Ken Curtis' blog Travel «

Mon 09/08/10 01:20

London is great. I spent yesterday just wandering around and I don’t feel that I saw nearly as much as I need to. I went to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus and Soho, the London Eye, and a few other lesser-known things. I started out at about 8 in the morning and didn’t get back to the hostel until 8 at night. Not all that time was spent walking, I stopped for about 40 minutes to listen to a park concert, and of course I stopped to eat a couple of times. I kind of wish that I had taken my gps with me so I knew how far I walked. When I got back to the hostel I felt that I needed to see some of the same sights that I saw earlier in the day, at night, so I headed back out at about 9 to get some night shots of the London Bridge, London Eye, and Big Ben.

I think I took a record number of photographs too, 192. That’s more than I think I’ve taken at any other place that I’ve been. It makes sense too because it really is hard to relate how much there is to see here.

Sun 08/08/10 13:50

and a little bit of London too

I left Brussels at 615 this morning. The bus ride was okay, nothing special except for maybe the ride through the channel tunnel. It was kind of strange, after going through the customs procedures leaving France and entering England, the bus made this kind of long winding drive to an overpass with about 5 or 6 cars that were already stopped. In a few minutes the cars ahead of us began to drive onto a train, the bus followed. After getting onto a flatbed car, it drove a few hundred yards into the train and the bus driver opened the doors and turned off the motor. For the next 40 minutes we sat in the bus that was packed in a train car as we made our way towards England. I don’t know if I should be surprised at that or not, but I kind of thought that the Channel Tunnel was drivable, just like all other tunnels I can think of.

Okay, now it’s time for me to whine a little, or maybe vent is the best word. I made it to the bus station in one piece at about 1100 in the morning. All good. I know that I need to get to London Bridge Station, so my first goal is to get a map, preferably of London, but I’ll take one of the underground, or any other map I can get. Most places that I go to you look for the information center and they help you out, but not here. They wanted to sell me one, and I didn’t have any Pounds, just Euros, so that didn’t work. I decided to go outside to get a feel for where I was, and saw a sign that said “Tourist Info” so I followed that until I got there and got a map and a basic idea of what I needed to do next—take a train to London Bridge Station. So I go to buy a ticket and the line is, no lie, about 100 yards long. It takes me about 30 minutes to finally buy the ticket that I need. I do catch the train and exit at London Bridge, and look for my directions to the hostel and I can’t find them. I had them before I got on the train, but they weren’t there when I got off. I do remember that I need to go to Charlton Train Station so after asking a few people, I find the train going to where I needed to go. I get there, remember I’m going on memory I don’t know the hotel name or address, I talk to a worker at the station. This was about the time that I had lost almost all composure that I had had, I had been walking around with two backpacks on trying to get to the hostel for about two hours. Like I said I was at the “end of my rope” and started to talk and I couldn’t really form any words, I had to apologize to the lady behind the counter, she handled it well though. She told me, “that’s okay, just take a minute.” After explaining the situation she tells me that there is a hotel just at the end of the road. She was so nice and as I approached the reception I was still silently thanking her. I told the guy behind the counter that I “may” have a reservation with his hostel, so he looks me up on the computer and says, “Yeah, you do. For Monday.” (today is Saturday). So there I was two backpacks, no room or bed, not a clue of what to do, and that’s when he made my day. He calls another hostel and finds me a bed for the next two days. He gives me another map and writes the points that I need to go. By this time I was about mush. I really couldn’t form any intelligent thought so I took his direction and headed back the way I came to London Station. By then it had started to rain, but I asked a few people and founded the street that I needed and headed out. I won’t bore anyone with the details, but let me say that the hostel is about 10 minutes from the station and it took me about an hour to actually arrive. It seems that at every turn I made the wrong decision and would have to backtrack to correct my mistakes.

Rain storm, London 2010 Ken Curtis, London 2010

To summarize I made it to London at 11 in the morning and to my hostel at 5 pm. No worries though, I’m here sitting in a pub drinking a pint of Stella, and recounting something that will definitely make me smile a week from now.

Ken Curtis, London Sun over the Thames, London 2010

I ended up leaving the hostel about 530 to see if there was anything close by to take some pictures, and managed to get a few of the London Tower and other tourist attractions. Except for forgetting my rain jacket and umbrella and having to seek shelter from rain showers it was a pretty productive touristy trip.

Sun 08/08/10 13:45

Still pretty good though

Okay some of the sparkle wore off after the initial shock of this city. I think Brussels is more similar to Rome than to Paris, in that it’s big, dirty, and very interesting. I was only scheduled to be in Brussels for two nights so I didn’t get a huge amount of time to explore completely, but I did see quite a bit of the old part of the town. There is one part, the old city center that is just stunning. I don’t know of any other word that fits, maybe awesome, because when I turned the corner with all the other tourists, I pretty much walked into the past. There were huge ornate old buildings surrounding a very large cobblestone courtyard.

City Center, Brussels Ken Curtis 2010 Brussels, 2010

Sun 08/08/10 13:19

I left Amsterdam for Brussels at 1050 this morning and there was still one thing that I didn’t find out about while I was there… now bear with me, I consider myself somewhat intelligent so this is kind of embarrassing, what country is Amsterdam in? Not to worry, I know the answer so there isn’t any reason for anyone to show their geography skills by telling me, because I did figure it out but only after getting to Brussels and looking it up on the web. Do you know?

Ken Curtis Brussels Belgium

Brussels, kenneth curtis 2010 Brussels, Belgium Kenneth Curtis summer 2010

So the train ride to Brussels was the best. I had a whole area of the train to myself, what I mean is that the seat beside me, and the two seats across from me were empty. I’ve said it before, and I honestly believe that having extra room when you travel is one of life’s little pleasures. The scenery was spectacular on the way too. Everywhere you look there are pastures with grazing cattle and sheep, and canals higher than the level of the pastures held back by earthen dikes, and tug boats and barges making their way along the canals. The weather was even cooperating with mostly sun and no rain, that was until we were about 2 minutes from pulling into the train station. No lie. Almost the moment the train stopped the rain started, and it rained for the next 3 hours.

Partly because of the rain, and partly because of the street layout it took me about two hours to find my hostel. It was only about a mile away but I think I walked about four trying to navigate to the hostel. Not to worry, I did find it and it’s comfortable and free wi-fi, so everything has worked out.

Brussels, Belgium. To be honest I don’t know what I was expecting except that the language here is French… pretty sad, but that was about I knew about it before arriving. When the train was entering the outer city I looked out the window and saw women displaying themselves in windows. That in and of itself threw me, I thought only Amsterdam allowed that. With a slight sense of what I’d seen, when the train pulled into the station and I made my way out in the city, I was shocked. The city is absolutely beautiful. While I was walking around I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that Brussels is very similar to Paris, at least in some ways. There is a sense of comfort that both cities have. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone, but what I mean is that it seems that people are more about living than they are about impressing others.

Wed 04/08/10 14:05

It really is a great city

So I’m in Amsterdam today. I got in yesterday morning about 5am and pretty much have spent the last two days just wandering around the city. There’s a lot to say, I mean, I’ve heard all these stories all my life about Amsterdam. I think the things that come to mind when the word “Amsterdam” brings up images of drugs and “red light.” I may be a little bit weird, but I think that’s Amsterdam’s reputation.

First of all I have to say that Amsterdam is probably the best city I’ve been in in a couple of years. I’m not really sure why, maybe it’s the sense of freedom which is so refreshing, or maybe it’s the architecture with its narrow buildings packed in so close to each other, there’s also the canals, which seem to give the city a little bit of a sparkle over other cities. All those listed items give the city a unique, if not great, feel. There’s also the bit about Amsterdam’s reputation too. The first that stands out is the red-light district. Now I don’t really get surprised very often, and when I do I usually enjoy the experience. The first day I was here, I was just walking around exploring the city and I looked across the canal and saw a woman dressed in a bathing suit on display in a storefront. Now, I don’t know if the term storefront is correct, it’s more like just a window, but since I’ve been here, I’ve been caught of guard several times by these women in the windows. A few times I’d just be walking around and go down an alley and the next thing that I see is a body in a window, and when she sees me, she starts tapping on the glass. It’s kind of embarrassing to be caught off guard like that. In almost every situation I thought it was a mannequin until it moved (and usually tapped on the glass to get my attention.) I don’t know how best to express it, but the word that comes to mind is that it’s “refreshing” to be someplace that doesn’t have the hang-ups about sex like the U.S. or Dubai.

Amsterdam, Ken Curtis 2010 heavy rain storm, Amsterdam 2010

buildings in Amsterdam, 2010 Amsterdam Canal, 2010

There are headshops all over the place here, and once in a while as you’re walking around you can smell the recognizable smell of weed. Even after being here for two days when I smell it, it kind of startles me that people are smoking it in public. I don’t know if you can buy it here, but it’s definitely refreshing to be somewhere that allows the individual to choose for themselves what they want to do.

Ken Curtis Amsterdam, 2010 Another thing that I feel I have to say about Amsterdam is the bikes. I have never been to a place that people ride bikes as much as they do here. Trust me when I say they take their bicycles seriously, more than the Chinese or Vietnamese. There are three lanes to every street here, one for cars, one for bikes, and one for pedestrians.

This morning it was pretty gloomy out. When I woke up at about 8 it was overcast and cool. My bed in the hostel overlooks the main street in the old part of town, so the first thing that I saw was people all bundled up when I looked out the window. By the time that I got cleaned up and ready to leave, the rain had started. It started with just a drizzle, but then turned to rain, and not long after it was pretty much storming. It rained so hard that even though I had a rain jacket and umbrella I needed to find shelter under a bridge to keep dry. It was the first time since I left the states three years ago that I’d seen rain like that. For the most part though I weathered the weather well enough and didn’t head back to the hostel until about 4. By then I was drenched, tired, and needed a break. It wasn’t long, maybe an hour or so, before I went back out.

Amsterdam at night, red light district Ken Curtis, Amsterdam at night,

My basic thoughts on Amsterdam are good. Like I mentioned it’s one of the best cities that I’ve been to for various reasons, but it does have a downside though besides the weather, and that is it’s expensive. Way too expensive to want to stay any longer than a couple of nights.

Mon 02/08/10 07:19

So knowing that I’d be leaving Dresden this afternoon, I decided to take a leisurely walk through the old part of the city. I have to say that today turned out to be one of the better days here. I’m not really sure why, and I’m not actually saying that it was fun, but for some reason since I was taking it relatively easy things just seemed a little bit more relaxed. I stopped for a brockwurst and beer on my way back to the hostel, and decided to have another brockwurst and beer, and when I finished that, I went back for another beer… So maybe that’s why Germans like their beer so much, it goes well with brockwurst, and makes everyday life just a little bit better. I can honestly say that after three beers, Dresden seems okay. :)

I’ve still got two hours before my bus leaves and I’m trying hard not to show up to the bus stop too early– like I always seem to do. For that reason I’m doing this right now, trying to think of things to write about to keep me at the hostel until about an hour before the bus leaves. I am starting to run out of things to write about though…

For anyone wondering why I didn’t post any images in the last post (or this post) it’s because the internet connection doesn’t seem to allow it. I tried this morning with the earlier post and then tried again just few minutes ago, and the browser just spins saying it’s waiting… so hopefully I’ll be able to add the pictures when I get to Amsterdam. Speaking of Amsterdam, I’m getting excited that in less than a day I’ll be there. I’ve got this image of bridges, narrow streets, and a totally different perspective than what I’m used to. I can’t wait until I get to see it for myself.

My name is Ken

Category Archives: Travel

My Second Day in London

The Trip to London

Maybe Not as great as I First Thought

Day One in Brussels

My Two Nights in Amsterdam

The Last Day in Dresden