Berto’s Blog

Wow, this spring break was rather amazing, and I think everyone can tell that I had one great time overseas. I got to experience and see so many new things in that short week that it feels that it was like I was almost running across Europe. Which I guess is somewhat true, as this trip was a rather ambitious trip in terms of ground covered, but I had to do what I had to do in order to get the prices I wanted. Speaking of prices, that exchange rate got really bad, as you can probably tell by earlier posts. However, even with this and the fact that I probably spent more than I wanted to, there are no regrets. I’ll be back to making money in a few months, and you really cannot put a price on the experience you gain from traveling to a new and unfamilar place.

With all that in mind, I want this post to be an essentially a summary of my trip, hiting all the highlights, some facts, and some statistics I have pulled together. Also, I will finally get around to added some pictures here, before I upload them to my gallery online (I took 710 pictures – 2.02GB worth, so I will have to spend time sorting and editing those pictures so only the best ones get uploaded).

Quick Statistics:

• Miles Flown: 9476mi
• Approx. Miles Travelled by Rail: 1500mi
• Trains Taken: 14 (Not Including Berlin S-Bahn)
• Countries Visited: 5 (Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Switzerland)
•     
• Overall Cost: Approx $1500

Where I Stayed:

• Hotel Rugenpark – Interlaken, CH

• Best Western Hotel Berlin-Mitte – Berlin, DE

• Hotel Aalborg – Amsterdam, NL

 Highlights:

• Going to the Summit of Schilthorn, being able to see Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau, plus the rest of the Swiss Alps on a perfectly clear day.
• Walking to the top of the Reichstag Dome, only to see all of Berlin laid out below including the Brandenburg Gate.
• Walking across the former Checkpoint Charlie – Only 18 years ago, this would have meant crossing the Berlin Wall and entering another occupation zone.
• Visiting a country of 30,000 people thats no bigger than 160 square km (Lietchenstein)
• Exploring the Canals of Amsterdam.  There are so many of them and it has definitley earned its reputation of being the Venice of the North.
• Accidently going to Austria and the nice walk back into Lietchenstein.

Lessons Learned:

• Budgets do not mean anything.  You are always bound to exceed it even by a small amount if not a significant amount.
• Rail Passes are your friend.  While on this particular trip, thanks to the exhange rate, I could have probably saved a few dollars from buying individual tickets.  However, not having to waste time buying tickets and the ability to just flash the pass to the conductor makes this a very useful tool.  Not to mention, but my pass included 450 musuems (if I had time for any) and offered a 50% discount on the ride to the summit of Schilthorn.
• Having plans are great, but sometimes its better to just leave it open-ended.  This way you cant be burned if you dont get to something you wanted to do, and if you can add something else it will feel even better.
• Bad weather will always follow you.  It rained in DC in 2007 and it rained in Berlin this time.  Atleast this time I had an umbrella occassionally and was in a more centrally located hotel.
• European hotel rooms are small…just look at the pictures above.  Of course I already figured this out in Italy, but nothing beats the size of the room at the Hotel Aalborg in Amsterdam.

That is all I have for now.  I think there may be one or two more posts left in me about this trip, probably just detailing a link to my pictures when I upload them.  In the mean time, just sit back and I’ll have the pictures up by the weekend.

Today has been a long day so far, and I am only in Newark yet. I still have over two hours until my flight back to Orlando and until then I sit and eat Chinese food.

I woke up earlier than any other day this trip so far: 7:30am. I looked out my window only to be greeted with rain. I guess its not that bad as it meant that it didn’t rain as I explored the city. I did not make much of a rush to get out of the door, as I wanted to get two blog entries uploaded, but I finally left just around 9PM. There was the tram ride to the train station where I bought a ticket with some of my remaining euros to Schipol Airport outside of Amsterdam. It’s a fairly quick ride, only 15 minutes and luckily there was a train waiting on the tracks as I got to the station.

I entered the airport hall and with my luck, continental was in the farthest area from the station. Check-in probably only took 10 minutes and then I headed to passport control. The lines were a mess and were crowded to the max. Somehow this even only took about 15 minutes of my time, and I didn’t even have to ask for the exit stamp. After I made it through I still had euros left and after walking past a few places I decided the only way I could possibly afford anything was to visit McDonald’s. I tried the Big Tasty, which compared to the Big n’ Tasty they sell in America was actually big and was actually tasty. Only downside was it was a little messy for some reason.

It was now time to head to my gate and so I prepared to clear security at the end of the terminal pier. Only thing was that there was no security here. In Amsterdam they do security screenings at the gate. Of course, like in Italy I was given a barrage of questions in order to be able to pass through the checkpoint and get a sticker on the back of my passport to prove this.

The flight boarded quickly, and for the most part was very similar to my flight over the ocean, just about an hour longer thanks to headwinds. I had chicken again for the meal, which like last time I had no choice even if I was going to get it anyways. The entertainment options were essentially the same as well, with only some different movies. This mean the same three CSI episodes, the same episodes on the comedy channel, and the essentially the same movies. However, what I can say is that the film Space Jam, which is a kids film from the 1990s involving the looney toons and Michael Jordan was on. Sadly it was the best movie option on. Somehow I think I convinced my seatmate as well as he turned to it shortly after I did. 7.5 hours later I was on the ground in Newark, approximately 20 minutes early.

Immigration was really quick, and likewise so was customs, but that’s because I did not check my luggage and I put down that I had nothing to declare. Honestly, I was a bit surprised how quickly it was for me to get through. I even have another US stamp in my passport, even if it looks somewhat sloppy and you can’t see EWR on it at all. After that I have just been waiting around, and Ill continue to do so until my flight to Orlando. My next post will be an attempt at summing up my trip, lessons learned, etc.

As what seems to be the course, I woke up later than I had wanted to, but I cannot blame a wakeup call since I did not order one. For some reason on this trip however, I have not been hearing my alarm on my phone. That or I just get tired out from the day and do not want to get up….

When I finally got up, I headed downstairs and quickly ate my continental breakfast before handing over my key to the receptionist. This is something that is a little weird about this hotel. You have to turn in your key when you leave and then you have to ask for it back when you return. While nothing happened to me, it would be easy for someone to walk in and say “Room 27, please” and probably get the key to that room. For this reason, I made sure that my backpack had all of my valuables and that the only thing left in my room was my suitcase full of clothes.

Eventually I made it out of the hotel I caught tram 25 back on down to the centraal station. From here I made my usual walk up Damrak heading in the direction of Dam Square. As I walked I have to say went into McDonald’s. You can blame the hotel breakfast, so I grabbed a medium fries…mostly because they were only 75 cents.

My first goal of the day was to find a post office, to buy a few stamps. I went to the main post office and was told that I could not buy just one or two stamps, but that I would have to buy 5 stamps at once. I did not need that many, so I said thanks and decided to try another post office. This means I had to walk to the other side of the city center and there too, did they only sell packs of 5 or more, nor was there a vending machine to be used. I find this interesting and so far it’s the first country I have been too, where the post office does not sell individual stamps. Maybe its due to the fact that former state owned post office TPG Post was bought out by TNT (somewhat like FedEx) and for that point became TNT Post.

Anyways, I decided to head back in the direction of the first post office and make my way to the Anne Frank House. After learning about this so much in school, it seemed only fitting to go to where it actually occurred. Unfortunately there was no student rate, but at 7.50 I was willing to pay. In fact you got to go throughout the entire place, including the attic where the family hid for the Nazi’s in WWII. You were not allowed to take pictures, but it was a rather informative and interesting museum.

Again I took my time and tried to figure out what to do next, before deciding to make a run for the museum district. According to my travel guide, under 21 meant admission to the Van Gough Museum for only 2.50. Seeing such a deal, despite not being much of an art person, I made my way in that direction. I eventually made it there, only to find out that the price in my book was no longer valid and that it would cost me 10EUR to get in. Not feeling like $15 to get into an art museum I sat outside for a bit before going about on my journey. I decided next to find the library, as I read there is free wifi there. I knew where to go, but I must have passed it as I reached back to where I had been earlier.

I continued to wander, before finally getting a dinner of fries again and something called a chicken croquet. Honestly, I am not too sure what I ate and the poster advertising it said Meatbeef. The best I can come up with is that their was chicken somewhere in there or it was some sort of vegetarian thing. I just knew I had to eat something other than fries that day.

By the time I had reached Amsterdam, I knew I was going to have to restrict my spending severly. That’s why I had not gone into any museums earlier. I was planning however to go on a canal boat cruise. However, after I ate I had only 10EUR left and the boat cost 7.50. This wouldn’t be a problem if my train ticket the next day wouldn’t cost me nearly 4.00. So unfortunately I had to pass up on this opportunity. Instead after I finished eating I decided to explore Amsterdam at night. Mostly staying in the very central area of the center section of town, I explored many of the same areas that I did in day time. While the city has a certain beauty during the day time, at night all the canal houses and bridges are lit up and everyone is just walking about. It was a good way to spend a few hours, and of course I tried to take some pictures, but how they come out will have to be seen later.

Again I made it back to my hotel via tram and started to pack up so that I could make it easier in the morning. This time however, I made sure to get a wake up call.

After getting off of the train I made my way through Amsterdam Centraal Station and headed out side to the tourist information center. I had a wait a minute for it to open, but once I did I purchased a map of the city so that I wouldn’t be that lost during my explorations.

I decided that I would stay close to the station for now, so that I could go back and get my luggage and then head to my hotel. I went up and down Damrak (the main street from the station) and to Dam Square. I spent more time aimlessly wandering the streets nearby until I headed back to the station to catch a tram to my hotel.

Luckily the hotel I was able to get has a tram line running right in front of it, so transportation was going to be easy. Upon arriving at my hotel I was not happy to find out that my room was not ready yet. Following a repeat of Berlin, I decided to wander around this part of Amsterdam for an hour. Now where I am staying there really is not much in the way of canals. If you go a few streets down you will hit a huge one that runs in front of the Heinkein Brewery, however. Also, there is a good sized park across the street and it seems that besides the few hotels that are down here this is primarily a tourist free area. Except for the Brewery (which is closed due to renovations), and a large street market as well.

I made it back to my hotel and luckily my room was ready. Now, I knew I was going to get a small room, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for how small it really is. I know it would be hard for some people to stay here, and everyone can see what I mean when I get my pictures online. After a quick hot shower in a shower that seems dangerous, I headed back into the central part of town. I walked around more, but this time I did not limit myself to near Damrak. I found myself in a variety of the cities districts, walking up and down the canals and generally taking many pictures. One other thing is that as walking, one can take different paths to reach the same place thanks to a system of signs installed by the local government.

As I walked around, I decided to try a Amsterdam specialty, vlaamse frites, or Belgian Fries. They are essentially just very thick cut fries, but the big difference is that the Dutch like to drown their fries in mayonayse. Nor one for the mayo, I opted for the tourist route and had mine topped with ketchup. I continued explore around more, and kept winding up in new and different parts of the Amsterdam center. Once it was dark out, I made my way back to the centraal station to catch my tram back to my hotel.

I spent the rest of the night relaxing, and trying to figure out exactly what I would do in my next day in Amsterdam. Honestly, I had not really planned anything out for this city, so I was lost in what to do. I think I finally crashed around 11pm, so that I could get up at a decent time the next day.

For some reason, my wake up call was about 45 minutes late this morning. Because of this I was rather slow getting out of the hotel, only check-out around 10:45. After dropping my bags off at the main train station I made my way towards the famous Checkpoint Charlie. I took the S-Bahn to Anhalter Bahnhof and from there I walked towards the former Allied checkpoint as one would have walked heading from West to East Berlin. I actually could have walked a slightly shorter distance from Potsdamer Platz, but this would have meant approaching it from the other side.

As I neared I could tell as there were plenty of tourists shops selling all sorts of checkpoint and East German/Soviet memorabilia. I walked towards the former border line where a rebuilt checkpoint stands today. It is not the checkpoint building that existing in the later years of the cold war period, but of the original building built after the construction of the wall. Of course next to the former checkpoint building is one very famous sign that says “You are leaving the American Sector” in 4 different languages. Around the checkpoint there are also people dressed in various countries uniforms for tourists to take pictures with. There is also a guy who will stamp your passport or anything else with official, or what used to be official, GDR, Soviet, and various checkpoint stamps. I thought about getting mine stamped, but at 5EUR for a stamp and the fact that it technically invalidates your passport I decided against it. If I had more stamps in there, so that it could “hide” amongst the stamps, I probably would have done it.

I headed to the Checkpoint Charlie museum next, where I managed to get the student rate with my badly faded UCF ID. I spent a good amount of time here looking through all the exhibits of how people escaped across the wall and the history of the wall. There was also a lot of various general cold war exhibits as well. I wandered back outside and looked around the checkpoint area a bit more, even noting that across the checkpoint on the former East side, there was still huge empty lots that once included parts of the no-mans land between the two walls.

From here I walked around a bit before riding the S-Bahn over to Ostbahnhof, which was the main train station of East Berlin and of a united Berlin until a few years ago. From there I walked across the street and then a short walk until I reached the beginning of the East Side Galley – which is a long stretch of the wall that has been painted and grafitied along the side facing into East Berlin. Before unification this side would have been free of any paint, but still it’s a bit of an experience. As your walking you get to a point where you see nothing but wall in front of you and wall behind you, and it almost gives you a sense of how it must have been when the wall was surrounding all of Berlin.

Once I reached the end, I grabbed a currywurst, which is apparently a Berlin specialty before heading on the S-Bahn to Alexanderplatz. Alexanderplatz was essentially the center of East Berlin. Here was the location of the Fernsehturm, a huge TV tower and observation deck that rises high above the city. Slightly farther down in its shadow is where the Palast der Republik is being demolished and was the home of the East German “legislature/”

I continued my walk, heading back towards the center of the city. I continued to wander until I sat sown eventually and pulled out my travel guide. Flipping through I discovered that museums in Berlin have free admission on Thursday nights 4 hours before closing. Now knowing this I headed to the Pergamon Museum which has the famed altar of Pergamon which was brought to Berlin by German archeologists and then reassembled inside the museum. The amazing part is that you can actually walk up the steps to the top as well. However, there is something even better: the Ishtar Gate. This includes much of the original Babylonian gate, including all of the mosaics. I will have to upload a picture when I get back home so one can see the enormity of this and how interesting it is.

I wandered a around for a bit while longer before slowly heading towards the train station. I had gotten there quite early for my 12:30am train, but I needed to get a hotel in Amsterdam booked, and took care of that right away. The rest of the time I surfed the net and just waited around until the train arrived. I noticed that the train was a mix. Apparently half of the train that was marketed as CityNightLine came from Prague while the other half came from Warsaw. I boarded my cabin and noticed I was the sixth person in the cabin and I had to step over the sleepy people to get to my seat. I stayed up for a while, and tried to sleep but it wasn’t quite coming to me. However, at some point I must have passed out for a while as I noticed we lost two people somewhere. Eventually it was down to just two of us so I laid across my side of the cabin and went back to sleep. I thought the other person got off when I woke back up, but turns out she just moved to another cabin. By the time the train got to Amsterdam, there was hardly anyone left and this was the final destination. In my next entry Ill pick up on my first day in Amsterdam.

In my last entrty I left off with arriving in Berlin on the night train. I quickly grabbed a pastry for breakfast and then checked my luggage at the left luggage station before heading out. Immediately I noticed that there was a light rain. As I walked across the river Spree I entered the government quarter home to the German Chancellor, the Reichstag and some office buildings. I noticed hardly a line at the Reichstag, so in I went. After having may bag thoroughly scanned thanks to all the electronics I had with me, I was eventually allow to get in the elevator to go to the top of the building. There one can enter the glass dome that sits on the top, go to a café, or just walk around outside. I headed straight for the dome and honestly it was a good intro to Berlin in a way. I could see where many sites were, but not as many as the TV-tower in the east you can go up. I spotted the Brandenburg Gate, the Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarden, and Potsdamer Platz down the road. I tried taking pictures, but thanks to the rain tthey aren’t worth much.

Next I made my way to the Brandenburg gate which is essentially next door. On the way I noticed bricks in the road and sidewalks that said “Berlin Mauer 1961-1989” and serves as the location where the wall once stood. I then arrived at the gate where I probably stood for a good bit taking pictures and being the usual tourist. It is interesting to be standing at the site so much of the past 60+ years history has taken place at. There was the end of WW2, the division of Germany and the gate winding up in the Soviet sector, to being next to the infamous wall, a place where US presidents made famous speeches and of course the place where the celebration of the end of communism was noted with individuals tearing down the wall.

From here I wasn’t too sure what to do next, so I grabbed a bratwurst from a stand across the street and headed to the Soviet War Memorial just down the street in the Tiergarden. Following that I decided to walk around a bit, when someone tried to ask me for directions, but unfortunately I cant speak much in the way of German. As I continued to walk around, I noticed after I crossed a street that a Police office started directing traffic despite the lights all working. I kept of going down the sidewalk when I noticed a motorcade and on the first passenger car I noticed the flag of the German Chancellor, whom was in the car behind that one.

I headed back to the station and collected my luggage before heading to the hotel to check in. When I arrived it turns out my room was not ready, so I went to explore this part of the former East Berlin before heading back within the hour. It still wasn’t ready, but was so in 15 minutes. In that time I got some more school work done. I walked up to my room on the top (sixth) floor and noticed how small it was. However, it was a fairly new hotel so the bed was still comfortable and it had a 24inch HDTV. After taking a nice hot shower, I headed back out this time to checkout Potsdamer Platz and the whole expansive development there. Its rather amazing, and it has free WiFi – however it is very poor, so I gave up fairly quickly. I also managed to find one of the old guard towers from the wall, hidden down a side street.

More wandering was done, just generally exploring the city passing through the holocaust memorial for a bit and then back up towards my hotel. Thanks to the cold weather I was ready for another hot shower. By this time it was starting to get dark, so I stayed at the hotel for a little bit and relaxed before heading out again. I walked around Berlin at night, and headed back to the Reichstag – this time with no backpack. The views up here at night are also very good, and again I tried to take pictures, but it was still raining, so they mainly are poor. I also headed back to the Brandenburg Gate to see it all lit up at night, which was also a site to see. From there I just walked around trying to find dinner. I finally settled on a place near my hotel. I got myself a good German meal of Potato Pancakes, Fried Sausage, Sauerkraut, and a small glass of a local beer – even though I am not one to really drink at all. Overall it was a great meal, but thanks to me forgetting about the exchange rates (“16.00 is not bad for a meal at all”), it would up costing nearly $25. At least I got one nice meal, as I am primarily eating street food and cheap counter food. Afterwards it was back to the hotel where I crashed shortly after.

I am a little behind on updating, but that’s because I have kept myself very busy running all over the place.  Also, this one is also very long, and quickly written, so there may be some errors…

My second day in Switzerland started off with me getting up about 2.5 hours late!  I had miscalculated the time zone difference, so when I set my alarm is was for much later!  Upon waking up at 9:30am I ran to the shower, packed and headed down for breakfast.  After checking out I made my way to Interlaken West station where I caught a train to Interlaken Ost (should have just walked to this station in the end), ran to the lockers to store my luggage where I discovered I was 1 Fr. Short of the price.  I didn’t have much time so I grabbed a twix bar from the concession stand and then ran to my connecting train which would take me towards my destination.

Today I was heading up into the Lauterbrunnen Valley, and the train I was on was taking me to the town of Lauterbrunnen.  The scenery on the ride was amazing as what seems to be the course for Switzerland.  Upon my arrival, I ran across the street to the cable car that would take me up the ridge/mountain over the town.  As we climbed I noticed more and more snow, until we were in the clouds and everything was blanketed in snow.  I made the quick transfer to yet another train, this one which only runs two towns down.  As I rode this train I took in all the snow capped mountains and the pine trees and houses, and everything that was just covered in snow.  Even last year in DC I was happy when I saw just a small amount of snow, but this was putting me over the edge. 

As soon as I arrived in Murren  and walked out of the train station I was on the main street.  As I walked I couldn’t help but picking up some snow, making a snow ball, and throwing it up into a hill.  I was noticing that it didn’t seem there were many tourists about, and that most of the people I saw as I walked through the town were probably locals.  At least they looked like locals.  There was one point where I almost fell on my back even thanks to the ice under all the snow.

I made it to the cable car station to the summit of Schilthorn about 15 minutes later and took a look at the webcams at the top.  Earlier in the morning they were looking very badly, but now it was perfectly clear, so I forked over about $35 and a ticket was issued to me.  The ride to the top involves a cable car to a lower summit, then a transfer to another car for the ride to the summit of Schilthorn.  The car enters the bottom of the building that holds a revolving restaurant.  A little factoid, but the revolving restaurant that is the summit of Schilthorn was a hideout of a villain in the bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  Anyways, I walked around the outside for quite a while taking in all the scenary of the snow capped alps including the three summits of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (home to the highest train station in Europe) which make up a world heritage site.  The snow on the platform was deep!  In some places I couldn’t see my feet in the snow!  As I walked around I was able to get some other travelers to take my picture and I did the same for them before heading back inside the building.  I headed up the restaurant and ordered hot chocolate as it rotated around the amazing views.  However, I looked at my phone and saw that I needed to run, and while I did eventually find the waitress to pay for my drink, I was one minute late for the cable car back down and in Switzerland that means it was long gone.

So I headed back up and outside where another couple asked me to take a picture of them, so I did and had them take a picture of me again for the heck of it.  After another walk around, I went back in side and began my wait for the next cable car down.

After getting back down to Murren, I made my walk back to the train station, and noticed that all the snow was now slush on the roads/paths that snake through the town.  I was only on the mountain for an hour, but I guess the sun does take care of melting things pretty well.  The ride back towards Lauterbrunnen was still amazing and I took some more pictures, and even a video on the cable car back down the valley.  Upon arriving in the valley I had to wait for the next train back to Interlaken, so I started to plan out the rest of my day.

The train ride back was just as good as going into the valley and this time I sat on the other side of the train so I could see better what was on that side.  When I made it back to Interlaken I had to run to get my luggage as there was a Deutsche Bahn (German Railway) InterCityExpress (ICE) train heading in the direction of Bern (and ultimately Frankfurt).  I was afraid I would miss it, but I made it with about 30 seconds to spare.  I found a seat, but this train requires a reservation, something that you have to pay for extra when you have a railpass.  So when I saw the conductor heading towards my car, I made my way to the restaurant car where I had hot chocolate again and watched the scenery.  Also, you can tell this train was developed for high speed as at low speeds it operates in Switzerland makes for a very bumpy ride.

It only took 50 minutes to reach Bern, and I realized that I wouldn’t have enough time to find the chocolate factory, so instead I wandered around and took in all the sites, including the Swiss Parliament, and the Bern Clock Tower to name a few.  One of things that surprised me was the fact that there is a McDonald’s every other block.  Almost like Seattle and Starbucks…..

I caught a train towards Zurich, and got some work on a lab report done as I do have to get some schoolwork done on this trip unfortunately.  I only had about 45 minutes in Zurich, so I just stayed in the station for the most part, grabbed a snack and then boarded my train the CityNightLine Berliner.  Hardly anyone got on, but our train was really multiple trains tied together but would split along the way, and we would pick up new people all along the way until about Frankfurt.  As we crossed the border, I waited for the German Zoll (Customs) agent to come through,  She questioned the kid infront of me, but seemed satisfied by seeing the back over of my passport, which has nothing more than a sticker from Rome Airport Security.  I had wanted a stamp and noticed the second agent had a stamper with him, so after a bit I went to track them down.  I stopped in the bathroom quickly and noticed we were beginning to stop.  As I opened the door I saw the two agents walking across the platform!  I missed my opportunity to get a Germany stamp and a rail crossing stamp at that as in November Switzerland (while not part of the EU) will join the EU common visa area.

The train overall was rather uninteresting, and I just tried to sleep the entire time.  However, I didn’t sleep very well, and can remember passing through Frankfurt, Fulda, Wolfsburg and others.  Eventually, we arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof and that is where my next entry will pick up…..

(Warning! This is a Long Entry!) 

Thanks to some amazingly fast tailwinds, the flying time for my flight was cut down to about 6 hours and we arrived at about 7am on Monday morning.  There were a few other flights arriving at the same time, and unfortunately this meant many people cramming into a very small subway train to the immigration checkpoint.  They even had a guy to push us all in it was that tight.  As one can imagine there was a mad dash to the immigration checkpoint, but it was relatively simple.  They hardly check passports with mine not even getting scanned.  As the agent handed it back, I did ask for a stamp, and while I have heard they don’t like to, she was more than willing to, which is great as it adds yet another stamp to my passport.  Making it through this, I headed for the rail station in the airport, but first stopped at the food store located in the airport just to see what kind of goods they had.  Plus it is a little odd to have a food store in an airport.

Anyways, I headed down the SBB Reiseboro to book my 4 consecutive day youth Swiss pass.  At only 195CHF it would be cheaper than buying individual tickets, plus it gets me into 450 museums for free (if I even make it to one) and a few other benefits while I am here in Switzerland for two days.  The agent who sold me my pass told me to a certain train, but I guess he had not counted on me heading straight to the tracks where a train bound for Zurich Hauptbahnof (Central Station) was sitting.  I got on this overcrowded train and made my way toZurich.  When I got off, I had to stand there in amazement.  There were hundreds of people getting on various trains, including the German ICE high-speed train right next to the one I got off.  I made my way though the station and eventually found the storage lockets for my suitcase before looking for the next train toSargans, Switzerland.  There was a regional train about to depart so on I jumped and began my journey to my first destination: Liechtenstein which is a 160km square country with about 30,000 citizens between Switzerland andAustria.  It probably took about an hour and half for the train to reach Sargans, but along the way we passed some amazing scenery, which I managed to get a few pictures of.
 
Upon my arrival at Sargans it was straight on to the Liechtenstein Bus route 12 which would take me straight to the capital of the principality: Vaduz.  Here I noticed that first of all there really wasn’t anyone else around.  I guess I would be one of the few tourists today.  Anyways, I paid a visit to the tourist office and paid my 2CHF for the privilege of having one of their passport stamps grace my passport and of course a free map.  I wandered around nearby at first, looking at the old and new parliament buildings, Schloss Vaduz high on the hill above, and the post office!  After taking care of business I wandered what to do next.

I decided to hike up to the top of the ridge Schloss Vaduz sits, and reading my guidebook it said to take a very, very steep path which coincidently started right next to where I was sitting.  I eventually made it to level ground and snapped a few shots, but as I continued to walk I noticed that I was going downhill and that meant that I must have missed my turn.  By that point I did really like the prospect of hiking back up again as I did have a headache going on, but nonetheless I still have some amazing views where I did hike.

Still needing something to do, I used my Swiss Pass and jumped on a Liechtenstein Bus heading towards Feldkirch, Austria.  I planned on jumping off at the last stop before border (Schaanwald Zollamt), but the bus driver didn’t see me and well…I got to add a country to my list by accident.  I stayed on the bus for a little while and while I should have just stayed on until the end got off to walk back to the border.  It was a nice walk with good views of surrounding mountains and landscapes, plus it now helped legitimize my accidental country visit.  As I approached the Austrian Border Police I motioned to an agent through the glass to see if I needed to do anything (some EU countries require exit checks).  After about a minute of me and him trading confusing hand gestures through the glass, I went inside and asked, and luckily had to do nothing.  Now it was time to approach the Swiss Border Agents, who patrol Liechtenstein’s border as well due to a customs union between the too.  I suppose I could have walked through, but I stopped and asked to make sure and well they scanned my passport anyways.  However, I was not lucky enough to get a stamp.  Nor did I ask considering I did not want to come off as a complete idiot this time.  In reality I should have just waited at the bus stop on the Austrian side and then rode across…then no passport checks at all.

Anyways, I kept on walking until I made it to the Schaanwald post office, where as waiting for the bus I noticed an Austrian train go by.  Now I wish I had known then I could have gone all the way to the train station and taken a train back.  Oh well.  At least I can say I have been to Feldkirch, Austria now!

I took this bus back which took me to new areas I hadn’t seen on my previous bus, and then transferred on to a bus that would take me back to Switzerland.  Upon arriving at the train station I found out I had just missed a train toZurich, so I had to wait another 45 minutes before the next one.  This trip was much faster thanks to not stopping at any of the in between stations.  However, I did start to feel tired on this train and I still had two connections and two more trains to ride before I would be at my destination. Luckily I managed to retrieve my luggage and make the next train to Bern where I connected in about a 2-3 minute time span to the Interlaken West station.

I had not eaten since my flight, so I decided to get food, and saw that the food store next to the train station had a restraint.  I went in and they rung up a bill of 7CHF, and I handed over my credit card. Turns out they didn’t take Visa for some strange reason, so I had to run all the way across town to find an ATM (well more like just past the train station) as I only had 5CHF on me.  Went back paid and ate my mystery thing that was actually not that bad.  I finally made it over to my hotel down the street, checked in and shown to my fairly simple room.  It’s not bad for about $47 a night.  I have a bed, TV, shared balcony, and even a sink.  This of course means the bathroom is down the hall, and if I can put up with the roommate I share a bathroom with then I figure I can put up with whatever is here.

That’s about it.  I have another busy day tomorrow, but I still am not entirely too sure what yet.  I guess everyone will find out when I get to Berlin and post my next entry!

Today is the day that my first solo trip overseas begins. I started off my day going to bed about 1am, however that was essentially 2am thanks to the clocks moving ahead one hour over the night. I got up sometime around 8am and got out of my apartment around 9am. I made a stop at Publix to make some photocopies and then to Wal-Mart, so I could pick up a few things I needed. I think I arrived at the airport around 9:40, but it wasn’t until about 15 minutes later the parking lot bus picked me up. As the bus approached the terminal, I noticed long lines at the curbside check-in counters. I started to hope that this would not be the case once I got inside. However, the line for Continental was quite long, and had to loop around even. After about 40 minutes of standing I made it to the kiosk to get my boarding pass. You know the security line was pretty bad too. It stretched almost half way to the center food court, yet surprisingly took probably only 15 minutes to clear.

The flight out of Orlando was pretty average. We boarded on time, and made departed in a timely manner. However, after finding my seat, I found out that I would be sharing my row with two kids. While they were past the screaming and crying age, they were rather annoying. They kept playing with the tray tables, and were quite loud. Everyone around that row at some point probably told them to stop. Luckily noise canceling headphones helped out a bit.

We arrived in Newark about 2 hours later thanks to tailwinds, but were probably 20 minutes late thanks to having to sit to wait for our gate to open up. After disembarking, I wandered a bit before settling on getting a hot dog to hold me over until dinner on my flight to Zurich. As I write this I have about 2 hours until my flight, so really about an hour before I need to be in the gate area. The flight will take approximately 8 hours, and ill arrive in Zurich tomorrow morning at 7:30.

I am pretty excited about the trip, and cannot wait to hurry up and get on the plane. I have a very packed itinerary, or at least, there are many things I would like to try and do; we will see what I manage to accomplish.

My next update will be sometime tomorrow. If I do not get a chance to from the airport in Zurich, then I will when I get to my hotel in Interlaken. I would upload some pictures, but the internet is rather unreliable.