Musings

Debbie's Generally Random And Maybe Less Relevant Travel Musings:

• Mark's a great traveller; he is inquisitive, loves to talk to strangers and has no problem trying new things and asking questions. He has a great web of detailed information to put sites and experiences into historical perspective. Also, he has a great sense of direction and loves maps. I think I wrote about this before. We fall into a very gender determined division of labor--Mark drives and works on the directions; I read and relax; I cook /he washes the dishes; he handles the technical transition of the seat to the bed because it takes strength; I write a lot of the text and edit all of it; he creates the links, adds the photos and uploads it. Update--it's mostly the men in these campsites who carry the plastic bin to the wash area to do the dishes.
• Learned how to weigh and sticker our own fruit in most of European markets. I know this sounds easy but it really had us confused for a while.
• Former Soviet block countries are pretty poor and the dollar goes a great distance.
• Only countries where we found toll roads were France and Italy (where we think the Interpol is still after us). Though we found out we should have bought a gizmo for driving in the Czech Rep too late and had to pay fine...
• We're thinking that our American lifestyle and attitudes are Puritanical in light of:
  • Honesty policy on public transportation systems. You validate your ticket for the first use, do not need to show it after that. It could be checked at random and if you don't have a validated /stamped ticket you would be fined. In Berlin there were warnings not to travel with an unvalidated ticket as you would have to pay the fine on the spot and if you don't have the money to pay the fine, you would be escorted to an ATM or bank in order to pay. In Paris for one day we managed without a valid ticket, in Strassbourg we couldn't figure out how to use the machines for the trip back to the campsite, and we forgot to pay for parking in the parking lot at Speyer. The parking machines are nearby but we're not in the habit of paying attention.
  • The amount of alcohol available and where--liquor stores and markets of course, but we saw liquor bars in hair dressers and gas stations in the Czech Republic. That may be too tempting for many and I don't know the auto fatality rate...but we have and had so many liquor restrictions. Not to speak of the "coffee houses" in Amsterdam where weed is readily available and legal.
  • Sexuality and availability of sex, from the Red Light District in Amsterdam the sex stores/peep stores in Paris and Warsaw, to the line up of prostitutes entering the Czech Republic on the road from Dresden. Also, posters/ adverts show bare breasted women; of course they're live at some of the beaches as well. Mark was really impressed when a bunch of girls entered the men's toilet at the Louvre, even tho the urinals were in use, because the line at the women's was too long.
    
    It's not a great photo, but it is photographic proof.
  • Pay at the campsite as you leave, do not leave an imprint of a credit card...but you do leave your passport (sometimes). Some of the campsites have been open but the office closed when we got there and the folks were perfectly comfortable having us pay and do the paperwork the next day.
• Countries we have visited - in sequence:
  • Holland (2x)
  • Belgium
  • France (2x)
  • Italy
  • Czech Republic (2x)
  • Austria
  • Poland
  • Germany (3x)
  and been in cities/towns/villages on the following rivers/bodies of water:
  • Amsterdam - Amstel
  • Den Haag - North Sea
  • Renensee - North Sea
  • Delft - on the Schie canal
  • Paris -Seine
  • Troyes - Seine
  • Dienville - Lac d'Orient
  • Dijon - Seine
  • Lyon - Saône
  • Avignon - Rhône
  • Marseilles, Cassis, Hyères, Genoa, Cinqe Terra - Mediterranean Sea
  • Florence - Arno
  • Venice - Adriatic Sea
  • Villach - Drau
  • Graz - Mur
  • Eisenstadt -Wulka
  • Vienna - Danube
  • Cracow - Vistula (Wisła)
  • Warsaw - Vistula (Wisła)
  • Gdansk - Motława (connected to the Leniwka, a branch in the delta of the Vistula (Wisła)) and Baltic Sea
  • Sopot - Baltic Sea
  • Gdynia - Baltic Sea
  • Szczecin - Oder
  • Berlin - Spree
  • Dresden - Elbe
  • Prague - Vltava
  • Terezin - confluence of the Labe and Ohře
  • Karlovy Vary - Tepla (which empties into the Ohře - which empties into the Lave river at Terezin)
  • Munich - Isar
  • Günzberg - Danube
  • Stuttgart - Nekar
  • Strasbourg - Ill (our campsite was on a island in the Muhlbach)
  • Speyer, Worms, Mainz - Rhein
  • Hameln - Veser
• A superficial sense of the poverty in Poland and in Czech Republic, may explain the signs warning about pickpockets. Our German friends, Ingo and Isabelle tell us that "people say that" Poles have a reputation for stealing (making this a stereotype and a rumor… so take this with due grains of salt). Danzig publishes a warning sheet for tourists, not to visit the old town alone because it's dangerous.
• Only in Germany and Holland did we have to use tokens for our showers, limiting the amount of hot water in the shower to 2-5 minutes, punkt. Not everywhere but several times. Actually, it's usually plenty of time… at least once the weather got warmer.
• Surprisingly Debbie's home-acquired passive knowledge of German and high school French are good enough to understand the Divrei Torah we heard in each country, helpful in getting around, hard to speak but certainly understand enough. In one situation, with the Polish policeman who answered the call about the theft, he said he did not speak English, but could speak German,and I (d) explained that I could understand German, but not Polish. I told him I would understand his German and he would understand my English. It was a lighter moment.
• The changeable weather from sunny to drizzly catches us by surprise, especially since our slickers were stolen. We're trying to replace them. Finally did in Karlovy Vary.
• We've found (higher class) hotels to be great resources: maps, directions, appointments for haircuts, clean bathrooms and (paid) Internet access in the lobbies. Often they let us use the business office just to check email...for free.
• Hard to find time to absorb all the experiences and certainly hard to find time to record them.
• EU country pharmacies can only fill prescriptions written by a doc in the EU.… seeing the doc to replace my prescriptions only took 5 minutes, he asked a few simple questions did no exam and gladly wrote the prescriptions...at a mere cost of $30; Debbie's meds which in the US can run quite a bit, plus some ibuprofen and multi vitamins totaled only $50. Tells you something about medicine in the US.
• English book stores--Paperback Exchange in Florence, Pickwick in Vienna, Anagram in Prague, several in Amsterdam (there's another one at a café --check the cafés in Prague book).
• Christian shrines everywhere on every road...more so in France and Italy, and especially Poland.
• From day to day we can get so caught up in what we are doing that we forget the resources, the guidebooks, the clippings, the Internet.
• We liked the campsites at Venice on the Channel, at Prague--the Herzog, in Carlsbad--Minicamp; Paris--Bois de Bologne, Florence--Camping International, Beaune, Cassis, Alstat and Hostel Germany; Amsterdam at Gaasperplas
• Recycling seems to be everywhere, less so in Czech Rep and Poland.
• Feel pretty safe in most places, except Villach, Gdansk and outside Lidice where we free camped at the gas station.
• Funny how Mark hears a language and can imitate its intonations; he occasionally interacts with people with accents and unknowingly imitates that accent;
• We both sighed a bit of relief when we arrived at the campsite in Amsterdam. We did it! We're healthy, safe and happy. Despite the crazy drivers and the narrow roads in some spots, Mark successfully drove the entire trip of 8833 kilometers.
• The freebie mini flashlight Mark got at Macworld in San Francisco in January 2006 and keeps on his key chain has been very useful and survived the entire time.
• Since Mark did all the driving he has not finished a single book!!
• Our morning custom has evolved into--Mark showers first while I exercise a bit, then he reports back on the state of the shower...hot, costs, weak, tricky...etc. At the Starbucks in Berlin where we wanted only wifi which we didn't use in the end, we picked up a coffee sample. Every morning in the van we do a little wave offering of the packet to inhale the delicious smell. Usually Mark drinks a cup of tea with lemon, but enjoys a cup of coffee in the mornings shortly after breakfast. Because coffee in the van was too complicated for us, we have been nibbling on coffee candy=a cup of coffee, especially on driving days.
• Only in Amsterdam and very rarely in the US at a Starbucks, has anyone reluctantly refilled the hot water for the tea. Our last three nights in Amsterdam in two different cafes, we've had that experience. We were told that the machine tracks the number of drinks and that we would be getting a second tea without paying. They gave us a hard time but did it anyway.
• Each camp site has been unique with unique characters managing them.
• How things cycle or connect: Matisse at the beginning and end of France; no Chagall in France but in Mainz, Germany at St Stephens Church; Gutenberg in Italy and Mainz; donuts of similar type in Vienna and Holland; rights of man in Paris and Amsterdam; Golem in Paris and Prague; sister cities of Paris/Holon and Karlovy Vary and Carlsbad; Rashi in Troyes and Worms; cemeteries e/where; corrugated cardboard art in Ferrara and Vienna; Esperanto in Munich and Udine; Weill Brecht in Eisenstadt and Warsaw; Trader Joe's Valrona and plums; Architect Oppler in Hamlin and Karlovy Vary....

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