've heard it before, but come on.

Bienvenue a Paris

2011-06-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I've made it to Paris and my first day has come and passed. It wasn't without a hitch or two and I have been awake for 34 straight hours so my concentration level is a little low. And no, I will not be spending my first night in Paris sleeping in the streets. Both my flights were delayed, the second one for 2.5 hours during which we had to sit on the plane without out AC or water. It was hot, hot, hot in that plane and began to smell like a locker room mixed with vomit after an hour or so….not pleasant at all. Following takeoff we flew through a huge lightning storm, lightning striking all around us, that only a few minutes later managed to stop flights from leaving the Chicago airport. This was scary in itself and all the turbulence left me with a queasy stomach. Of course, I didn't sleep at all on the flight.

Arriving in Paris, my task immediately became finding a place to stay. I had a few leads that I called with the help of the Tourism desk (a great resource) to no avail. I decided to just show up at one of them and see what I could do. I took the train adjacent to the Louvre making my way to the hostel. They still had no room; not a big surprise. I put on my big "goofy" smile to convince the receptionist to call all the hostels she knew to ask for a place even though she had just refused to do so for a person in line in front of me. Ten minutes later I had a place to stay for just tonight a few blocks away. Winning!

This afternoon I toured the Notre Dame, got some Bertillion ice cream, visited a major Parisian department store, and searched for the Hotel Esmerelda, where my parents had taken us some 15 years ago in the footsteps of a children's book that my mom enjoys. I was close to the hotel because I remember all the street vendors and being close to the Notre Dame, but I just couldn't find it. First stepping out into the Paris streets it has great energy. There are people walking everywhere, almost every restaurant/bar has a patio on the sidewalk filled with people getting a beer or some wine, and its just generally a bustling city. Its a stark contrast to LA where there is almost no human interaction because everyone is in their own car. I tried out my minimal French, getting by a few times without the other person having to use any English. I just don't remember nearly enough to have a conversation with anyone though.

So now I'm back in the same situation again with no place to stay tomorrow, so I'm back on the search. Hopefully that won't take up too much of my time tonight/tomorrow. As always take a look at some of the new photos I posted on flickr.

Paris Bound

2011-06-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

I take off today on my two month trip to Europe flying out of Minneapolis, MN. I had a whirlwind 10 day midwest swing, having two bachelor parties, partaking in an amazing wedding, fishing, grilling, trampolining dodgeball, and spending lots of time on different types of boats. It's always great to see family along with my college and high school friends from days gone by that it seems like hardly a day has passed since the last time I got together with any of them. Thanks everyone for putting up with me on your couches and giving me rides places.

With the help of my dad I have the opportunity to house sit in downtown Vienna, Austria and take care of 2 cats for five weeks. I decided to take advantage of my full summer "off" by taking a larger tour of Europe. I put off in quotes because I have some deadlines for my research that may hinder my ability to do some sightseeing, but as it is the reason I am even able to do a trip like this I can't really complain too much. My biggest concern in the weeks the I spend in Austria is that I become some kind of crazy cat hoarder lady....

Anyways, without further ado here is what I have planned so far.

Tentative Itinerary:

June 21: Depart MSP for Paris
June 22 - 26: Paris, France; Sightseeing
June 26 - July 2: Chamonix, France; Hiking in the Alps
July 2 - 4: Bern, Switzerland; Sightseeing
July 4 - August 15: Vienna, Austria; House sitting
July 10: Women's World Cup Quarterfinal Augsburg, Germany
August 15 - 16: Paris, France
August 16: Depart Paris for MSP

I've left some things unplanned to date as that is one of my favorite parts of traveling, but one thing that worries me a bit is my lack of a place to stay in my time in Paris. I always have some nerves before a long trip like this, but most of the time they're good. I spent over a week looking for hostels for even just the night I arrive, but everything is sold out and I have some reservations about throwing down over $500 a night to stay in downtown Paris. Showing up in a city like Paris gives me slightly more anxiety than usual, but at this point there isn't much I can do until I show up. I'll try to publish a picture with every blog post and of course a few more on my flickr (Over there ---->). Here's a dragonfly picture from Crosslake earlier in the week.

The next time any of you hear from me I'll be in Paris. Have a great summer.