Kotaksuara: Eurotrip 2007

Back in Madison again.
The trip was 8 weeks long, 4 countries, 13 cities, 10 flights, numerous train, subway and trem rides.
Lotsa dramas.

True2, dari trip ini gw bisa ngeliat banyak hal2 yang gw cuma bisa liat di tv ato internet sebelomnya. Banyak yang kesampean, ada juga yang ga kesampean. I always wish I had more time though. But nothing feels like home. Banyak capenya pengen cepet2 sampe ke Madison. Setiap kota baru musti have the same energy like previous ones, padahal kita kan ada capenya.

My favorite is Rome, followed by Venice, Madrid and München. Will definitely be back in Rome one time. Missed out Musei Vaticani, really feel bad about this. Tapi kesampean juga ke Fontana di Trevi. Been wishing to be able to toss a coin and make a wish there. Been inside the Colosseum and St. Peter Basilica. Didn't see the Porta di Sancta though :(

Venice was very artsy. Love it, love it, love it. Basilica de San Marco is definitely a must see and must experience.

Aside from what I saw, masi ada hal2 laen yang mgkn lebih penting dipikirin.

Baru pertama kali ini gw tidur di tenda camping...

Gw ketemu temen2 lama gw. Dari SMP dan SMU.

Kris, orang yang heboh tapi cepet tanggap sama keadaan. Kena drama tapi tegar2 aje melihat kameranya yang terjambret. She was great though, tegar dalam menghadapi satu per satu drama dan kerepotan (apalagi sambil pindahan ruma nih orang). Very helpful. Gw dah lama banget ga ngeliat eloe, Kris, tapi gw bener2 seneng gw ketemu loe kemaren. The trip was awesomely fun. Madrid with the San Gines Chocolatier, yang tau2nya masuk majalah! Hahaha... Terus flight2 yang descending dan landingnya nakutin banget. Kesabaran loe untuk mendengarkan kita nipisin si Mozes yang suka be-erl. Hahaha... Parah. Foto2 gila yang ternyata hasilnya ok2. Terus juga malem terakhir kita di Florence, gosip lucu ttg observasi2 silly kita sampe2 tenda camping kita diketokin orang gara2 kekencengan ngobrolnya. Huahahaha... Gila deh, you know what we experienced in Europe together and it was impossible to be expressed in words. Anyway, gw seneng ngeliat eloe, dah tumbuh dewasa dan tetep terampil.

Jane. Temen baek gw yang ketemunya ga 4 taon sekali. Akhirnya gw ketemu juga sama loe. Hmmm cuma seminggu sama eloe jelas2 kurang. Tapi gw seneng banget ngeliat eloe yang surviving Berlin pretty well, happy juga loe dah ada cowo yang selalu ada di situ buat eloe, happy juga ngeliat eloe yang dah makin dewasa. I know life is ten thousands tougher in Germany than in US. You're doin a great job. Seneng ngeliat eloe bisa berbahasa Jerman lancar... Jadi inget dulu masa2 waktu eloe masi di Goethe. Nice chats, nice flashback ke masa2 SMU dan saling mengupdate kabar2 temen2 kita. I wish we had more time together. Anyway, gw percayakan eloe kepada si Zefry. Semoga eloe bisa make up your mind antara chemie dan chemietechnik, dan ga ngerasa sala masuk. Good luck sama praktikum2 loe. Thank you banget dah ngebawa gw ngeliat hal2 yang gw cuma wish doank bisa liat sebelomnya : Brandenburger Tor, Berlin Mauer, Reichstag, Berlin Bear, pretty München, GedächnisKirche, Unter den Linden. My Germany experience, though gw dah cape banget waktu itu, was wonderful, and it also because of you. Sorry kalo sekali2 gw suka ketiduran di bus dan pesawat karena gw kecapean (lagi tenga2 ngomong tiba2 gw blackout sendiri... Hahaha...)

Radit, temen SMP - SMU gw yang gw inget pernah nulis testi di FS kaya gini ke gw pas awal2 gw masuk kuliah di US "Penghianat nich, katanya pergi ke Jerman Jerman, tau2nya eloe cabut ke Amrik!" Hahaha... Lucu banget. Yeaah gw juga mayan seneng ngeliat eloe surviving Hano pretty well. The fact eloe dah financially independent bener2 bikin ngiri. Yeah good luck with electrical engineering. Thanx a lot for the Cosmo. Thanx a lot for the awesome massage (dah pindah aje ke Amrik, kita bakal bayar loe deh buat dipijit, enak banget gitu!) when I was so very tired dan dah "ga ngeh". Sorry banget eloe jauh2 dateng dari Hano gw tinggal tidur abis minum Cosmo, maklum pak gw cape banget siangnya baru dari München dan Bonn. Laen kali I'll be wide awake deh.

But the most unique experience was the 2 hours long meeting with my very beloved past. Specially took 2 flights and 2 train rides within a day just to afford a 2 hours-only meeting with him. He was a part of me and now he's a dear friend. Maybe I'd do almost anything for the meeting while I'm in Europe. Was silent but was thinking hard. I learned millions of things from this 2 hours period of time, things I haven't learned or felt. I can't write any words close tpicturing this experience well, though.

Eurotrip 2007 was a very tiring but fun journey. Funny new friends and thousands of pictures. Tried to be a traveller instead of tourist (We found the quote "Tourists see, travellers experience"), tried my best to experience the cities. Got on the local subway and trems to commute instead of the air-conditioned luxurious tourist bus. Stayed on camping platz and hostel instead of hotel in some cities. The ancient Franziskaner Beer in München; Tiramisu, Gelato, Pasta, Pizza and white wine in Italy; Bockwurst and Schweinehaxn (in "Haxnbauer", claimed to have the best Schweinehaxn in the city of München, and yes, it tasted damn good) in Germany; Poffertjes (not sure how to spell it) in the Netherlands; Sidra, Paella, and Tapas (and other greasy foods) in Spain (always wondering how come they don't get heart attack before 30 in Spain due to all the greasy foods).

Learned surprisingly a lot. Learned about people. Listened to and tried to understand the unspoken words. Observed things that are almost illogical in place where I usually live in. Learned a bit of histories of cities that had too much happenings already in the past. Short trip, big impact. Perspective refinery. Lotsa long thoughts.

Well, pictures are partially uploaded. They're available at www.picasaweb.google.com/siduahuruf.
I thank all people involved in the Eurotrip 2007. You all contributed something.

Venice, Italy

Silhouette, the girls and that terrace in Venice

Basilica San Marco

Rome, Italy

inside the colosseum

The Fontana di Trevi

Piazza de Venezia at nite

Inside the Vatican city

Piazza de Venezia

totally fagged

Vatican city from the main dome of St. Peter Basilica

Piazza de Novona

Vatican City

Colosseum

St. Peter Basilica

Pisa / Florence, Italy

The leaning tower

Florence from above at nite

Tiramisu, my all time favorite dessert

Milan, Italy

Duomo, in front of Vittorio Emmanuele Gallery

Cathedral in Milan

Enjoying our first gelato in Italy

Madrid, Spain

That Palace in Madrid

Sol

Again, the palace

In front of that art museum

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, home of Real Madrid CF

Championship League

Spanish League 2006/7 winner

His shoes

München / Neuschwanstein Schloss, Germany

Asamkirche

Hohenschwangau castle with the Alpsee Lake

Neuschwanstein Castle taken from Marienbrücke

Franziskaner beer. Prost!

While hiking to the Neuschwanstein Schloss

Neuschwanstein Schloss

Reminded of UW's Ratskeller in Memorial Union

altes Rathaus, in Marienplatz

Frauenkirche

Marienplatz

Berlin, Germany

A piece of the wall

Brandenburger Tor, viewed from the Pariser Platz, East Berlin, west end of Unter den Linden

The other side of Brandenburger Tor, viewed from the Platz des 18. März, West Berlin

Reichstag

Berlin crew

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

West side of Berlin Mauer

East side of Berlin Mauer. Less colors and paintings than on the west side's wall because the east side didn't allow people to come close to the wall to avoid people escaping to the other side of the wall by climbing (wire borders, etc)