Europe reflections part 1

In one word, Europe was amazing.
How does one even begin to process all that happen in the last five or so weeks? Well, I started this blog about nine years ago to keep friends and family updated with news from Melbourne and my new adventure in this city, but increasingly, it's become a good space for me to reflect, process, document, muse and what nots, and whether people read or not (and like it or not!) is not for me to determine.
So here I am, processing. I think it will come in various stages, and probably not at all in a steady stream of thoughts. I suspect I'll be thinking about things and it'll come out in spurts - gushing about lots, and then a silence and break for a while, and then another lot of words.

But I've been thinking about this first post for a few days, and trying to capture the essence of each city. So I've decided to jot down some words, some of the things I saw and visited, some impressions, and some brief highlights (and regrets, although I usually don't like to have regrets, though I suspect in general they are positive ones, if one can have positive regrets) of each place.

Paris
Beautiful, landmarks, Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, so many museums and galleries, rounded arches, running around
Highlights: Seeing so many landmarks that I've seen in films/photos and the like, getting by on schoolgirl French (and eventually falling in love with the sound of it)!
Regrets: Not eating enough French food (beyond pastries and macarons), lots of grey and wet weather (not that I had any control over that!)

Frankfurt
Functional, inordinate number of museums, reminded me of Perth (seriously)
Highlights: Getting to hang out with  my friend (who I wasn't going to, but plans changed, and yay!)
Regrets: Not going to the architecture museum

Vienna
Charming, neutral (as a country), big village, old-world
Highlights: My Airbnb host was amazing, seeing concerts for not a lot of money, music being a part of everyday life
Regrets: Not spending enough time here, at all! Two days was not enough! Not seeing other parts of Austria.

Prague
Baffling, crazy, touristy, but beautiful! Cobblestoned streets, lots of wars
Highlights: The city is beautiful, and much of the architecture consistent, as it was largely undamaged during WW2. The crisp morning air.
Regrets: Possibly stayed one day too long; it's really not that large a city. 'The Prague Effect' of it being so hyped up that perhaps I was expecting more? Not learning much Czech, so resorting to being a tourist entirely and using English.

Berlin
Evolving, edgy, remembers, commemmorates and moves forward
Highlights: Learning recent history (so fascinating!), catching up with Australian and German friends, hearing the Berlin Phil
Regrets: not spending more time in the West (because the East was so interesting)

Hannover
Charming, not-so-touristy (able to perhaps blend in a little?!), a place to live and do normal life
Highlights: Being able to stay with, and hang out with Australian friends and see how they had set up life in Hannover
Regrets: Not being able to speak more German so that the kind lady that helped me with directions could understand me better. But really, communicating with her limited English and my limited German and many hand gestures was entirely amusing and excellent.

Hamburg
Port city - and therefore, quite wealthy! This was actually a brilliant day - it was cold and the sun was shining.
Highlights: catching up with a couple of friends, wandering around, seeing a port and sea for the first time in four weeks (I really didn't think that I'd miss this so much, but it was quite a nice shock to see it!)
Regrets: not spending enough time here, not doing a free walking tour

Amsterdam
Canal life, bikes, funny sounding language (seriously, Dutch sounds like an Irish person trying to speak German), looking through fingers
Highlights: wandering around, especially the Nine Streets area, not being hit by a bike! Spending so many hours in the Rijksmuseum, catching up with a couple of friends, hearing the Concertgebouw Orchestra in their home, Anne Frank museum
Regrets: not taking a canal ride (gotta save some things for next time!), not buying that book from the Rijksmuseum (going to see if I can get it online...)

Brussels
Underrated gem, Musical Instrument Museum (one staff member at my hotel so enthusiastically recommended it that I decided I should go and for it to be the only museum I visited in this city), fought my way through the Pride parade (massive street parties)
Highlights: possibly the most beautiful square in all of my travels, meeting locals, hearing French alongside Flemish (yep, bilingual, and my language is not one of them, though pretty much everybody speaks English anyway)
Regrets: not spending enough time here (or in all of Belgium!), not taking (calculated) risks (like just staying out all night because one always needs a crazy travel story, right?!), not eating enough Belgian cuisine (next time - and I'm sure there will be a next time, because I really need to explore this country!), not being converted to being a beer drinker as a result of (not) trying Belgian beer. Also, I want to go back to see the early Rodin sculptures at La Bourse.

London
"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life" Samuel Johnson
Highlights: So many sights! The fabulous Underground trains, finally going to London after dreaming of it for more than ten years, catching up with a whole bunch of friends (including one whom I hadn't seen in five years, and also getting to see my cousin, who flew in the day that I was leaving!)
Regrets: not having more time and also getting out of London. I think the UK needs a whole trip in itself - I dream of one day spending time driving around the UK and stopping it at cute B&Bs.


I've learnt so much history - and there is so much more to read about! I've learnt about what sort of art I like. I've learnt more about myself and I think I've gained even more independence. I've discovered for myself a few truths that people had told me about.
And yet I still have much to learn.....

More to follow, hopefully soon....