Dave the Nomad

The history of Gibraltar for those practicing standardized tests:

Shiny Toy : Three-year-olds :: _____________ : European Countries

A: Raccoons
B: Gibraltar
C: The Euro

This rock ascending out of the surrounding ocean and plains is currently a UK enclave. Coming here after leaving Morocco was quite a load of culture shock. My senses were flooded with English signs, well manicured areas, and imbibed Englishmen. The superfluous acts of life surrounding me have never been more clear. I left a small village of people happy to barter their hours of work with you for less than a cup of coffee only to arrive on a patch of land lined with shops filled with indulgences and exorbitant prices.

This is quite the unique piece of land.  It has been fought over for thousands of years, and has lots of great sights to see. The first novelty, which everyone experiences is walking or driving across an active runway. In order to save on what little space they have (5 km x 1 km), the British have the runway perpendicular to the flow of traffic into Gibraltar. The other thing Gibraltar is known for is the only group of wild primates living in Europe. These monkeys stick to the nature reserve engulfing the physical rock, but watch out: they are in charge here. The Barbary Macaques are excellent at picture posing, food and purse snatching, and jumping onto car windshields and mirrors. I have to say it is much more interesting looking at historical landmarks with monkeys running wild around you. I watched one macaque effortlessly thrust his hand into a lady’s bag and remove a pack of gum.

On top of this great protrusion, you can easily see Morocco and the massive amount of aquatic traffic about to head west now that the hurricane season is about to end. The strategic nature of this rock needs no explanation, but it was in siege tunnels here that Dwight Eienhower and other Allied leaders planned the invasion of North Africa. This is really the first natural landmark I’ve visited that has had such recent success in its violent past. It’s fascinating to think this rock successfully protected men in a war that was ended with the premiere of the atomic bomb. I only spent a day here, and that fact alone may have added to the circus-in-town feel of the enclave, but it is worthwhile to visit. Tomorrow I will hopefully be in Grenada, home of the Alahambra.

I had a couple must-see places in Paris, and within hours of arriving I was checking them off. I arrived late Friday afternoon and knew the Louvre was free after 6 pm on Fridays for anyone under 26. I convinced a couple of people at my hostel to join me with ease and we were off to start the culture indulgence. I found the Mona Lisa to be underwhelming, it seemed to exude an aura of the spoiled little brat compared to the grandiose and intricate pieces housed with it. I was told that if you look at every painting in the Louvre for 3 seconds, it would take three months to do. With this thought in mind, I decided to what I wanted to see, without running around like a chicken with its head cut off and a camera in its place. I found their Picasso exhibit to be quite exceptional, but unlike other museums and galleries, the Louvre itself is magnificent and holds it own impressive friezes and gilding to add to the collection found here.

After a day of being jilted on a river cruise that pointed out monuments and museums which you could hardly see over the high river banks and a poor English translation, I took a sun nap at Pont Neuf at the point of Ile de Cite. This is a small island in the Seine where Paris was first started. The island is home to the famous Notre Dame, Conciergie, and the amazing Ste Chapelle. I decided to hold off on visiting these sites until the next day, and headed towards my hostel in Montemarte before heading up the hill to Sacre Couer to watch the sunset. Upon returning to the hostel, I found out there was a wine festival at the top of the hill, and bands have been processing up all day long. Naturally, we headed up to check out the excitement.

Most of the booths had free tastings, and I certainly learned a lot about wine. It is definitely good that I have to carry everything on my back, otherwise I might have bought some of the better fare. The crowd was bustling and cheery with live music and fireworks at midnight. One of the vendors told us it was the 75th year of this festival, and it takes place for 10 days (today being the last). Usually, the steps of the Sacred Heart church are filled with people enjoying a bottle of wine, cheese, and bread watching bustling Paris below. It is the geographically highest point in Paris, and free, and tonight I felt like a sardine packed onto the hill.

The next day, I decided to enjoy a bit of a splurge and had brunch at Les Deux Magots. This restaurant is famous for its historical client el including Picasso and Hemingway. I was told the hot chocolate was superb…and I couldn’t agree more. The terrace view of Parisians and tourists out for a Sunday stroll was relaxing even with some noses being stuck a little too high in the air.

I wandered over to the Ste Chappelle. If you only visit one place in Paris, go here. The Chapel was built inside the then Royal Palace and was home to the Christian Relics bought by the King at great cost until being moved to Notre Dame. Like many churches, the stain glass windows were a way of presenting the Bible to the illiterate, but these windows are eloquent, massive, and if a picture is worth a 1000 words, maybe longer than the bible itself. You walk into the chapel via a small winding staircase and come out right into the small chapel. As you start to process what exactly is here and its awe you quickly understand why they have chairs lining the room. Sitting and processing this magnificent place was well worth the admission.

Feeling awe inspired I decided to head into Notre Dame, I happened to be there in time for the Sunday evensong service. This began with a half hour of organ music that filled the high ceilings with powerful notes, and light melodies that were washed away at times by the murmur of the crowds walking around. The service following it was high Catholic, and I gave up on trying to take it in as the people walking around seemed to forget it was a place of worship and continued with their tours and random conversations, and headed outside for the approaching sunset.

By this time the hostel crowd had been growing as we met each other, talk about where we are going, where we’ve been and such and ended up forming a good size group. Each evening involved eating, drinking, and chatting on the terrace, going out for a pastis, etc. After a bit of talking we decided it would be nice to watch the sunset from the Eifel Tower and then watch the light show that ensued each hours after. It was nice to do things with a group, if you are in the romantic cliché that is Paris without a partner then best to go with a fun group and not wallow in misery. The views were outstanding, and friends refreshingly fun.

My last day in Paris was actually in Versailles. I headed out to the Palace with some Aussies from the hostel. The palace was extraordinary, but the more impressive work was the modern art littered around the Palace by Jeff Koons. Each piece paired the room it was in, and they were tasteful with excellent craftsmanship. We wandered the gardens, and I had to laugh every once and a while thinking of Mel Brooks’ – ‘A history of the world,’ and the ‘Its good to be the king’ segment. I managed to talk the group into renting row boats and talking a nice paddle around the canal. It was a great end to Paris, and now its time to head to the Basque region and Bayonne, famous for its smoked ham.

Thanks to all the people I met in Paris, there are too many of you to name!

Munich, unlike other cities, has taken a very different approach to remembering the darker side of its past as a city of the Third Reich. There are monuments dotted around in remembrance of the Jewish community, but they are subtle, untranslated, and sometimes cryptic in meaning. They are a bit hard to find, but if you look for them you can find them. As for the city; take a free tour. I was so impressed with the free 3 hour tour, that I decided to take the city-provided Dachau tour the next day.

Dachau was the first concentration camp to be opened by the Nazis, and the only one to remain open the entire 12 years. My introduction to this camp involved walking through the same gate that every person incarcerated there passed through. On it were the infamous words: “Work will make you free;” the first of many lies made by the regime. This is not a place by which one rushes and snaps a picture; the atmosphere is a heavy blanket of remembrance and humility I have never experienced before. As I walked along the gravel path, with only the sounds of feet scuffling on gravel and a slight breeze rustling the poplar trees lining the path, I found myself struggling to fathom what had happened here.

Ignorance was upheld at all costs to make sure inmates never knew what was happening. From entering through the gate to when they took a walk along the stream (often said to be gray from the ashes) and through the woods to the “shower house”. Area residents were shot on sight if found anywhere near the camp, and as such never knew what was happening. Many inmates silently waited, hoping just to live the next ten minutes. As I looked through the museum, barracks, and crematorium I find myself realizing although I am here, although I have seen where, and walked on the same piece of earth, I will never know what they lived through. I do know it is my duty as a member of humanity to know that this happened; to resist the ignorance like that imposed by the Nazis on citizens even just miles away.

Seeing Dachau, I find it disheartening and sad to realize as much as we look backward at memorials to days of liberation over a horrid regime and nostalgic quotes by Winston Churchhill which say, “We must never forget.” we struggle to find a small amount of time to look forward to what is happening around us and remember what it is we are being asked not to forget. Everyday life can sometimes be so compulsive and engulfing we neglect our obligation as citizens, and more basely humans; to challenge questionable acts by few, and to use the speech we are allowed.

There is a place in Munich between two lions in which Hitler especially loved to give his rousing speeches to the crowds below. One with mouth open, one with mouth closed, and if Hitler had known their significance he would have had them torn down. The lion pointing towards the government offices has his mouth open, and the one with it closed towards the church. They were put there as a symbol to the Bavarians that you should never speak out against your God, and always be able to speak out against your government. Only blocks away from the lions was the start of a movement started by several University students who found out what was happening at Dachau and printed flyers and left them in public places for people to read and understand. These students were eventually caught and executed, but their fight was not lost. One flyer made it to England, and it was reproduced over and over and dropped all over Germany. This group called themselves the white rose.

“We are the white rose, we are your guilty conscience, we will not be silenced.”

Well, until the last couple of days, this was one of the only German phrases I know. “Please call an ambulance.” Thank you Damon for that one, and I do apologize the rest of you aren’t included in the inside joke. I took a bus from Amsterdam to Cologne, and stayed the night at a nearby campsite. There is one thing that stands above all else in Cologne, the largest cathedral in Germany. Sorry, Amiens, but these high gothic towers win. The cathedral was one of the only buildings left standing during the carpet bombing campaign of the allies in WWII for one major reason, they used it as a guiding beacon since radar was still a new technology. Ironic way for a church to be a guiding light, but this really is a masterpiece of architecture. The blackened stones from weather give this gothic building even more or an ubiquitous presence, and Cologne doesn’t hide it as your eyes are flooded with its presence right out of the train station. Besides this, Cologne and the surrounding area are known for several things, Kolsch style beer, white wines, and the Rhine Valley.

If you get the chance, take the extra couple of days and take a river cruise down the Rhine to Mainz. Its about twice as much as a train, and well worth the money as long as the weather holds. I however, was blessed with liquid sunshine (thats rain for those of you who don’t camp), and took the train. I was hoping the weather would hold out for the second (and better half) of the Rhine Valley from Koblenz – Mainz. It is more scenic and has a lot more castles. After checking out the city and resigning to getting back on the train I stopped in Bacharach for the night. What was the appeal to stopping in this small town? Well, I stayed in a castle.

This section of the Rhine is dotted with vineyards, and nearly every peak has a castle or the ruins of one with a small quaint town by the river straight from a model train landscape. The castle in Bacharach has been transformed into a youth hostel. Besides having amazing views, it also had the best breakfast I’ve had on this trip yet! Really cool to walk around the castle, and pretend your king of the world….err at least until the nearest castle. There is one downside to the whole experience, the children. The place was swarming with school children, and I have to say right now. Thank you to all my teachers along the way. Your patience and commitment are unmatchable. Thankfully, they keep some rooms away from the 5th graders so you can sleep in peace.

I finished my ride down the Rhine into Mainz and took a train to Nurnburg to visit a friend that I met in Fort William after hiking the highlands. Camilla was a great host, and showed me around the city after a night on the town. It was the first time I really saw the sun since being in Germany, and it was a welcome change. The old city is almost entirely pedestrian traffic only with shops and cafes dotting the street. Most of the old wall and moat (now a grass park with walkway) are in tact. On the hillside inside the north wall lies the Imperial Castle. The castle was impressively large, and had a great view of the city. Well, its time for the main event, next stop, Oktoberfest!