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+---
+title: >-
+    Mr. Worldwide, Pt. 1: Europe
+description: >-
+    Or: How I stopped worrying and learned to love tomatoes.
+---
+
+## TODO
+
+## Outline
+
+- Denver
+    - What I had
+    - Why I left
+- Loadout
+- Road Trip
+    - Ibrahim notebook
+    - Choosing destinations
+- The First Leg
+    - Munich
+        - Silence
+        - Relative
+    - Italy
+        - Milan
+            - Ostello Bello, friends
+            - Duomo
+            - Walking/Getting around (Google maps)
+        - Ravenna
+            - Currency
+            - Old monastaries, mosaics
+        - Florence
+            - Museums
+            - Celia
+        - Rome
+            - Tourism's effect on a city
+        - Too much to see in Italy, too little time
+    - Spain
+        - Barcelona
+            - La Sagrada Familia, churches
+        - Madrid
+            - Royalty, revolution
+        - Cordoba
+            - Playing things close
+        - Granada
+            - Flamenco
+            - Peace
+    - Lisbon
+        - Hostels
+        - A city where people still live
+        - Escher (Granada/Cordoba)
+- The Second Leg
+    - Munich
+        - No more pictures, no more tourism
+        - Diet
+    - Belgium
+        - Brussels
+            - Communism and french fries
+            - Comic book museum
+            - Drawing
+        - Bruges
+            - Beer
+            - A fucking expensive fairytale
+            - So cold, so scarfed
+            - Camina Del Santiago
+    - UK
+        - London
+            - Cost of museums, theft of culture
+        - Dublin
+            - Housing problems
+            - Glendalough
+        - Edinburgh
+            - Reading/Writing
+            - Harry Fucking Potter
+    - Amsterdam
+        - Pub crawl (partying vs ...)
+        - Van Gogh
+        - Weed
+        - Sex (museum)
+    - Copenhagen
+        - Freedom (Christiania)
+        - So many chairs
+    - Stockholm
+        - Tradition
+    - Berlin
+        - History
+        - Movie
+    - Prague
+        - Wandering
+        - Planning
+- The Third Leg
+    - Munich
+        - Alps, Olympics
+        - Passport
+    - Venice
+        - Beauty in spite of tourism
+    - Rijeka
+        - Hitchikers
+        - A strange beauty
+    - Vienna
+        - Riches and empire
+        - A day at the palace
+        - The Couchsurfing Cult
+    - Athens
+        - Culture
+        - History
+
+# Munich, Germany
+
+I arrived in Munich late at night on January 14th. My friend Caitlin met me at
+the train station near her house and we walked over to it to drop my stuff off.
+Jetlag hit me real good at this point, so I only barely remember her taking me
+to a nearby biergarten to get some food and catch up. The next day we headed
+down to the center of the city, and she showed me around the sights, like
+Marienplatz and the Frauenkirche (one of many famous churches in Munich).
+
+{% include image.html
+    src="mr-worldwide/munich-victory-gate-2018.jpg"
+    descr="Siegestor (Victory Gate), Munich, 2018"
+    %}
+
+As we walked and ate our way through the day Caitlin told me all of the things
+that are different in Europe, like how water is never free anywhere, nor are
+public restrooms; like how many buildings which are still used and lived in are
+older than our entire country; like how people use cash instead of card, and get
+irritated if you make them break a large bill, or they just might not do it at
+all; like how even in a large city like Munich everything can still be closed on
+a Sunday.
+
+{% include image.html
+    src="mr-worldwide/munich-moosach-2018.jpg"
+    descr="Moosach neighborhood, Munich, 2018"
+    float="right"
+    %}
+
+The thing which struck me most about Munich was how quiet it was. The din of
+traffic is so ingrained into me that I don't even hear it until it's not there.
+And to not hear it inside of a city was very strange. More than sound, there was
+a quietness of life. It didn't feel like people were rushed, with too much to do
+and too little time. People crowded onto the subway, but not with impatience,
+and people walked home from the train station after work without hurry. It was
+like the priorities of the whole culture were different in some fundamental way
+that I could never quite put a finger on.
+
+Caitlin worked during the week and so I was set free into the City for a few
+days. I visited more churches, ate more food, hung out at the library figuring
+out the next steps of my travels, and just generally wandered around the city.
+
+One snowy day I had lunch with a distant relative on my mom's side, who is an
+artist in Munich. I met her at her studio, and from there we wandered around
+various museums where she gave me essentially a private guided tour of the
+exhibits. We talked about politics, with Trump being the main topic of course.
+We talked about art, and school, and our different cultures. She told me that
+Europe had always looked to the US as a kind of older brother, but now that
+image was starting to fall apart, and I told her about the tiny house and
+minimalism movement that is hopefully picking up steam in the US. (TODO finish
+this paragraph).
+
+A week after arriving it was time for me to continue on. One cold morning I
+hopped onto a bus, rode through a snowy Switzerland, and hopped off into a
+bright and sunny Milan.
+
+## Milan, Italy
+
+My first impression of Milan was: "Wow, this place is sketchy". The streets were
+dirty, old, and covered in graffiti. There were homeless everywhere, people
+selling bootleg clothes in the street, scammers targeting tourists, and a
+general disheveldness which Munich didn't have. But on the other side of that
+coin, Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and everywhere I looked
+there were also beautiful people in expensive looking clothes, driving fancy
+cars, and eating at fancy cafes. Where Munich was simple and wealthy, Milan was
+lavish and disparate.
+
+My hostel in Milan was called the Ostello Bello, and was probably the best one I
+could have gotten as my first hostel in Europe. The hostel's downstairs area was
+a restaurant/bar, with tables reserved for hostel guests. Upon arriving they
+immediately sat me down at one of those tables, where others were sitting, and
+said "this is Brian, talk to him". They did this with every person who arrived,
+as well as giving us free food and drinks, so that every night turned into a
+small party.
+
+It took a while for me to fully break out of my shell and get used to meeting
+people in hostels, but if it weren't for Ostello Bello it might not have
+happened at all. Every night I got to hand out and make friends with people from
+South Korea, Scotland, Argentina, France, Switzerland, and locals from Milan
+too. So despite all the negative things I'm going to have to say about party
+hostels later, I'm grateful for Ostello Bello.
+
+As far as Milan itself, the only thing which really impacted me was the Duomo.
+And boy did it impact me, so much so that I visited it twice. It's the third
+largest church in the world, but my experience of it was even better than when I
+went to St. Peter's, the first largest. The interior is so cavernous that all
+sounds echo virtually forever, creating a low hum which reminded me of the Hindu
+Om. To think that the words of a book carried such force that, 2000 years later,
+people were erecting and maintaining incredible structures like the Milan's
+Duomo in their honor floored me. There's a lot of criticism which could and
+should be leveled towards the Catholic Church, but damnit they know how to build
+a building.
+
+Besides the Duomo I also visited some museums and other sights, like the Sforza
+Castle, walking from one to the other as the days went on. Walking became a
+frequent past-time for me during my traveling. Between Google Maps and an
+external batter pack I always had with me there was never a worry about getting
+lost, and with hostels generally being clustered near the sights it was rarely
+more than a half-hour walk to any given thing I wanted to see. So I got used to
+walking a lot, and taking public transit infrequently, and never once used a
+taxi or rental car while in Europe.
+
+Five days after arriving in Milan I left it, having made many friends and
+having learned a lot about Italy and Italians. I also learned I was spending too
+long at each city: It was almost 2 weeks into my 3 month-max trip (for visa
+reasons), and I'd only been to two! From then on I kept to two or three days per
+city, depending on how much I cared about it, with a couple of five day-ers when
+I really needed a rest.
+
+## Ravenna, Italy
+
+After the hecticness of Milan I needed something more quiet. Before leaving the
+US a friend had told me about Ravenna, the once capital of the Western Roman
+Empire and now small Italian city, where some of the world's oldest Christian
+structures still reside. Mosaics retain their original quality over time far
+better than many other mediums, and Ravenna was full of ones from as early as
+the 6th century. While not as glamorous and fast-paced as Milan, Ravenna really
+hit me with the depth of its history. As someone from the US I'm not accustomed
+to seeing anything built before 1500, and yet here were buildings in excellent
+condition which were built a thousand years prior.
+
+Another thing which took some time to get accustomed to was using cash. By this
+point in the trip it had become somewhat second-nature, but only by way of many
+mishaps previously. In the US using cash is usually a backup option, with
+credit/debit cards ruling supreme. ATMs never give out bills bigger than $20,
+and no establishment would ever complain about having to break a $20 except for
+maybe the smallest purchases. In Europe the ATMs (or cash machines, whatever)
+almost always give out €50 bills, which absolutely no one wants to break except
+big chain stores. I still remember the exact location of an ATM in Munich which
+gave me €10 bills, it was that exciting of a find, and I went out of my way to
+go back to it more than once.
+
+So in addition to needing to keep an eye on your cash and get more out
+periodically, you also need to keep an eye out for places which will break your
+bills and plan accordingly. Before leaving the US I had gotten a debit card with
+free international ATM withdrawls at any ATM, so finding places to get cash out
+wasn't a problem, but breaking it always was.
+
+By the time I got back to the US, I missed doing everything in cash, and even
+kept doing it for a while in spite of my culture. While having to find places to
+break fifties was a pain, a little friction to making random purchases wasn't
+necessarily a bad thing. Instead of impulsively buying whatever was in front of
+me, I was incentivized to wait until a better opportunity arrose, generally by
+waiting until I could buy multiple things at the same time, which generally
+meant buying more efficiently because I was actually putting thought into it.
+Also, by always paying in cash, I had a better sense of how much I was actually
+spending day-to-day. In the US we abhor inconvenience, but in my opinion our
+reluctance to use cash is a good example of how that abhorance can be to our own
+detriment.
+
+## Florence, Italy
+
+The train from Ravenna to Florence (or, as Italians spell it, _Firenze_) was
+uneventful. Finding the best route between cities turned out to be pretty
+straightforward. There's an app called GoEuro which helps compare different
+methods like bus, train, plane, and taxi/ride-sharing. There's another app
+called Rome2Trio which does roughly the same thing. There's a bus company called
+FlexBus which I used quite a bit; their prices are good, their buses are new,
+and the UI of their site was made in the last decade.
+
+Florence was by far my favorite city in Italy. On the one hand it was very
+trourist-friendly, and on the other it still retained the feeling of being a
+historic city. I split my time there between visiting museums and churches and
+finding the best cheapest spots to eat. Before leaving the US a friend had told
+me to avoid any restaurant in Europe that has pictures on its menu; they're
+targeted at tourists and priced accordingly. My strategy for finding food
+involved marking off hole-in-the-wall spots in my maps app whenever I came
+across them during the day.
+
+On my second day in Florence I was sitting by the Uffizi, eating a panini, and I
+randomly met an art history student from Madrid who was also visiting Florence.
+Together we went to a bunch of museums, saw the David, and just generally hung
+out. I asked her a lot of questions at the museums, because, to be honest, I'd
+never understood what to make of art in museums.
+
+I'd already learned that, even if I could see a picture of something online,
+seeing it in person is way different. In person the colors in a painting pop out
+more (many even have gold leef paint which doesn't really show up in pictures at
+all, but makes a world of difference), there's a lot more detail to be seen, and
+the size of some is absolutely baffling. I also enjoy learning about history,
+and the history of art is effectively the history of the world. So museums had
+become a meditative place for me; I could go to one and just wander, taking in
+art pieces at whatever rate I liked, learning and thinking about history as I
+went.
+
+What had always confused me, though, was how to _judge_ art. As in, what makes
+one piece better than another, or what makes one artist better than another? Why
+do some paintings become famous and others remain obscure? What my friend from
+Madrid told me is that there's not really a metric. Some paintings become famous
+for historical reasons, either due to where they were originally displayed or
+some story associated with them. Same for some artists. Ultimately it's up to
+the individual to judge them. There was a painting in the same room as the
+famous Birth of Venus painting which I liked far more, and was happy to admire
+it alone as throngs of other tourists vied for good selfies with the more famous
+piece.
+
+I left Florence with a greater appreciation and understanding of museums, as
+well as a good friend who I would be able to visit later while making my way
+through Spain.
+
+## Rome, Italy
+
+Rome surprised me when I got there, though to be honest it's not clear what my
+expectations actually were. The city center, aka the tourist center, is
+absolutely _massive_, and all of it is completely tourist-centric. Living in
+Rome must feel like living inside of Disney World. The city no longer exists for
+its residents, but instead has been completely swallowed by the tourism
+industry. Every street corner and storefront is filled with souvenir shops,
+overpriced food, clothing stores with "I <3 Rome" shirts, gelato shops, walking
+tour agencies, bike rentals, "experience" vendors (helicopter rides over the
+Colosseum! Oh my!), shitty jewelry stores, and so much more, all aimed at
+someone who has too much money and not enough time to spend it all.
+
+My hostel was one of the cheapest I could find, but since I was only staying
+two full days I figured it'd be fine. Seeing all the sights of Rome in only two
+days is not recommended, but I did the best I could. The first day I went
+straight to the Vatican, getting there as early as possible to try
+(unsuccessfully) to beat the line. St. Peters is the largest church in the
+world, but being rushed I wasn't able to enjoy it like Milan's Duomo, and a lot
+of it was closed off unless you wanted to pay more. I wasn't able to spend
+enough time in it to enjoy it.
+
+The Vatican museum was more enjoyable than I thought it would be. For starters
+it's huge, with tons and tons of things to see, including, obviously, the
+Sistene Chapel. I took my time wandering around. After the museum I left the
+Vatican and wandered over to some other sights, like the Castel Sant'Angelo and
+the Pantheon. As the day wore on, and more and more tourists started pouring
+out, everything became impossibly crowded. It was difficult to really enjoy
+anything, what with everyone taking their phones out to capture anything and
+everything the guidebook said to, without really taking the time to take in the
+thing itself.
+
+This was something I began to struggle with while I was in Rome. It wasn't
+always clear to me _why_ these people cared about these sights, with myself
+being included. My pessimistic self would say that people just want the social
+media points gained by a nice selfie in front of Trevi Fountain, and that the
+tourism explosion which has started in the last decade is driven by narcissism.
+My charitable self might say that everyone understands that the journey matters
+more than the destination, and that seeing the sights isn't really the point,
+but rather prefer the adventure taken with friends and/or family, and so they
+snap a quick picture and continue on with their good time.
+
+The reason people travel and visit tourist spots is really only their business,
+and I can't be one to judge. It just seems unfortunate to take an entire city,
+arguably the most important city in written history, and turn it into a theme
+park for the sake of people who don't actually care all too much about it. I
+carried this realization with me for the rest of my trip, that tourism is a
+deal-with-the-devil, taking the money of people who, ostensibly, find some place
+interesting, in exchange for driving away the original inhabitants of that place
+who made it interesting in the first place.
+
+Later on I would learn that the creep of tourism and the dreaded plague of
+"gentrification" were spoken of as the same thing in popular destinations. The
+problem of wealthy people driving out the inhabitants of a city in order to take
+part in the city culture the original inhabitants created is a global one, and
+one I'm certainly a part of. I moved to Denver because I liked the culture of
+that city, and was fortunate enough to be able to afford to do so, but then left
+only three years later, and was now doing the same in even shorter time periods
+in cities the world over.
+
+I obviously didn't stop being a tourist after Rome, but I made a conscious
+attempt to be a better one. I put down the guidebook (or, in my case, the guide
+app) and tried to explore more naturally, taking in each sight as I found it,
+and learning as much about it as I could. Rather than trying to see a little of
+everything I find something which really called out to me and focus on that.
+It's a tough predicament to be in; it's important to go out and see the world,
+to meet people from all different cultures and see all the ways they live, but
+doing so is, often, detrimental to those cultures. It was tough to find a
+balance I was comfortable with, and I'm still not sure a "correct" balance
+actually exists.
+
+My second day in Rome I spent at the Colosseum and the Palatino, but I was so
+utterly exhausted and brain-melted I barely remember them. I left Rome
+with a ton of things left unseen, but without any regret about it. Italy itself
+had far too much for me to do in this trip, and I knew I'd be back one day, both
+to Italy and to Rome itself. On the third day I hopped on a plane, flew across
+the sea, and landed in Spain.