Tim - Istanbul, Turkey to Lyon, France

Even after separation the Earthbound Astronauts are still going strong! As you’ve probably read, Casey was busy conquering Eastern Europe one sexless hitch at a time, whilst I’ve been cavorting my way through parts of Western Europe. We have surpassed the midpoint of our journey, but in true Earthbound Astronaut style, things continue to take off!

Sofia, Bulgaria – July 1^st

I started my solo journey by heading to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Sofia has to be one of my favourite cities thus far. There is an intersection that has an Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Jewish Synagogue and Islamic Mosque in unbelievably close proximity of each other! Sophia was really a city that I felt at home in, a complete patchwork of culture and history. An interesting story I heard that portrays this intriguing identity is: Bulgaria was allied with Nazi Germany during WWII, and not only did they continue to delay (until the end of the war) the deportation of Bulgarian Jews, but they had not committed any form of violent act, and attempted to remain neutral. Now, of course, the German Reich and Axis Powers were not very impressed by this situation, questioning their loyalty, and applied pressure to the Bulgarian government. Thinking they were safe in Eastern Europe, they naively threatened the US (who had just entered the war), in a not so humorous twist of fate, the US bombed Bulgaria. Not so long after this, Bulgaria joined the Allied Forces.

I promptly had to adjust to this newly gained independence, which was both welcomed, but not without slight hesitation. I quickly made a few friends in my hostel, joining them for a city tour before we finished the day off at a popular Irish pub. The following day, I headed to the airport to fly to London where I was looking forward to seeing my good friend Angie.

London, United Kingdom – July 2^nd – July 11^th

As I arrived into London airport, it was surreal to be surrounded by the English language again, something I’d become comfortably accustom without. However, whilst in England, I still seemed have issues understanding the majority of people. One example was when I walked past a counter, when I thought I heard a guy say “how is it?”. Thinking people were just friendly here and asked questions in a bizarre manner, I replied “Good thanks mate”. After a very awkward stare, I realised that he was asking a customer “Is that it?”. This type of situation seemed to arise on a regular basis for me. In a passionate protest to every British person I meet, “You right” is a question, not a greeting.

Getting to stay and spend time with Angie was great! She had to work everyday, which allowed me the opportunity to relax and relish in a break from my somewhat nomadic lifestyle. This rapidly mutated into an opportunity for me not to get out of bed until the early afternoon. This lasted for about fived days before I decided my lack of productivity was interfering with my opportunities to see London and determining my next move. Other then seeing a multitude of movies whilst there (my guilty pleasure back home), I had the pleasure of seeing another one of my good friends, Susie. As a trio, we spent the day seeing the Tower of London and various other sights, a day that I efficiently and ruthlessly choreographed to the horrific dismay of both girls.

I had decided to head to Paris on the 15^th, which allowed a few days to visit Portsmouth, a costal town South of London, to visit the historical dockyard. Stupidly, I booked my bus ticket from Portsmouth to Paris without checking if there would be any accommodation available in the area. I was able to get accommodation for the first night, but there seemed to be a complete scarcity for the second, so I thought I’d be creative.

Portsmouth, United Kingdom – July 12^th - July 14^th

Having visited Portsmouth and the Historical Dockyard before roughly 12 years earlier, I was excited to see what I remembered. The Historical Dockyard berths The Victory (Admiral Nelson’s flagship and place of death), The Warrior and the remains of the Mary Rose, a warship commissioned by King Henry XIII in the 16^th century. My fantastic memories of the Historical Dockyard were untainted, however Portsmouth itself, which was still home to amazing forts and structures, lost it’s magic as swarms of redneck English beachgoers reveled in the opportunity to bask on the traumatically pebbled beaches…

Having still enjoyed my time in Portsmouth, I had decided to spend a night in Salisbury, intending to visit the local attraction, Stonehenge, before returning to Portsmouth the following afternoon to board my bus. I walked from Salisbury station to my already booked hostel, only to find out that I had erroneously booked for the previous night and they were fully booked. Frantically searching for a room in even some of the more upmarket hotels, I was disturbingly told by a hotel employee that he’d heard there weren’t any available rooms within an 80 km radius of Salisbury. Contemplating my next move, I seriously considered sleeping in a park if I could locate one. As a last ditch effort I asked at a few pubs on the way to the train station, being denied numerous times before I finally found a room at The Cat Tavern. After enjoying a celebratory drink, this incredibly authentic English pub made me feel like I’d hit the stereotype jackpot of the old English pub dweller. Envisioning an episode of “The Vicar of Dibley”, I shared some very interesting and ‘insightful’ conversations with some very colourful characters.

Paris, France – July 15^th – July 21^st

Having enjoyed the change of pace in England, I made my way to Paris to meet Sofie, a friend that Casey and I had travelled through parts of Vietnam with. As Sofie had never been to Paris before, I acted as a sublimely mediocre tour guide. This involved visits to such illustrious sights as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Musée de Louvre and the impressive Château de Versailles. I romanticise and marvel at all these infamous Parisienne icons, but there is one unmentioned touristic titan that soars above the rest, Disneyland Paris. After convincing Sofie that we needed two days to truly appreciate the magic, which was no mean feat, we spent two euphoric days at Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios. After satisfying the child within (for the third time), we returned to the city in time to witness the final leg of the fabled Tour de France and feel the incredible atmosphere of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées overflowing with enthusiastic fans waiting to get but a glimpse of their favourite competitors.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – July 22^nd – July 28^th

Having just over a week before I had to start my French course in Lyon, I decided to go to Amsterdam and meet up with some friends Casey and I had met in Mongolia, Frans and Sien. They kindly set me up in their old student housing, which was an enormous 16-bedroom labyrinth in a beautiful part of Amsterdam. It was great to hangout with a few of the people that were living there including Niels, Pieter and Frans’ brother, Sam. I’d organised to meet up with my Mum in a few days, so avoiding the Amsterdam tourist attractions, I explored the canaled city by foot. I stumbled upon the most amazing library I’ve ever seen, allowing me to research a growing fascination with the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Sam graciously took me on a motorbike tour to the outskirts of Amsterdam to see a part of the countryside scarcely seen by visitors to the infamous city. The countryside was just as impressive as the city, an exquisite patchwork of colours, windmills and canals, it was easy to see why The Netherlands had such a remarkable reputation.

It was great to meet up with my Mum and visit the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum seeing the ornate masterpieces of distinguished artists Rembrandt and Van Gogh. We also enjoyed a canal cruise, exploring the canals that are synonymous with Amsterdam, playing such a vital role in Dutch success and expansion over the centuries. We did briefly visit the degenerately renowned red light district, somewhat of an odd experience to share with a parent…

Lyon, France – July 29^th – September 28^th

My Mum and I travelled down to Lyon a few days before my course was to begin to explore some of the sights. Visiting the iconic Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière that loomed over the city and jumping on the tourist bus gave me the perfect opportunity to become slightly accustom to the city I was going to inhabit for the two following months. Lyon was a very lively city with cafés, boulangeries and pâtisseries found all over town and an atmosphere that only a French city could provide. As I farewelled my mother and began the difficult trek up to my course organised accommodation on a hill overlooking Lyon, I was excited to see what the next two months would bring.

I was staying at a university residence that had been built within a historical fort. The accommodation was incredibly rudimentary; a room with a single bed, desk, small fridge, sink, share kitchen and bathroom. When I say share kitchen I mean a microwave, a sink and two electrical hot plates... And a share bathroom where you had to provide your own toilet paper… But, with all its faults, it was a good temporary home to revitalize myself after the months of continuous travel and copiously indulge my love for French food/cheese away from the judging eyes of society.

I began a two-month intensive French course at Alliance Française, which really hit the road running! On my first day, I was quite nervous and had absolutely no idea what to expect, especially as my French knowledge was lacking after neglecting my French studies since completing my undergraduate course. I walked into the classroom, took a seat and was horrified as the students started conversing in what I considered perfect French. Not expecting to understand everything on my first day, I at least hoped to be at a similar level to my peers! However, as the roll appeared, to my relief, my name was missing. I’d gone to the wrong class. As I arrived into my actual class and we started by introducing ourselves and saying our nationality, I knew I was in the right place and started to feel comfortable with the level. Over the two months the classes, of course became more challenging, but I really enjoyed the teachers and observing my progress, even though it was intermittent at times. Other then providing me with a partial routine for the time I was in Lyon, class acted as my primary social network. The people I met are what made Lyon so memorable. Whether I was hanging out with my fellow Australians, Jakeb and Katrina, practicing my French with Kai and Jing, frequenting the Boston Tavern or contemplating who destroys antique furniture with Thula, Itsasne, Ismael, Alexis, Caz and Lancel, struggling in class with Hagen or seeing movies with Manuel, I was always having a great time, all contributing to a life experience that I’ll continue to treasure. Lyon was truly a home away from home.

Towards the end of the two months I was excited to start travelling once more, knowing that a third of our adventure was still to come. Packing up the solitary room I’d become so accustom to, I enthusiastically farewelled my new friends and parted Lyon excited about the possibilities of the coming months. The Earthbound Astronauts are reunited, revitalized and ready to embark on the next part of our adventure.

Keep posted.

Casey - Barcelona, Spain to Geneva, Switzerland

CHAPTER 5 - LA FAMIGLIA

As I have mentioned previously, 7 years ago I went on a one-year high school exchange program to Italy. In that time I was immersed in the culture, having stayed with two Italian host families, attended Italian school and as such had learnt a little of the language. I was needless to say, eager to get back this year. I was at the same time hesitant as my Italian was hardly what it was and after 7 years a lot can change. This chapter is more or less about my time in Italy and my families…

Catching a boat from Barcelona, my first destination in Italy was Sardegna, where I intended on staying a little while, practicing some Italian and maybe finding some work. My plans quickly changed however when I received an email of invitation to work at a farm in Tuscany. So my stay in Sardegna was short-lived - the handful of days however provided me with some confidence that my Italian was conversationally ok, some time to recuperate and a decent amount of sunburn after lazing on beaches.

Having never before been to Rome, it was one of the major destinations for me this year. Logistically it worked out better that I went there before heading to Tuscany and therefore I jumped on another boat and had a terrible nights sleep before arriving. I was a little over cities at this point, and the couple of days there felt like a tourist rush – getting around as quickly as possible to see all the major sites. It was, however, phenomenal as a city, full of history and magnificent structures – but in retrospect it would have been better to be a bit better informed, and have had much more time.

Il Pollaio Del Re was the farm in Tuscany at which I was to have my second Work-Away experience. Nestled in amongst rolling hills, olive trees and vineyards, the place was majestic and more than I could ever ask for. Unfortunately due to some time constraints I was only able to spend a week here. But it was a memorable week of hard work, siestas, amazing food, fun and Italian. Run by the ever-charismatic Viviano and his adorable mother - Giovanna, the farm specializes in birds but also has a small collection of donkeys, ponies and goats to create a rather large amount of work. As such, they are always in need of volunteers and fortunately when I was there, there were another two – Ramiro and Brendan. The three of us assisted in the daily running of the farm, watering and feeding the animals and during my time also constructed a rather lovely stone retaining wall. This little project made me realize that in my 5 years of studying civil engineering I was left with very little practical knowledge… great. The week was definitely a highlight and I feel that one day I would love to return. It was also a great week of speaking mostly Italian, which gave me a lot of confidence in returning to my host families.

Ravenna, in the northeastern region of Italy, is where I spent my time on exchange. Returning there was a bit of a surreal experience. The town itself had not changed much, no major building developments or renovations – to me the city centre looked exactly the same. Instantly I felt at home again – knowing every street and corner. Obviously, both of my host families had changed a little, but I felt just as at home staying with them as I had before I left. In the time that had passed my host siblings had grown up, changed relationships, graduated etc. My host parents had also changed in the lapsed time, but I guess to a lesser extent. It was fantastic to see all of them, to share experiences, stories and reconnect with people that had been my family for such a long time. Ravenna will no doubt always hold a special place in my heart and I must thank them all for hosting me once again J

Next stop was to visit an Italian student who had stayed with my family in Canberra 3 years ago – Carlo. Although having only met a handful of times when I had returned to visit the folks in Canberra, and once when I had hosted him in Melbourne, we had built a pretty good host sibling rapport. I was only more than happy to visit him in his home in northern Italy – in Pella along Lago D’Orta. Hosted in this beautiful area and touring around with Carlo was a lot of fun, and again I wish that I could have stayed longer. Cheers to him and his family for taking such good care of me.

Ultimately, I had to leave Italy, where I felt comfortable with the culture and language, and hit to the road again – this time heading north to German speaking Switzerland. This was a bit sad for me as I do love Italy, but the excitement of traveling to unknown lands also has its appeals. Also appealing was the fact that my actual parents were in Switzerland, at a place called Sargans, staying with another hosted student - Christina. As such, I bee-lined there to meet up with them, having not seen them in over 8 months. I had a wonderful 4 days with them, being shown the beautiful Switzerland by our hosts and even nipping into Lichtenstein for an afternoon. I fell in love pretty quickly with the country and the way of life here and could’ve stayed longer if only it was not so expensive (even by Australian standards it is). After a couple of days I left – going ahead of my folks and Christina – to Geneva where I was to meet up with Tim for us all to go to CERN. I will let him continue the blog from there, but just to comment that it was great to see my parents for the short period that I did and enjoy Switzerland with them.

That brings an end to my final European solo chapter. From here I will let Tim continue the blogging whilst I continue with my photos. It has been fun, but given me an appreciation of the work required to blog all of our adventures; which stories to include and which to brush over. For the most part, I hope that I have given you an idea of my last couple of months, but as you can imagine there is so much that I have had to leave out. I hope that you have enjoyed following and are looking forward to the next adventures of the Earthbound Astronauts now that we are back together!

“Travel is the only thing that you buy that makes you richer” - Unknown

Casey - Prague, Czech Republic to Besalù, Spain

CHAPTER 3 – LEARNING

Prague was the final capital city of my Eastern/Central European adventure, and it didn’t disappoint. Teaming up with Claire Murphy, a friend from home, we explored the city for 4 days at a hectic pace. First it must be said that it was great to have a companion after what seemed like an eternity of being by myself. I relished the opportunity to chat about things back home, enjoy some drinks and speak non-stagnated English. It was definitely great to have her company.

In Prague, the magnificence of the structures, richness of history and vibrancy of nightlife soon made me realize that I had been travelling through Europe in the correct direction. No disrespect to the other capitals that I had visited earlier, but in my experience Prague definitely outdid them in almost every department. From the castle overlooking the city, to the history filled city centre, there was plenty going on, it was beautiful and it kept us occupied. We even managed a day trip to an incredible church decorated with the bones of those who had passed. Overall, Prague was a fantastic experience, but I was still looking forward to the next stage of my journey – The Summer Academy, upon which this chapter is based.

A couple of months prior, I had heard about the “Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience” in Karlsruhe, Germany through AFS (the organisation that I went on exchange to Italy with in 05/06 and continue to volunteer for). The course that I applied for revolved around intercultural competence - predominantly what it meant, what information was out there regarding it and how to transfer that knowledge onto others. In my opinion, a pretty good chance to solidify some of my experiences gained so far this year, and maybe put them into some sort of context. After being accepted, I had been actively looking forward to my time there as a chance to once again recharge some batteries, meet some fantastic people and maybe even learn something. My two weeks of the academy certainly ticked off the last two objectives, but recharging any batteries certainly did not happen!

Without going into the details of the course too specifically, my time was split up quite distinctly into two weeks. The first week was a quite academic look at intercultural competence, analysing models that I didn’t know existed and deconstructing everything. To be honest, I was a little out my depth for this part, having not studied anything that you can’t put a number or symbol to since year 10. Having said that though, I don’t think that I was the only one that was a bit lost, which was reassuring and I did definitely learn a lot. Week 2 was much more my style; actively engaging us with training methods, practical activities as well as giving handy feedback. I think that I also definitely gained knowledge from this and hope to bring the skills back with me when I return to AFS in Aus.

The course fortunately didn’t occupy all of our time during the couple of weeks and we had plenty of opportunity to explore Karlsruhe. This exploration included organised activities such as trips to beer gardens or was an opportunity for us to socialize amongst ourselves. On the weekend, a trip to the beautiful city of Heidelberg coincided with the 400^th wedding anniversary of some couple I didn’t really know anything about, but the fireworks at night provided a nice show. On the Sunday a group of us headed to the Black Forest in the south of Germany. It was a beautiful place made even better by the great company, but I doubt any of them really appreciated how amazed I was at how dense the forest was – it was quite the contrast to home and unlike anything I had really seen before.

This chapter would not be complete without a paragraph on what made it an unforgettable two weeks; and they are the people that made it special. The diversity of our group was undeniable; there was fantastic range in age, experience, occupation, beliefs and culture. We had students from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and myself from Aus – so most bases were covered. I would like to think that I developed a strong relationship with many of our group and regret not being able to spend more time with all of them. From my three great roommates with whom we could laugh about Julian’s morning antics, to the people in my track who made learning such a comfortable and enjoyable experience, it was phenomenal to get to know them all. It would be too much to name names here as the list would be too long, but thanks to those that put up with my capers during the Academy – it was a lot of fun, and hopefully I will see you at some point in the future!

CHAPTER 4 – FRIENDS

This chapter describes a large part of my time in Europe where I seem to have been moving between friends – hence the title. These people range from those have known me since I was a child to those that I have met in my travels this year. Each has been a special experience to me and I find it difficult to capture in a tiny piece of text my gratitude for their hospitality and kindness. However, as I am blogging, I will have to try and so I will describe each in a single paragraph. This may be quite a long chapter…

Yannick

Its funny how, with some friends, time and absence is of no importance; when you catch up you revert back to exactly who you were previously. That is definitely the case with Yannick, my best friend from my exchange year – 7 years ago. On the Monday of the second week of the Summer Academy I took the afternoon off classes (not my style at all) and Yannick visited me in Karlsruhe for an evening of drinking, catching up and reminiscing. Despite both being a little bit more grown up and with a few more experiences under our belt, I felt like nothing had changed and conversation quickly flowed between what we had done since exchange and the shenanigans that we had got up to whilst on it. I even managed to get out a little of Italian with him which was comforting to know that I remembered some things, but still had forgotten a lot. In all it was a great day that brought back a lot of great memories. So cheers Yannick, I hope that we don’t have to wait another 7 years to catch up again. Also, I owe you a few drinks!

Sinja, Sebastian and Ebba

Two friends from the Summer Academy that get a special mention are Sinja and Ebba, with whom I scored a ride with out of Karlsruhe. Sinja and Sebastian (her bf) acted as tour guides in their native Germany for a great afternoon exploring the wine region surrounding the Rhine River.  It was relaxing downtime after the two weeks of the course as we discussed what was learnt and also what was next for each of us. Ebba and myself were also introduced to a local delicacy in the form of Rüdesheimer Kaffee. Finally, in continuing with their hospitality, Sebastian and Sinja organised a car-share for me for the afternoon to get to my next friend. In all honesty I think they just didn’t want me to hitchhike…

Tom and Hanna

Now Tom and Hanna have been mentioned in earlier blogs, as they are the couple that we got on exceptionally well with whilst on our Tibet tour. After Tibet they had continued their own global travels and had only just returned from around 5 months abroad. Needless to say, most of our conversations revolved around the beauty of travel, what there is to see, the experiences to be had and what can be learned. I have found that such discussions harden my resolve to continue traveling – they fill me with desire to see new places and get in amongst it whilst I am there. I stayed with Tom for 3 days in which he was a fantastic tour guide. From grabbing beers together in Cologne and Bonn, visiting Hanna and the Mainz wine festival to exploring many smaller cities along the Rhine, it was a fantastic and relaxing time. I must thank both him and Hanna once again – I hope that I see you both on the road again somewhere.

Sandrine

After Germany (and a brief stint in gorgeous Luxembourg) I made my way to one of the cultural centres of the world – Paris. I will not go on about the beauty of the city, as everyone knows that it is phenomenal, but I will say that having only 2 days to explore is definitely not enough. If you do go in the future – give yourself at least a week. 

What I will say is that the lovely family that I stayed with made my time there all the more amazing. 19 years ago Sandrine stayed with my family in Australia on something of an exchange. During the time, I daresay she acted as a nanny to me and some of my first memories are from the time that we spent together. Now all grown up, she has a husband and family herself, with 3 kids between the ages of 6 and 10. I think that I had also done a bit of growing since we last met, having been 5 at the time. As such, it was really fun to see how things had developed for both of us over the years. As I am sure was inevitable, the photo album of her time in Aus came out as well at some point. We were able to see some ridiculous fashion, crazy haircuts and laugh at some of the experiences that she remembered a little more clearly that I. Thanks to her, Boris and the kids for a memorable time in Paris – I will be back.

Timmy

This man needs no introduction; he is in fact the other earthbound astronaut. I went and found him in his cell in Lyon, France. Actually, a cell is not far from the truth in describing the tiny room that Tim had. But for the price we was paying, I wouldn’t be complaining - but I’ll let him describe that. Anyway, Tim was nice enough to put me up for a couple of nights on his rock hard floor whilst I was on my way south through France. After almost two months apart, it was great to meet up, share tales of our independent travels as well as develop new plans for the rest of the year. We will be doing a podcast together when we meet up next, so apologies for the large gap in time…

Luisa

If there is ever a place to recharge your batteries it is Besalù, in northern Spain. I made my way here to visit Luisa, an AFS volunteer who had spent a year in Melbourne a couple of years back. Besalù is a tiny medieval village in Catalonia heartland and opened my eyes to the Catalonian independence issue that is very prominent in Spain at present. I was amazed that the local school, taught in Catalonian with English as a second language, only offered Spanish as an option – it was not even a compulsory subject! Apart from this, the entire town was draped in Catalonian flags and many featured the flag as t-shirts and jewelry – making a point for sure. My visit also coincided with a medieval festival held on the weekend. It was full of people in medieval getup, makeup and countless performances – really bringing the tiny town to life. I had a fantastic time here and thank Luisa very much for her hospitality.

That pretty much wraps up my Friends chapter. It was no doubt a fantastic way for me to travel through much of Western Europe, and I cannot thank my hosts enough for looking after me so much! You have all confirmed for me that it is the people that make the place J