Berlin weekend

On the train ride home from Berlin, Ken and I were sitting in the dining cart having dinner.  We were on one end of the cart when 4 people entered the cart from the opposite end and start walking towards us.  They didn't stop at any of the tables...until they got to ours.  Then they asked for my identification.  4 of them, all large. 2 guys in military outfits looked at my passport, while the 2 police officers stood by watching my every movement, standing at attention with their hands crossed behind their backs.  They saw me scan the rest of the dining car to notice all of the other passengers staring at me.  This lasted for a few minutes, while I tried not to stress about it, Ken and I continuing our conversation as if it was no big deal.  The men were looking at every page of my passport, and the first guy called someone on his radio.  They didn't ask Ken, but Ken still offered "My passport is in my bag in our compartment".  The guy barely looked up and asked "what's your nationality?" Ken responded "American", and the guy didn't care any further. But my passport is also American and for some reason they cared about me.  They didn't check anyone else in the entire car, leaving the car after they were finished with me.  And I still have no idea why.  All I know is that I had to change my pants afterwards.  

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Imagine you live in the Western side of Berlin in 1961, but decide to go check out East Berlin on the night of August 12.  The Western part of the city is split into 3 sections, governed by the US, UK and France.  The Eastern side is Soviet, and you've always wanted to see what those Communists do for fun.  So you head over there to have a few drinks, or at least go to a "milk bar".  Maybe you stay out too late, fall asleep on the sidewalk (or somewhere else, if you're lucky), and wake up late for work.  As you head back home, you notice something is wrong.  Surely there must be some mistake.  Because on the road you took to get to where you are, there's now a big wall in your way.  With armed guards.  And they won't let you through.  You worry that it might take a couple hours before they let you pass, but that's because you don't realize that you're stuck in East Berlin.  Forever.

Ken got trapped on the wrong side of the wall - I had to leave him there

Ok, so maybe that's a bit dramatic, but that's really how it happened.  The wall went up overnight, to "protect the citizens of East Berlin from Fascism" is how the Soviets spun it.  But the real reason is that millions of East Berliners were heading to West Berlin to get out of the Communist system.  And the Soviets wasn't having it.  So if you woke up on the East side on the morning of August 13, 1961.  That's where you were staying.

Berlin Wall - I assume that hole wasn't there before

The wall was pretty thin. There were actually 2 parallel walls, with a "deadzone" in between, where people got shot if they tried to cross

This is how you jump over the wall

One thing I never realized is that the Berlin Wall encompassed the entire area of West Berlin (a big circle).  West Berlin, although entirely physically located in East Germany (which was under Soviet control after WWII), was considered part of West Germany (controlled by the allies) - something like a little satellite office.  The allies didn't want the Soviets to control the entire Capital when they split the country, so they insisted on sharing Berlin (thus West and East Berlin).  Since East Germany (and East Berlin) was on lock-down by the Soviets, the only way anyone in East Germany was allowed to go to West Germany (or the rest of the world) was to get into West Berlin and leave from there.  Once the wall went up separating West and East Berlin, you couldn't do it anymore, until the wall came down in 1989.

Ken is an American friend of mine in Warsaw, from Brooklyn. His mom actually lives just a couple blocks from where I lived in Park Slope for a year.  We didn't know each other in NYC, but we definitely ate at the same pizza place and Italian ice stand, and enjoyed bocce ball at Union Hall.  We decided on a last minute trip to Berlin, because we always talked about doing some weekend trips, and it was a 3 day weekend in Poland.  The train ride is 5-6 hours ans is about 50 Euros each way. Ken had been there before, but was happy to go again.  We stayed in a place called H2 hotel, a good location next to Alexanderplatz, with easy access to public transportation and walking distance to some nice neighborhoods.

Bunk beds, like the summer camp days

Most of Berlin was destroyed during WWII with all the bombings, and there is so much WWII history there.  Because of this, there are many museums and monuments to show what happened.  What impressed me is that Germany doesn't hide the horrible things that the Nazis did.  They acknowledge it, are sorry for (and embarrassed by) it, and want to show everyone what happened so it doesn't happen again.  When is the last time the US made museums to show everyone all the horrible things Americans have done?  Oh, that's right.  We haven't done any horrible things.

On the first day, we did a FREE (plus tips) guided tour around the city.  A couchsurfing contact gave us the idea.  It lasted almost 4 hours and it was really informative and entertaining.  The guide was English (so some of his jokes left me scratching my head) but he was really great.  The group was 40 people, but it was manageable.  We stopped along the Holocaust memorial, walked around the city, saw parts of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie (where people went in and out of West Berlin), and even stood above the bunker where Hitler got married just before he and his wife committed suicide.  The guide also pointed out some propaganda, like art in the city, as well as how they built door handles really high on doors to show that the Aryan race was tall and strong, and made windows on the top floors of buildings smaller so when you looked up at them, the aspect made the building seem taller.  Those tricky Nazis.

Look how much fun it was to live in a Communist society!

Holocaust memorial

Checkpoint Charlie

He also pointed out where David Hasselhoff performed his hit song in 1989 "Looking for Freedom" and where Michael Jackson held a baby dangling over a balcony ledge.

A lot of the museums are free in Berlin, like the Holocaust, Topography of Terror, and Stasi museums, and all were very worthwhile.  It's interesting how real and transparent these museums are.  Showing death and tragedy, and who was responsible, are no problem for them.  We almost become numb to it.  The thing that stuck with me the most was a video in the Topography of Terror of the executions of some Jewish men standing in a ditch (which they probably dug).  You actually see the Nazis shooting them in the head, they fall into the ditch, and are buried by the soldiers.  So shocking and real, that it almost doesn't seem real at all.  The saddest thing is that with all the millions of deaths, the people become numbers, and you forget they were people.  There's a saying that "1 person dies and it's a tragedy.  1 million people die and it's a statistic."  The Holocaust museum does a nice job of reminding us that they were all real people with stories to tell.

Ken was very entertaining during the trip, from wanting to chat to girls, to giving very loud commentary on everything we saw, to speaking Polish when people didn't speak English (which didn't work either, surprisingly).  My favorite was when we were at a bar, I was sitting at the bar and Ken was on the couch next to some German girls.  He yelled across the bar "Tristan are you coming over here?" and I said "Not now, but you're making friends, right?". Then one of the girls looks up from her magazine and says "No he's not!!".  Before that, Ken didn't know if they spoke English or not.  But apparently they do!

On Friday night we spent a lot of time looking for a restaurant Ken remembered from his last trip, Pan Asia.  He didn't know the name of it, but remembered how it looked and the general location. He asked everyone on the street about it: "I was here 3 years ago and there was an Asian restaurant, it's big, and has long tables...do you know it?".  Surprisingly (not!), nobody knew what he was talking about.  But they were all very friendly in trying to help.  Even the older people were able to speak perfect English to us to try to help.  I don't know he did it, but eventually we found it (mostly just by stumbling across it).  But his description about it was exactly right!  It was near Hackescher Markt, which was a nice area to walk around and find food.

Fun little crosswalk man guided us around the city

We met a couple of Ken's friends for an Austrian dinner one night, then went to some bars in the Kreuzberg area.  There were tons of bars and restaurants, nice streets to walk around...a very nice area.  Another night we went to Friedrichshain, which also had a lot of bars and restaurants, warehouse clubs, girls with fancy scarves and nose rings mixed with preppy people...kinda like the Lower East Side in NYC.  Anyway, both areas were a lot of fun.

Other observations:
- Berlin is a very artsy, diverse, clean, trendy city with many nice "date-worthy" restaurants and bars, all different ethnicities (a lot of Turkish), and there is graffiti EVERYWHERE.  It adds to the character of the city, but I wonder why the city allows it.  I mean, it's everywhere!

Graffiti in an alley

Graffiti next to some bars

- All the taxis are Mercedes.  Just like we have Chevy and Ford taxis in the US.  I prefer Mercedes.
- Currywurst is the most Berlin-ish type of food...grilled sausage with curry powder and ketchup, and it was very tasty. And since there are a lot of Turkish people, the Turkish food is also very nice.

Currywurst - the curry was not the wurst part of this meal - the wurst is that it ended so soon

- You can drink on the streets (and basically everywhere).  Kids walk around with beer and wine...hang out drinking in bank lobbies at midnight, and tons of people are still coming off the metro at 3am with bottles in hand heading for the bars.

Overall, a great weekend, and since it's so close and there is so much to see, hopefully there will be another one before I leave Poland.  Next trip, Riga trip for 10 in 2 weeks!

When in Rome, go outside of Rome too

The great thing about Italy is that there are so many places to visit, many within just an hour or two of anywhere you could possibly be eating, errr...standing. And when in Rome, you should see as much as you can. Speaking of which, I can't believe I didn't use that line in my Rome post. (Veronica Corningstone: "Oh well, when in Rome..." Ron Burgundy: "Yes, please go on?" VC: "Uh, do as the Romans do? It's an old expression" RB: "Oh, I've never heard of it").

Spending 6 days in the area gave me the opportunity to see some other cities, so I decided to head out to Pompeii for a day, and also spend a day visiting Patrizia, in her home town near Assisi.

I booked the tour to Pompeii on Viator, as usual . I am a big fan of it. We left at 7am (door to door service), for the 15 hour trip. When I got on the bus the first thing the tour guide asked me was "Japanese?" I said "yes, but I'm Ameri....." then another lady rushed over saying "No, no, he's not!" Hey lady, yes, actually I am! Turns out they were looking for the last member for their Japanese tour and of course I looked the part (but without the camera around my neck). The important part of that story is that there was a Japanese tour on my bus...and I don't speak enough Japanese to make that enjoyable (unless they spoke about food or counted to 10 the whole time, I wouldn't know what was going on). So I was already confused. She told me to get on the bus anyway, after which I hear Spanish all around me (and Japanese). I know I studied both languages in school, but I'm not really interested in a tour around Italy in any language other than English. I move towards the back of the bus, and that's when I hear them: the obnoxious Americans. Every tour/city around the world has them. Now I know I'm in the right place. Turns out there are 3 spoken languages on this bus...we have 2 guides, one who does all the English and Spanish (and speaks to the driver in Italian), and one Japanese. The Japanese lady didn't speak good English, but she still tried to talk to me, even though I clearly didn't speak Japanese to her. She would say something (and I didn't know which language), stop, nod for a second, there'd be crickets, and then I'd nod, take a drink of water waiting for her to say something else (or for her to walk away), and that was that. At least she was nice.

Goal #1: Get to Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius

On the tour I met another solo traveller, Jenny from Canada. It was nice to have someone to chat with on the bus (since we spent a few hours on it). She was on her way to visit her family in China after studying in France for the semester. Since we always sat together and walked around together (and let's face it, because we were both Asian), everyone thought we were a couple. She had to leave Pompeii early to catch her flight to China, so when the nosy Americans on the bus started asking questions like "Where's your girlfriend? Why aren't you guys going back together? Are you guys in a fight?", it was just easier to say "she had to go to China" rather than correct them. One of the loud, nosy guys told me about the sign company he owns back in the US, and how he hires kids to go around destroying the signs around the city so his customers have to buy new ones. Uhh, maybe you shouldn't be telling me that.

Along the way to Pompeii we stopped in Naples, took a few pictures, then got back on the bus. Apparently there are parts of Naples are pretty (the coast/water), but that mostly there isn't much going on, and in some areas it's really dirty. So I guess what we did was enough (except I didn't get to eat pizza). But it was enough to make me wonder again why we rename cities in our native languages...it's not like "Napoli" is difficult to say. Or "Roma". So why do we change them to Naples and Rome?

Off the coast of Naples

When we finally got to Pompeii, I realized why it's one of those places you must visit before you die. It's FASCINATING that this city was destroyed almost 2,000 years ago in the blink of an eye. And yet the structure of the city is so well preserved...the streets, the buildings, everything. I had always heard about Pompeii as a kid, and always heard about the dangerous Mount Vesuvius, so it was a great experience to get to see them.

The streets and structures are still very intact. You can really feel what it was like to live there...crosswalks, homes, restaurants, theater, markets, bathhouses, villas, even a brothel. The city was very cozy and felt of community. It would be neat to see a city built like this in modern day. They probably have them in Canada or something.

The streets of Pompeii

The streets have little pieces of something to illuminate them under the moonlight

Raised crosswalks so you could cross without stepping down into puddles (with space in between the rocks for horses to pass by)

The guide imformed us that this building is not original

The city wasn't excavated until 1,700 years after the eruption, so the bodies and everything were how they were left. How eerie is it to see the bodies in these shapes? This is real! I still can't quite understand how they died so quickly...the mountain is only a few kilometers away, so the ash/gas/etc must have come at them in an instant.

Actual body of a victim, frozen the way he died

Anyway, this trip was really interesting, and I definitely recommend it to anyone going in the area. A friend at the hostel did the trip on his own (taking the train without the guided tour) and he liked it a lot (and it was much cheaper). I just don't know if you'd learn all that I learned and if you'd see everything there was to see.

It's especially important to find the brothel. It was one stone bed (I assume they had blankets and pillows, otherwise, it wouldn't feel so good!) and paintings along the wall of different menu items you can...uhhh..."order". I guess people just pointed at the picture they wanted, and that's how they "got it".

I haven't been to a modern brothel, but hopefully they're a little more comfortable than this

One of the "menu items" in the Pompeii brothel ("smack" included)

On Christmas day Patrizia (Italian friend from Warsaw who was part of my St. Pete trip) invited me to have Christmas lunch with her family. She insisted that her family loves having guests, even those that don't speak any language that they speak. So I was the perfect guest for them. Last year I spent Christmas with Irina's family in Riga (Irina translated everything) and this year it would be the same. So I guess it's becoming tradition to have Christmas conversation through a translator (and the language of food/alcohol).

Before lunch, Patrizia took me to the town of Assisi. I'm sure you have heard of Assisi, of St. Francis fame. St Francis of Assisi is another name I've remembered since grade school, but I never really thought about where it was, or who he was. Assisi was established in the early 1300s (yes, before I was in grade school), and like many other towns in the region, is nestled on top of a hill, overlooking the land below. This made sense back in those days, so they could protect their city from intruders. There is a big fortress, small and windy ("wine-dee", i.e. curvy, not "win-dee" i.e. breezy) cobblestone streets, and many people attending the several impressive churches. We got to go into some of the churches, but since they were having Christmas services, we didn't see everything. The view from the fortress on top is a great one of all the villages below.

Patrizia lives in Ponte St Giovanni, which is a "village" near Perugia. If the name Perugia sounds familiar it's because it's the city where Amanda Knox was studying when her room mate was killed, and she spent 4 years in prison for the suspected murder (but was later released). It seems that people from all over the world know about this, because when I told people in the hostel, they were like "oh yea, that's where Amanda Knox was". That's not exactly the reputation you'd want. So of course, when we visited Perugia, we had to walk by her house just to see it.

Jumping in front of the fortress in Assisi

St. Franny's crib in Assisi

View into the valley

I haven't had a homemade Italian meal and lunch at Patrizia's was everything I dreamed it would be. It started with parma ham and bruschetta. I learned that every Italian family has a ham leg in their house (which they store at room temperature, and it lasts a few months), and the Fagiani's store their's in the computer room next to the printer. Also, bruschetta is pronounced "broo-sket-tuh", not "broo-shet-uh". Duh. First we rubbed garlic on the toasted bread, a little olive oil and salt, then either a tomato basil mixture, an olive mixture, cheese, or like me, all of the above. This was followed by tortellini soup (I had 2 servings), then salad, and lots of meat...roasted chicken, turkey and lamb, and potatoes. This was of course accompanied by wine and prosecco, followed by a few different types of dessert, including the traditional Italian Christmas cake. By the time the lunch was over, I could not sit up straight. It was a great success.

Tortellini soup (I was too busy to take pictures of anything else)

Patrizia's family was extremely nice and accommodating. Her mom was very sweet and smiley, dad had a subtle humor that kept me on my toes, and her sister was very nice and chatty (in Italian). And of course, they all kept piling food and drink into me.

Her dad has recently become a clay artist. There are many statues and portraits in the house of art he has done. I asked him so many questions through my interpreter that I think he was happy when we left. At one point (after about 10 questions on how he makes them) he asked Patrizia "is he done?" or something like that. I don't blame him! Anyway, it's all very impressive, considering this is only a hobby he picked up after retirement. For Christmas, the girls started a website for him with all of his artwork. You can check it out here. It's really great!

The Fagiani family

Also the Fagiani family

Some of dad's fine work

Ham leg in the printer room



And that concludes my latest trip to Italy. Of course it won't be my last. But it was a great holiday and a great time to visit. See you soon in Berlin!

Christmas in Rome

Waiting to be seated on a busy Friday night at Pizzeria de Romo (in the Testaccio neighborhood of Rome), I try to get out of the way of other patrons as I watch the chef decorate pizzas and slide them along the counter to the waiters. The place is packed...with hardly room to stand near the door, and customers all rubbing elbows at their tables. But they all look happy, because the atmosphere is lively, the wine and beer is flowing, and the food is great. The chef can see me lick my lips as he lays out thick slices of fresh mozzarella onto the piping hot pizza crust just out of the wood-fire oven. Then he adds a generous layer of prosciutto on top. I knew right then that it was just a matter of time before I was devouring that pizza. He only reinforced my decision when he walked over and held out a plate with a piece of the fresh mozzarella. At first I didn't know what he was saying because it was in Italian, but it only took one Italian hand gesture on his part for me to realize he wanted me to eat it. And I did not hesitate.

This dinner was a highlight among highlights on my trip to Rome. Not only because I got to catch up with my old friend Angelo (who I met while we worked in San Jose), but the food was amazing, and the service was hilarious (plus I got free cheese). Our waiter was also one of a kind. He must have made fun of me (in Italian) 10 times in the first 5 minutes. After we sat down, he came over and started his stand-up comedy. Of course, I didn't understand anything, but the table next to us all started laughing...and even Angelo was giggling, even though you could tell he was trying not to (to be polite). I guess the idea of the service there is to be a bit rude (in a friendly way) but also very helpful. This guy was very funny, but also the service was great. He stood by our table for most of the night, talking to Angelo and making fun of me in Italian and broken English...the best was when I took a picture of my pizza and he said "you said you are American, but it looks more like Japanese". By the end of the night, we were pretty friendly with each other. He was giving other customers kisses as they left, but I settled for a handshake. Maybe next time. Did I mention that the pizza was the best pizza I have ever had???

Best pizza EVER

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A couple months ago I tried to go to Rome, but when the flight price went up the minute I pressed "buy" on the website, I took it as a sign that maybe I should postpone. So, with nowhere to go over Christmas break, I thought that would be a great time to visit the Pope, if he could fit me into his schedule.

I planned the trip for 6 nights, because those were the cheapest flights on Wizz Air, and I think I could still manage to fit all my clothes in a carry-on (since Wizz Air charges $1,000 for a checked bag). I was going alone, but honestly I wasn't concerned about it, because a) cool people travel alone, b) the online reviews of the Mosaic hostel made it seem pretty social and a good place to meet others, c) my friends Angelo and Patrizia were both willing to meet with me during the week, and d) I can usually find someone on couchsurfing.org to show me around the city.

I really had no big plans, except to show up to the hostel, get a map, and wander around the city. I obviously knew about the big sites to see, and got some advice from friends on food and some other spots, but the trip felt pretty spontaneous. The great part about going to these big cities and staying in hostels is that you can easily figure out what to do by just asking other people.

First stop, Colosseum at night

A helpful tip I got was to book a guided tour of the Vatican. So I did this on Christmas eve. The tour was outstanding...the guide was very funny, passionate, and informative, probably my best ever. There is so much interesting history, art, and stories of propaganda in the Vatican, that I can't even say it all in the blog. Everything there is for a reason...whether to make political statements, to increase the Church's influence and power, or even to take jabs at other artists (Raphael and Michelangelo were rivals, unlike the teenage mutant ninja turtles we now know). I HIGHLY recommend a guided tour to anyone. I booked my tour on viator.com (where I book all of my tours in any city I visit), and would gladly do it again next time. Later than night, I went with a couple guys from the hostel back to the Vatican to catch a glimpse of Christmas Mass from outside St Peter's square. We didn't get to see the Pope in person, but we watched it from just outside, on the big screens.

The Vatican

Raphael depicting Michelangelo as an old, bitter, friendless man in his painting

Christmas eve at the Vatican

Within Rome, I have obviously heard about the Colosseum, Pantheon, and the Vatican (which were all impressive), and people say to just wander around the various piazzas/fountains/streets in the city.  But the thing that surprised me was the Forum/Palatine Hill. They're Roman ruins, in Rome! But nobody really ever talks about it. I loved it because they are actually IN the city. We often see ruins out in the boonies, but these ruins are sitting in the middle of the current hustle and bustle of Rome. And by the way, all of the other sites were great to see, and I definitely loved just wandering around for hours.

Roman Forum

Roman ruins within Rome!

Inside the Colosseum, where real gladiators once battled

Under the roof of the Pantheon - how did they build this???

The Mosaic hostel was actually really great. It was near the Termini train station for easy access to public transport (although a 50 minute walk to the Vatican so a bit far to walk).  It was very clean, the rooms were huge, and the staff were all really great. Plus, since there was a common room with TV, and they sold bottles of wine for 4 Euros, it was easy to make friends. There were a surprising number of solo travelers over Christmas. One night, 7 of us soloists gathered in the common area for wine, and then went out for dinner. The party continued and grew back in the hostel, and it turned out to be a great night.  My roommates were from places like the US (one guy went to UW and had the same accounting professors as I did), Brazil, and Australia. I even saw the Brazilian guy this weekend in Berlin...randomly just walking down the street!). And another guy was from Hawaii but lives in Seattle going to UW. Such a small world!

Out with the hostel guys

My favorite foods were suppli (a ball of rice, tomato sauce and cheese deep fried) from all over, but my favorite was from Gusto (a nice place near Piazza del Popolo), the fresh mozzarella and prosciutto pizza from Pizzaria de Romo (in Testaccio), and also the Capriciosa pizza (with an egg on top!) from La Fraschetta in Trastavere, which is a great place to walk around and to eat in. Oh and drinking wine any time of day was great, as was the gelato from San Crispino.

Suppli (and ravioli)

Second best pizza ever - Capriciosa

Other observations:

- Italians like to talk

- Italian guys like to talk to any woman they see

- The weather was almost as cold as Warsaw (because it was cold for Rome and Warsaw is a bit warmer than usual right now)

- If you want to sneak a second bag onto Wizz Air (they only allow 1 carry-on), you can wear a small backpack under your coat as you board the plane. It worked for me!

- One reason I missed having a travel buddy is that I didn't get to share food so I could try different things, especially gelato flavors

- An American family laughed at me for taking pictures of my food...but then the daughter took a picture of her own food, and I laughed back

- Raphael was young, handsome and fun, while Michelangelo was old, bitter and a loner - which is historically inaccurate according to their TMNT personalities

- It's great to find someone from Couchsurfing to show me around...this time a Finnish girl who has lived in Rome for a couple years met me and we walked around the city at night.

- I could go back to Rome in a heartbeat.

Oh, one last parting story (before the next entry about Assisi, Pompeii, Amanda Knox's house, and Christmas lunch at Patrizia's):

As I was headed to the bus to the airport (only 4 euros by the way), 3 ladies spotted me, looked me up and down (but not in a good way), then rushed me. They were holding a big piece of cardboard and were all reaching out to grab at me, asking for money. This is exactly what happened to Mo and me in Barca, so I knew what was coming...they were going to use the cardboard to block my vision, while a few of the 6 hands were grabbing in my pockets. Aware of this, I pushed the cardboard out of the way, punched 2 of them in the face, body slammed the other, then ran off. Ok, no, I didn't do that, but I did run away, unharmed and with all my belongings. They were clearly shocked that I knew it was coming. If I wasn't in a hurry, I would have stood next to them all day warning everyone that walked by that they are thieves. It really bothered me and I spent the next hour contemplating how I could teach them a lesson...let them try to steal something, then hold them down til the police could come? Steal their cardboard prop? Steal their bag of stolen wallets and give them back to the owners? Put a bunch of mouse traps in my pockets?  I don't know, but it still really pisses me off when I think about it.

Concussed in St. Anton

On the last run of the day, Kate, Jen and I re-group just before reaching the bottom. "Go fast," Kate says, "it gets flat after the curve down there". I had spent a lot of time walking my snowboard around St Anton in the 2 days of boarding so far, because of the flatness of some of the runs, so I was determined to go fast to minimize the amount of walking I'd have to do to get back to where we were meeting Jeff. There was a small enclosed entry into the curve that headed back towards the parking lot and street, so I just had to enter that area, make a sharp right turn, and coast to the street.

Ready, I head down before the girls, building up a lot of speed, ready to take on the curve (which, in fact, looked completely flat so I needed some SPEED!). There's nobody in front of me as I approach the turn. I am determined to go as fast as I can, so I'm not carving, just leaning into it, enjoying the rush of the speed. Just before entering curve, the scenery that had been speeding by me stops suddenly, and I find myself flipping forward, headfirst. Within 0.0005 seconds, I am completely stopped. My head hits the snow, just before the turn, my board flips up and gets wedged into the snow, which stopped my momentum completely. I tried to shake off the stars, only to find myself blocking the entrance to the turn. Without thinking, I struggle to pull my board out of the snow and crawl out of the way. Within an instant, 8 or 10 skiers zoom past me, each one glancing towards me, including Jen and Kate, but continuing into the turn and coasting to the finish line. After I realize I am out of harm's way, my head drops back to the snow, I exhale, and wonder "Did I just die?"

After the concussion on Day 2, I had to make a really long walk across the flat section because of this fall...in fact, I had to walk a lot further than I would have if I had just gone slower and with more caution. And I wouldn't have had to do it with a concussion. I knew immediately something was funny. I was a bit dizzy, I had a hard time focussing on anything, I was saying weird things, and I just wanted to go to sleep. Basically, I felt drunk. The girls let me rest, but then insisted we go see the doctor. I couldn't board anymore, so instead, I walked back to the hotel...but since our hotel was still a bit downhill, I was able to sit on my board and ride it down. Luckily, someone made a small path through the deep snow, so it was like I was on a luge. It was awesome! Jen came with me to make sure my head didn't fall off or that I didn't get eaten by a polar bear.

My luge track

The doctor must get a lot of patients who have ski accidents because he isn't even open in the middle of the day - just in the morning and after the slopes close when people can come down to see him. Or maybe it's cuz he is skiing in the middle of the day. For me, the whole affair took only a few minutes...he took some x-rays (which I got to keep!) and ran some motor skills tests (like the kind they give you for DUIs). I thought I passed them (balance on one foot with your eyes closed, touch your nose, etc), but I guess it was a bad sign when he asked me "are you hammered right now?". I guess I didn't pass. I definitely wasn't hammered, so then he let me hear about the dangers of not wearing a helmet. The sad thing is that at the rental place, I considered getting one after we walked out...but since we already walked out and since I never wore one before, I figured I didn't need one this time. Lesson learned. '

My skull

After the doctor, everyone was taking good care of me, to keep me safe and following doctor's orders. Kate had the special task of making sure I didn't throw up "more than twice" that night, under doctor's orders. Otherwise she would have to take me to the hospital. Luckily, I kept it all down. The guys said I was saying all kinds of weird things that night, to which they would just smile and nod like I was a 5 year old child. But as Jen put it "you always say weird things, so sometimes it's hard to tell what is normal and what isn't".

Despite this unfortunate fall, the trip to St Anton, Austria was a lot of fun. We planned for 3 days on the slopes, with a couple nights in Zurich, Switzerland at Jen and Jeff's sweet apartment. The 3 countries on this trip (along with passing through Liechtenstein), brings the total number of European countries Kate and I have been in together to 6.

The drive from Zurich took about 2.5 hours, and during the drive, 2 things kept me entertained. One was the city called Rapperswil (I don't know what's there, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Tupac and Biggie there), and the other is the German word for "exit" - "Ausfahrt", which we saw every mile or so. Nobody else thought it was that funny, when I would giggle and say "Ausfahrt!" every 2 minutes. I guess I am still an 8 year old boy at heart.

As we approached the mountain, the snow started to come down hard. We could hardly see out of the windows, but Jeff did a great job to get us there safely in our 2 wheel drive VW without snow tires. When we say a Porsche driving along the mountain, we knew we'd be ok.

Lots of snow

Because of the heavy snow on the first day, there were a few minutes where it wasn't so fun borading...we could hardly see anything. At one point I couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of my face...I didn't know if I should stop so I didn't run into someone else, or keep going, so someone wouldn't run into me. And with everything white all around you, you can't even tell which direction the hill is going, where the angles or bumps are, or even which way the path goes. There was a time where I thought I was going downhill one way, then gravity pulled me downhill going another way!

Can't see anything!

We of course stopped in the afternoons for some lunch and drinks (apres ski). There were tons of dudes everywhere, a lot of older men in their 40s and 50s, who obviously are rich enough to make skiing a weekly affair. Everyone sings German songs in the bars, about really strange things, like taking photos together and polar bears (ask Kate to translate).

Our hotel, Parseierblick, was really nice...not fancy, but very cozy and friendly. It was next to the bottom of a gondola, a rental shop, and bars and restaurants for easy access. They served us breakfast every day, and said hi to us whenever they'd see us. The family owners also lived in the building with their cute-faced cat and their kids who practice clarinet in the evenings. They were so nice, that after I asked for some pillows after my concussion, the lady woke up in the middle of the night worrying because she forgot to bring them to me. I definitely recommend this place.

In front of our great hotel

St. Anton is a nice little town.  Everything is very close and convenient, and there seemed to be a lot of nice bars and restaurants.  Our nights consisted mostly of dinner and a couple drinks, but nothing too crazy. One bar offered a 9-shot challenge, to see who could drink the pre-determined 9 shots the fastest (it sounded disgusting since the last shots where jager and tequila). Apparently the record is all 9 shots in 13 seconds. I am guessing that guy had to get his stomach pumped afterwards.

St. Anton

Nice little lunch - with goulash soup!

After the snowy first day, the rest of the trip was very sunny. It's just too bad that after the fall, the doctor told me no more boarding, and I had to spend the last day sitting in the hotel since the doctor said I couldn't go up the mountain anymore. At least I got to finish reading Hunger Games. And another bonus - the rental place and the lift ticket office both refunded me the last day of rental/ticket.

Now I can take that money and buy a helmet.

Much better conditions on Day 2