The end of 6 weeks Eurotripping - 12 countries, 14 cities...

 I wish I could say it was all smooth sailing after our dramatic departure from Amsterdam....I really wish I could. After leaving Amsterdam at 9pm we got to Copenhagen an hour or so later...Drama. So I had booked accommodation through Airbnb but for some reason the payment had not gone through. On my end I had no idea anything was wrong. We got to the apartment and the host was surprised to see us. On her end it appeared the booking had been cancelled. We were just about to be broke and homeless in one of the most expensive cities I have been to. Thankfully the host was so kind - she let us stay and said we could sort out the payment the next day. 

The next day - once we sorted out the situation (more money needed from these broke girls), we went out clubbing in the evening. The following day we went for dinner at an old colleague's place. The conversations were great. The food was amazing - her husband is a professional chef.

On our final day in Copenhagen - we spent most of our time in pubs in Stroeget. We randomly met some nice girls who we played a Danish dice game with in the bar. A few years later one of our new friends came for my 30th birthday in Nairobi - she was in the city at the time. I love how small this world is..Later in the evening, our other friends joined us. 

In the evening we staggered to the airport - and thus ended 6 amazing weeks, 12 countries, 14 cities.....

Touring Amsterdam - Christian reformation, Rembrandt, Nazi occupation etc

Continued from last week

Another area in the town that showed us Dutch Tolerance was the 'square of the spiritual women.' It started as a home for Berginjof nuns who were being persecuted in France. Berginjof nuns are pretty much nun-tryouts who didn't make it to become full blown nuns. They were ostracized throughout much of Europe, but the Dutch welcomed them with open arms. Their former home is now the home of spiritual women. Women the world over who adhere to a religion- any religion and want to grow spiritually apply to join the place. It offers a home to Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Bahaaists etc.  I thought it was so interesting that one place would encourage growth of spirituality in different religions. The place was quite tranquil.

Amsterdam officially has only 5 Catholic churches. After the Reformation all Catholic churches were seized and Protestantism was declared the official religion. Unlike other countries, where all former priests, nuns etc would be killed, in the Netherlands they just had to convert. The State even let them meet in a house as long as the house didn't have a cross. This turning a blind eye and letting people live their lives was something I really admired. Everyone knew it was a catholic church. Every Sunday a crowd would gather there. They had an organ, hymn books etc. As long as it was subtle everyone was willing to pretend they didn't see it.

After this we passed by the museum where Rembrandt's 'Night Watch' was stored. I had never seen it before, but it was a painting that changed how portraits were done. It was an action portrait of the Rifle Squad of Amsterdam. It was later redone into a sculpture that was in the city park. I really liked it.

We got to see the widest bridge, and the narrowest house which were all on the same street. The narrowest house was 1.7m wide. Can you imagine? Horrid. I had noticed the importance of saving space in Amsterdam.  The last time I was in Amsterdam, the stairs in my hotel were so narrow that I had to climb them sideways.

Random note – The Dutch are officially the tallest European people. I
always thought it would be Swedes, Norwegians or something.

We passed a statue of Multatuli who was a Dutchman who wrote about the atrocities being committed by Dutch colonialists in Indonesia. He even named names. His book led to a huge reform by the Dutch public who were horrified to learn about how they were treating the locals. I really liked the Dutch, and wondered if they were really related to South African boers. Maybe the Boers were all the black sheep of the Dutch community....

Amsterdam was really multicultural. I kept on seeing all this people who looked African, but I couldn't figure out from what country. I kept on racking my brain trying to think if Netherlands ever had an African colony. It turns out this black people are from Suriname. I was so jazzed. Back in the day I used to think Suriname was a country somewhere in Asia probably near Myanmar. At least a few years back I learnt it was the smallest country in South America. Little did I know that it's a predominantly black country. That was an interesting history and geography lesson. The other foreign looking people come from Aruba, Dutch Antilles, Indonesia etc.

We then saw the old men's prison that was now a public pool. The Dutch being Calvinist believed in the redeeming powers of hard work. All men in the prison were meant to work daily to get atonement for their sins. Some men were rebellious and chose not to work. To force them to work, water would slowly be let into their cells. At the corner of the cells there was a pump. The only way to prevent one self from drowning was to continuously pump i.e. one was forced to work to live. One prisoner completely refused to do this, and let himself drown. This
method of getting people to work was promptly stopped.

Netherlands being such an open and welcoming society had attracted a lot of persecuted Jews from other European countries – Portugal, Germany, France etc. They all lived in the Jewish Quarter which was an upscale region and not a ghetto like in other countries. Famous
Non-Jews like Rembrandt even chose to live in this region because it was really good housing. When the Nazis invaded Amsterdam in the early 40s, their occupation was a peaceful one. The Nazis liked the Dutch and believed they were distant relatives since they all spoke funny.
For a year they didn't do anything other than stay on as occupiers. Finally they started their attacks on the Jews. The first day they attacked the Jews was on a Saturday and very few Dutch people were in the Jewish Quarter to witness the atrocities. The next day they did it
was a Sunday – market day. The Dutch witnesses were horrified by what they saw and decided to revolt against the murder of their brothers.
The 'February strikes' were led by Dutch workers to oppose the mistreatment and deportation of the Jews. The Nazis fired at the crowd, and killed many citizens. Though this was by no means a success for the Dutch, it however was the largest demonstration during World
War 2 by non-Jews for the Jews. It did not stop the deportations, and it probably did not save any lives. It however showed the Jews that the Nazis were a minority, and not all Europeans shared their dream of exterminating them. It was a moment of hope, and a day when the Dutch
policy of tolerance and turning a blind eye was put to the test. They would not turn a blind eye to acts of torture, hatred and inhumanity against their fellow humans.

When the Allied forces started freeing European cities, they neglected to free Amsterdam. It was so out of the way, and they had no idea that many Nazis were occupying the area. The Nazis starved the people for their collaboration with the Jews. By this point the Jewish Quarter
was a ghost town. All the Jews had been deported and met their end in the Nazi concentration camps. Anne Frank's family was one of these. The winter of 1941 was the worst winter in Europe. Food ran out. All the trees were cut and used for heating. People ate the
'roof-rabbits.' Roof-rabbits was a euphemism for cats. Then they ate the rats. Then they went to the ghostown – the Jewish Quarter and started using furniture, building materials and anything they could get their hands on for heating. Today all the trees in Amsterdam are
the same height. They were planted around the same time – after the war. The old Jewish Quarter does not look anything like it would have in the past. Everything was destroyed in the search for firewood. It has been redone in garish 70s architecture. Bold, bright colours. Long
clinical columns. It's an eyesore.

***The Miracle of Amsterdam****

This is a true story. It has no exaggerations and no additions. I am
telling it as it came from the horses mouth.

Sometime in the 1600s in Amsterdam an old man was on his death bed. A priest and a nun came to give him his last rites. They gave him the communion bread to eat, but as he was so sick he threw it up immediately. As the bread was blessed it had to be disposed of in a
certain way. The nun wrapped it up in a bundle and cast it into the fire. All of a sudden she notices that the bread doesn't burn. It instead floats on the fire with a strange glow. She grabs it and realizes it's a miracle. She begins her journey with the bread to see the pope (all miracles had to be declared a miracle by the pope.) She gets to Rome and realizes she doesn't have the bread. She panics and wonders how she could have lost it. She realizes these are serious
negative nun points – finding a miracle and losing it. She gets back to Amsterdam and it's in the house. Her and the priest now take it to Rome. They get there, and discover the bread has vanished again. They find it in Amsterdam. They then build a church where the loaf lies.
That must be what the bread wants from them. In the next 50 years, the church burns down twice. The only thing that survives is the bread. They move the bread to another location. This fires are a bit worrisome and they want a safer location. This time the bread agrees
to be relocated. They put it in a nice steel case in the new church. A thief comes one night and robs the church. He takes off with the steel case thinking it has money.

He runs over a bridge and pries it open. With each push his heart is pacing faster and faster. He expects to find jewels, money or something precious. It finally opens, and he finds a dry dusty piece of bread.

He tosses it into the river Amstel.

That is the end of the miracle of Amsterdam.

Moral of this story? The bread was fireproof and could translocate, but wasn't waterproof.

Ps- The old man didn't survive. The miracle was only for the bread….not for him.

How Kenyans got conned in Rome...then later met a Kenyan priest at the Vatican.

Rome - how can someone not be fascinated by this city. Something about walking around in this modern city - turning round a corner and suddenly seeing ancient ruins - the Colosseum,  arcs of triumph etc. It's lovely. I can't be in Rome and not think of my epic first time there in 2006 and my legendary pub crawl......Last pub crawl I am doing in Rome...

The journey to Rome was great - we were so happy to be leaving Paris. We had a quick stopover in Milan and got to Rome in the evening - after leaving Paris in the morning. We were exhausted but went out for a delicious dinner. We slept early and went off to explore the city. We were excited. As we were walking, we came across some guys dressed as ancient Romans and carrying the most fabulous props - swords, shields etc. He could tell we were enchanted by the costumes. The next thing we knew, they invited us to take some fun pics with them. We had a blast.....up until a few minutes later, we were each  made to part with 10 Euros each.....OUCH! Yes, that's how we were taken in. I'm sure those guys make a killing off tourists.

We went to the Vatican after seeing the main ruins in Rome. As we were walking into the city, we met a Priest who looked very Kenyan - which coincidentally he was! We were all excited - what are the odds of a group of 6 Kenyan women meeting a Kenyan priest on entering the vatican? Father Boniface was equally pleased to meet us. He gave us the best tour of the Vatican. The highlight of it for me was seeing Michelangelo's work on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel - divine. We had to leave for Venice around 1pm, but that was a quick lovely trip in Rome. We wished we could stay longer, but given the 4-5 day delay in Paris, we were quickly running out of time. 

Sans domicile fixe/Homeless in Paris

This is such a long story. First of all - why were we back in Paris - a city we had tried to leave for so long the week before, but kept on having challenges getting train tickets? Second, now that we were back in Paris - how did we end up homeless? First things first - why were we back in Paris. Well to get from Barcelona to our next stop, Rome, we had to travel through Paris. Unfortunately the connection was  not great. As such we would get into Paris at 5pm but our next train to Rome would leave at 7am. I decided that booking a hostel would not make any sense. Paris is expensive - we would pay loads to stay in the city. Our next option would be Chelles - the far off godforsaken town we stayed in last time. The same town that had no taxis and required a half hour walk with our backpacks to get to the apartment.....It was a no-brainer - too much effort for just one night of sleep. I decided we would sleep at the train station - on our backpacks.....It seemed like a grand plan, until.......

So we got to Paris at 5pm, managed to book all our remaining tickets - Rome, Geneva, Amsterdam. We were happy - this time Paris was going to be a breeze. We had our tickets out of the city - what's the worst thing that could happen. We went to the Eiffel tower, took pictures with giant teddy bears close to the tower and finally headed back to the train station around 9/10pm to sleep....Or so we thought.

Total balaa! The first signs of problems was the closed toilets. Where did they expect us to go pee in the middle of the night? Ah well, we will survive. We set our bags down - everyone picking a nice wall to sleep against. Then we saw an official looking person say something to other tourists who seemed to have the same plan as us. They stood up and carried their bags. Uh oh! They got to us and the message was loud and clear. "You need to leave the train station. We are closing for the night." Excuse me? What the hell type of regional train station closes for the night? Till today I think this is intentionally done to prevent people from sleeping at the train station. 

What to do.....We are homeless and sleepy. You do recall the activities of our previous night in Barcelona. The BARacuda and I partied till morning then caught the train to Paris. We needed sleep. We went to a part of town that had a bar that promised to stay open till 5am.....Good, then we would only have 2 hours to kill before our next train. We got into the bar. We were a sight. We were falling asleep on the table. "Wake up! They will kick us out thinking we're drunk." "Ok, what do we do to stay awake?" "Let's play cards." That was the sorriest game of cards ever played. "Oh, that's a 5 of spades? I thought it was a Queen of hearts." People were struggling. 

Finally the light at the end of the tunnel came in the form of a little Nepali bartender who liked The Reluctant. He started getting us all shots on the house - now that kept us up:-) Finally at 5am, we dragged our exhausted feet out of the bar and into the train station. 

Goodbye Paris!

The green fairy in Bratislava

Having left Budapest at 11am, we got to Bratislava at 3pm, hangover and exhausted. During our short walk from the train station to the hostel, a young girl who looked like she could have been the child in that 60s movie “Bad seed” stared at us malevolently. There was a moment of panic, “Guys, are we really sure this is a safe city for black people?” All our fears were dispelled though once we got to Hostel Possonium. It was a lovely hostel and the staff made us feel welcome. We napped a few hours as we suspected it was going to be a big party night – the 3rd or so continuous one, in yet another country….When we woke up and got ready to leave for the club, the receptionist invited us to take shots of a drink called Panika – on the house. I immediately approved of a hostel that serves complimentary shots.

We had a heavy dinner in the old part of town, walked around a bit and finally entered a lounge called Prima. We had a drink or two there then most of the group was tired and left for the hostel. The BARacuda and I were up for more partying. We walked to a club called KC Dunai and were not let in. I HATE not being let into clubs. They said it was too packed, but I was already catching feelings. The BARacuda saved the night. As we were roaming around, she heard music coming from a basement and told me that this was to be our party place for the night. I followed her into this basement and we got into a pretty little cozy club.

The bartender was smitten by the BARacuda and decided that all our drinks would be on the house. Ever since I watched Eurotrip in 2003, I had decided that if I ever got to Eastern Europe, I was going to drink absinthe. I had been searching for absinthe since Prague, but could not find it. Some people had recently died in Czech republic from drinking bad absinthe and a ban had been put on all absinthe. In the bar I decided to ask the bartender “Do you have absinthe?” He didn’t really speak English, but he smiled and reached under the counter to find this magical drink. Unfortunately he came out with a bottle of Absolut vodka….. “Aaah, no. Not absolut…A…B…S…I….N…T…H…E.” “Aaaaaah” he replied. He said something that sounded like “Yes! I have exactly what you want…my secret stash from before the prohibition”….or at least that’s what I think he said. He brought us the bottle and served us a shot each. It was such a lovely ritual. Sugar on spoon. Fire under spoon. Flaming spoon in shot glass. Voila. Drink. He gave us each 3 or 4 shots by the end of the night. It was a blurry night.

When we did eventually get home at 5am, I was wearing one earring that was my own and another that was definitely not mine. (I later on recalled making a friend in the ladies bathroom, promising we would be friends forever and exchanging an earring as the mark of our binding agreement…..She was the lucky one. Her earring was not thaaaaaaat cute…The Safety Net has still not forgiven me for giving away one of our funkiest maasai market earrings.) We also apparently got to the hostel with a lot of noise…and there is a small chance we might not exactly recall how we walked home….The Green Fairy vs. me and BARacuda: 10-0.

We slept for an hour, woke up, frantically packed and rushed to get our train to Ljubljana in Slovenia. It’s a problem when you need to wear sunglasses at 6am. 

A freshers guide to Oktoberfest

What is Oktoberfest? It's a pretty huge hot-mess i.e. The world's largest beer festival. Yep, a festival to celebrate German beer's awesomeness:-)

When did this tradition start? The main story given is that in 1810, Crown prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. All the citizens of Munich were invited to the festivities at what is now known as Theresienwiese (the current grounds of Oktoberfest.) People had so much fun that this became a tradition. 

Where does it happen? While a few German cities have their own version of Oktoberfest - Munich is the original and most amazing Oktoberfest.

How long does it last and when does it start/end? It lasts at least 16 days and usually starts mid September

Do they charge to go for Oktoberfest? Nope, as long as you can fight your way into a tent you are fine. You won't really have to fight every day - only during peak days - opening days, closing days etc. 

If I can't go for the full duration, what part(s) should I go for? Definitely the first day - the opening ceremony, the crazy energy, the interesting traditions e.g. The mayor tapping the first barrel at noon and crying out "O'Zapft!"/"Oktoberfest has started" is simply something you must see. Singing old german drinking songs using the "hymn" books on the tables is also beyond amazing. If you can't make it for the opening ceremony, then at least make it for the last days of the ceremony and definitely the closing ceremony. When else would you get to light candles with a room-full of drunken people from all over the world, hold hands, hug like siblings - all the while singing Michael Jackson's "Heal the world."? When?

Why didn't the waitress give me back my change? She took the rest as a tip - you're welcome! A Maß of beer costs 9.10 Euros, but it is an unwritten rule that you just give 10 Euros. You just try and ask for change back - let me know if you manage to get served again.

How do those servers carry 13 beers at a go? Beats me. I think there must be a class or something. "How to carry 13 gigantic beer glasses at a go, through crowds of crazy, drunken staggering people and not spill a drop."

Uh, oh. I'm drunk. I think I might be drinking someone else's beer: No need to worry. Someone else is likely drinking your beer too. After 4 liters of beer the last thing you should be worrying about is catching a cold from sharing someone's glass. 

Which is the coolest tent to be in? Hands down, I have to say it is Hacker Pschorr. Lots of Bavarians go there - so it's the fun place to be with lots of young locals and not too many tourists. Not that there is anything wrong with tourists, but why would you go to Oktoberfest in Munich to hang out with Aussies and Americans. I love all my people, but while in Rome...do a Roman;-)

For all other questions refer to - http://www.oktoberfest-insider.com/oktoberfest-faq.htm

Is Oktoberfest ready for the Kenyans?

5 Kenyan girls and their ginomous backpacks arrived in Munich the evening before Oktoberfest a few years back. By the time the girls made it to their apartment in the lovely town of Starnberg - it was 10pm. They got to the apartment and their lovely and very flamboyantly gay landlord gave them the keys to his apartment and gave them a tour. It was cozy, but very well-furnished. The landlord left and the girls got excited. "Oh gosh, we are here. Tomorrow morning we will actually be at Oktoberfest?" "Feels like we should celebrate." The landlord had stocked the fridge with some beers - "well let's have one before sleeping. What time do we need to be up? 5am! What the hell? Who is at a beer festival at 6am? Ok, Ok. If you insist we won't get seats if we go later, then we may as well get some rest. "

Morning comes - a flurry of activity as 5 women struggle to shower, get dressed, do their makeup and leave the house by 6am..Success.

We took the train - I had assured everyone that we should carry a beer or two each, as it would be a while before we would get into Oktoberfest, and drinking in public in Munich is not only allowed during Oktoberfest (and most other times,) but is actually highly encouraged. These girls didn't trust me - up until we got to the train and they saw all the women in dirndls and the men in lederhosen and many groups traveling with a crate or two of beer, and happily drinking on the train....."Aaaah, so it's true? We can drink?" "Yep, what did I tell you? Welcome to my second home."

The train starts, stops, picks up more revelers, starts, stops, picks up more revelers. Soon the train is full of very many, very excited people. "Last stop! Last stop!" We all get off and follow the throngs of people walking in one direction - to the home of Oktoberfest - der Wiesn. We finally got to the Oktoberfest tents at 7;30am. Those among us who went to public boarding schools would know what is needed to finally get in when the doors begin opening - you are standing in a crowd of thousands and thousands planning to push yourself into the tents before noon - when the opening ceremony begins. You imagined I said you are standing in a line - no I didn't. I said you are standing in a crowd. There is no method to the madness - you just need to stick together, make friends - yes- make friends, but don't get too attached to them. With the next great push, you might find yourself floating above your new friends finding yourself inching closer to the door. Your new friend might elbow you  when the crowd starts pushing - nothing personal - this is rugby (ruge), this is real life, this is how any proper human behaves when there are limited resources - only a certain number of people can get into the tent - and you MUST be among that number.

Half of you make it in! Thank God. Oh, now it's time to find a table. "Excuse me, is this table taken?" [As you approach the lonesome girl with a huge empty table] When she responds "Yes it is. [yet you know it's not and she is booking it for her friends who are still stuck outside.] You politely say "Ok" as you secretly pray that her friends get stuck outside and that she drinks too much  beer, gets really really pressed and can't access the loo for an hour or so. Karma, oh karma. "Is this one taken?", "Yes, says the really rude 17 year old with the bad acne and the jacked up teeth. For him you don't wish him any future curses. He is clearly paying for karma in advance..

"Ok. I don't think we will find a table, but at least we are in.....and we can see our other people at the door. They will be in soon." "What do we do?" "We hover around a table. You can't be served if you are not on a table." "Then what?" "Then we colonize it?" "Explain....."  Ooooooh, don't mind us. We are just on the edge of this little table [village on the border of your country.] Aaaaah, your friend has gone to the loo? Let me just stand here for a while. Psssssst! Come quickly! [Lord Delamere], quick quick! The locals aren't watching. Excuse me? You are saying this is your table? [Looks around] Well I don't see your name on it? Last time I checked you [locals] didn't have any [title deeds.] Aaaaah, that's your beer that you left on the table as proof of your ownership? Interesting - right here I have a document that shows your [chief] signed over all beers [land] on this table [in this country] to me...in exchange for [some salt and guns.] Ha! Life sucks.

So that is how eventually we had our own table. Ok, we perhaps were not as cut-throat as my little tale, but we used a combination of cunning and sweetness to finally get ourselves our very own table - then the fun began....

Too many stories from that first day - you are of course bound to have lots of stories when you start drinking in a train at 6am and then spend all day till 10pm at a beer festival. Some key highlights:

• "The Safety Cord" bit some guy's shoulder [not in a fight or anything - it was all good fun] - it's all fun and games till your rabid friend gets wet
• Lots and lots of beers were drunk
• We met hundreds of people, took pics with them, sang drinking songs in german, made friends in the loos (given how much time we spent on those long lines), kissed men in dresses and promptly forgot all this
• We staggered home - don't really remember the exact circumstances, but we were all fast asleep by 11pm if not earlier - partying is a lot of work

The Eurotrip itinerary

Aaaah, I have been dying to tell you about this particular Eurotrip. It was overambitious, it was hectic, it was fun! We went to 12 European countries in 6 weeks. The funny thing is that we actually cut out some countries a few hours before we left Kenya because most of us only had single-entry Schengen visas - meaning if we left the Schengen area we would not be able to get back in. We bid a sad farewell to Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia. The countries that remained in our itinerary were as follows - Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Denmark, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Netherlands. We also ended up cutting out Portugal from the itinerary - this was because by the time we got to Spain, we were so exhausted and wanted to stay there longer.

So how did the plan even come about? Well, I plan on going to every single country and territory in the world during my lifetime. The previous year I had gone to Munich with my sister for Oktoberfest - the world's largest beer festival. It was amazing. We stayed there a whole month. The next year I also wanted to go back to Oktoberfest. One of my friends told me she would love to come with us, but would rather spend the time in many countries rather than Germany. We reached a great compromise - Munich for the beginning of Oktoberfest, travel to Eastern Europe, get back to Munich for the end of Oktoberfest and travel to Western Europe after that. I take traveling very seriously - I put together a 40 page teaser, sent it round to my friends and 5 friends confirmed they would be interested. After that I did the planning - sending through visa requirements and making bookings, reserving accommodation for all cities, coming up with "must-see" places and things in each city etc. I take traveling very seriously and really enjoy the logistics as long as the people I am planning with are not problematic - and this group of friends was not problematic. 

You will get to see the team in 2 weeks - follow our trip - I promise you will enjoy the ride!