Europe on film

 

I watched Before Sunrise last night, and apart from turning me slightly soppily romantic for a couple of hours, it served as an excellent piece of propaganda for the city of Vienna. If you’ve not seen it, the premise is that a French girl meets an American guy on the train from Budapest to Paris. They get on well and decide to get off the train in Vienna and explore until, well, the eponymous sunrise.

For the hour of the film that is in Vienna it serves as a cinematic tour of the city. Not the obviously touristy bits, but the more normal but special places. The funfare, walks along the river, grungy pubs and clubs, street corners and open air cafes. I’ve not yet been to Vienna, but I want to go now! It got me thinking what other films should have been sponsored by a European city’s tourism board…

 

France

Paris – Obviously it’s been in numerous films, but it’s at its most beautiful in Amelie. I can’t help but as soon as I start watching, wishing I was in Paris. A less fantastical, glossy version of Paris is seen in 2 Days in Paris, but still a great snapshot of Paris in all its cafe culture and artisan bars.

 

Germany

Berlin – Goodbye Lenin! It may be 1989 Berlin, but it still looks fabulous. Also in a Cold War chic kinda way, The Lives of Others also makes me long for one of my favourite cities on earth.

 

Belgium

Bruges – Slightly obvious, In Bruges. Brilliantly mocks the twee elements of this small Belgian city, whilst conversely showing how pretty and charming the place is.

 

Ukraine

Although it paints a bleak and rather agricultural picture, Everything is Illuminated shows a country which probably doesn’t have too many Western cinematic moments.

 

Italy

Venice – I suppose all Bond films do a great promotional job on all the exotic locations they film in, but for me, the scenes in Venice in Casino Royale really stuck out. The water and the city looked beautiful, crisp, clean and exciting. Whereas in reality, I think Venice is a little more overcrowded and pigeon infested.

 

Greece

Mamma Mia! certainly does a good job at promoting a holiday on a Greek island. It looks stunning – clear water, sandy beaches and friendly locals. In reality, there is usually a terrible sewage problem, the streets smell of vomit from the British binge-drinkers the night before and the locals aren’t so friendly.

 

I’ve tried to think of places that are representing themselves (rather than the cheapo method of film production where they film in the Czech Republic or Hungary and pretend it’s medieval France). I’ll add to the list as more films hit me…

Booze Britons Abroad

The mayor of Laganas in Zakynthos has issued a stern warning to young British party-people who he thinks are destroying his town. He wants the kids with glow sticks out and the families with organic baby food in. The problem is, I think Laganas’ party culture is engrained both in the minds of business owners on the strip and with tour companies.

I went to Laganas with a group of friends in the summer of 2002. It was actually our choice because it didn’t seem as lairy and booze-fuelled as some other Greek and Spanish resorts. We’d discounted Ayia Napa and Ibiza because we weren’t massive ‘clubbers’ and we didn’t want to fall into the cliché of Magaluf or Kos. We didn’t want to go 18-30s and we didn’t want a tacky resort. The brochure pictures of Zante looked beautiful and the island promised long stretches of sand, warm clear water, some historical sights of interest and authentic restaurants and bars. It said Laganas was the most lively resort, so being 17 years old, lively sounded good, but not too daunting.* All we wanted was to sunbathe and relax with friends and maybe have a cocktail or two in the evening. Being under-18 we were also aware that we could be turned down for alcohol or for clubs so it just wasn’t part of the plan.

Amtrak Adventures – Vancouver

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

Vancouver, B.C

Maybe we’d got cocky. Five weeks of hassle-free Amtrak voyaging, it had to go wrong somewhere. The fact it was our last journey of the trip just made it seem like fate. Up until now, we’d sorted out all our trips in advance and had all our tickets in hand. We’d deliberately left the last few days of the trip vague, in case we wanted to spend longer somewhere or missed a train etc. So, once we’d finalised our plans, I’d rung up Amtrak and booked our seats, all we had to do was pick them up at Seattle station. However we had not realised our plan would be foiled by a transvestite Amtrak assistant called Jessica.

She was really trying to be helpful, but had no idea how to print off our tickets. Time was ticking on, but still Jessica was having no joy, even when she called over her supervisor. Meanwhile, the Amtrak conductors were harassing Martina to get on the train. (Why they had to leave on time beats me, nine hours late into LA didn’t seem a problem to Amtrak). As the conductors were getting impatient and blowing the final whistle I just grabbed my credit card and passes and we jumped onto the train. Luckily the train conductors were charmed by our youthful looks and warm British accents and ignored the fact we had no ticket.

The journey back into Canada was short and without the immigration nightmare of entering Toronto. The nightmare only started when we found our hostel.

After the extravagance of our Seattle hotel, I’d opted for the most budget option for our Vancouver accommodation. That left us with the American Backpackers Hostel on West Pender Street. On entering the hostel, we were greeted with signs above the clerk’s desk saying:

“No sexx in rooms. Use the sexx room instead”

“Recommend us to friends, get $5 discount.”

Amtrak Adventures – Seattle

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

Feeling like we’d had a narrow brush with disaster, our train journey north to Seattle felt quite sedate. We had time to absorb the changing countryside as it got greener and greener – until we were in dense forestry. It also gave us a chance to chat to some of our fellow Amtrak travellers. We had some curious people who just wanted to look at our passports as if we were some kind of freaky zoo exhibit, and some people who defy description.

One of them introduced himself as Clayton Malloy Letson – a young bloke from New Mexico who played the ukulele. He started telling us about his life philosophy and his travels around America hitch-hiking. He was what my mother would call a ‘free spirit’ who had escaped New Mexico and was off to do some kind of work in Portland. After a while the conversation unavoidably turned to his ukulele, and he wanted to play me and Martina some songs. First up was the most high pitched rendition of ‘Sittin’ on the dock of the bay’ I have ever heard. Perhaps he was a eunuch in a previous life… Next up on the Clayton jukebox was a bit of the Beatles (“um, I dunno if you guys know this song or not, it’s pretty famous over here”). Yes Clayton, we do know ‘Yesterday’. His little musical rendition was gathering a small crowd in the lounge car (maybe they just enjoyed watching me and Martina squirm and stifle giggles) and before we knew if another bloke pulls out a flute and starts trying to join in. By this point my whole body is shaking trying to contain my laughter. Fortunately for us, Portland was the next stop and we had to wave goodbye to Clayton and his musical menagerie.

Amtrak Adventures – Sittin’ on the dock of the bay

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

San Francisco

Left Vegas on the bus and transferred at Bakersfield to an Amtrak California train (better seats, much better food), and then transferred again at Emeryville for a bus into San Francisco. Arrived at our hostel in the Mission after a long day’s travelling, without really taking much in of the city. The next morning we ate the free breakfast at the hostel (cake and more cake) and then jumped on the BART to Embarcadero as we wanted to go to Alcatraz. It was fully booked for the day so we bought tickets for the next day and decided to take this day to see some sights around the city. It was some kind of free transport day in San Fran so we took advantage of this by, um, walking everywhere. We went to Fisherman’s Wharf, which I thought was a bit touristy and nothing-y, but we did have a yummy salmon steak sandwich. We then walked through North Beach and Chinatown, found City Lights bookstore and spent a lovely hour browsing. Martina and I went our separate ways in the afternoon and I found the Cartoon Art Museum which was small and quiet but interesting. The political cartoons from around the world about America were particularly good.

Amtrak Adventures – Sin City

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

Las Vegas

Woke up knackered but on time to get our bus to Las Vegas (Amtrak don’t have trains into Nevada, but instead put on a ‘Thruway’ bus service between LA and Vegas). I went to get some water and stuff from the store near our hostel and suddenly we were running late. This was made worse by the Metro just not turning up (bloody LA public transport!) and we boarded the train knowing we were going to miss our bus. If we missed the bus, we’d have to scrap going to Vegas as we’d not have time on our itinerary. Whilst panicking about the bus I was franticly going through alternative scenarios involving staying with long lost relatives and sleeping on the beach.

We had ten minutes to spare and legged it into Union station to find the bus stop. We followed sign after sign and asked staff members but just ran round in circles, all the time with our massive backpacks on. We knew the bus had left, but sweaty and dejected we asked a final person. She pointed the way through an open courtyard and we ran for it. By some miracle, the bus hadn’t arrived and we even had time to catch our breath before boarding. (We did have to sit by a urine-stinking toilet though). We watched desert-y California turn into desert-y Nevada, with a brief stop at the no-mans-land that is a place called Barstow. It was basically a McDonalds and a gift shop selling novelty guns and porcelain clowns.

Amtrak Adventures – St. Louis

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

We ran for the train in Chicago and jumped aboard the Texas Eagle just in time. Arrived in St Louis at about 8pm and were greeted by the most desolate Amtrak station so far. Niagara Falls hadn’t been too inspiring, but the St Louis station appeared to be down a dirt track with no sign of life. You’d think this would have given us a clue but we rashly threw on our backpacks and headed towards a main road to find a bus or some kind of public transportation (we were on a pretty tight budget). This move wasn’t the best one because in the space of twenty minutes we bumped into a few of St Louis’ less salubrious residents. Slightly creeped out and very tired and hungry, we took shelter in a hotel where we called for a cab to rescue us.

We’d booked ourselves into the dubiously named Econolodge. If the name wasn’t inspiring, the locale wasn’t either. But safely locked in our room we ordered Domino’s, showered and watched cable TV until we fell asleep.

In the light of morning everything looked more positive and promising. Except the headline on the local newspaper: “The hottest day EVER?”. Oh dear.

Amtrak Adventures – Getting to Chicago

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

So far I haven’t actually said too much about the Amtrak trains themselves and they did play a pretty big part in this trek… When Martina and I had been plotting our route through the vastness of America we had all sorts of different ideas and places we wanted to stop off. It soon became clear that Amtrak wasn’t perhaps the transport of choice for many Americans. Whilst the quality of trains looked promising, the quantity did not. And as we started the journey it became very clear that passenger trains are a poor runner up to freight trains. But don’t let this put you off – Amtrak is a leisurely and relaxing way to travel, if you have the time.

Everywhere takes a while to get to and the trains don’t exactly exert themselves.

Taste of the Baltic – part three

Monday

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! It’s Catherine’s birthday!!

Feeling the need for a birthday breakfast, we ambled along in characteristic style through the streets of Old Riga and found nothing. Wanting a light bite, we settled on the ubiquitous Double Coffee, which can be found on every corner of the city. Think Starbucks but with garlic. Because yes, our little bulbous friend was to reappear, smeared all over our scrambled eggs. Foiled by the lack of bacon, we had been forced to order eggs with ‘weiners’, which came with lashings of creamy garlic sauce cascading over a mountainous cone of scrambled egg. Curious.

Taste of the Baltic – part two

Sunday 

Determined not to succumb to the cheap beer as early as on the previous day we thought the best plan would be to try and see some of the sights early on. Also most of Riga’s museums don’t open on a Monday, so this was our one and only chance to see the sights. This pressure weighing firmly on our shoulders, we emerged from the hostel at about midday after a drowsy hour and a half to dress ourselves.