The weather in Italy makes me feel at home... which is not a good thing when you're walking all over the place! Its hot, and there's no air conditioning in the hostel.
In a few words, Florence can be described as... dingy, pizza, leather, carnivale masks, gelato, cathedrals, and museums. That may sound like a lot, but for someone that's not too big of an art fan, paying €8 to go in a museum just isn't too appealing. And I wasn't allowed in cathedrals because I was wearing shorts because it was hot. Its a vicious cycle. Leather is a big deal here, and its pretty awesome for me walking down the streets and seeing rows and rows of purses. I hope I can come back to Italy for Carnivale one day, because attending a masquerade is an absolute dream of mine.
I got to go to an opera, too! My hostel kind of wrapped around a concert house, and there was like a balcony box in the middle of my room blocked by thin drywall and two locked doors, but there was a hole in the dry wall and you could see large frescos on a wall. The walls were so thin that you were basically sitting in the opera house listening to a beautiful voice and piano.
Took a train to Venice today and met two nice Irish boys that I explored the city with. Venice is exactly how you would imagine it. With gondolas paddled by guys wearing striped shirts and hats, with canals a plenty, with houses that kind of look dingy, but beautiful at the same time, and with winding cobblestone streets of varying widths. Its a cool place, and
I may have been more inclined to do some more widened exploring if I wasn't dying of heat stroke. The buses and taxis are boats, and supposedly the city is sinking because the wood is rotting because the water is being polluted, not because the water is rising. Iiiiinteresting, huh?
Gelato here is better than anywhere else in the entire world. And cheap. Just like Guinness is better in Ireland, but for some reason its more expensive than in the states...
To Roma tomorrow to see the Pope. He comes out of his hole every Wednesday! AND Eclipse is out tomorrow!!!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Bavaria, land of lions! or pictures of lions! Rawr!!
Its never really crossed my mind, but road tripping around Europe is probably the best way to go. I met three Norwegian guys driving around on holiday, and I was so jealous! You can drive 12 hours from Norway and be in Berlin, Germany! We can drive 12 hours and be.... in the Tennessee? Boring.
My brother in law, Jeff, took us on a Porsche factory tour which was awesome. They use the just in time manufacturing philosophy, weird because I actually learned that in manufacturing class. They had autonomous robots and lots of awesome cars and people rode bicycles around inside the building.
Its true that on the autobahn there is no speed limit, and boy were some people going super fast. Our Mercedes rental couldn't accelerate or go faster than 140 kph, so we could only watch as Porsches and Audis and BMWs and Bentleys sped by. We had the freedom to go wherever we wanted, so we stayed in small German towns. The country here in Bavaria, or southern Germany is beautiful. You see the Alps and lots of green from the highway, and the landscape isn't ruined by billboards. I really really want a traditional German dress, but they cost at least €100 and I could only wear it for two occasions - Oktoberfest or Halloween. So it might not be too justified. Now if I were going to live in Germany for a little bit, I would totally get one and serve liters in a bierhaus. I also wanted a Cinderella dress before going to Neuschwanstein castle (built by crazy King Ludwig II and basis for Cinderella castle), but the visit was just as majestic without one. Now that place was a castle!
By the way, there's a Legoland Deutschland and its awesome! Minus the fact that it ruined the picture of innocence and youth that I had in my head when someone stole my shirt that I had bought 15 minutes earlier. But there's huge lego statues and rides and big lego pieces that are like 10 feet tall. And. there's a world cup soccer stadium that's filled with Lego people! Its okay to be jealous.
I've had schnitzels, pretzels, tons of ice cream, nudels, wursts, and Ethiopian food (huh?). It has all been delicious, but not so much on the Ethiopian goat meat... but they offered zebra and kangaroo as well.
I miss my travelling partner, and my sister, and my brother in law already. And everyone back home of course, but I have 10 days left! I must live them up!
To Italy and pizza and gelato!!
My brother in law, Jeff, took us on a Porsche factory tour which was awesome. They use the just in time manufacturing philosophy, weird because I actually learned that in manufacturing class. They had autonomous robots and lots of awesome cars and people rode bicycles around inside the building.
Its true that on the autobahn there is no speed limit, and boy were some people going super fast. Our Mercedes rental couldn't accelerate or go faster than 140 kph, so we could only watch as Porsches and Audis and BMWs and Bentleys sped by. We had the freedom to go wherever we wanted, so we stayed in small German towns. The country here in Bavaria, or southern Germany is beautiful. You see the Alps and lots of green from the highway, and the landscape isn't ruined by billboards. I really really want a traditional German dress, but they cost at least €100 and I could only wear it for two occasions - Oktoberfest or Halloween. So it might not be too justified. Now if I were going to live in Germany for a little bit, I would totally get one and serve liters in a bierhaus. I also wanted a Cinderella dress before going to Neuschwanstein castle (built by crazy King Ludwig II and basis for Cinderella castle), but the visit was just as majestic without one. Now that place was a castle!
By the way, there's a Legoland Deutschland and its awesome! Minus the fact that it ruined the picture of innocence and youth that I had in my head when someone stole my shirt that I had bought 15 minutes earlier. But there's huge lego statues and rides and big lego pieces that are like 10 feet tall. And. there's a world cup soccer stadium that's filled with Lego people! Its okay to be jealous.
I've had schnitzels, pretzels, tons of ice cream, nudels, wursts, and Ethiopian food (huh?). It has all been delicious, but not so much on the Ethiopian goat meat... but they offered zebra and kangaroo as well.
I miss my travelling partner, and my sister, and my brother in law already. And everyone back home of course, but I have 10 days left! I must live them up!
To Italy and pizza and gelato!!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
So on Monday...
I could totally picture myself living in Berlin. There is so much to do and see, and all kinds of people. Our first day, we planned on treating ourselves to some all you can eat sushi at a restaurant recommended by my guide book. We find it, and its completely empty with an open front that allowed construction dust in. The one guy working was anything but helpful and this place was not rubbing me the right way (Strike 2 for the food recommendations by LetsGo. Strike 1 was buckwheat crepes in Paris). So we left and ate "kebaps" instead. I think 4 out of every 5 meals have been kebabs, but they're so cheap and delicious and warm. The book semi redeemed itself by leading us to a fried chicken beer garden. We got berliner pilsners and half a chicken each. Apparently, you don't eat with your hands over here because we got some disgusted looks as we tore into our chicken, but forks and fried chicken is so much less efficient!
Since we hadn't done much that day, we went on a pub crawl that night. There were like 90 people being shuffled from one place to the next, resulting in a huge cluster. There was a big group of study abroad kids from GaTech, small world. And a group of Brazilians who were extremely blunt and upfront about what they were looking for, and who enjoyed artacking girls' faces, aka face raping. That hapoened to me multiple times! First, by one who said he would visit me in the States, then by 4 all at once, then by one who said I was "the chinese that all the guys wanted to kiss." Brazilians are so weird.
I learned that Germany was very ready to forget all the bad things that happened, but would always remember the victims through memorials and exhibits aimed at reminding people what intolerance and hatred will lead to. We visited Sachsenhausen, the model concentration camp which was right outside Berlin. It was in a small town, and you had to walk through residential streets to get to the entrance. The camp was huge and eerily creepy. Almost all of the prisoner barracks were destroyed so replicas were put up. One of the original buildings that was still there was the pathology building. This was the creepiest. The walls and floors were tiled and there were two autopsy platforms still there. The basement was a mortuary and it just looked like a scene from a horror movie. The foundation was all that remained from Station Z, the last stop for prisoners. This is where the crematoriums, gas showers, and "medical exam"/execution rooms were. It took us 6 hours to see everything there. We did an audio guide, and the accounts that it had from some of the witnesses were horrific.
On to happier things... A lot of Berlin was new and modern since 80% had been destroyed during the war. There was only one Nazi building that remained and it was now the tax office. The Berlin wall was a lot smaller than I expected, and was a simple concrete wall 8 ft high with barbed wire on top. There was a gay pride festival going on and free love all over the place. The wursts were cheap and yummy, and came in a bun that was 6 inches too short. Three nights in Berlin just wasn't enough. The public transportation system was vast and extensive, and we definitely pushed our luck by not buying tickets everytime we hopped on a train, because on our way to the train station to leave for Frankfurt, we got caught and had to pay €40 each. And then the transportation gods wanted to punish us more because an hour later, we dscovered that our eurail passes were valid for the train we got caught on and could have easily gotten out of paying the fine and being slightly humiliated.
Frankfurt is one of the few cities in Europe with a skyline, as the center for EU banking.A city arena was set up with food and beer and a huge screen for people to gather and watch the world cup matches. It reminded me of the area outside the Superbowl or outside the FL-GA game, but smaller.
Now were on our way to Stuttgart to meet my my sister and brother in law! It's Patrick's last day before he heads back to Dublin and then home :( and I'll tour southern Germany with my siblings before venturing on my own again to Florence, Rome, London, and Edinburgh.
Since we hadn't done much that day, we went on a pub crawl that night. There were like 90 people being shuffled from one place to the next, resulting in a huge cluster. There was a big group of study abroad kids from GaTech, small world. And a group of Brazilians who were extremely blunt and upfront about what they were looking for, and who enjoyed artacking girls' faces, aka face raping. That hapoened to me multiple times! First, by one who said he would visit me in the States, then by 4 all at once, then by one who said I was "the chinese that all the guys wanted to kiss." Brazilians are so weird.
I learned that Germany was very ready to forget all the bad things that happened, but would always remember the victims through memorials and exhibits aimed at reminding people what intolerance and hatred will lead to. We visited Sachsenhausen, the model concentration camp which was right outside Berlin. It was in a small town, and you had to walk through residential streets to get to the entrance. The camp was huge and eerily creepy. Almost all of the prisoner barracks were destroyed so replicas were put up. One of the original buildings that was still there was the pathology building. This was the creepiest. The walls and floors were tiled and there were two autopsy platforms still there. The basement was a mortuary and it just looked like a scene from a horror movie. The foundation was all that remained from Station Z, the last stop for prisoners. This is where the crematoriums, gas showers, and "medical exam"/execution rooms were. It took us 6 hours to see everything there. We did an audio guide, and the accounts that it had from some of the witnesses were horrific.
On to happier things... A lot of Berlin was new and modern since 80% had been destroyed during the war. There was only one Nazi building that remained and it was now the tax office. The Berlin wall was a lot smaller than I expected, and was a simple concrete wall 8 ft high with barbed wire on top. There was a gay pride festival going on and free love all over the place. The wursts were cheap and yummy, and came in a bun that was 6 inches too short. Three nights in Berlin just wasn't enough. The public transportation system was vast and extensive, and we definitely pushed our luck by not buying tickets everytime we hopped on a train, because on our way to the train station to leave for Frankfurt, we got caught and had to pay €40 each. And then the transportation gods wanted to punish us more because an hour later, we dscovered that our eurail passes were valid for the train we got caught on and could have easily gotten out of paying the fine and being slightly humiliated.
Frankfurt is one of the few cities in Europe with a skyline, as the center for EU banking.A city arena was set up with food and beer and a huge screen for people to gather and watch the world cup matches. It reminded me of the area outside the Superbowl or outside the FL-GA game, but smaller.
Now were on our way to Stuttgart to meet my my sister and brother in law! It's Patrick's last day before he heads back to Dublin and then home :( and I'll tour southern Germany with my siblings before venturing on my own again to Florence, Rome, London, and Edinburgh.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Home of the Little Mermaid
The cheapest food in all of the countries we've visited has been the same - kebabs or asian food. And I can't remember the last meal that didn't consist of one of those. Kebabs are like gyros or schwarma pita sandwiches and asian is normally rice with chicken, vegetables, and sweet and sour sauce. Yum yum.
We made our journey from Amsterdam to Copenhagen on an overnight train, but unlike our luxurious private room train ride from Barcelona to Bern, we went the cheaper route, and did a six person couchette. Our room was six beds and thats it, and only had enough room for one person to be standing in it at once. The beds were hard, and the room was hot, but it was better than a chair. Our route went through the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, so on three separate occasions in the middle of the night, the train stopped, and police officers came through asking for passports. I've had better sleep than what I got last night...
I've been on a quest to find a danish, but I found awesome cookies instead. Hopefully, I will get a danish for tomorrow's breakfast before we leave for Berlin. We did a self guided walking tour that was suggested on one of our city maps. Got to see palaces, canals, yachts and sailboats, and Copenhagen's pride and joy, the statue of Hans Christen Andersen's little mermaid- oh wait, just kidding. She was on "holiday" in Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo. So in her place in the harbour, stood a 10 ft tv screen showing live, streaming video of the statue on display in China. The tv was probably cooler than the actual statue. Then we made our way to the King's garden, a huge city park. Europeans loooove their parks. It's great. Hundreds and hundreds of people congregate there for lunch or after school, just sleeping or reading or hanging out.
So the currency here is the krone, or dkk, and its about 6 dkk to the dollar. So we get to the atm and each take out 500 dkk, and out comes one crisp 500 dkk bill. Doesn't feel like much, and kind of makes you feel like a jackass when you buy a 15 dkk cookie with a 500 dkk bill... Just sayin
And if you have free time, read Chelsea Handler's books. So funny. I'm currently on the second one and its been a bit of a quest to find them here, but totally worth it.
We made our journey from Amsterdam to Copenhagen on an overnight train, but unlike our luxurious private room train ride from Barcelona to Bern, we went the cheaper route, and did a six person couchette. Our room was six beds and thats it, and only had enough room for one person to be standing in it at once. The beds were hard, and the room was hot, but it was better than a chair. Our route went through the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, so on three separate occasions in the middle of the night, the train stopped, and police officers came through asking for passports. I've had better sleep than what I got last night...
I've been on a quest to find a danish, but I found awesome cookies instead. Hopefully, I will get a danish for tomorrow's breakfast before we leave for Berlin. We did a self guided walking tour that was suggested on one of our city maps. Got to see palaces, canals, yachts and sailboats, and Copenhagen's pride and joy, the statue of Hans Christen Andersen's little mermaid- oh wait, just kidding. She was on "holiday" in Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo. So in her place in the harbour, stood a 10 ft tv screen showing live, streaming video of the statue on display in China. The tv was probably cooler than the actual statue. Then we made our way to the King's garden, a huge city park. Europeans loooove their parks. It's great. Hundreds and hundreds of people congregate there for lunch or after school, just sleeping or reading or hanging out.
So the currency here is the krone, or dkk, and its about 6 dkk to the dollar. So we get to the atm and each take out 500 dkk, and out comes one crisp 500 dkk bill. Doesn't feel like much, and kind of makes you feel like a jackass when you buy a 15 dkk cookie with a 500 dkk bill... Just sayin
And if you have free time, read Chelsea Handler's books. So funny. I'm currently on the second one and its been a bit of a quest to find them here, but totally worth it.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Oh, Amsterdam...
You are full of smoke and prostitutes. Our hostel is pretty much in the heart of the red light district, which is super convenient. You know me, all about smoking and hookers! I did have to give the Amsterdam experience a try, so that's how we commemorated our first night here. Last night we found a coffeeshop that was listed in our lonely planet book. In my opinion, the lights were a bit too bright and the music was super intense for the "coffee" I was about to try. But anyways, it was an interesting experience that I don't think I ever have to try again.
But by the end of the tour, everyone was laughing and our guide was a little better about delivering his stories. We saw an old church that supposedly the red light district grew around because of the pervy clergy men back in the day. We also saw the most famous coffeeshop of them all- it was in a scene of one of the Oceans, and has a stoned, fat cat that hangs around. 
You can kind of tell how the houses lean forward...
I've seen a good number of prostitutes in windows. In 2000, prostitution was made legal, and pimping illegal. So these hookers are their own boss and rent window time from businesses. The standard is €50 for 15 minutes of heaven, or whatever. Apparently, you pick one out, go in, wash up, and if your lady friend still doesn't like the looks of you, she'll give you a plastic sheet with a hole in it. That's just sad if a hooker doesn't even approve. Our Amsterdam adventure continues tonight as we tour the red light district and do some window shoppping, ha. Be sure to look over the older posts, I've added pictures since Dutch internet is cheap, cheap.
Today, we went on the free walking tour, given by the same company as in Dublin and Paris. It started off kind of slow because or tour guide rambled at light speed in an almost nervous sketched out way, and our tour group was pretty quiet.
Our tour guide, Bernie.
The famous coffeeshop
A lot of the house fronts here lean forward and have pullies on the tops to ease moving into the attic. The forward lean was to prevent the packages and things from swinging into the windows, but then someone smarter came along and suggested simply extending the pulley arms instead of the crazy architecture. 
You can kind of tell how the houses lean forward...
Brussels, you're lucky you have waffles!
Our hostel was a bit outside the city center of Brussels, Belgium, so when we arrived we picked up a map and started to explore. The map was "made by locals for travelers," so it had handy tips and fun facts in it. One of the walking tours took you around the northside to the green labrynth, a park, a bridge, train station, and by some prostitutes. The city that we saw looked dirty, decaying, and ghetto. Not what I was expecting at all. But, fun fact, french fries were invented in Belgium, despite the name. There were fry stands all around, and the norm is to eat them with mayonnaise. So we ordered a large to share and it came in a paper cone with a pile of mayo on top. This large was meant for 5 people, not 2, because by the end, we both wanted to die. 
We didn't even find any waffles, so by the time we returned to our hostel, we were sorely disappointed. The made by locals map makes me think that locals wrote it to turn people off from Brussels so tourists wouldn't take over their city or ever want to come back. So, the next day, we gave Brussels one more shot, and visited the city center before getting on a train to Amsterdam. The main plaza was gorgeous. There were buildings with gold ornaments and large, pretty cathedrals. The main attraction was just down the street, a fountain of a peeing little boy, the mannekin pis. He was about a foot tall, and got a new outfit a few times a month. Today, he was dressed as a scottish boy. 
The waffles were de.lish.us. They were filled with caramelized sugar and were excellent plain.
So if you are planning to visit Brussels, set aside 4 hours max, get off the train at the city center, and grab some waffles and fries. I guarantee on your walk to the food stands, you will see everything the city has to offer :)
We didn't even find any waffles, so by the time we returned to our hostel, we were sorely disappointed. The made by locals map makes me think that locals wrote it to turn people off from Brussels so tourists wouldn't take over their city or ever want to come back. So, the next day, we gave Brussels one more shot, and visited the city center before getting on a train to Amsterdam. The main plaza was gorgeous. There were buildings with gold ornaments and large, pretty cathedrals. The main attraction was just down the street, a fountain of a peeing little boy, the mannekin pis. He was about a foot tall, and got a new outfit a few times a month. Today, he was dressed as a scottish boy. 
The waffles were de.lish.us. They were filled with caramelized sugar and were excellent plain.
I ate my waffle before I remembered to take a picture, so these were the ones on display :)
The NIMBUS 2000. Yea. And my wand. The one with Cho Chang written on it.
Brussels is SO strange
So if you are planning to visit Brussels, set aside 4 hours max, get off the train at the city center, and grab some waffles and fries. I guarantee on your walk to the food stands, you will see everything the city has to offer :)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Goodbye, Paris. Hello, Brussels! Almost...
Paris has been beautiful. My favorite was probably the sparkling eiffel tower at night, which we could see from our hostel room window.
The crepes were delicious, but started making a dent in our budget so I became an official crepe maker in the hostel kitchen. Amy's Creperie due to open July 2010. Last night we decided to do the Paris pub crawl to see the night life this city had to offer. Bad, bad idea. Well, loads of fun minus the creepy 40 year old french man that was kissing my hand and face and telling me how pretty I was and asking if I was married and minus how terrible I felt today. Which brings me here, to a Best Western hotel with all the conveniences from home that one could ask for - a big bed, air conditioning, real towels, privacy, quiet, a late checkout time, breakfast buffet, elevator! I felt so awful all day and thought I was dying so all I wanted was a hotel bed and sleep, so I did it. Mom said I could charge a few things and although I have been reluctant to use their money for my trip, I felt as if this was something she would want for me, a good night's rest so I wasn't sick anymore. Thanks, Mom and Dad, love you guys! :)
America's Next Top Model, France edition maybe??
Tonight marks the fifth night in Paris, and I am glad to be leaving. I'm not sure if I look like a rediculous foreigner or if staring here is the norm, but I have been getting stare after stare from all kinds of people, blatant, long, direct stares. that continue even after I stare back. The French are very anti english, so much so that there is a society of the keepers of the French language to prevent english from creeping in. For example, they started to say le weekend, so the "immortals" immediately made a word for it, and people started saying le computer, so they made a new word for that too. They're called the immortals because you get the job for life and can only get one to you by someone retiring. I imagine them wearing long cloaks and hoods and being similar to the secret societies of the DaVinci Code or National Treasure.
Its funny the things you start to miss from home. Its been a month exactly and along with the comfort and cleanliness of home, I miss free water, the abundance of public restrooms, privacy, and Mom's food. Patrick misses ice, haha. Because Europe doesn't serve ice in their drinks, and their drinks are usually only mildly cold. And I miss free refills!! I tried to ease my homesickness by going to Chinatown. Its big enough that its on the map and listed in both of our guide books. We get there but you wouldn't have known it because it wasn't very obvious. There were just scattered asian stores and restaurants on four streets, definitely not what I consider a chinatown. But nevertheless, I got a don tot, chinese egg custard, from a pastry shop and four cans of Kirin for 1.25 each. But then someone stole our beer from the fridge in the hostel :( Our fault for leaving them there and making it too easy.
Tomorrow we will definitely be making it to Brussels. I hear there's the Godiva factory there :)
The crepes were delicious, but started making a dent in our budget so I became an official crepe maker in the hostel kitchen. Amy's Creperie due to open July 2010. Last night we decided to do the Paris pub crawl to see the night life this city had to offer. Bad, bad idea. Well, loads of fun minus the creepy 40 year old french man that was kissing my hand and face and telling me how pretty I was and asking if I was married and minus how terrible I felt today. Which brings me here, to a Best Western hotel with all the conveniences from home that one could ask for - a big bed, air conditioning, real towels, privacy, quiet, a late checkout time, breakfast buffet, elevator! I felt so awful all day and thought I was dying so all I wanted was a hotel bed and sleep, so I did it. Mom said I could charge a few things and although I have been reluctant to use their money for my trip, I felt as if this was something she would want for me, a good night's rest so I wasn't sick anymore. Thanks, Mom and Dad, love you guys! :)
America's Next Top Model, France edition maybe??
My favorite movie!
Tonight marks the fifth night in Paris, and I am glad to be leaving. I'm not sure if I look like a rediculous foreigner or if staring here is the norm, but I have been getting stare after stare from all kinds of people, blatant, long, direct stares. that continue even after I stare back. The French are very anti english, so much so that there is a society of the keepers of the French language to prevent english from creeping in. For example, they started to say le weekend, so the "immortals" immediately made a word for it, and people started saying le computer, so they made a new word for that too. They're called the immortals because you get the job for life and can only get one to you by someone retiring. I imagine them wearing long cloaks and hoods and being similar to the secret societies of the DaVinci Code or National Treasure.
Its funny the things you start to miss from home. Its been a month exactly and along with the comfort and cleanliness of home, I miss free water, the abundance of public restrooms, privacy, and Mom's food. Patrick misses ice, haha. Because Europe doesn't serve ice in their drinks, and their drinks are usually only mildly cold. And I miss free refills!! I tried to ease my homesickness by going to Chinatown. Its big enough that its on the map and listed in both of our guide books. We get there but you wouldn't have known it because it wasn't very obvious. There were just scattered asian stores and restaurants on four streets, definitely not what I consider a chinatown. But nevertheless, I got a don tot, chinese egg custard, from a pastry shop and four cans of Kirin for 1.25 each. But then someone stole our beer from the fridge in the hostel :( Our fault for leaving them there and making it too easy.
Tomorrow we will definitely be making it to Brussels. I hear there's the Godiva factory there :)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
So. Exhausted.
Everyday I get so worn out! And you can't sleep in and recharge all your batteries, because there's just too much to see. I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight, but I must keep going!
Well worth it.
Leaving Switzerland was so stressful! We haven't quite gotten the hang of train travel yet. We barely caught the bus to the train station, and then at our train transfer stop, we found our train, car, and seats, or so we thought, until a train man knocked on the window and yelled to get off and that the train to paris was farther down. We hurried off and the train man just pointed down the corridor and told us to keep running. Another train man was hanging out of a car that was waaay down there and telling us to hurry. As we sprinted down the platform the whistle blew and I could here the train revving up! Ugh sooo stressful. But we made it to Paris and I slept the whole way :). Were pretty much going to double the amount of time that we think we need before travelling from now on.
As you know, I'm a terrible hiker. You would think that one can't really be bad at hiking, but I am. So I was super satisfied with our hike up Mt. Pilatus. We started hiking from the bottom on a medium rated trail that lasts 4-5 hours. We thought "We'll be on a mountain, so it will surely be colder than the rest of the city," and accordingly, we both wore pants and brought our fleeces with us. Oh. No. It was sooooooooo hot on the mountain. And for some reason, towards the midway point, the trails were covered in manure! And there were swarms of the largest flies I have ever seen in my life! It was so terrible! Imagine being so hot, and sweaty, and exhausted, and walking through walls of flies and smelling horse poop and climbing a mountain. All at the same time. BUT with one of the most breathtaking views ever. So that made it semi-ok. Thankfully, there was a cogwheel train stop halfway up the trail so we hopped on that. The first half to the station was estimated at 1.5-2 hours and it took us about 3, and the second half was listed at 2 hours so it probably would have taken us 4. While we were waiting for the train, we tried to buy tickets at the little machine, but it wouldn't take our cash! But the nice conductor man let us on and put us in the unused conductor cabin in the back of the train. I think because we smelled awful, but it was still cool to be in the driver's seat on the world's steepest cog wheel train! The top of the mountain was covered in flies too!! So. Gross. But there was still a little bit of snow at the top. We took a cable car down to Switzerland's longest toboggan run which was a lot of fun! Thankfully we didn't get stuck behind someone that braked the whole way down, like the guy in front of us.
Still had a ways to go to the summit...
Still had a ways to go to the summit...s
Thank goodness for the train! In the cockpit.
Thank goodness for the train! In the cockpit.
Well worth it.Leaving Switzerland was so stressful! We haven't quite gotten the hang of train travel yet. We barely caught the bus to the train station, and then at our train transfer stop, we found our train, car, and seats, or so we thought, until a train man knocked on the window and yelled to get off and that the train to paris was farther down. We hurried off and the train man just pointed down the corridor and told us to keep running. Another train man was hanging out of a car that was waaay down there and telling us to hurry. As we sprinted down the platform the whistle blew and I could here the train revving up! Ugh sooo stressful. But we made it to Paris and I slept the whole way :). Were pretty much going to double the amount of time that we think we need before travelling from now on.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Backdate to Friday
Russian mission! Eek!
The UN in all its glory
Geneva
Switzerland is beautiful, but man, is it expensive. Left Bern today, and arrived in Luzern, where supposedly its breath takingly beautiful. We got to our hostel which is kind of out in the residential boonie area, but its quiet and safe around the hostel. Its definitely the most expensive one that were staying at but probably has the least amount of amenities. Similar to our Geneva day, we had free travel today, so we took a boat cruise around Lake Lucerne. There was a boat waiting at the port so we just hopped on without asking any questions. Cut to 4 hours later, we find out that this boat never actually goes back to Luzern. So starving and boated out, we get off and switch onto the boat that would take us back. What an adventure!
Fine swiss cuisine, fried rice from the street! YummmmTomorrow is Mt. Pilatus which could possibly include a medium difficulty 5 hour 7 km hike to the summit. That's right. Me. Hiking. I'm still debating between that or an easy 1.5 hour hike....
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Europe has this new line of "no frills" airlines which usually fly to smaller aiports right outside of large cities and have fares as low as 5 euro including taxes and fees. The catch is that you have to pay for every little thing and you're bombarded with ads during your flight. Wellll how bad could that be? Pretty terrible. The seat backs in front of you have no pockets and are made of plastic. There aren't any folding procedure pamphlets, there's a sign plastered to the seat in front of you. The overhead bins have ads on them. The stewardesses run up and down the aisles with catalogues and carts of things for sale. There aren't any assigned seats and you must check in online or pay extra. BUT totally worth it for less than $15.
The best street performer! Bumblebee! And he actually transformed into a car!
Paella on the Mediterranean coast!
Kareem and Pat, homies
Then we took a night train in Harry Potter style to Bern. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful places on Earth! Since we have eurail passes we got some free travel today so why not take a day trip to Geneva, the capitol of international diplomacy?? We cruised on a boat on Lake Geneva and rented free city bikes to bicycle up to the European UN HQ. You know, normal day in the life of moi.
Me on the night train
Once we arrived in Barcelona, it was around midnight. And on our walk to the hostel we went the opposite direction and ran into a couple of prostitutes and a strip club, but made it alive to our hostel. Barcelona was beautiful and had so much history, but it was difficult to imagine the majesty in all of the old buildings because they fit right in with the rest of the city. We watched a free concert in the park and took a nap in the sun, explored the city including Gaudi pieces, the Olympic village and stadium, La Sagrada Familia (a huge cathedral scheduled to be finished in 2020), and saw KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR, who I just thought was some freakishly tall person. And we ate paella on the mediterranean coast. And saw an old naked man walking along the port.
Barcelona from the Gaudi Park
The best street performer! Bumblebee! And he actually transformed into a car!
Paella on the Mediterranean coast!
Kareem and Pat, homies
Then we took a night train in Harry Potter style to Bern. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful places on Earth! Since we have eurail passes we got some free travel today so why not take a day trip to Geneva, the capitol of international diplomacy?? We cruised on a boat on Lake Geneva and rented free city bikes to bicycle up to the European UN HQ. You know, normal day in the life of moi.
Me on the night train
My spanish got us by pretty well in Spain, but thank goodness a good number of people speak english here! Because neither of us know any French or German. Haven't tried Swiss chocolate yet but I will let you know how delicious it is when I do. Will also post pictures once I find a computer that doesn't charge $6 per hour, so most likely not until we leave Suisse, where everything costs double.
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