2018 – Chronicles of a Homebody Adventurer

2018, EuroTrip 2018, Uncategorized

Fair Verona

September 16, 2019 Charlotte

Before I knew it, my time in Germany was over. It had some highs and lows, and I was ready to be in a place that was familiar. Germany and I never meshed in the week that I spent there; perhaps this was because it came on the heels of Denmark where I felt instantly comfortable or maybe I just wasn’t hitting the right spots. I really think the next time I do Germany, I need to do it with someone else who knows it, loves it, and can introduce me what it has to offer.

I was ready for Italy. My first stop of my Italian tour was the fair city of Verona, of Shakespearean fame (for most…it has many other, more remarkable things to be famous for says this ancient art historian). The train ride was long, but beautiful. Through southwestern Germany, Austria and northern Italy we went, winding our way through mountains, finally arriving in Fair Verona.

Verona was immediately from the outset, entirely charming. I lucked out with a very nicely located and appointed Airbnb. I did my usually settling in and took my first nighttime walk around Verona. I ate and I grocery shopped, at an Aldi, and came back to plan my one full day in Verona.

Verona has a lot of well-preserved Roman remains, of which I was only able to scratch the surface. I started my day with my traditional Italian breakfast of a cornetto con crema and a cappuccino, then walked to my first destination, the Porta Leone, which was really difficult to photograph, but super fascinating.

A defensive gate dating to around the 1st or 2nd century CE, the Gate of the Lions was incorporated into other buildings as time progressed, preserving basically one side of its facade. One of my favorite things about Europe is the manner in which archaeological remains have been integrated (even sometimes when done badly or even just haphazardly) with the modern city.

After drinking my fill of the Porta Leone, I walked down one of the main (touristy) drags of the town, ate lunch, bought market fragola, which were the best freaking strawberries I’ve ever eaten. It was such a gorgeous day, the right amount of sun and shade, bustling, but not overcrowded. After some disappointments in Germany, Fair Verona was living up to her name.

I continued to walk around Verona, taking in parts of the city that I knew relatively nothing about. I did some people watching, square sitting, church wandering, and tomb inspecting, as one does. A few churches that I wanted to inspect were closed, but I persisted. I walked by the so-called Houses of Juliet and Romeo; Juliet’s house was overran by tourists, Romeo’s entirely ignored.

I finally drew closer to the reason for my visit in Verona. The Arch of the Gavii. The arch is a curious one–an early quadrifrons monument with no extant sculpture. I did my scholarly thing, inciting the interest of a bunch of Veronese teens that were completely baffled by my interest in the structure that provided a spot for their post-school shenanigans. As an art historian, one who grew up in the relatively uninspiring world dominated by 1980s and 1990s strip malls, it’s always crazy to me to think of growing up amongst centuries after centuries of STUFF built by a city’s previous inhabitants. I was lucky enough to grow up in a state where there certainly is plenty of history, but it very much exists in a separate space from that of daily life, “preserved” for posterity by local, state, and federal municipalities.

Anyway, a tangent of an American abroad that’s constantly in shock of the material culture of places that aren’t home. I finished my scholarly perusal, visited a few other places that was on the ‘dissertation’ list, then went back to

my airbnb for a siesta. After my nap, I went to dinner, eating in the shadow of Verona’s famous amphitheater, which is so much smaller, but, in my opinion, no less impressive than Flavian amphitheater in Rome. Every summer, Verona’s amphitheater plays host to an incredible opera festival, and I missed performances by just one day. Just think, I could have seen Puccini in an amphitheater. As was becoming my habit on this Eurotrip, just as I was settling in, it was time to turn my attention to the next city. Next on the stop on the tour was also the first longer stay, and my long awaited return to my darling Roma!

2018, EuroTrip 2018, Uncategorized

Munich

April 7, 2019April 5, 2019 Charlotte

After my fiasco in Mainz, I was ready to head to my last stop of my German tour: Munich. The train ride from Mainz to Munich was about 4 hours, and I was very amused to see a candy store in the Mainz train station THAT several people attempted to go into, even though it was obviously closed at 9am in the morning. WHEN YOU NEED GUMMY BEARS, YOU NEED GUMMY BEARS. Needless to say, they were disappointed.

Bavaria is where I’ve always wanted to go in Germany, and I definitely want to go back. My most recent ancestors to immigrate to the US were German, from Bavaria, in the late-19th century. In my mind, what I wanted to see of Bavaria was not in cities like Munich, but instead smaller cities. I was pleasantly surprised by Munich—though of all of my German stops, it was the most touristy spot.

I didn’t have a lot of time in Munich and of all of the places I traveled on the trip, I had the hardest time finding acceptable lodging in the city. BUT I found a hostel by the train station that was okay. Not great. Not terrible, but okay. I took one of my strategic taxi rides to the Siegestor, which was decently far away. A modern rip off of the Arch of Constantine ordered by the Bavarian king Ludwig the I. It took a beating in World War II, but instead it was partially restored to remind viewers of the toll war.

Siegestor, 1852, Munich Germany, May 2018

After I finished exploring the Siegestor, I walked down Ludwigstraße until I got to the super touristy area of town with the Glockenspiel, Frauenkirche, and many many other things. I walked around a bit, grabbed some dinner, dessert, kept walking and taking in what I could of Munich’s historic center.

The next day was what I had been waiting for: my reasons for visiting Munich. The Glyptothek and catching up with a friend I hadn’t seen in years who was coming to see me from where she was currently living in Germany. I walked to the Glyptothek after enjoying breakfast and a coffee.

My so-called tour of colonialism continued. The Glyptothek was quiet, I had the place nearly entirely to myself, and I spent as much time as I could in each room. All in all, it wasn’t a terribly large museum, but every room had canonical works of sculpture.

While I was in the museum, it had started to rain, and not just little rain, but hard core pouring down rain. I met up with my friend for lunch, we caught up, walked around as much as we could in the rain, and had a swell time just shooting the breeze. It was fantastic seeing a familiar face attached to someone I hadn’t seen in a while.

Remembering to snap a selfie while momentarily stranded because of the rain!

2018, EuroTrip 2018, Uncategorized

My Trip to Mainz: The One Where Everything Went Wrong

August 7, 2018March 31, 2019 Charlotte

Sometimes when traveling things go wrong. Sometimes it’s big. Sometimes it’s little. And sometimes it’s a series of things that just cause you to go mad.

The latter fits my trip to Mainz.

It started with confusing alerts about my trains being cancelled or me being unable to make my connection via the Deutschbahn app. This led me to be super nervous about making my connection in Frankfurt. Mainz is relatively close to Frankfurt so I assumed that it would simply be a matter of catching another local train.

My train left super early and with the confusing alerts, I decided to arrive well ahead of the scheduled time. Fortunately other travelers had decided to do the same. While I was waiting for the train, a man came up to me and asked me a question in broken English about his ticket, which he held out to me. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand his question, the ticket wasn’t for the same train as mine, and I found the German train system a little convoluted. I said, I’m sorry I don’t know. Apparently this response was NOT what they wanted to hear. He started to yell, but again, I couldn’t understand him. Thankfully, a man who was there with his family moved closer to me and stood behind me, gradually shying off the yelling man. This was the third uncomfortable/aggressive interaction I had had with a strange man since being in Germany (Portuguese man on the ferry, then one while I was at the Memorial to the Murder Jews of Europe, then this train guy).

Minutes before the encounter with an aggressive dude

Next, I ended up sitting in the wrong compartment on the train. The cars, instead of being labeled at the beginning of the car, are labeled at the end. I thought I was in car 12, but I was in car 14 (there was no car 13). After a few minutes I went to go get some food for breakfast, and when I came back there was someone in my seat. I said politely that I think there’s a mistake that I think that’s my seat, not in German of course. The lady of course spoke perfect English but her response was nearly hostile. Eventually, we figured out that I was wrong (it took too long b/c instead of just being like see this is car 14 she wanted to argue and refused to engage). When I finally said, okay but why doesn’t it have it labeled at the beginning of the car and it’s only labelled at the end after you’ve passed through the car, she softened a bit and chuckled and said that, yes, it was confusing.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful. My train arrived in Frankfurt and I was expelled into a mad mess of people. I feel as if I have to explain that I’ve traveled a lot by train. I love train travel. Most of my travel has been in Italy and France–both systems are easily navigable. Germany…I had my ticket, but I couldn’t figure out which number on the ticket my train to Mainz was the one on the departure board. I eventually figured it out and caught my train with no fuss.

I arrived in Mainz, excited to be outside of Berlin and in a different region of Germany. I was only staying in Mainz for one night and I chose a hotel right by the train station, or so I thought. Turns out, no, I kind of did, but it was up an incredibly steep incline that seemed ridiculous with my suitcase and backpack. I took a taxi because I really didn’t want to walk up the mountain and find out I had gone the wrong way.

After checking in at my hotel I rushed down the mountain to the museum I was there to visit and it was SLAMMED with people. I was so surprised to see it was full of people, but there was some exhibition that had a draw to kids. I wandered around the museum and kept expecting to see the stuff I was there for, but it wasn’t there. I was super confused and so I asked. It turns out, the stuff I wanted to see had been moved to another museum, several years ago. The collections still technically belonged to the museum I was visiting, and thus that’s how they were listed in the sources I found it in and nothing on the website indicated they were at another museum. The museum they were currently in, was closed the day I was in Mainz, and it opened after my train left the next day.

I was really mad at myself. I hadn’t considered the possibility that they’d be at a different museum than the one they were cited in. I had gone back and forth about keeping my trip to Mainz so short, and clearly I made the wrong decision. If I just stayed an extra day, there would have been no problem! But alas! This is the difficulty with planing a trip that moves so fast. Shit happens, literally.

So, I said to myself, “that’s okay! There are things OUTSIDE that I want to see. I will go see them.” I took a gander at google maps, assured myself of the coordinates, then walked in the direction of the first monument, and I began to see glimpses of the pretty part of Mainz. Just when I began to arrive near where the first monument, and most important, was there was a swirl of activity…barricades blocked the road, fences were blocking the park, and about 150 military vans and vehicles with their accompanying personnel. In the distance I saw the monument that I wanted to see, but between me and it, were the barricades, the humvees, the machine guns, and the personnel.

It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was exhausted and about a week into my trip (usually when the first round of tired hits) and I had been going non-stop. Things had not gone my way that day and I had a choice, Mainz wasn’t going to work research wise and all of my things to do in Mainz were for research. I had no plan for other things to do. The tired wore out. I decided to have an off afternoon, a thing I hadn’t had since arriving in Europe.

Ahhh yes, the best of all possible fast foods, ubiquitous in Europe, doner kebab.

Before hiking up to my hotel, I grabbed some doner kebab. The people in this small doner cafe were the warmest I had met in Germany thus far. A few families with small children were there and their antics cheered me. The prospect of doner also didn’t hurt. I ate my doner and headed up the mountain, and took a much-needed nap. I took the gift of a free afternoon, and I needed it sorely.

Fittingly, I only took 2 pictures from my day in Mainz, one in the train station before I got yelled at and then my doner before I ate it. The before and after of the worst day of my trip.

2018, EuroTrip 2018, Uncategorized

Two Months Late…Berlin!

August 7, 2018August 7, 2018 Charlotte

I have decided that I am not an “in the moment” blogger. I need some reflection and some time to process. My Eurotrip 2018 was FAST, a whirlwind, and I moved fast. Six countries in six weeks. I wrote my blog on Copenhagen while in Berlin, but then stopped…unsurprisingly. This works out well for you, because now you, dear reader, get fond remembrances instead of in-the-moment whining.*(see above note about six countries in six weeks. I was TIRED.)

Anyway! Back to your regularly scheduled blogging!

Berlin, Day 1 I didn’t know what to expect from my first city of my German tour. Somehow, I think got my preconceived notions concerning Munich and Berlin confused. I expected Munich to be cold and sterile and Berlin to be vibrant and lively. And they are both those things in some parts, but Berlin was far more cold and sterile that I was expecting. I have a feeling that doing it again someday with someone that knows and loves it, could change my opinion…and I WILL go back. I need to see the Pergamon Altar. Doing these things solo definitely have an impact on how I experience a place, not always for the better, and sometimes, probably not for the worst.

Getting to Berlin was nothing what I expected. I thought I had booked a train, but I in fact booked a bus. The bus departed Copenhagen bright and early, and it took the ferry from Denmark to Rostock, Germany. The ferry was actually pretty neat…It was nice having lunch and getting to see the water. The only downside of the ferry is that there was nowhere to go when an itinerant Portuguese man struck up a conversation in the hopes that I would take him back to America as “your man.” After the ferry, the bus drove to Berlin and dropped everyone off at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where I taxied over to my hostel, which was unfortunately a little far afield.

I was immediately stunned by how modern Berlin felt. This should have been a no brainer that Berlin would feel different than any place I had been in Europe. My visions of Germany were decidedly Alpine, so the reality of a pretty typical American-looking city as my first stop in Germany felt disjointed.

I arrived at my hostel, which was not nearly as swanky as my hostel in Berlin, and the welcome desk person chastised me for writing my nationality as “American”* and also said, “well, America is kind of a shit country now isn’t it?” I’m not really sure anyone in Western Europe gets to point fingers. 😛 Tired me did NOT want to deal.

Me in front of the Altes Museum. I couldn’t wait to go in the next day!

The Berlin Cathedral! Alas, I did not go in. Much regret.

Now, I only basically had a day and a half in Berlin. I needed to set out immediately to do my non-museum exploring. I wanted to do the Brandenburg Tor, the memorial to the Murdered Jews, and just get the feel for Berlin, and grab FOOD. I also wanted to get a new bag, because the bag I had brought, from Eurotrip 2017, had NOT held up well and was falling apart. I ubered to Alexanderplatz, quickly found a TK Maxx and bought a new bag. I walked slowly towards Museuminsel, continually struck by the newness of it all. Marienkirche was a weird juxtaposition of old with the industrial newness around it.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It was super impactful.

There’s a street (and apparently a neighborhood!) with my name!

Me and the Brandenburg gate

Museuminsel was the only bit where I clearly felt like I was in Europe. Berliner Dom and the Altes Museum, though both from the 19th century, provided much of the “ambience” I had expected. Now, I was getting hungry. I wanted food. Preferably German food. I walked to Brandenburg Tor from Museuminsel and there was literally nothing between the two (oh, besides the Porsche cafe by the Porsche store, and Starbucks, but, no). I took my time at Brandenburg Tor, then headed toward the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. No food. Kept walking. Finally some food, but it was all curry. Now, I like curry, but I had had curry for lunch, so I didn’t want more curry. I kept walking, trying to swing back in the way I had come, hoping to find something. Anything. Finally, shops! A mall, but alas, no restaurants serving food that I wanted to eat or could afford!

I FINALLY found a place, which was a total tourist trap. It was a Bavarian restaurant called Maximilians, never mind I was not in Bavaria. I realized there, that my idea of German food was also quite stereotypical. Sausages. Pretzels. Beer! Sauerkraut! It was probably good I stumbled onto a touristy place to eat, because I learned the next day that most Berlin restaurants don’t take cards. What I ate was delicious, including the pickle, which was delightful. I had a berlinerweisser with lambic, a pretzel, and far too much food. It felt like a good hello to Germany, even if I was super cranky by the time I found it. I ubered back to my hostel, and slept SO hard that night. I had a LOT of museum-ing to do the next day.

Berlin, Day 2

I woke up early enough to be at the Altes Museum when it opened. I bought a ticket for the entire Museuminsel and planned on doing as much as possible–I wanted to spend as much time with Altes and the Neues Museums as humanly possible. I also wanted to do the Pergamonmuseum, and the Bode. IF I had time, I wanted to see the Altes Nationalgallerie (painting!). (Hint: I did not have time). I had planned on seeing if there was a place to grab coffee and breakfast nearby, but alas, this is where I learned that they did not take cards, and I was fairly low on euro after the previous night’s dinner, AND unlike the US, there were not ATMS or “geldautomatiks” located in the establishments) I decided to wait until lunch. It was a very hungry day of museuming.

Constantinus Chlorus

Name that mythological sarc! One of my favs!

I won’t often say it, but DAMN the pots in this place.

This little Athenian owl buddy.

I forgot that I was going to be seeing this at the Altes. It was amazing.

It is really hard to sum up Museuminsel. The Altes was where I spent the most time, and every step I took it seemed like I was confronted with a canonical artwork from antiquity. The Altes was without a doubt my favorite museum of the day. The Neues was also very cool–but much busier. Like at the Altes, I saw many, many things I had only read about before. I went to the Pergamonmuseum just to see the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar gates, but it was the most packed of all the museums I visited and I was starting to get worn out, both of museuming and the crowds. At this point, it was about 3:30 in the afternoon so I didn’t have much time left to do the last museum, the Bode, until stuff closed down at 5. The Bode was so quiet. I had most of the entire place to myself. Focusing on the medieval and Renaissance periods, it was a museum with a vast scope, one on I only partially appreciated (see earlier note about being tired).

Amarna relief with my hand for scale. SO TINY (Neues)

Ishtar Gate (Pergamon)

Miletus Market Gate (Pergamon)

Icon! (Bode!)

After finishing up at the Bode I sat in front of the museum for a bit, listening to a super talented musician play his guitar. I was tired and VERY hungry…all I had had that day to eat was a coffee, water, and piece of pastry from the coffeeshop in between the Altes and Neues, but the music, plus the beautiful afternoon calmed me. I walked in the opposite direction than I had the night before, and discovered I had made an error (not really, I wanted to see the Brandenburg Tor), there were about 1001 super cool restaurants to the east of Museuminsel. I found an ATM, got some dinner and ate some food. I headed back to my hostel, pleased with what I had accomplished that day. Just like that, my time in Berlin was DONE!

Finally seeing some urban scenes in Berlin I could appreciate.

Weinerschnitzel. Yum.

*The rationale is that other folks from the Americas could also call themselves American. I’ve heard this before in my time abroad, and I see the point. I wouldn’t get upset if someone from the Americas called themselves that. However, “American” as the adjectival nationality of an individual from the United States is universally known/understood. United Statesian isn’t a thing. We’ve got plenty of faults, why don’t we stick to those?

2018, EuroTrip 2018

Copenhagen

May 13, 2018May 13, 2018 Charlotte

I loved Copenhagen. I instantly felt comfortable there and I can’t entirely tell you why. I think there are two possibilities. One, I’m getting super comfortable with travel and I know what to do in new places. Two, Copenhagen is a magical beautiful place full of charm, Danes that speak English better than I do, and a city that’s so easy to navigate. It is probably a bit of both, because the second bit is definitely true. I liked Copenhagen a lot–and will gladly go back in the future. I only had three nights and two days, not very much time to see Copenhagen. I managed to do a lot!

My main reason for visiting was to see the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek–one of the premiere collections of Greco-Roman sculpture in Europe. It also has a large collection of French and Danish painting from the 19th and 20th centuries. I was there before it opened, ready to go and get Eurotrip 2018 started. It was a great collection, in spite of it being 900 degrees in the galleries with skylights (all of them), I had a great time and it was amazing to be able to see some of these portraits, many of which are the best of their type.

After the museum, I decided to wander. I wandered to Christiansborg Slot, the current Parliament house. On a complete whim, I decided to do a canal cruise–just go full-blown tourist. I’m glad I did–since I was only there for a brief time, I got to see a good portion of the city that I wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise, plus some really super views and photo ops. After the boat trip, I grabbed some food, and walked around the rest of the city. I tried to visit all three of the churches I wanted to, but the each closed super early and I had been happily boat-touring. Copenhagen is such an easy to navigate city, completely flat, easily laid out. I walked for a while just checking it all out. That night, I had dinner at a restaurant that exuded hygge and the server was so nice and congenial.

The next day I wanted to go to their National Gallery, Rosenborg Slot, and Tovhallerne; they were all grouped together. The National Gallery was relatively small, with a lot of Danish/Nordic works, and a strong collection of French 19th and 20th century painting. I was super bummed because the European Art from 1300-1800 collection was closed–what can I say, I prefer the older the better!
After finishing up at the National Gallery, I popped over to the Konigs Have (King’s Garden)–the public gardens that surround the Rosenborg Slot or castle. The castle was built by Christian the IV, Denmark’s 17th-century absolute monarch. Now, the castle is primarily a museum that houses the Royal Treasury, including the crown jewels. I almost didn’t go inside–largely because Copenhagen is such a pricey city and I felt like I was bleeding money, but I’m glad I did. It was well worth it. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the gardens too– it had been forecast to rain and thunderstorm, but as you can see from the pics, it was a glorious day.

I then headed to Tovhallerne, a open air produce market and like food hall. It was super crowded and busy (I realized later that this was a very busy weekend to be traveling because all of Europe is on holiday) and it was mildly overwhelming. I kind of wish there had been smaller bites to purchase instead of just full-blown meals (maybe there was, I just didn’t see them) b/c there was a lot I wanted to try, but didn’t want to commit to for an entire meal. I eventually settled on some Vietnamese meatballs with a baguette. Yum! I then walked back to my hostel, taking the scenic route through Olmsted Park, a happy and gorgeous chance.

That wraps up my time in Copenhagen. Early the next morning, I headed out to Berlin!

2018, EuroTrip 2018, Non-School Charlotte Thoughts, Personal, Uncategorized

Ready…Set…..Go?

May 6, 2018 Charlotte

The past few weeks have been weird. There’s a time before you leave for a big trip where you have lots of stuff to do both trip and non-trip related, but it’s just a little too early to do it, and you’ve got to just follow up on all of the regular day-to-day rigamarole. You’ve got to stick to business as usual, even though your mind has already boarded the plane.

And trips of this scale are anything but business as usual. I’ll be on the go. My longest stay in any place will be 5 days (Rome). There will be 13 sleeping-stop cities, with several day trips to places outside of the city I’m staying in. Six countries (not including pass-throughs), four of which I’ve never been to before. There will be a lot of new.

There will also be a good dose of the familiar. Returning to France and Italy (sappily) feels like coming home. I get to see two of my favorite people as they live and conduct their own research abroad, and my sister will be [maybe] joining me for the last leg of the trip.

I’ve strategically, and hopefully shrewdly, built people into this trip in ways I definitely did not last year. Airbnbs will be used less regularly, and swapped in for hostels, what look to be nice hostels. And dang that price point is sweet. Even if I don’t really want to socialize, it will be nice to have people around to talk if I want to do so. And maybe I’ll even make a new friend or two. Plus, hostels seem to be superbly located, and have tons of convenient things built in otherwise (like laundry, cafes, bars, and lounges).

My 2016/2017 trip felt super disruptive. I feel like that’s kind of normal for travel, and makes a lot of sense given what happened in 2016; my life was disrupted fundamentally. In general, I feel like all of my planning and thinking ahead was focused on that trip, and not what lay beyond–the trip, even after I completed in 2017, had a weird aura about it.

That’s not the case with this one. I’ve got stuff to do while I’m away and immediately when I get back. I’m trying to think in small increments, and so far, that’s been working okay mentally. Leaving for six weeks, doesn’t feel as big as it did in 2017, 2016, and 2015. Planning this trip so fast meant not as much time to get myself too hyped up for it.

BUT. I’m ready for it, I think the right kind of ready. Seven plane rides. One bus journey. Incalculable train trips. INCALCULABLE. Annoying tourists. Metros. Trams. Museums. Churches. Walking. Sunburn(s). Breaking out my silly tourist hat. Adding 4 new stamps to my passport! Noms. Beverages (Beer and COFFEE!) Pastries. Gelato. (Okay just FOOD). I’m ready.

My only hesitation, per usual, is leaving behind my darlings. Look at how cute they are.

2018, Non-School Travel, Personal, Uncategorized

Pittsburgh – Spring Break 2018

April 19, 2018 Charlotte

Spring Break 2018, my friend E and I left B-town for Pittsburgh to hang out with our dear friend, K! Our goals were few– hang out, catch up, and enjoy what Pittsburgh has to offer. We were so excited to see her because we miss her dearly. Our main cultural excursions were to explore the Carnegie Museums — the Art and the Natural History. It was such a fun space, and I definitely could have spent a lot more time there. I guess I just have to go back 😉

Me super digging the plaster casts of architectural features from major buildings from the Western canon. The above photo includes a cast from the portals of the Abbey of Saint Gilles in France and is but one fantastic thing to be found in the Hall of Architecture.