Europe I
During June and July of 2011, I was not able to contribute to the world of blogs. The reason was because I was in Turkey seeing my family shortly but also I was in the process of buying a small property which actually is an other story to tell. It is an arduous process to buy a property in Turkey, especially when there are more than one property owner. We spent many mornings, getting up, getting ready and been told that they cannot perform the selling of the property due to some bureaucratic reason or another. Not only that but also the property is in a small village that had no Internet connection, therefore, I was unable to contribute to my blog.
Moreover, during summer of 2011, we spent 21 days traveling around Europe with Rail-passes. Our journey started in Munich, with which we both fell in love. I am not an authority on this but June in Munich is the best, if you ask me. We stayed at a hostel called Wombats City Hostel. The place was very conveniently located and full of backpackers. During the day, we walked around and saw the city which was full of unique buildings, surrounded by parks which are full of lush greenery. I also have to say I found the people very approachable, friendly and helpful. The farmers markets have abundant meat, olives, fruits and vegetables, dips and of course beer gardens. It was almost impossible to not be impressed with everything. We easily met a group of local guys who were having some wine and beer at the water fountain. After a few seconds of observation and with the help of their input, we realized that they didn’t want for to pay for beer from the beer gardens but instead, they go and buy their booze from the store and cool it off in the fountain and then drink standing. Overall, I was really happy to be there except one moment that I was dumb founded. As we were walking along the side of the river, we saw people sunbathing on the shore which looked great. Then, Tim asked me if the guy right next to us was naked or not. I looked at the guy, who was lying down in a weird way as if he wanted to burn the side of his leg and his tummy at the same time. Anyway, when I saw him mostly sideways, although it looked like he might be naked, I did not want to believe that could be a possibility. So I shared with Tim my idea which was that the guy was wearing a bathing suit however it was made out of tan color fabric. We started walking away, as the angle changed, I learned very fast that the people in Munich do not feel obliged to cover themselves. We took the train to Berlin that night. Berlin is a very historical old city full of war ruins. Checkpoint Charley which was the cross over between east and west Berlin in the days of the division. Next, we saw the parliament building and the remaining pieces of the wall which was amazing. The people in Berlin seemed like they do not know how to move their muscles on their faces that could make them smile. Seriously, I was not impressed with that. We went to a cafe shop and bought coffees which were delicious. However, when I wanted to use the bathroom, the owner asked me to pay her 0.5 euros. Total scandal! I have used toilets in 8 countries in Europe, not even once in Nice I was asked to pay when I was a customer in a store. Even in NICE it is free for customers. Thinking that it is an experience and we came to have an experience and so we did have one. The night came and we took the train to Malmo, Sweden just for a short stay. Next, we took another train and went to Copenhagen where I met Wolf and his wife, Martina for the first time. To be continued...
