Dan's European Adventure

July 1, 2003

Greetings from Paris!

As most of you know, Ive embarked on a journey to
Europe. If you dont want me to E-mail you any more
updates then send me an E-Mail.

Excuse typos, this is a crazy French keyboard that Im
typing on and everything is rearranged.

My Sunday night flight to Paris was an absolute
disaster. First it was three hours late. Then when we
landed at our stopover in Quebec city we had to wait
on the plane for two hours before we were shipped to
hotels because of a wing problem. The next morning
they put us on the same plane, which had the problem
again, so they flew us into Montreal. Finally from
Montreal we made it to Paris? about 22 hours off
schedule. Ive got about 4 hours of sleep in the last
70. Although it was a terrible flight, I met some
great people united in misfortune.

Today I got to my Hostel and started touring Paris.
Everything is so expensive, that Ill be glad to go
somewhere cheaper. Its also been very rainy and cold.
Somehow though, although Im tired, hungry, cold and
wet; I,m having the best time of my life. Today I did
a blitz through the sites of Paris. I visited the
Auguste Roden museum, Napoleans tomb, and climbed the
Arc de Triomph. Tonight I will see the Eifel tower,
get some dinner and go to my Hostel and sleep.
Tomorrow I,ll mostly be at the Louvre.

I hope you all enjoy your not-in-Paris lives

July 4, 2003 -- Hello from Bordeaux

I spent my second day in Paris visiting the Notre Dame
and the L'ouvre. On the third day I visited
Versailles, and then took a train to Bordeaux.
Versailles was so beautiful and enormous. I was so
amazed.

I haven't really been travelling with people, but I
seem to already be meeting people in different places.
Most of the other young tourists that I've met are
just sticking to one or two countries. I plan on
visiting most of the countries in Western Europe.

Bordeaux has a lively nightlife, and the hostel is
really nice. Today I will be going on a tour of the
vineyards. Hopefully I'll make a 7:00 train to Inuz on
the Spanish border, and then I'll go in to Madrid.
Otherwise I'll be in Bordeaux for another night.

Dan

July 7, 2003 -- Dan in Distress

Hey guys,

Yesterday in Pamplona my Wallet was stolen. Today I
will be going on a bus to Bilbao. I´ve almost run
through my emerg 20, and I´m quite stressed. ´have
those 25 dollars in travellers cheques that should get
me a hostel in Bilbao tonight.

some sort of Western Union money transfer to Bilbao
would be great to bail me out. I´ll see if I can call
you from Bilbao.

I´ve also tried to figure out the Canada trust
website, but I don´t know what I can do about having
my card replaced.

I board a plane for Israel on the 11th, so I´m not in
a completely terrible situation, but it´s still
stressful.

Sorry to worry you,

July 8. 2003 -- The Full Story

Hi everyone,

Wow, what a crazy adventure I´ve had!

First, where I left off. In Bordeaux, I went on a tour
of the vineyards. They were really amazing and the
wine was delicious. Plus, there was an albino peacock
at one of the vineyards I visited.

>From Bordeaux, I hopped on a train to the
French-Spanish border. The Spanish trains force you to
reserve seats, which I didn´t know at the time.
Luckily, the train to Madrid still had seats, but they
made me pay the reservation fee anyway (I should be
getting free train rides since I have a railpass).
Madrid was beautiful. I visited a museum annd walked
around taking pictures of the sights.

From Madrid, I hopped on a train to Pamplona to see
the running of the bulls. During this time of the
year, the San Fermine festival is occuring in
Pamplona, which is basically a nonstop party including
the running of the bulls in the morning. The hotels
are all full there, so most people, myself included
just sleep in the parks. What I didn´t anticipate was
that it would be freezing cold at night. Anyway,
here´s where my mishap began.

Just after purchasing some clothes (everyone there
wears red and white) I put my wallet in my front
pocket. I was walking with a Calgarian girl and a
British fellow that I´d met through a crowded street.
We finally get out of the crowd, and I felt like
something was not right. I reached for my wallet, and
alas, it was gone. Luckily, my passport and train
andplane tickets were kept in my hidden money belt. My
wallet had my drivers licence, student cards,
insurance cards, 20 euros, and most importantly, my
debit card, my only source of cash. All I had was an
emergencty 20 euros, and $25 in travellers cheques. So
I spent the night in Pamplona, watched the running of
the bulls through I hole in the crowd (there are
1000´s of people there) and the next day spent most of
my remaining Euros on a bus to Bilbao and Internet
time to E-Mail my parents. I realized that I´d have to
get out of Pamplona if I wanted to get out of the
mess. It was just too crazy there.

In Bilbao, the hostel would not take my travellers
cheques, so I had to search for somewhere that would
change them. Unfortunately, all of the banks in Bilbao
close at 200, and it was already 500, so I was stuck
with 1 euro, nowhere to stay, and 25 useless bucks in
travellers cheques. In despair, I used my last Euro to
call home. Fortunately, my parents had gotten my
E-Mail, and had wired me money through Western Union.
When I picked up the money, I was laughing out loud
because I was so happy. I was on the brink of living
like a bum.

So today I visited the Guggenheim, my favourite
building in the world. The art collection inside was
pretty small, but I was looking at the building more
than the art.

Tonight I leave for Lisbon, where I´ll be for a night.
Then on Wednesday night I will be going back to Madrid
where I´m catching a plane to Israel. I´ll be there
for 8 days.

Thanks for the E-Mails in response, although Im sure
you understand that I don´t really have the
opportunity to respond to you individually.

Adios amigos!

July 8, 2003

Just for those who were confused by my letter, I´ll be
travelling to Israel the morning of FRIDAY the 11th
not Thursday. I´m spending Wednesday night in Lisbon.
You start to lose track of the day of week after a
while.

July 12, 2003 -- Israel

Hi everyone,

I'm e-mailing from my second cousin Menke's house in
Tel Aviv.

After Bilbao I spent a day travelling through hilly
Lisbon portugal. It's really a beautiful city. From
there I went back to Madrid where I went on a day trip
to a huge monestary/pallace called El Escorial about
an hour out of the city. It was so huge and oppulent.
On the bus back to Madrid I fell asleep and was woken
up by the driver in an empty bus. As you can see I
havn't really been sleeping much.

My flight from Madrid was at 6:00 in the morning, so I
had to stay the night in an uncomfortable airport
chair. The flight to Israel was quite smooth.

Yesterday, when I got off of the flight, I met up with
my sister Noga, her son Mai, and her boyfriend Romi.
We stayed in a suburb of Tel Aviv with Romi's cousins.
This morning, we visited my Grandfather/
Step-grandfather Yehuda on a kibbutz (small self
sufficient socialist town). From there we went to a
big lunch at Menke's house, where I met many cousins
who I haven't seen in many years (some never). My main
reason for coming to Israel is for my first cousin
Yael's bat-mitzvah ceremony.

I'll be going back to Europe on the 19th, after which
I'll be in Europe until the end of August.

July 20, 2003 -- Madrid

Hi everyone,

Now I´m back from Israel. It was nice to sleep in a
comfortable bed, and eat like a king for a while.

After the first family dinner, I stayed in the kibbutz
(small socialist town) that I was born in. There I
stayed with some old family friends. It was a very
relaxing time compared to the hectic life in Europe. I
went on a hike through the Israeli countryside with my
cousins which was really nice. The bat-mitzvah party
itself was very nice. I ate like a king, and there was
an open bar for me to take advantage of.

>From the kibbutz, I went to the North of the country
with my sister Noga, who lives in that area. My time
there I spent hanging out with my sister, my nephew
Mai, and her boyfriend Romi. The boy is really cute,
but he´s really a handfull. I took a day trip to my
friend Jonathan´s (Yoni) house in the city of Haifa.
He and I were unseperable between the ages of about 1
and 12, before he moved to Israel. It was great to see
him again. The funny thing is that he´s visiting
Toronto, and going back to Israel just before I get
back to Toronto.

Anyway, now I´m back in Europe. Tonight I board a
train to Lisbon again. From Lisbon, I´ll be going to
the south of Portugal. For the next little while I´ll
be in the south of Portugal and Spain.

I hope that you´re all enjoying yourselves as much as
I am,

Dan

July 24, 2003 -- The Thrilla in Sevilla

Hi Everyone,

I'm now in Seville Spain, enduring the excrutiating
heat.

From Madrid, I went to Lagos, Portugal. Lagos is a
town in the south with beautiful beaches and a large
nightlife. The town was almost filled with English
speakers, from England, Australia, and North America.
English was pretty much the language spoken in the
town. They call it the Black Hole, because many young
people go there and never want to leave. Luckily I
made it out alive, although I have some battle scars.
After a few hours on the beach I got back to my
Pension and low and behold; sunburns. I had used
sunscreen, but every spot that I missed was red as an
apple. I feel very patriotic with my red and white
body. I've loaded up on Aloe Vera and Tylenol to deal
with the burns. Besides that I had a great time in
Lagos.

I arrived in Seville last night. It is a beautiful
city. This morning I went into it's huge cathedral,
and visited this large Palace that's right in the
centre of city. Tomorrow I leave for Gibraltar, which
should be an interesting experience. I'm hoping I have
a chance to see the wild monkeys that inhabit the
city.

Anyway, I hope that you're all enjoying yourselves.
Adios,
Dan

July 28, 2003 -- Barcelona

Hi everyone,

>From Sevilla, I went to Gibraltar in the southern tip
of Spain, an hour boat ride from Morrocco. It is a
British colony, and it´s like stepping into some
bizarre twilight zone. The English travellers that I
met said that it was like England 50 years ago. The
highlight of Gibraltar was this park on a mountain
where wild Macaques (small Apes) run around freely.
They were really funny, and a couple of them jumped on
my back and started playing with my clothes. Monkeys
are my favourite animals, so this was a fantastic
experience for me.

>From Gibraltar I boarded a long train to Barcelona.
Over the last couple days in Barcelona I´ve seen so
much. There are some beautiful parks and buildings by
the world famous architect Gaudi that were
unbelievable. They are composed of all of these cool
shapes, and it´s as though the buildings emulate
nature. I visited a giant cathedral that he started
during the beginning of the 20th century and is still
being completed. I also visited this castle on top of
a mountain that overlooks Barcelona, which was really
beautiful. From there I walked to the Olympic stadium
and a bunch of sights on the mountain. Last night a
group of people that I met at my hostel and I went out
to a bar where a couple experts were Flamenco dancing.
It was really entertaining. From there we all went to
the beach and talked. In the end we all got back to
the hostel at 5:00, so I´m running on very little
sleep.

Tonight I´m taking a train to Nice, France where I´ll
be spending a couple of days. From there it´s off to
Italy and Greece.

Dan

July 31, 2003 -- Piza

Hi everyone,

Just laying back in Piza, Italy.

After Barcelona I got into Nice, France. It was a
quiet city, but it was really pretty. It houses the
French national contemporary art museum, which had
lots of really weird stuff, like an egg on a table.
The beach in Nice was filled with rocks instead of
sand, so it was rather uncomfortable, although the
water was beautiful and bright blue.

From Nice, I took a day trip to Monaco with two guys
that I met in Nice. Monaco was really amazing. It was
one of the wealthiest places I've ever been. There
were so many Rolls Royce's and Ferraris, and
everything was really expensive. The entire city is
really clean and beautiful, and the yachts in the
harbour are bigger than houses. There was alos this
exotic garden which had thousands of different types
of cactii.

Now that I'm in Italy I'm quite happy because the food
is so good. In Spain and France good food is really
expensive, whereas here all food is good food.

Today I walked around the area with the leaning tower
and the duomo Cathedral. It was pouring rain, the
first rain I've seen since Paris. The tower was a lot
smaller than I had expected, although the fact that it
is leaning is just as humerous.

Today I'm trying to get my act together and sort out
some loose ends. It's been really annoying paying
adult prices because my student card was in the stolen
wallet, so I'm trying to get a new one. I also bought
some socks, and am going to do some laundry.

Tomorrow I'm going on a hike through Cinqo Terra, a
beautiful trail that goes through 5 cities, and then
I'm going to Rome in the evening.

Ciao,

Dan

August 3, 2003 -- Rome

Hi everyone,

Here I am in glorious Rome. After Pisa I went to
Cinque Terra for a 4 and a half hour hike. It took me
three and a half and I was so exhausted. The sights
were worth it though. The scenery was some of the most
beautiful that I've ever seen. Rolling hills with
grape vines, a beautiful sea, and gorgeous little
towns.

After Cinque Terra I got into Rome. There is so much
to see here. I've seen so many ruins and ancient
buildings. It's been really amazing. Yesterday I went
to the ancient Roman Forum, the Colliseum, the
Pantheon and many other sights. The Pantheon is
probably the most amazing because it's a Roman
structure that's still used and standing strong.

Today I visited some ancient Roman baths. I also
visited this museum which had many sculptures. I'll
just take some time to relax tonight.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Vatican, and then down to
Naples.

Ciao,

Dan

August 9, 2003 -- It's all Greek to me

Hey everyone,

I'm in Athens now, and all of signs make me feel like
I'm in physics class again.

I spent my second day in Rome seeing some more smaller
sites, and I visited a museum with ancient Roman
statues.

On my third day in Rome I visited the Vatican. The
Saint Peter's Basillica was so enormous and beautiful
that I don't think I'll be impressed by another
cathedral ever again. I climbed to the top of the
cathedral where there is a giant dome. The view of the
cathedral was so amazing. There were some more stairs
that lead to the op of the dome on the outside, where
I could see all of Rome. In the Basillica there was a
museum with jewels and expensive objects owned by the
Vatican.

>From the Basillica I went to the Vatican Museum, which
houses the Sistine Chappel. The chappel was really
amazing. The art was unbelievable. The rest of the
Museum had more beautiful Rennaisance art, aswell as
some ancient Roman sculptures.

>From Rome I went to Naples, which was supposed to be a
dangerous city, although it didn't compare to Pamplona
(where I had my wallet stolen) in the feeling of
insecurity that I got.

The city was fairly drab, and the real reason I was
staying there was to see Pompei. Pompei was one of the
most amazing places that I've seen on my trip. It is a
whole ancient Roman city, which once numbered 20,000
that is almost completely preserved because it was
engulfed by the ashes from an erupting volcano. There
were still paintings on the walls with visible
colours, and gorgeous mosaics everywhere. There were
many statues, a colliseum, and some buildings still
had roofs. What was really amazing were these plaster
molds that had been made of the spaces in the ash that
had once been occupied by people. I could see the
facial expressions, and the poses of the people as
they were engulfed by the ash.

>From Pompei I travelled to Brindisi for a boat to
Patras in Greece. It was an 18 hour boat ride, and I
slept on the deck. It was almost like a cruise ship,
with a casino, an arcade, restaurants and even a
cinema. The people that I met were really great, and
we had a really fun time.

>From Patras I went straight to Athens, where I have
been for the last couple days. The ancient ruins here
are really impressive, when you consider that they are
2500 years old. Yesterday I visited the acropolis
area, which includes the giant parthenon. I also went
to the temple of Olympian Zeus, the theatre of
Dionisos, and the Roman Agora. Most of these buildings
were fairly run down, with only a few columns still
standing. The site that impressed me the most was the
ancient Agora. One of its buildings looks like a
smaller version of the Parthenon, but it is in perfect
condition. It still contains all of its columns, and
it had a roof.

I also went to this big marketplace just below the
acropolis which had tonnes of little shops. I bought a
pair of fake Oakley sunglasses for 10 euro, because
I'd lost the pair that I'd brought. They are a really
good fake, and I was happy to contribute to the black
market.

Today I walked through the Greek National gardens, and
then to the Olympic stadium from the first olympics.
After that I walked up this huge mountain with
sweeping views of Athens.

My favourite thing about Greece is the food. It is
really cheap and delicious. If I've lost any weight on
my trip, I'm sure I've gained it back in Greece.

In a couple hours I'll be getting on a train to
Olympia, where the original Olympics were held. From
there I'll be heading back to Italy, stopping on the
Greek Island of Corfu for a couple nights on the way.
Corfu will be a little vacation from my vacation, just
to give me an opportunity to relax.

By the way, I return to Canada on August 30, arriving
in the evening.

Cheers,

Dan

August 15, 2003 -- The Two Week Blitz Begins

Hi everyone,

My vacation in Corfu is now over, and my travels are
beginning again.

>From Athens, I went to visit Olympia. It was quite an
amazing archeological site, considering that it is
over 2500 years old. There is the ancient olympic
stadium, as well as a plethora of temples. Most
notable is the temple of Zeus, which once housed the
statue of Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the world.
Although the statue was gone, the ruins of the
building were still there, and I could just imagine
what the place would have looked like originally.

>From Olympia I hopped on a boat to Corfu. I had been
slightly scammed by a travel agent which had sold me a
return ticket from Brindisi, the main port in Italy to
Patras, the main port in Greece. He had told me that I
could get off at Corfu on my return ticket. It turned
out that I would have had to wait a week to get the
weekly boat that stopped in Corfu. However, I managed
to get to Corfu by getting on the regular boat back to
Brindisi and then getting off at a port town called
Igominitsa which was a 5 euro boat ride to Corfu where
the boat was picking more people up.

Alright, maybe that didn't make any sense, but I did
get to Corfu. At Corfu I stayed at this huge youth
hostel/resort called the Pink Palace. It's the biggest
youth hostel in the world, housing over 1000 people
although there were only about 450 there because of
war/recession. Still it felt quite packed, and it a
nice vacation from my travels.

The price included a shared room, which I shared with
a guy named Stuart from a part of New Zealand where
only they can understand what the hell they are
saying. He was really a good guy though when I could
understand him. There was also free breakfast and
dinner, a pool with jaccuzzis, and a nice, clear
beach. There was a nice dance club with really cheap
drinks.

The only problem was that there were a lot of Italians
on vacation at the hostel, and they were quite a bit
disrespectful of everyone else. They were very good at
scaring every girl out of the dance club at an early
hour by aggressively hitting on them all until they
left. They were also big on splashing everyone else at
the pool. Most of the Italians I've met in Italy are
very nice, although these guys were definitely pricks.

Despite the Italians, I had a great time. I slept in
until 1:00 and did a lot of relaxing in the pool or at
the beech. On my last (third) day there I went on a
car safari where you get a tour around the island.
Corfu is the most green of the Greek Isles, and it was
really quite beautiful. Plus there is a lot of history
surrounding the island. On the tour we went into a
church where the body of St. Spiridon, Corfu's patron
saint was on display. This event only occurs once a
year, and I got to kiss his feet for good luck.
Luckily he was wearing thick jewel embroidered socks
so it was just like kissing jewellery, although it was
still quite weird, considering that the body was about
1800 years old.

>From Corfu, I hopped on a boat back to Brindisi, and
then a train to Firenze (Florence). I stayed here last
night, and I am leaving tonight. So far today I have
seen many of the sights, but I've only been in to the
Palazzo Pitti, a sixteenth century palace with some
beautiful artwork that I would say rivals Versailles
for its elegance and detail on the inside.

Tonight I head to Venice where I will stay for a night
or two. From here on in it's a blitz through several
countries and cities.

Bye,

Dan

August 18, 2003 -- Ich bin ein Wiener

Hi everyone,

Here I am in beautiful Vienna.

I've been hearing about this blackout in Toronto from
everyone, and it's on the news here. I hope that noone
has hurt themselves bumping into walls.

Here there is still power, although it's fairly hot.

In Florence, after the palace, I visited the Uffizi
art gallery. The gallery housed some impressive
rennaisance work, which is expected, considering that
Florence was the birthplace of the Rennaisance. The
artwork was really amazing.

>From Florence I hopped on a train to Venice. On the
train I met this woman from Vienna who works for the
UN anti-terrorism unit. She used to travel when she
was younger and said that she'd always wished that
someone would give her a place to stay. More on this
in a bit.

In Venice I got to spend the night outside the train
station. There was a fun mix of travellers, poor
immigrants, and the mentally handicapped. Venice was
one of the most beautiful cities that I've ever seen.
The lack of cars and scooters sets it aside from all
of the other cities in Italy. The walkways and canals
are just out of this world. The famous main square was
quite a sight, although it was filled with thousands
of tourists. Venice's 1000 year old cathedral was
quite a sight, with golden mosaics and paintings
throughout. There was also the beautiful government
building/ palace of the Venetian mini-empire. Although
there was not much original furnishing, the sheer size
of the rooms made me imagine how amazing the place
would have been in its hayday.

>From Venice I went to Interlaken in Switzerland. At
the trainstation in Interlaken, I got out and began
asking people where my hostel was. I kept getting very
convoluted directions, and eventually ended up at the
tourist office which had a map. I found the name of
the street on the map, and walked accross town to it.
Unfortunately, there were two streets by that name in
Interlaken, and the right one was at the other side of
town. And did I mention that it was pooring rain?
Fortunately I made it to the hostel, although the 15
minute walk took me 1 hour and 15 minutes.

>From Interlaken I took a train into the alps
(Interlaken is about twenty minutes from the
mountains). From there I went on a five and a half
hour hike through the mountains. There was some of the
most beautiful scenery that I'd ever seen in my life.
I felt like screeming Riccola (Commercial from about 6
years ago). I visited this cave with huge waterfalls
called Trummelbach falls. The falls were literally
roaring, and it was quite a spectacle. The walk was
really intense, going 1500 feet up the mountain, and
then down (which was actually scarier).

>From Interlaken I took a night train to Vienna, where
I arrived today. Johanna, the woman who works at the
UN told me to give her a call when I got into town.
She was very happy that I called and invited me to
sleep at an apartment she has in downtown Vienna. My
room was occupied by a Greek diplomat for the last two
weeks, so it seems as though she takes in lots of
travellers. I know that it sounds a little bit
strange, but it seems as though she is a legitamitely
nice person. And at this point I'm willing to take
that chance for a free bed and a home cooked meal.

Anyway, that's what's up. I'm off to explore Vienna,

Dan

August 22, 2003 -- Deutschland

Just before the start of World War Two, my teenage
grandfather Eli (my mother´s father) and his sister
Rose left the city of Leipzig in Eastern Germany. They
eventually escaped to Israel. In Leipzig their four
brothers and sisters, as well as their parents were
killed in the hollocaust.

Now, some 65 years later I sit in an Internet Cafe in
Leipzig, sipping on a coffee and checking my E-Mail.

But first, back to my story.

Luckily I survived Vienna. The Austrian woman was an
excellent cook, and it was really nice to sleep in a
real bed. In Vienna, I visited two palaces. One was
the Hofburg in the city, which was utterly immense.
Most of the palaces are beginning to look the same,
although they are still equally impressive. The more
impressive part of this palace was its treasure, which
must have been worth billions of dollars. The treasure
included the Austrian crown jewels from the huge
Hapsburg dynasty. The second palace was the Schloss
Schonbrun, in a suburb of the city. This palace is
kind of like the Austrian Versailles; a grand "hunting
lodge" just outside of the city. The interesting thing
that I found about the Austrian palaces is the fact
that Napolean had rooms in them, as well as King Louis
XVI because they both had Austrian wives.

Also in Vienna, I visited a beautiful Cathedral (also
all starting to look the same) and strolled along its
streets, which is an enetertaining adventure in
itself.

>From Austria, I headed to Munich (Munchen in German),
the capital of the Southern German province, and
former country of Bavaria (Bayern). Munich was really
a fun place. I had to visit a beergarden, where they
sell beer in litre pitchers. The beer was really
expensive though, considering that the place is in the
middle of a garden (low rent), so I had to limit my
alcohol consumption (which was probably a good thing).
In Munich I visited another palace called Residenz,
right in the city centre. Residenz was the biggest
palace as far as accessible areas that I have visited.
However, there was very little furniture and
accessories in the rooms, so there was not as much to
see.

More impressive in Munich was the famous old city
hall, which has a glockenspiel on it. The glockenspiel
is these little characters that at 1200 do a little
dance. It is very walt disney, although when you
realize that there is no electricy involved, and that
it is so old, it is much more impressive. I also
visited the Deutsches Museum, which is like a giant
museum of useless information. It exhibits all sorts
of science and engineering displays, and is really
interactive. But useless.

The most impactful thing that I did in Munich was
visit Dachau, one of the first Nazi concentration
camps. Although there were no mass gassings at Dachau,
it was still really powerful for me to see what the
concentration camps were like. Dachau is where the
first political dissidents were taken in the early
1930s. The audioguide tour gave a really vivid image
of what life was like in the camp, and it was really
chilling. Although there weren´t mass gassings here,
thousands of people died from starvation, disease, and
medical experiments. There was still a crematorium,
where bodies were burned. Many people were executed
right in front of the furnaces, so that they wouldn´t
have to transport the bodies as far. This was an
important experience for me, although it was really
depressing too.

>From Munich I came to Leipzig. My guidebook sent me to
the other side of town looking for a non-existent
hostel, and by the time I got to another hostel, it
was full. So, I got to spend another night at the
train station. The strange thing is that it doesn´t
feel weird anymore.

'Today I will see Leipzig, and see if I can trace some
family history. I´ve been given an address that I will
try and find for my family´s old apartment.

>From here it´s off to Berlin, then Copenhagen, then
Amsterdam, and then back to Paris for my flight home.

Ciao,

Dan

August 25, 2003 -- The Saga Continues

Hi everyone,

I'm back in Leipzig, again.

My search on Friday was halted by the fact that the
city archives were closed. I walked around Leipzig,
and visited the main sights. This is the city where
Napolean was defeated in a huge battle. There is a
giant monument to the victory called
Volkerschlachtdenkmal. Johann Sebastian Bach was
burried here in a really old church. Besides that it
has a pretty town square.

On my train from Leipzig to Berlin I was harrassed by
the worst train conductor ever. After almost two
months travelling my railpass has become tattered.
This conductor thought that I was cheating with it. He
was also convinced that I secretly spoke German, and
so he kept trying to talk to me in German. He was
stairing at me, waiting for my German to come out. He
wanted to take me to the police because he thought I
was cheating, but luckily I found someone who spoke a
little bit of English to explain my situation.

Berlin was a really cool city. There is so much
history in it. The first day that I was there I went
on a long walk through the city. I walked to a big
square called Alexanderplatz, then to a big Royal
Church called the Berliner Dome. From there I walked
to a monument to fallen soldiers. Then I walked to
Brandenburg gate, and to the Reichstag, the seat of
the German government. The Reichstag was recently
redesigned, and had a really cool modern interior.
>From there I walked to Potsdamer Platz, a big modern
square that was neither East or West Berlin. Next was
a hollocaust memorial/ outdoor museum called
topography of Terror. This was built on the spot where
the SS headquarters used to be. It was a really
informative and chilling display. From there it was
off to Checkpoint Charlie, the famous border crossing
between East and West.

My second day in Berlin was spent doing very Jewish
things. I went to the huge Judisches (Jewish) museum
designed by architect Daniel Libeskind (Designer of
the new ROM in Toronto). This was a really interesting
museum, which covered the whole history of German
Jewry. From there I went to the spot where the first
bookburnings occured. Finally, I visited the New
Synagogue, the huge synagogue in Berlin, that has
recently been rebuilt.

After Berlin I came back to Leipzig. I couldn't allow
myself to be defeated by bizarre operating hours. This
morning I went to the archives. For 15 Euros, I got
access to the microfilms of every addressbook that
Leipzig ever had. I didn't find my Grandfathers name
because he was too young when he left. But I did find
many people with my last name, all of whom are I'm
sure related. I managed to trace back the family name
Margulies all the way back to 1859. I went to the
street where my 1859 relative, Serfon Margulies lived,
and found a modern building. But what was interesting
was a plaque that showed that Richard Wagner had lived
on that exact spot around the same time as Serfon. So
I'm guessing that he would have known Wagner. I also
found the address of my great grandfathers printshop,
and the address that he used to live at. The house was
torn down, although there was still one next to it in
good shape. The shop was on a part of the street which
I think had its name changed, so I couldn't find it.
Other than that, I visited a whole bunch of places
with the Margulies name, probably great aunts and
uncles' houses.

So that's what's up.

I'm already feeling ready to go home, and I'm starting
to prepare mentally.

Now it's off to Copenhagn for a day, then Amsterdam
for a few, and off to Paris for my flight home.

Adeus,

Dan

August 31, 2003 -- Home Sweet Home

Hi everyone,

Here I am, sitting at my computer, in my house. It
feels so weird.

Anyway, to finish off my story,

>From Leipzig I went to Copenhagen, spending the night
in Hamburg. Copenhagen is a really beautiful city.
There is lots of colour, and the architecture is
gorgeous. There are a few palaces, although I decided
not to go in to any, just look at them from the
outside. I also went to the Calsberg Brewery. It's not
just a big factory, but more of a beer compound. There
are houses, tennis courts, stables (with horses), and
much more. The tour was really interesting, and I
learned a lot about beer. Plus I got two free drinks.

>From Copenhagen, I went to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam I
stayed with Danny, a friend of my dad's from Israel.
It was nice to have someone who could guide me through
the city. In Amsterdam, I spent a lot of time
stumbling.. err.. walking around, looking at the
pleathora of sights. The red light district was
absolutely hillarious. The prostitutes are just there
in the window in their underware.

The strange thing about Amsterdam is that there are
bikes everywhere. Danny gave me a bike to ride around
on for my time there. Everyone there has really crappy
bikes because they always get stolen, but they have
really expensive and intricate lock systems. I'm not
sure if there was ever a point when I felt that my
life was not in danger while riding the bike through
town.

I visited the Van Gogh museum, which was really
interesting (Full of Van Gogh art). The Anne Frank
house was also very moving. One of the
only-in-Amsterdam things that I got to do was visit
the marijuana and hemp museum, as well as a real
marijuana grow room (with only the legal 5 plant
limit- but the plants were enormous). The culture
there is so different, and the whole place smells like
pot. The thing that surprised me was all of the hard
drug dealers on the streets trying to hustle anyone
that walked by.

>From there I took a night train to Paris for my flight
home. It was a nice flight, and I hadn't seen either
movie that they played.

So, now I'm back home. This trip was the greatest
experience of my life. I see the world from a whole
new perspective now. On the one hand, I'm really
excited to return to the luxuries of a regular life.
On the other hand, I'm tantalized by the fact that I
have only caught a glimpse of what there is to see in
the world.

Thanks for reading,

Hope to see you soon,

Dan