Germany and Austria

Passau is a small university town on the Austrian Border..there is some fun architecture...

Does anyone who knows Yiddish find this sign funny?
I always thought Yiddish was very similar to German but it is a lot les than I believed. I did knowsome words, table, window etc., and some of the grammar is the same but thats about it. German, at least in the south is a beautiful and soft language, not what I was expecting at all. Too many movies! One funny thing is they give you balnkets at outdoor cafes to keep warm!
I was staying with a friend who took me out to a 90's night! something I didnt know existed yet, and it was lots of fun... we went out somewhere everynight, made me miss university! One evening we went for a walk to Austria...
Here was a yummy treat!
Here is the inside of the Cathedral in Passau which houses the largest organ in Europe (in the back)

This is the tip of the town, where three rivers meet, one being the Danube. (Yes I kow you can only see two!)
Passau was lots of fun, I met lots of locals, (by locals I mean Germans as they came from all over the country) and it was great being able to talk to them all... All the people I met spoke better English than most English Quebecers speak French, and they dont have the language all around them. It was very impressive to see... But as I headed east that started to change :)

From Lausanne To Passau

From Lausanne I headed to Passau in Germany. Maybe not the first coice of every tourist to Germany, but I went to visit a friend (Mareike) I had made in Mexico. I took the train from Lausanne just to another village so I could get easy access to the highway and get my thumb on! This is an advertisment for something in the Lausanne train station that reminds me of my father in an old picture form a costume party!

Getting to the highway was easy enough and after 10 minutes a nice lady gave me a ride to a roundabout where i thought I would never get picked up.... there were also cops circling like piranhas and I was a little nervous...then I got a rideand everything was smooth, I met lots of nice people and also rode in a super truck the inside was all velvet:
After several more rideas I was at a truckstop on the ring road around Munich (Munchen)...which begs me to wonder why we dont pronounce city names in their local languages? I think it would make the world a more interesting place. And make it easier to get around.
So as darkenss came I had a great view of the stars but no view of a ride. The highway I wanted was off the ring road and not many trucks were taking that turn. I thought I would walk to the turn off and after a couple hundred meters some friendly policemen kindly suggested I get my ass off the side of the highway and go back to the truckstop.
The truckstop had a few fast food counters and some tables and chairs and I was informed that it was open all night which was good as it was below 0 outside! I took off my boots and put up my feet to relax... 2 minutes later an angry German Lady, obvioulsy the night manager came up to me quite angry and demended I take my feet off the chair... not a good start to a place I wanted to stay all night! She was quite scary... like a movie stereotype... One of several abnout to be shattered.... So 10 minutes later she comes back and asks if I am hitching and if I am planning to spend the night...I was worried but said yes to both, and she took me around the corner and showed me where I could sleep! she said she doesnt want people near the door to have a bad impression but I can sleep on a padded bench in the back! She was really sweet in the end!


In the mroing she came to wake me with a tea and muffin, and gave me more snacks for the road! I was on the road before sunlight and got to see Orion's belt, a favorite constellation...still no rides though so i took a gamble and cut across some fields for a few kms, got to a small town and found the highway entrance.... form there it was off to Passau! This sign made the whole night worthwhile!
The rides the previous day were great, people were feeding me, a guy bought me a road map to all of Europe, (I dont knwop how I was hitching without a map) and the next day was even nicer. A couple people brought me a litlle out of their way and my last ride was going 5km and decided to take me the 60km to Passau. It was a little scary as he went 180 for a bit on the Autobahn, but here I am!
On the Europen roadways they have lots of signs with lines through them, when you leave a town they have the name of the town with a line through it, when you leave the highway it is a picture of a highway with a line through it, and in germany they havea picture of the speed limit with a line through it, then people go very fast!!!

So I made it safe to Passau and met up with Mareike to explore a bit of southeastern Germany...

5 Days In The Alps

My solo journey to the Alps got off to a rocky but lucky start. I packed for a 5 day trip... food in Switzerland for such an adventure carried a $71 price tag, and set off to a well recommended cabin. I hiked up a beautiful trail and less than an hour form the first cabin I met 2 German girls coming down saying that the cabin was locked! While it was sad to turn around had i kept going I would have reached the cabin just before dark and it would have been difficult to turn around! So goodluck and badluck all together.

I returned to Lausanne for a day and replanned a new trip. There is a hike called tours de Muverans which my gracious host Andrea recommended and I headed there. 2 of the cabins were under construction so I couldnt do the whole trip but what I did was awesome!

I set out in the rain, and as I gained altitude the temperature lost degrees. The snow was fun to be in and challenging too. The trails are marked by painted rocks which can be hard to dfind under 20 cms of snow.... it was even harder under 30! It was a fun trip to the cabin! I had no idea of the views around me and it was a surprisingly agreeable temperature for hiking... The contrast of sweating as you go up, and the sub zero temp left my body perfectly comfortable...



I arrived at the cabin in a white out and realized that the logs there were 3 times the size of the stove! Luckily I found an axe and without taking off my boots to rest I proceeded to hack at the wood. I figured it was better to do it in the light and it was a good idea as it was quite a cold evening. I sat huddled by the stove reading about the history of the planet. One day several billion years ago the earth cooled just enough that the water vapor in the air condensed just a fraction more than it had been and it rained for the very first time!

I woke up in the morning and opened the door and what a surprise! I had no idea what was around me and it was the exact moment the sun was rising above the far mountains. (somehow the next day woke up and went out at exatly the same moment too)

I had decided to stay and enjoy the view one more night and during the day I noticed this handy tool! No more need for the axe!
Here is the inside of the first floor of the caban. I call it a caban but it was more like a private castle...In peak season there are probably 60 people there and there is a guardian who cooks for you.... Most swiss hikes only require you to carry water and snacks for the trail, the rest is taken care of at the cabins, from bedding to food...you can even buy wine and beer and chocolate! A group of 11 people thought there would be this cook and they came empty handed and ended up turning around after warming up a bit.

The sun and clear night skies were with me the rest of the trip. The following day I packed up and headed to the next cabin. The trail was beautiful with a couple areas where you need chains or ropes to climb up. There was also a family of goats on the way down just calmly walking up sheer walls.

Here is the upstairs of the second cabin where I also spent 2 nights. The first night there was a school group there and it was fun to talk and play with them... they were 9-13, I am not sure this type of excursion would fly in North America, it would be 'unsafe'. They were also on a 5 day trip carrying food and everything,and I was quite impressed.

Here is my favourite litle buddy... Reminded me of a certain young Jedi!
I had a full day at this cabin and there was a trail heading up to a lookout, almost 360 degrees.... I was a little sketchy but well worth it.
Back at the cabin...
Crow!
mmm mountains
Part of the trail heading down...The drop was almost straight for 1000 meters! but the trail is wide enough to not be scary...

After the hike it was back to Lausanne and then off to Germany. It was sad to leave as the Alps were great and my host equaled them in greatness! Thanks Andrea!!!

Lausanne Switzerland...

Another dream come true...I was ont the TGV!!! Tres Grand Vitesse.... Very big speed... While i had hyped it up alot, it actually didnt feel like i was going so fast... But thats another thing off my non existant list of things to do in life... Next stop Japanese bullet train...I hear they actually shoot you out of a gun!

Switzerland is the outdoorsman's paradise...or I should rephrase....It is the welathy outdoorsman's paradise... Everything in the country is very expensive, including the transportation...but atleast in this case you get what you pay for! The trains and buses which are all organized together can get you to the most remote mountain villages! All the buses in the mountains are also the postman, so it is easy to get anywhere! And you go up and up and up and up! People are living all over the mountains! They dont have alot of room on the ground so they go up for towns and villages, and not just recently some of these moutain towns are very old, with fortrsses and what not! Cows roam the mountains, each with a bell attached to its neck... A delightfully annoying symphony of noise!

I went to Lausanne in the french part of Switzerland to visit with Andrea, a friend of a friend from Montreal who I had met once before... We set off the next day to the mountains in the Zermat region....Beginnning from the town of Zinal we headed to a cabin called the Grand Mountet...
All the trails in the country are well marked by yellow signs! Very clear and well done!














We started by walking up the valley...all the hikes begin at the treeline as many areas have towns all the way up that high!














Here is the glacier we headed to, it was unbelievable and on the way down we had to cross it at asafe well marked area... still slippy though! And it is scary to look down a crevasse!
















Dinner in the cabin...mmm veggies! (Andrea)














Here is the cabin, solar panels and all!We were quite spoiled with electricity...There was also a family there a couple limbers and a 70 year old couple who demonstrated to me that life does not end early...














Heading down to the glacier was a bit of a challenge, as the slope was somewhat steep, but the trail crews think of everything and there are ropes and chains in most places that require them...















Here is another glaciery pic.... this ice is very old and the glaciers creep along carving out the valleys....














This is part of the trail we tooke ot get to the cabin, you can see the rockslides go right over the passage!















Here is a view looking out from Lausanne.... The other side of the lake is France... The whole city is on a mountianside making for good exercise evry time you walk the dog, or even take out the trash!

Last few days of France

Hello!

The last few days in France allowed me to see some things that i have always wanted to see...
First in Paris I went to the Pere Lachaise cemetary to visit Jim, who is not an unknown soldier as his name is on his tomb.But it was a little cloudy when i was there and i went ba bike so I was riding on the storm...and when i got to the cemetary gate I broke on through to the other side...although not like someone i know who actually did break in :)




















For my last weekend, my gracious hostess Lucie accompannied me to the town of Troyes which has a rich history dating back to mideival times...It has alwas been something i wanted to see and it was awesome!



















Old buildings and narrow steets...



















There were similar charachters looking out at you all over the place!














Troyes had some great churches and cathedrals, here is a walkway in one of the chirches that must have taken years to carve....We also met a man carving a statue, it is incredible the amount of effort that goes into it...he was doing one half a meter high that he said takes about a month, i cant begin to fathoim how hard this peice was to make!














At the museum of Troyes I met up with my favourite princess! Although she has looked better!















At the info center i figured to ask if there was any Jewish history in Troyes, more as a joke than anything and it turns out that there is... A dude called Rashi came from there....He is a very famous scholar from about 900 years ago... His commentaries on the chumash and talmud are daily reading... (for some people)
so here is his synagogue...




























I wanted to bring Lucie for Havdallah, the ceremony ot end the Sabbath, and it was also the beginning fo succot....unfortunately they had no candles or spices but we did eat some good fruit and nuts oin the succah after a very weird mincha ma'ariv ceremony...I dont think there was a rabbi around and the man leading the service kept looking to the congregatiuon for the page numbers...It was also sepphardic so i was a little lost, but it was fun none the less...The next morning I went to one and a half masses with Lucie...The one we plannned on goign to in the Cathedral...very someber singing and then we went to visist another chirch that was finishing up mass and it was more jovial, people more into it, whole other world for me.... I still hae yet to eat Jesus...
Here I am listening to an audio guide...we spent several hours walking around Troyes with these things on our ears, and it was lits of fun....




















mmm... Lunch















Thanks again Lucie... :)
Next Stop..Swiss Alps!

Paris 2.0 Now in technicolor

Bonjour!
So here is a bit of classical Paris...
Every church has a couple organs, this is one of the grander ones,

And here in Le Marais there was a lemonstand...

They were also selling palm leaves...

This is a Jewish sector where every restaurant boldly claims to have the worlds best falafel. The one I was told I must eat at, Las de Falafel deffinately did have the worlds best falafzl, atleast until i try the next one...

There is also a Jewish art and history museum that had some ancient torahs and prayer books so,e as old as 500 years with the same writing as the ones made today... Some cool Channukiahs and even a circumcision guillotine.... (not true)

As I was walking a stampede chased me away...

That was in the grande gallerie d evolution, having stuffed animals of all types, and fish and insects, and lots to learn...`

Back in the marais there are some mideival homes and alot of other super old things...

This is how I was getting around and inthe same day I was hit by a bus and pulled over by the cops for running a red light, bith ti,es I survived without a scratch... The bus had sideswiped me just a bit; and the cops didnt want to deal with me once I started talking in English... One cop just put his palm 2 centimeters from my face and then they drove off...

Chateau Versaille and the royal thrown;

The famous gardens... Not as super as i would have thought; its al very orderly, so while pretty not very high in energy or anything naturelike;

Here is breakfast at Lucies where I am staying..... There are croissants in the bag and a couple kinds of cheese too...

Thelast comment for the day is about fat french people! there almost arent any... everytime i see someone very overweight they are speaking English! Food for thought.

Om Shanti