Quick trip to Europe

A couple of months ago I found a cheap ticket from Delhi to London, and decided to take a little detour from my Asia trip to visit some folks back in Europe. This turned out to be a bit of culture shock for me, for sure, and definitely a little more expensive than what I was accustomed to. Going into a coffee shop and paying more for a coffee as you'd pay for dinner over there takes a bit of getting used to.



I started in London on May 22nd, staying with my friends Mark and Lee. Another couple of friends, Gay and Troy (and their cute kids Havana and Hudson), happened to be coming over to London to visit. I surprised them by showing up at their hotel one day (I thought Gay was going to pass out from the shock). The five of us had a fun week of just hanging out, walking around town, and having some good meals together. Besides that I spent a lot of time getting a new camera. On my Tibet trip almost everyone else had a digital SLR and I could see the difference between the pictures they were getting and the ones I was with my lowly pocket Lumix (which is a great camera). So after much research and shopping I ended up with a Nikon D90. I'm not on a huge materialist kick right now (carrying my possessions on my back most of the time) but I am in gadget love with it.



After London, I flew to the Czech Republic to visit my friend David, who I had met on my Annapurna trek in Nepal. I spent a few days staying with his wonderful family in Humpolec, which is a small village about an hour outside of Prague. We went around and saw some of the local castles and villages. I was also able to go to a bachelor party out in the woods for a friend of his and experience some real Czech camping cuisine (it's a blur of sausages and beer at this point).



I was surprised at how expensive trains are in Europe and how cheap it is to fly. Most of my jumps between places were by EasyJet for about $70, but I did find a reasonable train ticket from Prague to Berlin, my next destination. Really loved Berlin - it's a relatively inexpensive place for people to live right now, so there is a vibrant arts scene going on and lots of young people from across Europe. I wandered around looking at galleries, stopping at cafes, and going out quite a bit. Mark's friend Allesandro took my out one night to a hipster East Berlin gay bar that was huge amount of fun. The picture above is of the new Holocaust Memorial near the Brandenburger Tor.



Next up was Amsterdam, where my friend Jordi and my meditation teacher Mark both live. I stayed for a night with Jordi at her brother's girlfriend, Gwendolyne's apartment, right on the Amstel River.



Then Jordi set me up with the coolest place to stay so far on my trip: a shipping container that her brother Ivar was renting but not staying in. Amsterdam has a major housing shortage right now, so these containers are used as temporary housing for students. They stack a bunch of the containers up on top of each other and add some basic scafolding to get around on them. The insides are like little IKEA showrooms, with full kitchens and bathrooms. My neighbors were the Hells Angels, who evidently have been heavily involved in some shady dealings in Amsterdam's red light district.



Amsterdam is one of the easiest cities to get around I've ever been in. As long as you don't try to drive - there are very few parking places anywhere in the city and it costs like 5 Euros an hour to park. It's the ideal place to ride a bike though - completely flat and compact. You can basically get across the city on a bike in less than 1/2 hour. I rented a bike and felt an incredible sense of freedom.



I was able to spend a lot of time with both Jordi and Mark. Jordi and I cooked a big Indian dinner for about 14 people (that took about 2 days) and Mark had a special meditation and teaching session on night when I was in town.



The last weekend I was there, Jordi and her friends took me down to Paris for an impromptu road trip. Lots of quality wandering around and I was able to charge up on steak tartare and roast duck before returning to my vegetarian ways in India.

My last couple of days were spent chilling out at my friends Shannon and Richard's house in Egham, back in England. I also met up in London with my friend Pete from the Tibet trip. Refilled on ear plugs, moisturizers and shampoo, I was ready for Asia again. Thanks to everyone for the hospitality in Europe!