Jamie Fehr

It came and left, and now I am here sitting in the airport in Venice collecting my thoughts from the last two weeks. The guys arrived in Malaga the morning of Saturday, September 30th and after many busy travels we parted ways this morning at our hostel in Venice.

The name of this trip, EuroNova ‘06 really bears no significance to anything what so ever. The name only exists because I feel that every journey/quest deserves it’s own unique identifying handler. It’s just the way I am, so a poll of the group was done and everyone felt that EuroNova ‘06 accurately indicated the time and feel of everything. I didn’t like it at all but as I had nothing better to offer I submitted to the force of democracy.

Officially the tour started at Calgary International Airport and made it’s first stop in London for two days and then proceeded on to Paris for a day. I didn’t join the tour until after the Paris stop in Malaga where I became to tour guide for southern Spain.

Spain

The time spent on the south coast of Spain was a mixture of relaxing beach time and busy sightseeing. We made stops at Malaga sights, Malaga beaches, Nerja, and the Alhambra. Accommodations were provided by me and the diet included a wide variety of Spain’s best fast food restaurants and local bars (pretty much every restaurant in Spain is considered a bar, don’t get to hung up on the word) and to finish the Spain leg out we took a train from Malaga to Madrid, passing the Camino Del Ray (Kings Path, It’s a really cool trail along the side of some mountains, I intend to walk it this fall and then maybe I’ll tell you some more) and a flight from Madrid to Geneva.

Switzerland

Upon arrival at the Geneva International Airport we collected our bags and proceeded to the nearest metro station to get to our hostel. Geneva doesn’t have a metro, just intercity trains. Don’t let this confuse you like it did us, the dots on the map there are cities, not different metro stations of the same city. And so, when the guide told us the stop we needed to get off at was G.C. Coravin and the first stop that we saw after the airport was labeled “Geneve”, we decided to carry on to the next stop, which turned out to be a city half an hour outside of Geneva called Nyon. We got off and waited for the next train back to Geneva (only a half hour of waiting and half hour in train), and when we finally did get back to Geneva we found out that G.C. Coravin and Geneva are the same stop. Once that was all said and done we did eventually find our hostel, the City Hostel of Geneva(Really nice and clean, highly recomended), checked in, and went to bed.

The next morning with some clearer minds we figured out how trains work in Switzerland and caught the next one Bern (The capital of Switzerland) followed by a connecting train to Interlaken and from there, a few days later, we caught a train to Zurich and connected there through to Vienna.

Austria

Vienna was probably my favorite stop on the tour, everything was cheap in comparison to Switzerland and Venice and yet still managed to be of excellent quality and high entertainment value. Also, who could ever forget the morning we tried to leave, it was one of the truest tests of faith I have ever experienced. From Vienna we caught a train to Innsbruck and from Innsbruck we proceeded on to Venice.

Italy

Venice was my final stop on the tour. After a brief and uneventful stay there I boarded a plane back to Malaga and the tour boarded a plane back to London for one last day in Europe.

Update: I know that at the start of this article I say I am in Venice Airport and now I am saying I flew to Malaga, indicating an impossible past tense, but the fact of the matter is, I started this article in Venice and finished it in Malaga.

My Thoughts and Emotions

Now the trip is over and life is nearly normal. So what was there to learn from all of this? Firstly, I can’t ignore my heritage. It was so refreshing to hear some Plaut Dietsch again. And as far away from La Crete as I may live I will always be proud to be Jake Fehr’s son, and a Mennonite from La Crete.

Secondly, and I don’t know how best to word this, but apparently in the eyes of my of co-workers, meeting my friends has somehow raised my status at the center. I really don’t know I should take this, the words used were, my friends are “Exceptionally normal.” I don’t really no how it’s possible to be more normal than normal, but that’s what I was told they are and it apparently it reflects well upon me.

Thirdly, I know where home is right now. While being on the road for that time, I really did long to return to Malaga. This may seem like a bit of a contradiction to my first point, but really it’s not. Home is where I pay rent, it’s easily changed, heritage on the other hand sticks with you for as long as you breathe.

And lastly, well there is no lastly, I just want to say it was a good time spent in good company. Thanks guys (As in James, Rudy, Rod, and Andy). Notice how I never even really brought up how late you guys were in arriving to Malaga because you missed you train in Madrid? Aren’t I a great friend?