Hey everyone!!! Here's a video we put together of a few of our adventures!
Other than that, we've been doing lots of stuff! Let's start with Florence:
On Friday morning we arrived in Florence. It was a really fun day of exploring. We went to the Duomo, which was really impressive on the outside, but honestly seemed kind of blah on the inside. I think they built the outside then got tired and gave up :-P The Medici's tomb was really impressive (Donatello was there as well!). The Tomb held tons of relics, including something of St. Peter's (too small to tell what it was and I don't read Italian, so I don't know!!), and even St. Matthew's finger!!! Eek! We saw the David, which was SO awesome. All the detail was just amazing. Way to go, Michelangelo... good work on that one! We had lunch at this really cool little cafe there (all inclusive for just 8 euro!) and it was delicious! We made dinner back at the hostel, and it turned out really good, once again!!!
Saturday morning we headed out to Venice!! Quote of the day from an American southern woman: "You wanna take a ride on the gondohhhlahh?" HAHAHA. Oh boy. No wonder people here love Americans...
We basically spent the day just exploring. The city was just SO cool with how it was just surrounded by water! They say that the city is sinking and now I see why... It flooded, but not from rain water or water coming off the waterways: The water came up from the ground! It was INSANE! Our feet were soaked the rest of the day because at some points there was just no way around it!
Later in the day Pat and i took a ride on a GonDOHlaaahhhh (we couldn't just say gondola anymore!). The ride way SO much fun!! It was really neat to see the city from that point of view!
That night we took an overnight train to Vienna. I got verrrrry little sleep this time. We didn't splurge for the beds. We had couchettes and 6 people in the room. it was so cramped!
In Vienna, we went to the Palace. We didn't actually go in, but we explored the gardens. The gardens had a Labyrinth. Now, I can't even tell you how much fun we had there! Watch the video... you'll see!!
Later on we split up. Dave and Jen headed to the Freud Museum. Pat and i went to St. Stephen's Cathedral and explored the city a bit. I really liked Vienna. It was a medium-sized city in my book and it had a great feel to it!
Later on in Vienna, we checked into the hostel and napped! i got to videochat with my whole family (yay!) and we got our much needed rest from the minimal sleep of the night before.
Now, i was slightly disappointed that I did not get to run through a field in Austria singing about how the hills are alive... but, I'll get over it, I suppose!
The next day we were off to Prague!!!! Most the day was spent traveling, which stunk, but oh well!! There's a really cool pub in our hostel and a band played there last night. Prague looks like it's gonna be awesome!!!!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Pictures
So here are some more pictures for y'all! Enjoy!
The Labyrinth!
Pat and I are moving into that house in the background... yes it may have been the palace of Austria's former royalty, but we decided to live there anyway!
Hangin' in the palace gardens in Austria.
Venice!
Riding the Gondola!
Biker Bird. Duuuuude.
Feeding the birdies in Venice.
Venice!!
The David... from behind!!!
Inside the Duomo. My dress had spaghetti straps and I needed to cover my shoulders. So obviously this is the solution they came up with!
The Duomo. Amazing on the outside! So intricate!
This "statue" in Florence freaked me out!
The beach in Capri! So clear, but no sand!
Ya know... just your normal everyday view...
A gorgeous walkway in Capri... I was in heaven!
Capri! Such a beautiful day!!
Pompeii... this was an actual person at the time of the eruption, just frozen in time...
The Trevi Fountain... We're now assured a trip back to Rome!
The entrance to the Colosseum. Grand Hall at Yankee Stadium, anyone??
The Labyrinth!
Pat and I are moving into that house in the background... yes it may have been the palace of Austria's former royalty, but we decided to live there anyway!
Hangin' in the palace gardens in Austria.
Venice!
Riding the Gondola!
Biker Bird. Duuuuude.
Feeding the birdies in Venice.
Venice!!
The David... from behind!!!
Inside the Duomo. My dress had spaghetti straps and I needed to cover my shoulders. So obviously this is the solution they came up with!
The Duomo. Amazing on the outside! So intricate!
This "statue" in Florence freaked me out!
The beach in Capri! So clear, but no sand!
Ya know... just your normal everyday view...
A gorgeous walkway in Capri... I was in heaven!
Capri! Such a beautiful day!!
Pompeii... this was an actual person at the time of the eruption, just frozen in time...
The Trevi Fountain... We're now assured a trip back to Rome!
The entrance to the Colosseum. Grand Hall at Yankee Stadium, anyone??
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Naples/Pompeii/Capri
Ok, Naples stinks. No, literally, there is garbage everywhere!!! But, we're really only staying here at night, and our hostel is nice and we've met lots of cool people. We've had yummy food as well!
When we got into Naples on Wednesday, we locked our bags up at the train station and headed straight to Pompeii! It was about a half hour train ride and it was WONDERFUL! Yes, it was hot out, but it was so amazing to see all the ruins and Mt. Vesuvius right there. We saw all this old art work on the walls in the houses, the old tile flooring, sooo many vases, and even people that were literally frozen in time. After about 2 hours there, the houses seemed repetitve, though. I wish i had spent the money on the audio tour... It was well worth the trip there, though.
On the way back to Naples, Pat and I sat across from an Aussie couple who were SO nice! It turns out that girl was reading the same book I am: Eat, Pray, Love (which i'm not sure who I'm making read it first when i return, Mom or Michelle....). In it this Pizzaria in Naples is recommended and the 4 of us spent the train ride trying to figure out where it could be (yay knowing the name and google maps!).
Quick side story: When we first got on the train in Pompeii there was a HUGE grasshopper. When I say huge, i mean small-rodent sized. Like, bigger than a hampster, probably illegal to kill lol 9not that you could without a shotgun, anyway). Everyone in our part of the train was freaking out when it hopped, then laughing at each other and ourselves. And when I say Hopped, its more like it had some sort of anti-gravity device on. Anywho, the Australian man is the one that finally caught it and set it free out the window of the train. The world may not have the crocodile hunter anymore, but I think I've found the next best thing: The Hopper Hunter!!!!!!!!!!
Ok so after a long walk to the hostel, we relaxed a bit then went out in search of Pizzaria del Michele. It was a bit of a walk (closer to the train station than the hostel), plus we had a wait, buttttt here's my review: The dough was the best to me... it was thin, but not crispy... delicious. The pizza itself was way too greasy. I really enjoyed it though!
Today was Capri. One word: AMAZING! It was an hour long boat ride from Naples and the dock was around the corner from our hostel! the weather was perfect and Capri was beautiful. Words cant even describe it. I neeeeed to post ppictures, because some of the views we had were simply breathtaking!
The beach there was weird... the water was so unbelievably clear, but the beach itself was rocks!! noot pebbles... rocks! I'm all about the feeling of the sand beneath my toes, so that part wasn't my favorite, but the clear water made up for it!
Tonight's dinner was at a different Restaurant and I had spaghetti. Not the best ever, but oh well! It was still yummy!
Back at the hostel we made friends with some great new people! It's been a really REALLY great day!
When we got into Naples on Wednesday, we locked our bags up at the train station and headed straight to Pompeii! It was about a half hour train ride and it was WONDERFUL! Yes, it was hot out, but it was so amazing to see all the ruins and Mt. Vesuvius right there. We saw all this old art work on the walls in the houses, the old tile flooring, sooo many vases, and even people that were literally frozen in time. After about 2 hours there, the houses seemed repetitve, though. I wish i had spent the money on the audio tour... It was well worth the trip there, though.
On the way back to Naples, Pat and I sat across from an Aussie couple who were SO nice! It turns out that girl was reading the same book I am: Eat, Pray, Love (which i'm not sure who I'm making read it first when i return, Mom or Michelle....). In it this Pizzaria in Naples is recommended and the 4 of us spent the train ride trying to figure out where it could be (yay knowing the name and google maps!).
Quick side story: When we first got on the train in Pompeii there was a HUGE grasshopper. When I say huge, i mean small-rodent sized. Like, bigger than a hampster, probably illegal to kill lol 9not that you could without a shotgun, anyway). Everyone in our part of the train was freaking out when it hopped, then laughing at each other and ourselves. And when I say Hopped, its more like it had some sort of anti-gravity device on. Anywho, the Australian man is the one that finally caught it and set it free out the window of the train. The world may not have the crocodile hunter anymore, but I think I've found the next best thing: The Hopper Hunter!!!!!!!!!!
Ok so after a long walk to the hostel, we relaxed a bit then went out in search of Pizzaria del Michele. It was a bit of a walk (closer to the train station than the hostel), plus we had a wait, buttttt here's my review: The dough was the best to me... it was thin, but not crispy... delicious. The pizza itself was way too greasy. I really enjoyed it though!
Today was Capri. One word: AMAZING! It was an hour long boat ride from Naples and the dock was around the corner from our hostel! the weather was perfect and Capri was beautiful. Words cant even describe it. I neeeeed to post ppictures, because some of the views we had were simply breathtaking!
The beach there was weird... the water was so unbelievably clear, but the beach itself was rocks!! noot pebbles... rocks! I'm all about the feeling of the sand beneath my toes, so that part wasn't my favorite, but the clear water made up for it!
Tonight's dinner was at a different Restaurant and I had spaghetti. Not the best ever, but oh well! It was still yummy!
Back at the hostel we made friends with some great new people! It's been a really REALLY great day!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Rome
Waking up in interlaken was kind of disappointing. We didn't get to go zorbing because not enough people signed up to go... They apparently needed the full amount of slots filled?? I'm so bummed though: I was waiting 2 years to do this!!! :-(
It was raining there so we didn't get to do anything that morning. We decided to skip out on Zurich altogether. It just made the most sense with heading to Rome later that day.
So, we started heading the Rome. We got there after another 6ish hour train ride. We took the metro to our hostel and walked there. Oh, boy. The area was so sketchy. The hostel was in an apartment building. We had to buzz in there, but that was the ONLY security. The office and the hostel room were on different floors of the building. They didn't even give us a room key! No security lockers.. Nothing. They made us pay for that night in advance and they told us they'd bring the change up to us when they got it. They never brought it. Pat had to fight with the guy at the desk to get it (and he either didn't speak english or pretended not to so he could keep the money... Either way he did NOT know math or how to make change).
Anyway, this place was SO sketchy. We didn't feel the least bit safe. It was so bad that we sent an SOS out to the parents. My phone wasn't working at that time and my parents were woooonderful and booked us into the sheraton in town (yay for email).
We got outta that dirty grimy un-safe hostel ASAP. The sheraton was a Godsend. Especially after the hostels we've been staying in, I felt like royalty! It was sooo clean and sparkly and we had a private room... Awesome! Best part was that ot was for THREE nights!!! Yes more expensive then a hostel, but safety is more important than that.
So that night, after everything that went down, we only had time to sleep lol. The next day Pat, Dave, and I went out to Vatican City. We waited on line for an hour and a half to get into the vatican museum, which isn't so bad. The only tough part was the heat, but the gelato really helped with that!
There, we saw lots of cool things, including the sistine chapel! We went to St. Peter's Basillica as well! It was soooo gorgeous!!! I'm fairly certain that no church will ever impress me ever again. It was really cool because I got to go into adoration there for a bit! Pat and I climbed to the top of the basillica: wayyy up the dome! We paid a few euro to take an elevator half way up..the view of the basillica from this point was breathtaking. Then we just had to climb the 320 remaining steps (eek). It was cool though: my knee was feeling good and towards the top you actually had to slant your body to the curve of the dome in order to fit up the stairway!! The view from up there was AMAZING! Looking down into the gardens of the vatican, I just kept thinking of the youth group hibachi joke. Gotta love it!
We went back to the hotel room and picked up Jen then went out to this little place to eat that she knew of. There was this cute sqare near there that was pretty busy. I had really yummy pasta and pizza (pat and I each ordered one and split them). We then had some (more) gelati. Pat confessed to me that he's having an affair... With strawberry gelato. And I am quite okay with that :-P we walked around a bit along the water. It was like a boardwalk: lots of little shops and games!
Needless to say, my knee was not doing so well at this point: 320 steps up, 320 down, and lots of standing/walking. Even with napping the next morning due to the rain, it wasn't so great. I didn't rest it much on Tuesday: but that's ok because we saw the Colesseum, the Pantheon, spanish steps, the roman forum, and the trevi fountain! My favorite were the Colesseum and the fountain. We each threw coins into the fountain over our shoulders to ensure a quick return to rome! (According to legend, 1 coin means a quick return, 2 coins means a new love and 3 means a marriage or divorce)
We went to dinner at this delicious place and I had spaghetti. It wasn't campbles, but it was Mmm mmm good!
After dinner we had more gelati (we're addicted). Then it was back to the hotel!
Monday night pat and I washed a buncha clothes in the tub to hold us over til we found a laundramat. They were hanging up overnight, pat took the hairdryer to them in the morning to help the drying process along and I finished the job last night! Yay clean clothes! I'm officially out of those nifty little laundry sheets though, so I'm glad that both jen and pat have them too.
The hotel was wonderful not only for space, privacy, and cleanliness: we got free water (complimentary, not just to compliment the room), we had fluffy towels, and we stuffed our faces so much at the buffet breakfasts that we never had to eat/pay for lunch! The ONLY bad side was that it was far away from the heart of the city and we had much longer travel times (even the metro was a 10 minute walk). We wound up taking a few cabs, which is pretty expensive. The hotel offered a shuttle, but you had to pay 3 euro per person to take it. The public busses took a very long time as well.
Today we checked out and took a cab to the train station. I think he took us on a scenic route (ugh. More money). It took sooo long, too. We were afraid we wouldn't make the train. When we finally got there, there was a HUGE line for tickets. The 3 of them waited on line as I checked out the ticket machines. This was the very first time that machines offered an option for eurail pass holders!!! We quickly got our reservation and hopped on the train.
The seats are harry potter-esque: they're little cabins with sliding doors. There's 6 seats per room. I have a VERY large italian man next to me who has begun to snore. I think it might be time to dig out the ipod lol.
One more note: my sneakers are amazing. I know one of my earlier posts before I left recommended the Princeton Running Store to everyone, but I HIGHLY suggest that place now! Buy shoes there. They're foot/knee/leg/life savers ;-)
Pictures to come when we have free wifi again and I'm not typing on my phone!
It was raining there so we didn't get to do anything that morning. We decided to skip out on Zurich altogether. It just made the most sense with heading to Rome later that day.
So, we started heading the Rome. We got there after another 6ish hour train ride. We took the metro to our hostel and walked there. Oh, boy. The area was so sketchy. The hostel was in an apartment building. We had to buzz in there, but that was the ONLY security. The office and the hostel room were on different floors of the building. They didn't even give us a room key! No security lockers.. Nothing. They made us pay for that night in advance and they told us they'd bring the change up to us when they got it. They never brought it. Pat had to fight with the guy at the desk to get it (and he either didn't speak english or pretended not to so he could keep the money... Either way he did NOT know math or how to make change).
Anyway, this place was SO sketchy. We didn't feel the least bit safe. It was so bad that we sent an SOS out to the parents. My phone wasn't working at that time and my parents were woooonderful and booked us into the sheraton in town (yay for email).
We got outta that dirty grimy un-safe hostel ASAP. The sheraton was a Godsend. Especially after the hostels we've been staying in, I felt like royalty! It was sooo clean and sparkly and we had a private room... Awesome! Best part was that ot was for THREE nights!!! Yes more expensive then a hostel, but safety is more important than that.
So that night, after everything that went down, we only had time to sleep lol. The next day Pat, Dave, and I went out to Vatican City. We waited on line for an hour and a half to get into the vatican museum, which isn't so bad. The only tough part was the heat, but the gelato really helped with that!
There, we saw lots of cool things, including the sistine chapel! We went to St. Peter's Basillica as well! It was soooo gorgeous!!! I'm fairly certain that no church will ever impress me ever again. It was really cool because I got to go into adoration there for a bit! Pat and I climbed to the top of the basillica: wayyy up the dome! We paid a few euro to take an elevator half way up..the view of the basillica from this point was breathtaking. Then we just had to climb the 320 remaining steps (eek). It was cool though: my knee was feeling good and towards the top you actually had to slant your body to the curve of the dome in order to fit up the stairway!! The view from up there was AMAZING! Looking down into the gardens of the vatican, I just kept thinking of the youth group hibachi joke. Gotta love it!
We went back to the hotel room and picked up Jen then went out to this little place to eat that she knew of. There was this cute sqare near there that was pretty busy. I had really yummy pasta and pizza (pat and I each ordered one and split them). We then had some (more) gelati. Pat confessed to me that he's having an affair... With strawberry gelato. And I am quite okay with that :-P we walked around a bit along the water. It was like a boardwalk: lots of little shops and games!
Needless to say, my knee was not doing so well at this point: 320 steps up, 320 down, and lots of standing/walking. Even with napping the next morning due to the rain, it wasn't so great. I didn't rest it much on Tuesday: but that's ok because we saw the Colesseum, the Pantheon, spanish steps, the roman forum, and the trevi fountain! My favorite were the Colesseum and the fountain. We each threw coins into the fountain over our shoulders to ensure a quick return to rome! (According to legend, 1 coin means a quick return, 2 coins means a new love and 3 means a marriage or divorce)
We went to dinner at this delicious place and I had spaghetti. It wasn't campbles, but it was Mmm mmm good!
After dinner we had more gelati (we're addicted). Then it was back to the hotel!
Monday night pat and I washed a buncha clothes in the tub to hold us over til we found a laundramat. They were hanging up overnight, pat took the hairdryer to them in the morning to help the drying process along and I finished the job last night! Yay clean clothes! I'm officially out of those nifty little laundry sheets though, so I'm glad that both jen and pat have them too.
The hotel was wonderful not only for space, privacy, and cleanliness: we got free water (complimentary, not just to compliment the room), we had fluffy towels, and we stuffed our faces so much at the buffet breakfasts that we never had to eat/pay for lunch! The ONLY bad side was that it was far away from the heart of the city and we had much longer travel times (even the metro was a 10 minute walk). We wound up taking a few cabs, which is pretty expensive. The hotel offered a shuttle, but you had to pay 3 euro per person to take it. The public busses took a very long time as well.
Today we checked out and took a cab to the train station. I think he took us on a scenic route (ugh. More money). It took sooo long, too. We were afraid we wouldn't make the train. When we finally got there, there was a HUGE line for tickets. The 3 of them waited on line as I checked out the ticket machines. This was the very first time that machines offered an option for eurail pass holders!!! We quickly got our reservation and hopped on the train.
The seats are harry potter-esque: they're little cabins with sliding doors. There's 6 seats per room. I have a VERY large italian man next to me who has begun to snore. I think it might be time to dig out the ipod lol.
One more note: my sneakers are amazing. I know one of my earlier posts before I left recommended the Princeton Running Store to everyone, but I HIGHLY suggest that place now! Buy shoes there. They're foot/knee/leg/life savers ;-)
Pictures to come when we have free wifi again and I'm not typing on my phone!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Pictures!!
The pictures are on here instead of Flickr because I'm almost at my picture limit on Flickr (apparently there's a monthly limit??). The most recent are at the top, and the earliest I posted on here was from Spain. Sorry My blog isn't as cool as Pat's with the pictures uploaded in the text!!
Coming back down the mountain... Lower altitude and less of a slope! Yay for dresses.
The view from the almost-top that I made it to!
Pat and Jen are in this picture. Look harder!
The dog from The Sandlot!!
The river in Interlaken... weird color!
Yeah... I took this and people laughed. But it's Ratatouille!! I wonder if Remy made it??
Pat and I in front of the tower
The four of us with Ben at the Eiffel Tower!!
A Skull and Crossbones! For Real! "She's a Sigma through and through!!"
Catacombs
Notre Dame.
Pat and I with the Mona Lisa!
Pat looking at Venus de Milo.
Baguette Fight!
Notre Dame
Pat and I on top of the Eiffel Tower!
Dining cart on the train... BEFORE Pat and I were kicked out!
newspaper hat the nice man made me in Madrid
Fun Gaudi buildings in Gaudi Park!
Paris (Day 3), Bern, and Interlocken
Waking up Day 3 in Paris was great... no alarms!!! We slept in, had a slow morning (Crepes and Starbucks!), and then: The Catacombs!!!!
This place was SO cool. I was all freaked out walking down there, but after a few minutes I just pretended I was Nancy Drew... then the Goonies... then Indy. it was amazing how many bones there were. There were walls of longer bones with designs made out of skulls!
That night we bought food to cook and went back to the hostel. We wound up cooking Chicken, Mushroom sauce, pasta/rice, veggies, and had bread. mmmmm! While cooking we met Ben (from Canada, living in Ireland, vacationing in Paris) and Kristen (from Australia). They were both lots of fun to hang out with!
Ben wound up coming out with us later that night to the Eiffel Tower. Every hour, on the hour, the tower sparkles! It really was magical!! We got back pretty late and I was really tired (hence no pictures that night - sorry bout that!).
The next morning we were out of the hostel SOOO early to catch a long train to Bern. We got to the train station to find that all the morning trains were booked and we had to wait til 1:15. Great! We sat around in the train station reading and went to lunch at this cute little cafe. Honestly, that might have been the best burger I've had in my life!
When we finally got on the train, it was SO hot. We all started not feeling well from the heat! That train was 4 hours long, then we had two connections that were about an hour and a half total. Ick!!
In bern, we checked into our hostel (a pretty nice place) then went out on the town in search of food. We walked through this park with HUGE chess boards everywhere! The town was hopping with people. We ate at an "American" themed place. I say "American" because it was actually Mexican, but I suppose it's all North America!
Everything in Switzerland is sooo expensive. We found out that it's because all their taxes are on food and stuff but they dont need to pay other taxes? I dont know exactly.... something like that!
Unfortunately, since the train fiasco happend that morning, we didn't really get to see much of Bern. It's a shame, since it seemed like a nice place. It was good to see what we did though!
This morning we caught the less-than-an-hour train ride to Interlaken. LOVE it here! Our hostel room is really cool (6 person room to ourselves plus our own bathroom) and we had lots of time on our hands today.
We wound up going to Harder Kulm, a nearby mountain. We took this really cool Funicular railway up the mountain a bit. There's a restaurant up there and a path to go hiking. Well, we went hiking... all the way up the mountain! And yes, I was in a sun dress today. Smart! By the time we got near the top, my knee was hurting a LOT, so I didn't do the super steep trail (or climb up the dangerously steep slope that Pat and Jen did). I had an amazing view from where I was though, and my knee held out for as long as it did, so I'm happy!!
I'm not too sure what we'll be doing tonight, but Jen, Dave, and Pat are getting food right now (bringing me back some so that I can rest my knee a bit). We might watch some of the world cup tonight down at the bar in our hostel. It's such a big thing here that we're kind of getting into it! I know... Americans... into professional futbol (soccer)?!? That doesn't make sense! For those of you wondering, today we play England. USA all the way!
Anywho, I'm gonna attempt to upload pics for y'all. Enjoy!
This place was SO cool. I was all freaked out walking down there, but after a few minutes I just pretended I was Nancy Drew... then the Goonies... then Indy. it was amazing how many bones there were. There were walls of longer bones with designs made out of skulls!
That night we bought food to cook and went back to the hostel. We wound up cooking Chicken, Mushroom sauce, pasta/rice, veggies, and had bread. mmmmm! While cooking we met Ben (from Canada, living in Ireland, vacationing in Paris) and Kristen (from Australia). They were both lots of fun to hang out with!
Ben wound up coming out with us later that night to the Eiffel Tower. Every hour, on the hour, the tower sparkles! It really was magical!! We got back pretty late and I was really tired (hence no pictures that night - sorry bout that!).
The next morning we were out of the hostel SOOO early to catch a long train to Bern. We got to the train station to find that all the morning trains were booked and we had to wait til 1:15. Great! We sat around in the train station reading and went to lunch at this cute little cafe. Honestly, that might have been the best burger I've had in my life!
When we finally got on the train, it was SO hot. We all started not feeling well from the heat! That train was 4 hours long, then we had two connections that were about an hour and a half total. Ick!!
In bern, we checked into our hostel (a pretty nice place) then went out on the town in search of food. We walked through this park with HUGE chess boards everywhere! The town was hopping with people. We ate at an "American" themed place. I say "American" because it was actually Mexican, but I suppose it's all North America!
Everything in Switzerland is sooo expensive. We found out that it's because all their taxes are on food and stuff but they dont need to pay other taxes? I dont know exactly.... something like that!
Unfortunately, since the train fiasco happend that morning, we didn't really get to see much of Bern. It's a shame, since it seemed like a nice place. It was good to see what we did though!
This morning we caught the less-than-an-hour train ride to Interlaken. LOVE it here! Our hostel room is really cool (6 person room to ourselves plus our own bathroom) and we had lots of time on our hands today.
We wound up going to Harder Kulm, a nearby mountain. We took this really cool Funicular railway up the mountain a bit. There's a restaurant up there and a path to go hiking. Well, we went hiking... all the way up the mountain! And yes, I was in a sun dress today. Smart! By the time we got near the top, my knee was hurting a LOT, so I didn't do the super steep trail (or climb up the dangerously steep slope that Pat and Jen did). I had an amazing view from where I was though, and my knee held out for as long as it did, so I'm happy!!
I'm not too sure what we'll be doing tonight, but Jen, Dave, and Pat are getting food right now (bringing me back some so that I can rest my knee a bit). We might watch some of the world cup tonight down at the bar in our hostel. It's such a big thing here that we're kind of getting into it! I know... Americans... into professional futbol (soccer)?!? That doesn't make sense! For those of you wondering, today we play England. USA all the way!
Anywho, I'm gonna attempt to upload pics for y'all. Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Paris (Day 2)
My day in a nutshell: woke up, said hi to Mo (that is, the Mona Lisa...we're close, personal friends now), visited the home of Quasimodo, stood under a HUGE arc, went on another tour, and got rained on all the while.
My day released from the shell:
Pat and I got up early and went to the Louvre. We heard it would take HOURS to get in, then we would see the big works of art if lucky. Lies... all lies! Very Very luckily, we got in very quickly with no line. We walked right up to the things we wanted to see (with the exception on the Mona Lisa... We walked up as far as we could til it was roped off and surrounded by bullet proof glass). Other works we saw include The Wrath of Medusa, the Venus de Milo, Oath of the horatia, a few Vermeer's, a few Da Vinci's, a few Michelangelo's, and much much more. I really can't believe that I saw all this!!! It amazes me!
Pat and I were done seeing all the things we wanted to see by noon, so we walked to Notre Dame. It was just as I remembered (from the cartoon). It really was absolutely gorgeous though!
We hopped on the subway and met up with Dave and Jen, who had done some sight seeing this morning, at the Arc de Triomph. It was AMAZING here. I just wish it wasn't raining and windy... I would have enjoyed it so much more!! Surrounding the Arc is a 10 land circle where 6 roads converge (so 12 exits off the circle). Apparently an accident happens there every half hour. There is a tunnel underground to get to the Arc so that you don't need to cross the road. The tomb of the unknown soldier was there as well. There were flowers around the tomb and a large flame lit.
Jen and Dave met up with us and we went to linner. The restaurant was called Le Flamme. Everyone had Mussels (except for me). I had the delicious 4 cheese Penne. mmmmm :)
After going back to the room and taking a power nap, we got Crepes on the way to another tour (same tour guide as yesterday!). This tour was by the same company, but we payed €9 for it (€10 for students minus €1 for going on the free tour)! This tour was great, like yesterday's, even though it rained! It was a tour of the Montmartre District. We went to a lot of the places in Paris that aren't the main-stream tourist-y spots, so it was pretty awesome!
Tonight I had to wait for our two other room mates to take showers (and they took a LONG time) before I took one and came downstairs to use the internet. Today I'm actually blogging before journaling so that I make sure you are all updated. You're welcome :-P
On a side note... the French people are much nicer than I had heard they were. A lady tonight 9at the bar after the tour) was talking to us and when we had to leave, she asked us a few times to stay! Others have spoken to us in English and have done other nice things. No horror stories to report!!!
Since it's just about 12:30 now I need to push the pictures off until tomorrow once again. I'm sorry... they take a long time to upload! You know I'll have a million pictures to show you all when I get home, too!
My day released from the shell:
Pat and I got up early and went to the Louvre. We heard it would take HOURS to get in, then we would see the big works of art if lucky. Lies... all lies! Very Very luckily, we got in very quickly with no line. We walked right up to the things we wanted to see (with the exception on the Mona Lisa... We walked up as far as we could til it was roped off and surrounded by bullet proof glass). Other works we saw include The Wrath of Medusa, the Venus de Milo, Oath of the horatia, a few Vermeer's, a few Da Vinci's, a few Michelangelo's, and much much more. I really can't believe that I saw all this!!! It amazes me!
Pat and I were done seeing all the things we wanted to see by noon, so we walked to Notre Dame. It was just as I remembered (from the cartoon). It really was absolutely gorgeous though!
We hopped on the subway and met up with Dave and Jen, who had done some sight seeing this morning, at the Arc de Triomph. It was AMAZING here. I just wish it wasn't raining and windy... I would have enjoyed it so much more!! Surrounding the Arc is a 10 land circle where 6 roads converge (so 12 exits off the circle). Apparently an accident happens there every half hour. There is a tunnel underground to get to the Arc so that you don't need to cross the road. The tomb of the unknown soldier was there as well. There were flowers around the tomb and a large flame lit.
Jen and Dave met up with us and we went to linner. The restaurant was called Le Flamme. Everyone had Mussels (except for me). I had the delicious 4 cheese Penne. mmmmm :)
After going back to the room and taking a power nap, we got Crepes on the way to another tour (same tour guide as yesterday!). This tour was by the same company, but we payed €9 for it (€10 for students minus €1 for going on the free tour)! This tour was great, like yesterday's, even though it rained! It was a tour of the Montmartre District. We went to a lot of the places in Paris that aren't the main-stream tourist-y spots, so it was pretty awesome!
Tonight I had to wait for our two other room mates to take showers (and they took a LONG time) before I took one and came downstairs to use the internet. Today I'm actually blogging before journaling so that I make sure you are all updated. You're welcome :-P
On a side note... the French people are much nicer than I had heard they were. A lady tonight 9at the bar after the tour) was talking to us and when we had to leave, she asked us a few times to stay! Others have spoken to us in English and have done other nice things. No horror stories to report!!!
Since it's just about 12:30 now I need to push the pictures off until tomorrow once again. I'm sorry... they take a long time to upload! You know I'll have a million pictures to show you all when I get home, too!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Overnight train and Paris Day 1!
The overnight train strated off really cool. Jen and i were in a room with a really nice woman from Paris and a Spanish Nun. the boys were right next door. The train had a dining car that we made 10pm reservations for!! It was great! They turned down the beds around 9:30, and they didn't seems too bad. The train moved SO quickly, too.
We went to the dining car and sat down and looked at the menu. None of us were too hungry and wanted something small. Little did we know this would be a problem. Pat tried to order fruit, which was a dessert, and the waiter refused and got mad at him. I had looked at the menu. There was Pork and Duck and Seafood. Now, I've done REALLY well on this trip with food, and I really did not feel like spending 20 euros on food I didn't want. When I saw the menu I planned to wait til everyone was done then eat at the bar in the next cart over (there were things like chicken burgers and pizza on the menu!). The waiter wound up throwing pat and I out. SO ridiculous. The picture is of us BEFORE the waiter came. What a jerk. The bar was no good though, because they didnt have most things on the menu and no seats were available! Pat and I split a donut and went back to our cabins.
It took me forever to fall asleep with the motion on the train. It was an interrupted night, but it was long, so that made up for it. We got into Paris at 10am.
We dropped our bags at the hostel and went on our way. First was Starbucks, which was across from the Moulin Rouge, then it was off to another one of the Free Walking Tours!
Linda was our guide and she was great!! We saw SO much on the tour, including the outside of Notre Dame and the Louvre, St. Michael's fountain (where he crushes Satan), the statue of henry IV (they recently turned him into a real Jedi Knight for the next few weeks by giving him a light saber), The Arch Bridge, The Opera house that Phantom of the opera is based off of (there reall is a lake under it that the fire department uses!), Napoleon's Tomb, the Eifel Tower (from a distance), and so much more. So cool!
We went to lunch with Linda and some others afterwards. Down the street from where we ate were some riots... we were protected by the riot police and barracades. We could see the tear gas from a distance though.
The four of us then went to the Eifel tower. Pat and I went all the way to the top!! It was well worth it.... The view was awesome and it's so great to be able to say that I did that!!!!
We booked a tour through the New Paris company that gave the free tour (this one costs money, though) for tomorrow night. Same tour guide! Yay!
I'll be posting Spain and Paris pictures soon. We're at this hostel for three nights, so I'll have free wifi again! I'm just tired and have just done 3 posts and I dont want to spend the time posting the pics right now!
I've come to terms with the fact that I will forevermore call french fries "chips". Thank you, UK.
Also, a running theme of the trip is Dave being left behind. Whether he gets stuck at a cross walk or an elevator or subway door closes without him with us, it's alway him getting stuck. It's pretty darn funny!
Anyway, Nighty night. Sleep tight! May God go with you and Smelly Man stay away!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
We went to the dining car and sat down and looked at the menu. None of us were too hungry and wanted something small. Little did we know this would be a problem. Pat tried to order fruit, which was a dessert, and the waiter refused and got mad at him. I had looked at the menu. There was Pork and Duck and Seafood. Now, I've done REALLY well on this trip with food, and I really did not feel like spending 20 euros on food I didn't want. When I saw the menu I planned to wait til everyone was done then eat at the bar in the next cart over (there were things like chicken burgers and pizza on the menu!). The waiter wound up throwing pat and I out. SO ridiculous. The picture is of us BEFORE the waiter came. What a jerk. The bar was no good though, because they didnt have most things on the menu and no seats were available! Pat and I split a donut and went back to our cabins.
It took me forever to fall asleep with the motion on the train. It was an interrupted night, but it was long, so that made up for it. We got into Paris at 10am.
We dropped our bags at the hostel and went on our way. First was Starbucks, which was across from the Moulin Rouge, then it was off to another one of the Free Walking Tours!
Linda was our guide and she was great!! We saw SO much on the tour, including the outside of Notre Dame and the Louvre, St. Michael's fountain (where he crushes Satan), the statue of henry IV (they recently turned him into a real Jedi Knight for the next few weeks by giving him a light saber), The Arch Bridge, The Opera house that Phantom of the opera is based off of (there reall is a lake under it that the fire department uses!), Napoleon's Tomb, the Eifel Tower (from a distance), and so much more. So cool!
We went to lunch with Linda and some others afterwards. Down the street from where we ate were some riots... we were protected by the riot police and barracades. We could see the tear gas from a distance though.
The four of us then went to the Eifel tower. Pat and I went all the way to the top!! It was well worth it.... The view was awesome and it's so great to be able to say that I did that!!!!
We booked a tour through the New Paris company that gave the free tour (this one costs money, though) for tomorrow night. Same tour guide! Yay!
I'll be posting Spain and Paris pictures soon. We're at this hostel for three nights, so I'll have free wifi again! I'm just tired and have just done 3 posts and I dont want to spend the time posting the pics right now!
I've come to terms with the fact that I will forevermore call french fries "chips". Thank you, UK.
Also, a running theme of the trip is Dave being left behind. Whether he gets stuck at a cross walk or an elevator or subway door closes without him with us, it's alway him getting stuck. It's pretty darn funny!
Anyway, Nighty night. Sleep tight! May God go with you and Smelly Man stay away!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
Spain!!!
The airport in London was really cool... it was like a mall inside!! The flight on RyanAir to Barcelona went smoothly, but be had a very long ride from the airport to the city itself. We took a bus for a loooong time and then had to take the metro. When we finally got to the hostel, we were all pretty worn out. We wanted to go out, but it just didnt wind up happening.
At first, the language barrier made me uneasy. All those years of high school spanish did NOT prepare me! I knew enough to get by though, and where words failed, mini games of survival-charades worked well!
The next day in Barcelona was rainy. Who woulda thunk that our first day of rain wouldn't be in the British Isles... but Spain!! I thought the rain in Spain stayed mainly in the plain.... LIES!
Anyway, Jen and Dave took that day to just relax at the hostel. Pat and I went out on the town! First stop was Gaudi Park. His architecture is AMAZING and the park itself was beautiful! From the outside, some of the buildings reminded me a little of Dr. Seuss... it was kinda funny!
We went to Sigrada Familia. It's this giant cathedral that Gaudi designed and it's super impressive. Unfortunately, the inside was being renovated so we couldnt see the whole thing and due to the weather we couldnt go up in the tower. boo. It really was beautiful, though!
Next up was the Arc de Triomf. Then we went to the old city, saw some more of Gaudi's works, and had a wonderful spanish meal of Dominoes (yay for Sunday's when nothing is open!).
We went back to the room to nap, then went out to this bar called Chiputos that Drew had reccomended to me. We looked it up online and everything to make sure it'd be open. When we walked up to it, though, it was closed. Fail. I was pretty upset.
OH!!! I ALMOST FORGOT!!!! This is the night that smelly man entered our lives. Smelly is not the right word. Even, "Most horrrific smell we have smelled in our entire lives" is an extreme understatement. Smelly man was our room mate. Jen and Dave had met him earlier in the day and told us they couldn't even stay in the room with him. pat and I were like "oh nooo"... but little did we know.... As Pat put it, his insides were burnind from the stench. And it wasn't even like this guy was smelly then he left... the stench lingered. It was there for 20 minutes after he left (the window was open) when we couldn't stand it anymore. He had taken the elevator, and people getting off the elevator a half hour later were walking out holding their noses. It was BAD.
Needless to say, we got a room change. We also had a LOT of laughs. (Smelly Man, Smelly Man, what are they feeding youuuuuu)
Enough of grossing you out though. We conquered the worst smell we will ever smell. No stench will ever seem so bad ever again!
The next morning was the train to madrid. The train took longer than expected, then we had too book our overnight tickets to Paris. That took FOREVER. It was horrible. The line was forever and a half long! By the time that was done, we had like, 4 hours to go around the city. It stunk, because we were on the opposite side of the city of everything we wanted to do (which wasn't much, anyway). We wound up walking around, getting some middle eastern food for lunch (siesta... everything else was closed, practically), and hanging out on a playground. Luckily the train station had lockers for our back packs. In the park, it was so hot. An old man saw Dave on the bench and made him a newspaper hat... and did the same for all of us! It was really cute, especially since he didn't speak or understand a word of English!
Overall, Spain was not my favorite. If I had more time there it might have been better, but oh well... at least I was there!!!!
At first, the language barrier made me uneasy. All those years of high school spanish did NOT prepare me! I knew enough to get by though, and where words failed, mini games of survival-charades worked well!
The next day in Barcelona was rainy. Who woulda thunk that our first day of rain wouldn't be in the British Isles... but Spain!! I thought the rain in Spain stayed mainly in the plain.... LIES!
Anyway, Jen and Dave took that day to just relax at the hostel. Pat and I went out on the town! First stop was Gaudi Park. His architecture is AMAZING and the park itself was beautiful! From the outside, some of the buildings reminded me a little of Dr. Seuss... it was kinda funny!
We went to Sigrada Familia. It's this giant cathedral that Gaudi designed and it's super impressive. Unfortunately, the inside was being renovated so we couldnt see the whole thing and due to the weather we couldnt go up in the tower. boo. It really was beautiful, though!
Next up was the Arc de Triomf. Then we went to the old city, saw some more of Gaudi's works, and had a wonderful spanish meal of Dominoes (yay for Sunday's when nothing is open!).
We went back to the room to nap, then went out to this bar called Chiputos that Drew had reccomended to me. We looked it up online and everything to make sure it'd be open. When we walked up to it, though, it was closed. Fail. I was pretty upset.
OH!!! I ALMOST FORGOT!!!! This is the night that smelly man entered our lives. Smelly is not the right word. Even, "Most horrrific smell we have smelled in our entire lives" is an extreme understatement. Smelly man was our room mate. Jen and Dave had met him earlier in the day and told us they couldn't even stay in the room with him. pat and I were like "oh nooo"... but little did we know.... As Pat put it, his insides were burnind from the stench. And it wasn't even like this guy was smelly then he left... the stench lingered. It was there for 20 minutes after he left (the window was open) when we couldn't stand it anymore. He had taken the elevator, and people getting off the elevator a half hour later were walking out holding their noses. It was BAD.
Needless to say, we got a room change. We also had a LOT of laughs. (Smelly Man, Smelly Man, what are they feeding youuuuuu)
Enough of grossing you out though. We conquered the worst smell we will ever smell. No stench will ever seem so bad ever again!
The next morning was the train to madrid. The train took longer than expected, then we had too book our overnight tickets to Paris. That took FOREVER. It was horrible. The line was forever and a half long! By the time that was done, we had like, 4 hours to go around the city. It stunk, because we were on the opposite side of the city of everything we wanted to do (which wasn't much, anyway). We wound up walking around, getting some middle eastern food for lunch (siesta... everything else was closed, practically), and hanging out on a playground. Luckily the train station had lockers for our back packs. In the park, it was so hot. An old man saw Dave on the bench and made him a newspaper hat... and did the same for all of us! It was really cute, especially since he didn't speak or understand a word of English!
Overall, Spain was not my favorite. If I had more time there it might have been better, but oh well... at least I was there!!!!
london day two!
So, London was my first bad knee day. I made it that far without a lot of problems, so yay!!
We started off the day with breakfast and went towards the free walking tour (same company as in Edinburgh). Running a tad bit behind schedule didnt help at all when we walked very far down the wrong street! We we got to the tour starting spot and they were, gone, but we met up with them at Buckingham Palace!
We got there just in time to see the changing of the guards. It was all pretty cool! It was like a parade and they marched and some played instruments. We knew the Queen wasn't home at the time, because the British flag was flying... when she is home her own personal flag flies.
We walked down the street and saw the palace that Charles, William, and Henry live in. Not too shabby! Around the corner from that is another palace where lots of important decisions have happened and events taken place. This is also where princess Diana lived during the divorce!
We passed through the city square, said hi to Big Ben again, and saw the Eye, the Horse Guard Cross, Westminster Abbey, and more!
"Westminster" actually means "West Abbey", so we really say Westabbey Abbey. haha.
Next we went to tea. With the Queen. She was pretty nice, but the tea could have been better. She brought us into her private wing and it was REALLY nice in there!! We got in a good hour or so in the palace before we had to go to meet up with some of Dave's friends. We made plans to visit her again, though!!
Now, if you believed any of the last paragraph, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore :-P
We did, however, leave the tour and go meet up with Klair and Carl, two of Dave's friends that live in England. We went to lunch with them at a Sports bar ( I had hoped there'd be some baseball on, but then I realized it was only 10am jersey time *tear*). We had SO much fun with them and we were really happy when they decided to hang out with us longer!
We walked down to the water and wound up going to the Tate, a free Modern Art Museum. It was great in there! After that, we went to Shakespear's Globe Theater, where they STILL do performances!!! That night it was MacBeth, and unfortunately the tickets were a bit over our price range. It was still pretty neat to see from the outside.
We crossed the river to St. Paul's Church (where Prince Charles got married both times). We waled til we passed London Bridge and got a good view of tower Bridge. Don't worry. I didn't let London Bridge fall down!
We took the Underground back to Picadilly Circus and wiund up going to Planet Hollywood for a (very) late dinner. It was the shortest wait I've ever had at a Planet hollywood, since there was no wait!
Klair and Carl missed the last train out, so they wound up getting beds in the hostel we were staying at. It was great because we got to hang out even later then!!
In the morning we had breakfast with them and then parted ways. We had a flight to catch to Spain! Adios, London Baby!
We started off the day with breakfast and went towards the free walking tour (same company as in Edinburgh). Running a tad bit behind schedule didnt help at all when we walked very far down the wrong street! We we got to the tour starting spot and they were, gone, but we met up with them at Buckingham Palace!
We got there just in time to see the changing of the guards. It was all pretty cool! It was like a parade and they marched and some played instruments. We knew the Queen wasn't home at the time, because the British flag was flying... when she is home her own personal flag flies.
We walked down the street and saw the palace that Charles, William, and Henry live in. Not too shabby! Around the corner from that is another palace where lots of important decisions have happened and events taken place. This is also where princess Diana lived during the divorce!
We passed through the city square, said hi to Big Ben again, and saw the Eye, the Horse Guard Cross, Westminster Abbey, and more!
"Westminster" actually means "West Abbey", so we really say Westabbey Abbey. haha.
Next we went to tea. With the Queen. She was pretty nice, but the tea could have been better. She brought us into her private wing and it was REALLY nice in there!! We got in a good hour or so in the palace before we had to go to meet up with some of Dave's friends. We made plans to visit her again, though!!
Now, if you believed any of the last paragraph, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore :-P
We did, however, leave the tour and go meet up with Klair and Carl, two of Dave's friends that live in England. We went to lunch with them at a Sports bar ( I had hoped there'd be some baseball on, but then I realized it was only 10am jersey time *tear*). We had SO much fun with them and we were really happy when they decided to hang out with us longer!
We walked down to the water and wound up going to the Tate, a free Modern Art Museum. It was great in there! After that, we went to Shakespear's Globe Theater, where they STILL do performances!!! That night it was MacBeth, and unfortunately the tickets were a bit over our price range. It was still pretty neat to see from the outside.
We crossed the river to St. Paul's Church (where Prince Charles got married both times). We waled til we passed London Bridge and got a good view of tower Bridge. Don't worry. I didn't let London Bridge fall down!
We took the Underground back to Picadilly Circus and wiund up going to Planet Hollywood for a (very) late dinner. It was the shortest wait I've ever had at a Planet hollywood, since there was no wait!
Klair and Carl missed the last train out, so they wound up getting beds in the hostel we were staying at. It was great because we got to hang out even later then!!
In the morning we had breakfast with them and then parted ways. We had a flight to catch to Spain! Adios, London Baby!
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