Hitch hiking France and Germany

Written July 21st 2009
After Pamplona Juan and I were a touch addicted to each other and wernt quite ready to let our adventure end. We played house with many ideas of where we would go next but in the back of my mind I knew it wouldn't come to fruition as I was heading back home in a few short days. Then an odd thing happened and I missed my flight. It was an honest mistake that left me with a great reward so I ate it up. Rather than sit around Spain and mope about it (although I'm sure that would have been an unlikely option as well) Juan and I decided to hitch hike through Spain and France, and end our trip in Germany. It was fun, loads of fun. We got from Spain to Germany in just over three days (great time) and met insanely amazing people along the way. If your every doubting the good will of human kind I highly suggest taking yourself on a good little hitch hike around a few countries.
Our first stop in France was Arlles where there was a gorgeous little photo festival that I wish I could have stayed longer to enjoy. We ended up getting into Nimes that day where we couch surfed with a wonderful family (my first experience surfing with a couple and their young children). The following day we found ourselves surrounded by another beautiful family in Lyon who picked us up after seeing we had waited for quite a while. They were awesome; they drove us for quite a long while (always a treat) and offered to take us home and spoil us. Of course we couldn't resist and were soon in their gorgeous home stuffing our faces on a delicious meal and showering our dirty bodies (an offer that may have been more of a request lol). It was such a gracious gift and I wish I could have thanked them more. We kept going as far as we could that day and ended up making it to Dole where we finally called it quits around midnight and set up our sleeping bag in the ditch for a few hours of sleep. And few it was, in two weeks it was the worst sleep Juan and I both had. It was really cold and incredibly misty; we both woke up not exactly in the best moods and both soaking wet...not fun. Fortunately that morning we got lucky with a huge ride which brought us all the way to Strasburg where we crossed the border into Germany. That always seemed to be our routine, something really good followed by a touch of bad luck. This car was definitely our stroke of good luck as it took us as far as we made it the previous day in just one short ride. At last we were in Germany. The first day we went to Frankfurt but only ended up spending one night there (another stroke of good luck as we actually found a CSing host willing to take us in at midnight). The next morning bad luck was among us as we woke to a dreadfully powerful thunderstorm that was sure to make our day interesting. And interesting it was as we were picked up by our first bad ride, a friggin horny ass truck driver that wasted our time and I'm pretty sure was ready to make stew out of us by the time we finally stopped. Thankfully we got away unscathed and had a great story to tell.
You know, traveling like this can be really hard. You get worn down and defeated quite easily and the days can just drag on forever. Somehow Juan and I made it through two weeks with no issues and only taking a couple hours each to have our cranky time. No fighting, no annoyances, complaining, disagreements, or leaving each other. We got along beautifully and had some serious fun along the way. Im lucky I stumbled into Juan during my travels, he made them so very special and I am grateful I got to keep him as my travel partner for so long.
We finally made it to Berlin where we set up shop until I was heading back to Calgary. Berlin is a great city, it is beautiful and seems like a place where you can be exactly who you want to be (as original or mainstream as your little heart desires) and there is no judgement. I love what my eyes saw. The culture, history, monuments, houses, people, all of it was just really neat. If I moved to Europe that would totally be a place I could live. During our stay there the ever so social Juan introduced me to many of his fabulous friends (a few of them that we were lucky enough to stay with a couple nights as well). Juan also took me all around the city and was my personal tour guide because as with many European countries he once lived there as well. The monuments, the Berlin Wall it was all just crazy intense. We didn't speak about it at all, there was nothing to say. It was just overwhelming to know what the country used to be like many years ago, to think of what happened in the exact spot I was standing - it was intense.
One day Juan took me to this treasure of a place. It was a little area called Tachelles and it literally made me silent. Every piece of surface was covered in art (mostly graffiti) and the talent just overwhelmed me. There was so much to see that I actually started getting anxious. Artists are a different breed, do you know what goes through their minds? I just stood there thinking about the speed of the million minds that painted this building, artists upon artists desperately trying to paint their way to some outlet. I loved it but it made me want to sit in the middle of the floor and just cry. If I moved to Berlin that would be where I would live. I would be a squatter in the basement and go upstairs everyday to soak up then dispose of all the energy I get from that place. It is indescribable.
Berlin was hard to say goodbye too. I really enjoyed it there and didn't feel like I spent a drop of time that I needed too in order to discover the place. There are a few things I am looking forward too when I get home though. First, for two weeks Juan and I would go to the grocery store and buy a loaf of bread and a thing of meat and cheese. We also got a yogurt drink, a chocolate bar, and a case of nectarines to munch on through the day. Every single day that was our meal for breakfast, lunch dinner, bedtime snack (terribly healthy I know) but I am looking forward to going home and having a pantry full of food and some good ol home cooking. Yum my mouth is watering already. Secondly would be a bed. I haven't had a bed in weeks, floors, parks, ditches, the rare couch, and any other flat surface has been where I've slept but I cant wait to sleep in my own bed again. Laundry is also something I am incredibly excited about. Laundry around the world is quite interesting. Whether it was a man washing my clothes in a river or me scrubbing them in the bathtub, laundry was never the same. I have often found myself daydreaming of my clean, delicious smelling, non-wrinkled clothes, and I'm sure others have thought the same while standing much too close to my temporarily homeless traveling butt. But yeah those are the things I missed the most on my trip. Other than that its been perfect and I'm already concaughting where I will be going next.
Germany was lovely and I'm sad to leave. My whole trip was perfect and I am so very grateful for it. I really couldn't (or wouldn't) ask for much more. So now I'm off to discover "home", I wonder what that will hold...