We are currently staying at a really nice campground on the mainland near Venice. The internet here is 3 euro for 30 minutes (yikes!) so we are going to give a very brief update. We promise a much more excited and detailed post once we are in Bern in a few days. Since our last post, we have visited Florence and Rome, and made our way by train to Venice.
In Florence, we were exhausted from our hiking in the Cinque Terre so we used the two days there to restore our energy. Luckily, the bed and breakfast we stayed at was incredible so we had a very relaxing stay. The city itself was not at the top of our list of places visited thus far. Our initial impression was that the city was dirty, smelly, and not well kept. However, there was of course a great deal of history there and many sites to see. Our two favorites were visiting the Duomo and the famous bridge (can't remember the name) filled with small jewelry shops. Uh-oh... running out of time! More to come on Florence, Rome, and Venice (including a near international incident with an angry bus boy!)!!
Ciao!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Our Incredibly Long Catch-up Post
Barcelona to Italy
On Thursday (our second day in Barcelona), we starting out by going to a house designed by the funky architect Gaudi. Our guidebook said a tour of the house was only 5 or 6 euro for students, but the price had jumped to 16 euro so we took a few pictures of the outside and went on our way. At this time we experienced our first rain shower at an inopportune time- bummer- we had made it nearly two weeks with perfect weather! We bumped some of our outdoor plans to the afternoon and decided to go the Picasso museum instead. The directions to the museum from the metro stop were a bit tricky, but on our roundabout way to the museum we saw the Barcelona Cathedral, another town market, and several other Gothic buildings. The Barcelona Cathedral was a neat find, as it was not mentioned in our guide book. The Cathedral had a really pretty courtyard with a small flower covered fountain. The courtyard was complete with its own set of Catholic geese and a goose egg suspended at the top of the water in the fountain (hard to explain- we'll try to add a picture sometime). The second town market was not quite as large as the one we visited the day before, but it was still interesting to look around and again, you could buy just about any animal part you wanted – whole skinned rabbits and cow brains were new features today. By the time we actually made our way to get in the ticket line was incredibly long and moving very slow. We looked in the window, could see a few paintings, and called it good enough. You can tell that we are really becoming die-hard art fans on this trip.
By this time the weather was starting to clear up a bit, so we stopped by one more cathedral before heading to Park Guell. As we were on the way out of the cathedral a small Spanish woman came up to us and starting sticking carnations into our shirts for some reason- We think she was explaining to us but it's not like we could understand a word she was saying anyway. After we were decorated with flowers, she promptly notified us that it was time to pay her. Nick tried to dump all of his one and two cent coins on her, but he only succeeded in offending her greatly and she took her flowers back and walked away.
Nick was soon overcome with a sneezing fit and realized that he had left his travel pack of tissues in the hostel. Lucky for him, as soon as we walked out the door there was another little old woman selling tissues and lighters! Fate. Nick picked up his 'souvenir' pack of tissues from a very grateful old lady, and then we headed towards the metro.
Funny story (please stick with us): We decided that we should go ahead and by the pack of 10 tickets to use for our remaining time in Barcelona which costs 7.20 euro. By this time, we had also collected a large amount of change and were also out of paper money. We thought buying metro tickets would be a great opportunity to use up all of our change. We put our money together, added it up, and discovered that we were 25 cents short. This total was not including all of our 1 and 2 cent coins that the machines don't take and are consequently worthless. After adding up every single one of these coins we had exactly... 25 cents- success! We managed to use our newly refined Spanish skills with an older woman selling hot dogs in order to swap for change that we could actually use, bought our tickets, and were on our way. Yes moms, we know what you are thinking... we were in fact running around Barcelona Euroless for a few hours- but it was OK : )
Our next stop was Park Guell, a really unique park in the northern part of Barcelona designed by the big man himself- Gaudi. The buildings and general design of the park are a mixture of Candy Land, Dr. Seuss, and fine art. The park basically a system of trails that go up one huge hill. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see all of Barcelona, the surrounding mountains, and the ocean. Of course, the weather was beautiful by this time. Earlier we had planned to purchase tickets to take a cable car up one of Barcelona's mountains to admire the views it would offer, but hiking to the top of Park Guell ended up being a good substitute (and good exercise).
After making the easier hike down and Laura taking a few (hundred) pictures, we were tired and hungry but could not find any good places to pick up a filling and inexpensive late lunch, so we went for another McDonald's meal – anybody counting how many times we've been to McDonald's on this trip? Sadly, it really is the best deal we have found- and 'Big Mac' is universal! After lunch we took a siesta in order to prepare for our evening Tapas y Flamenco tour that was organized by our hostel.
We knew we were in for a late night because our tour didn't even begin until 8:30. The group we were with was a lot fun and included a brother and sister pair from Peru (now living in LA), a guy from Holland, 3 Canadian girls, a girl from London (who grew up in New Zealand), a German couple, Allejandro from LA (who happened to know the girl from Peru), and 3 Asian girls who were deathly afraid of every dog we passed on the street. Our night started with a traditional dinner of tapas and sangria. Tapas are basically little appetizer sandwiches that are commonly served with drinks at a bar. The meal was pretty good, and we were both able to try new things (although we both stayed far far away from the cow blood sandwich).
After dinner we walked over to see a flamenco show. Flamenco of course is the traditional dance in Spain. The show included one male and one female dancer- both were incredible. It is hard to describe, but we were able to take a few good videos with our camera that we will try to include somehow.
Next, it was time to experience Barcelona nightlife! Our tour included entrance into two clubs. We ended up going to five clubs altogether, although none for too long. The Peruvian girl was an excellent bilinguist in Spanish and English and she helped everyone navigate from place to place, getting group deals for entrance. The entire group was a lot of fun, although we had a pretty tame experience because the drinks were so expensive – 10 Euro each! By 2:30 am we decided to head back and get at least a little sleep before we caught our train at 8:30 the next morning.
Overall, the night was a LOT of fun and we met a lot of nice people. So many people we meet are in the same situation as us – just graduated and are treating themselves to the trip of a lifetime in Europe. It has been fun sharing our experiences and travel tips and comparing the quirks we have noticed across Europe compared to the US, such as a severe shortage of public restrooms and drinking fountains, and funny stories about overcoming language barriers.
On Friday, we woke up in time to shower and grab some breakfast to go from the hostel. We then made our way to the train station to go from Barcelona to Montpelier, France. From Montpelier, we were catching a connecting train to Marseilles. Although our train arriving in Montpelier arrived a bit late, the train to Marseilles was also an hour late and that gave us time to get a little lunch. Only one place with decent food was close to the train station – McDonald's! That's right, we had fried American goodness for the 6th (or 7th??) time on the trip. Again, we vowed to steer clear of McDonald's for as long as possible after this latest venture. We'll see how long it can last.
After finally arriving in Marseilles, we met another group of backpackers from Illinois looking for the same hostel as us. After some rough exchanges in French with an official in the train station we finally found it and checked in. Marseilles is just a midpoint stop for us on our way to Italy from Spain to breakup the trip. We did not explore the city much, but instead went to the supermarket and got lasagna to warm up at the hostel for dinner, picked up food for Saturday's long train rides and did laundry. We were exhausted from the night out and we decided to go to sleep as early as we could, but this didn't end up being until about 11.
Our first train Saturday morning departed at 6:20. We had several stops on our journey to our first destination in Italy. We went through Cannes – home of the famous film festival, Nice, Monte Carlo, Genoa, and La Spezia (Note: we have been in 4 countries in the last two days!!). It made for a long day of about 10 hours of traveling altogether. However, the great thing about the trains that make the rides worth it are the spectacular views. The tracks we took today were all built to ride along the Mediterranean coast so we saw ocean and mountains the entire way across the southern border of France and into Italy. This made the trip enjoyable, although we both dozed in and out frequently.
Eventually when we arrived in La Spezia to catch a regional train that is just 8 minutes from our destination town, Riomaggiore of the Cinque Terre, we saw that there had recently been a fire on another train at the station and so the place was a little bit chaotic. Lots of announcements were blaring over the speakers in Italian and English regarding consequent delays and changes for departures and arrivals. We were confident though that we had found the train we wanted that would take us to Riomaggiore, although it was delayed 20 minutes. When the train finally arrived it was already 4:15 and according to the conditions on our hostel reservation, in order to not lose the reservation we HAD to check in by 4:30 – we were cutting it close but had faith that we would make it. When we hopped on the train, it began going very fast, almost too fast for a regional train. Then we saw the Riomaggiore train station sign approach, but the train wasn't slowing down! We realized we must have boarded the wrong train in all the confusion. No way we were going to make it to the hostel by 4:30 now. We had no idea where the train was going, but it was going fast. We watched from the window as we passed station from station and quickly passed the Cinque Terre. There was another couple behind us who had made the same mistake. After about 20 minutes the train finally made its first stop and we hopped off. Turns out about 20 other people did the same thing as us as well. Luckily, another train arrived in just a few minutes and took us back the way we came (only much more slowly this time).
Nearly an hour later we FINALLY got off at the correct stop and went as fast as we could to find our hostel. Apparently they aren't really as strict about the 4:30 rule as implied, and we had no problem checking in and getting our room. The real challenge was actually getting TO our room. The main office of our hostel is located right on the main street in Riomaggiore, but they have a few different locations for rooms across the city. A nice Italian woman who spoke no English at all took us to our room. Over 350 stairs with our 30 lb backpacks later... we stumbled into a really nice room on the side of the mountain. The view from our building is SPECTACULAR!!!! We can see all of the town and have a great view of the ocean.
After our long day of traveling we took it pretty easy this evening. We hiked back down to the village and ate huge authentic Italian pizza- delicious!! Tomorrow we plan to explore the city we are staying in and probably hike to a few of the other villages as well. We don't have internet access here so this will probably turn into an incredibly long post. Hope you are still enjoying it! Chao!
Cinque Terre
Sunday morning we slept in until 8:30 and felt refreshed to explore what appeared to be an awesome area. Rather than climbing down the 350+ stairs to get to the village, we went down part of them and then walked the longer way down the main road. Along the way, we stopped at the office of tourism and picked up Cinque Terre passes that gave us two day access to the parks and hiking trails between the five towns.
After a couple breakfast croissants we went out to explore the town. Riomaggiore is really just a very small town with a single main road, Via de Columbo, that steeply makes its way up a hill. As a side note, our hostel is one of the higher buildings in the main cluster of the village, offering spectacular views of the city and the ocean. You can clearly see where we are staying in all of the postcards sold around here!
We then took some pictures of the coast from the edge of town and decided to hike to the second city along the Cinque Terre line, Manarola. The walk between these two towns did not take long, only about 20 minutes, but they have a paved boardwalk that winds itself along the mountains, overlooking spectacular views of the ocean. At this time, it was raining lightly, but it would soon clear up. Manarola was another village about the size of Riomaggiore. Most all of the shops and people here are entirely dedicated to tourism. The sides of all the mountains are terraced where the locals grow gardens of lemons, grapes for wine, olives, and other Mediterranean fruits and vegetables, but the towns themselves are all mostly for tourists. Still, they are so small, it has the feel of old Italian towns and we are not overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of the big cities. The good thing is that most of the signs are posted in English and all the food looks safe and delicious to eat!!
We did not stay long in Manarola before hiking to the third village, Corniglia. The hike between these two cities took about an hour and a half, and although the path was no longer paved, it was very accessible and walking-friendly. The views were once again amazing. We arrived at Corniglia around 1:30 and stopped for a little rest and another slice of real Italian pizza – again it was very very good. We decided to take the next leg of the journey to the fourth village, Vernazza. It would be another hour and a half hike, but this time, several signs warned that the hike between these two cities would be much more strenuous and treacherous than the first two. Decidedly adventurous, we embarked. The trail was absolutely amazing. The views it offered of the mountain coasts, the blue water, and the waves splashing against the rocks hundreds of feet below were incredible. All along the trail, beautiful Mediterranean vegetation grew in and many flowers were in full bloom. Much of the trail here was rocky and narrow, with no guard rail – just a stumble away from toppling to one's unfortunate end in the cavernous sea below. Luckily, we ended up being just fine and made it to Vernazza, albeit a bit worn and tired for the day.
We then got some water and famous Italian gelatto (ice cream) and sat and rested by the beach. We did some more amusing people watching, observing some of the more interesting figures in Italy. So many of the guys here are not ashamed to be seen in their Speedos! After a little rest, we decided we would tackle the final trail from Vernazza to Monterosso the next day.
We returned to Riomaggiore on a regional train. The train that would stop at each of the Cinque Terre towns only came once an hour, and since it was around 5:30 then, hordes of people were ready to load the train to get back to their own villages and get dinner. Laura had to fend off an incrediby vicious old Italian women who ran up to board the train and pushed us out of the way to make sure she was the firs to get seats – even Nick's mom wouldn't go to such extremes (haha)!
Back at Riomaggiore, we went out to eat at a local restaurant in a belatedly owed birthday dinner for Laura and each had some pasta. However, the servings were relatively small, and although we each had cokes, they were small and there were no refills (common in Europe). There were also no bread, salad, or other side dishes and we were left hungry still, so after eating there we bought some bread and headed back to the room where we had some bread and cheap wine to fill us up.
Monday morning, exactly two weeks since we arrived in Europe, we slept until 9:30 and then prepared for another day in the Cinque Terre. It was a sunny day and hotter than what we've been used to, but still very nice. Great day for being by the ocean. For breakfast we ate bread we had bought the night before, but this particular loaf had the hardest outer crust you could ever imagine, and we could barely finish it because our jaws were too tired chewing. We then made our way to the train station and got to Vernazza where we would continue our hike to see the fifth town of the Cinque Terre- Monterosso.
The hike was a full two hours and was similar and as gorgeous as Sunday's hike between Corniglia and Vernazza. At some parts of the hike, we walked over ledges not more than a foot wide, with no guard rail and and a sizeable cliff on the side – scary! The best (or worst) parts was when traffic came in opposing directions and one party would squeeze tightly to the wall on one side as the other would carefully pass. It was definitely a lot of fun though, and the views and vegetation we saw made it worth it. We can also say we've hiked between all five towns! Between our time here and the walks we've been doing each days in the cities we've seen thus far, our legs are certainly going to be in shape this summer.
After the hike, we spent a little time in Monterosso, bought our train tickets we would need to get to Florene, Rome, and Venicce, and then quickly caught the next available train to Riomaggiore, and headed back for a late afternoon siesta. By 5, we were starving, and we went down to buy another huge Italian pizza from the same place we had eaten at Saturday – it was incredibly good. We brought our computer with us, but could find no wireless networks in town, and so we are now sitting on the rocks on the edge of the town watching the waves and the sunset, and typing this blog into a Word document. This will be posted as soon as we can, probably tomorrow in Florence. Until then, chao!
On Thursday (our second day in Barcelona), we starting out by going to a house designed by the funky architect Gaudi. Our guidebook said a tour of the house was only 5 or 6 euro for students, but the price had jumped to 16 euro so we took a few pictures of the outside and went on our way. At this time we experienced our first rain shower at an inopportune time- bummer- we had made it nearly two weeks with perfect weather! We bumped some of our outdoor plans to the afternoon and decided to go the Picasso museum instead. The directions to the museum from the metro stop were a bit tricky, but on our roundabout way to the museum we saw the Barcelona Cathedral, another town market, and several other Gothic buildings. The Barcelona Cathedral was a neat find, as it was not mentioned in our guide book. The Cathedral had a really pretty courtyard with a small flower covered fountain. The courtyard was complete with its own set of Catholic geese and a goose egg suspended at the top of the water in the fountain (hard to explain- we'll try to add a picture sometime). The second town market was not quite as large as the one we visited the day before, but it was still interesting to look around and again, you could buy just about any animal part you wanted – whole skinned rabbits and cow brains were new features today. By the time we actually made our way to get in the ticket line was incredibly long and moving very slow. We looked in the window, could see a few paintings, and called it good enough. You can tell that we are really becoming die-hard art fans on this trip.
By this time the weather was starting to clear up a bit, so we stopped by one more cathedral before heading to Park Guell. As we were on the way out of the cathedral a small Spanish woman came up to us and starting sticking carnations into our shirts for some reason- We think she was explaining to us but it's not like we could understand a word she was saying anyway. After we were decorated with flowers, she promptly notified us that it was time to pay her. Nick tried to dump all of his one and two cent coins on her, but he only succeeded in offending her greatly and she took her flowers back and walked away.
Nick was soon overcome with a sneezing fit and realized that he had left his travel pack of tissues in the hostel. Lucky for him, as soon as we walked out the door there was another little old woman selling tissues and lighters! Fate. Nick picked up his 'souvenir' pack of tissues from a very grateful old lady, and then we headed towards the metro.
Funny story (please stick with us): We decided that we should go ahead and by the pack of 10 tickets to use for our remaining time in Barcelona which costs 7.20 euro. By this time, we had also collected a large amount of change and were also out of paper money. We thought buying metro tickets would be a great opportunity to use up all of our change. We put our money together, added it up, and discovered that we were 25 cents short. This total was not including all of our 1 and 2 cent coins that the machines don't take and are consequently worthless. After adding up every single one of these coins we had exactly... 25 cents- success! We managed to use our newly refined Spanish skills with an older woman selling hot dogs in order to swap for change that we could actually use, bought our tickets, and were on our way. Yes moms, we know what you are thinking... we were in fact running around Barcelona Euroless for a few hours- but it was OK : )
Our next stop was Park Guell, a really unique park in the northern part of Barcelona designed by the big man himself- Gaudi. The buildings and general design of the park are a mixture of Candy Land, Dr. Seuss, and fine art. The park basically a system of trails that go up one huge hill. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see all of Barcelona, the surrounding mountains, and the ocean. Of course, the weather was beautiful by this time. Earlier we had planned to purchase tickets to take a cable car up one of Barcelona's mountains to admire the views it would offer, but hiking to the top of Park Guell ended up being a good substitute (and good exercise).
After making the easier hike down and Laura taking a few (hundred) pictures, we were tired and hungry but could not find any good places to pick up a filling and inexpensive late lunch, so we went for another McDonald's meal – anybody counting how many times we've been to McDonald's on this trip? Sadly, it really is the best deal we have found- and 'Big Mac' is universal! After lunch we took a siesta in order to prepare for our evening Tapas y Flamenco tour that was organized by our hostel.
We knew we were in for a late night because our tour didn't even begin until 8:30. The group we were with was a lot fun and included a brother and sister pair from Peru (now living in LA), a guy from Holland, 3 Canadian girls, a girl from London (who grew up in New Zealand), a German couple, Allejandro from LA (who happened to know the girl from Peru), and 3 Asian girls who were deathly afraid of every dog we passed on the street. Our night started with a traditional dinner of tapas and sangria. Tapas are basically little appetizer sandwiches that are commonly served with drinks at a bar. The meal was pretty good, and we were both able to try new things (although we both stayed far far away from the cow blood sandwich).
After dinner we walked over to see a flamenco show. Flamenco of course is the traditional dance in Spain. The show included one male and one female dancer- both were incredible. It is hard to describe, but we were able to take a few good videos with our camera that we will try to include somehow.
Next, it was time to experience Barcelona nightlife! Our tour included entrance into two clubs. We ended up going to five clubs altogether, although none for too long. The Peruvian girl was an excellent bilinguist in Spanish and English and she helped everyone navigate from place to place, getting group deals for entrance. The entire group was a lot of fun, although we had a pretty tame experience because the drinks were so expensive – 10 Euro each! By 2:30 am we decided to head back and get at least a little sleep before we caught our train at 8:30 the next morning.
Overall, the night was a LOT of fun and we met a lot of nice people. So many people we meet are in the same situation as us – just graduated and are treating themselves to the trip of a lifetime in Europe. It has been fun sharing our experiences and travel tips and comparing the quirks we have noticed across Europe compared to the US, such as a severe shortage of public restrooms and drinking fountains, and funny stories about overcoming language barriers.
On Friday, we woke up in time to shower and grab some breakfast to go from the hostel. We then made our way to the train station to go from Barcelona to Montpelier, France. From Montpelier, we were catching a connecting train to Marseilles. Although our train arriving in Montpelier arrived a bit late, the train to Marseilles was also an hour late and that gave us time to get a little lunch. Only one place with decent food was close to the train station – McDonald's! That's right, we had fried American goodness for the 6th (or 7th??) time on the trip. Again, we vowed to steer clear of McDonald's for as long as possible after this latest venture. We'll see how long it can last.
After finally arriving in Marseilles, we met another group of backpackers from Illinois looking for the same hostel as us. After some rough exchanges in French with an official in the train station we finally found it and checked in. Marseilles is just a midpoint stop for us on our way to Italy from Spain to breakup the trip. We did not explore the city much, but instead went to the supermarket and got lasagna to warm up at the hostel for dinner, picked up food for Saturday's long train rides and did laundry. We were exhausted from the night out and we decided to go to sleep as early as we could, but this didn't end up being until about 11.
Our first train Saturday morning departed at 6:20. We had several stops on our journey to our first destination in Italy. We went through Cannes – home of the famous film festival, Nice, Monte Carlo, Genoa, and La Spezia (Note: we have been in 4 countries in the last two days!!). It made for a long day of about 10 hours of traveling altogether. However, the great thing about the trains that make the rides worth it are the spectacular views. The tracks we took today were all built to ride along the Mediterranean coast so we saw ocean and mountains the entire way across the southern border of France and into Italy. This made the trip enjoyable, although we both dozed in and out frequently.
Eventually when we arrived in La Spezia to catch a regional train that is just 8 minutes from our destination town, Riomaggiore of the Cinque Terre, we saw that there had recently been a fire on another train at the station and so the place was a little bit chaotic. Lots of announcements were blaring over the speakers in Italian and English regarding consequent delays and changes for departures and arrivals. We were confident though that we had found the train we wanted that would take us to Riomaggiore, although it was delayed 20 minutes. When the train finally arrived it was already 4:15 and according to the conditions on our hostel reservation, in order to not lose the reservation we HAD to check in by 4:30 – we were cutting it close but had faith that we would make it. When we hopped on the train, it began going very fast, almost too fast for a regional train. Then we saw the Riomaggiore train station sign approach, but the train wasn't slowing down! We realized we must have boarded the wrong train in all the confusion. No way we were going to make it to the hostel by 4:30 now. We had no idea where the train was going, but it was going fast. We watched from the window as we passed station from station and quickly passed the Cinque Terre. There was another couple behind us who had made the same mistake. After about 20 minutes the train finally made its first stop and we hopped off. Turns out about 20 other people did the same thing as us as well. Luckily, another train arrived in just a few minutes and took us back the way we came (only much more slowly this time).
Nearly an hour later we FINALLY got off at the correct stop and went as fast as we could to find our hostel. Apparently they aren't really as strict about the 4:30 rule as implied, and we had no problem checking in and getting our room. The real challenge was actually getting TO our room. The main office of our hostel is located right on the main street in Riomaggiore, but they have a few different locations for rooms across the city. A nice Italian woman who spoke no English at all took us to our room. Over 350 stairs with our 30 lb backpacks later... we stumbled into a really nice room on the side of the mountain. The view from our building is SPECTACULAR!!!! We can see all of the town and have a great view of the ocean.
After our long day of traveling we took it pretty easy this evening. We hiked back down to the village and ate huge authentic Italian pizza- delicious!! Tomorrow we plan to explore the city we are staying in and probably hike to a few of the other villages as well. We don't have internet access here so this will probably turn into an incredibly long post. Hope you are still enjoying it! Chao!
Cinque Terre
Sunday morning we slept in until 8:30 and felt refreshed to explore what appeared to be an awesome area. Rather than climbing down the 350+ stairs to get to the village, we went down part of them and then walked the longer way down the main road. Along the way, we stopped at the office of tourism and picked up Cinque Terre passes that gave us two day access to the parks and hiking trails between the five towns.
After a couple breakfast croissants we went out to explore the town. Riomaggiore is really just a very small town with a single main road, Via de Columbo, that steeply makes its way up a hill. As a side note, our hostel is one of the higher buildings in the main cluster of the village, offering spectacular views of the city and the ocean. You can clearly see where we are staying in all of the postcards sold around here!
We then took some pictures of the coast from the edge of town and decided to hike to the second city along the Cinque Terre line, Manarola. The walk between these two towns did not take long, only about 20 minutes, but they have a paved boardwalk that winds itself along the mountains, overlooking spectacular views of the ocean. At this time, it was raining lightly, but it would soon clear up. Manarola was another village about the size of Riomaggiore. Most all of the shops and people here are entirely dedicated to tourism. The sides of all the mountains are terraced where the locals grow gardens of lemons, grapes for wine, olives, and other Mediterranean fruits and vegetables, but the towns themselves are all mostly for tourists. Still, they are so small, it has the feel of old Italian towns and we are not overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of the big cities. The good thing is that most of the signs are posted in English and all the food looks safe and delicious to eat!!
We did not stay long in Manarola before hiking to the third village, Corniglia. The hike between these two cities took about an hour and a half, and although the path was no longer paved, it was very accessible and walking-friendly. The views were once again amazing. We arrived at Corniglia around 1:30 and stopped for a little rest and another slice of real Italian pizza – again it was very very good. We decided to take the next leg of the journey to the fourth village, Vernazza. It would be another hour and a half hike, but this time, several signs warned that the hike between these two cities would be much more strenuous and treacherous than the first two. Decidedly adventurous, we embarked. The trail was absolutely amazing. The views it offered of the mountain coasts, the blue water, and the waves splashing against the rocks hundreds of feet below were incredible. All along the trail, beautiful Mediterranean vegetation grew in and many flowers were in full bloom. Much of the trail here was rocky and narrow, with no guard rail – just a stumble away from toppling to one's unfortunate end in the cavernous sea below. Luckily, we ended up being just fine and made it to Vernazza, albeit a bit worn and tired for the day.
We then got some water and famous Italian gelatto (ice cream) and sat and rested by the beach. We did some more amusing people watching, observing some of the more interesting figures in Italy. So many of the guys here are not ashamed to be seen in their Speedos! After a little rest, we decided we would tackle the final trail from Vernazza to Monterosso the next day.
We returned to Riomaggiore on a regional train. The train that would stop at each of the Cinque Terre towns only came once an hour, and since it was around 5:30 then, hordes of people were ready to load the train to get back to their own villages and get dinner. Laura had to fend off an incrediby vicious old Italian women who ran up to board the train and pushed us out of the way to make sure she was the firs to get seats – even Nick's mom wouldn't go to such extremes (haha)!
Back at Riomaggiore, we went out to eat at a local restaurant in a belatedly owed birthday dinner for Laura and each had some pasta. However, the servings were relatively small, and although we each had cokes, they were small and there were no refills (common in Europe). There were also no bread, salad, or other side dishes and we were left hungry still, so after eating there we bought some bread and headed back to the room where we had some bread and cheap wine to fill us up.
Monday morning, exactly two weeks since we arrived in Europe, we slept until 9:30 and then prepared for another day in the Cinque Terre. It was a sunny day and hotter than what we've been used to, but still very nice. Great day for being by the ocean. For breakfast we ate bread we had bought the night before, but this particular loaf had the hardest outer crust you could ever imagine, and we could barely finish it because our jaws were too tired chewing. We then made our way to the train station and got to Vernazza where we would continue our hike to see the fifth town of the Cinque Terre- Monterosso.
The hike was a full two hours and was similar and as gorgeous as Sunday's hike between Corniglia and Vernazza. At some parts of the hike, we walked over ledges not more than a foot wide, with no guard rail and and a sizeable cliff on the side – scary! The best (or worst) parts was when traffic came in opposing directions and one party would squeeze tightly to the wall on one side as the other would carefully pass. It was definitely a lot of fun though, and the views and vegetation we saw made it worth it. We can also say we've hiked between all five towns! Between our time here and the walks we've been doing each days in the cities we've seen thus far, our legs are certainly going to be in shape this summer.
After the hike, we spent a little time in Monterosso, bought our train tickets we would need to get to Florene, Rome, and Venicce, and then quickly caught the next available train to Riomaggiore, and headed back for a late afternoon siesta. By 5, we were starving, and we went down to buy another huge Italian pizza from the same place we had eaten at Saturday – it was incredibly good. We brought our computer with us, but could find no wireless networks in town, and so we are now sitting on the rocks on the edge of the town watching the waves and the sunset, and typing this blog into a Word document. This will be posted as soon as we can, probably tomorrow in Florence. Until then, chao!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Madrid and Barcelona
Yesterday (our second day in Madrid), we started out the morning with free breakfast from our hostel. Nick was excited to finally see corn flakes again. He filled his bowl to the brim, grabbed for the milk... and realized the carton was room temperature : ( Really, we aren't even sure it was milk. Luckily, we still had yogurt left over from the night before so he survived.
After breakfast we made our way to the Museo del Prado- the most famous of Madrid's museums. They had a huge temporary exhibit called 'Goya, in times of war'. Apparently this Goya guy is a big deal in Madrid, but really he just painted a lot of pictures of people. We have determined that European art can be placed in to four categories: religious, naked, war, and egotistical self portrait. After having our fill of art for the day, we ventured across the city in search of some local cuisine.
We finally decided on a small local bar/restaurant that was located on one of the many smaller side streets. The menu del dia (of the day) was a reasonable 7 euro. The bartender didn't speak any English, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to try out our high school Spanish. After selecting our dish of choice from the menu, we were surprised to find out that the menu del dia included two platos (dishes). So after eating one lunch, we were presented with another plate full of food. After being proud of ourselves for being able to finish our second lunch, the bartender came over and asked us which desert we wanted (which was also included in the menu). A few seconds later we were presented with an enormous serving of flan and whipped cream- delicious. After finishing off what felt like a third lunch, we continued on towards the Plaza Mayor.
The plaza was quite nice, and also pigeon filled. Nick had a few close calls. The plaza and surrounding area was quite touristy, so we took a few pictures and kept going. We had planned on visiting the Reina Sofia museum, but it just so happened to be closed on Tuesday so we went to the Palacio Real instead. Wow- the palace didn't get any hype from the guidebook but it was amazing! We decided the palace was easily as cool as Versaille and a bargain at only 3 euro each. The decorations inside the palace were incredible, and they had several huge tapestries that were originals from the 17th century. They also had a set of string instruments that were made from the original Stradivarius himself. The coolest part is that the palace is still used for the occasional royal function, and the instruments are even played a few times a year! Included with our tour of the palace was admission to the royal pharmacy and the armory. The pharmacy was actually pretty cool and included entire walls filled with vases and other containers that use to hold their medicines. The armory was also huge, and included several life size horse models complete with full armor and mounted knights. The palace balcony, located just off of the courtyard offered spectacular views of Madrid. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited inside of all of the buildings, so photos of the outside of the palace will have to suffice.
After visiting the palace, we decided to experience a bit more Spanish culture by taking a traditional afternoon siesta in our hostel. We topped off the evening by people watching off of our balcony. We amused ourselves by coming up with a story for every person that walked down the street (we saw some very interesting characters). The highlight of our people watching experience came when a large older man was stumbling down the street out of La Corte Ingles (the department/grocery store) with two store employees hanging on to him. At first we thought we were witnessing a medical emergency, but the man soon made a break for it and started running from the women. Seconds later several police offers caught up with the man (he wasn't going too fast) and apprehended the apparent shoplifter. It was like watching an episode of Cops Madrid style. Soon after, we visited La Corte Ingles to pick up dinner and lunch for the train. We carefully paid for all of our goods so as to avoid an international incident!
We got up early this morning to catch our high speed train to Barcelona. Our guide book listed train routes as taking between 5 and 9 hours from Madrid to Barcelona, but we were lucky to get a train here in less than three hours. The Spanish countryside is spectacular. The terrain varies widely from region to region with mountains everywhere and some green and some desert areas. We arrived in Barcelona around 11:00 and checked into our hostel, which is located in a really cool building near the center of the city. We appear to have lucked out with good roommates again with two nice girls from Louisiana and three from Brazil.
After checking in, we began a walking tour through the city. Barcelona is definitely the most distinctive city we've seen. The guide book calls it funky and we definitely agree. The architecture is very unique and the people are spirited. We walked down Las Ramblas, a very popular avenue for tourists. It is full of street vendors, performers, and human statues. We also stopped at La Boqueria, a HUGE street market where you can buy just about any part of an animal from land or sea. Luckily they also had lots of fruit and other produce and we bought a fruit bowl for an afternoon snack.
Next, we made our way down to the harbor and took in some good sights with Barcelona's famous Christopher Columbus statue, the marinas, and some tourists feeding fish (there were hundreds!). We then strolled through the Parc de la Ciutadella. Some of the locals there were very open in their love and admiration for each other - public displays of affection taken to a new level. At the end of the park was the Spanish version of the Arch de Triomphe, a cool site in itself.
Finally, we hiked across the city to La Sangrada Familia, an incredible modern cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's favorite son. Construction began in 1882 and is still underway today. The architecture and design is completely unique, but it still has all of the grandeur of the classical cathedrals we've seen. It was neat to see how a cathedral is built, and it amazes us how people were able to build the older cathedrals hundreds of years ago with far less sophisticated equipment.
By this time, we were starving as we hadn't had any real food all day, so we made our way to an all-you-can-eat buffet we had passed earlier and decided to take advantage of this great opportunity for unlimited food. It ended up being delicious, but after we made our way halfway down the buffet line, there was a striking lack of meat. Sure enough, it was actually a vegetarian restaurant. After stuffing ourselves full of these healthy platters, we returned to the hostel to plan tomorrow's itinerary.
Hasta Luego!
After breakfast we made our way to the Museo del Prado- the most famous of Madrid's museums. They had a huge temporary exhibit called 'Goya, in times of war'. Apparently this Goya guy is a big deal in Madrid, but really he just painted a lot of pictures of people. We have determined that European art can be placed in to four categories: religious, naked, war, and egotistical self portrait. After having our fill of art for the day, we ventured across the city in search of some local cuisine.
We finally decided on a small local bar/restaurant that was located on one of the many smaller side streets. The menu del dia (of the day) was a reasonable 7 euro. The bartender didn't speak any English, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to try out our high school Spanish. After selecting our dish of choice from the menu, we were surprised to find out that the menu del dia included two platos (dishes). So after eating one lunch, we were presented with another plate full of food. After being proud of ourselves for being able to finish our second lunch, the bartender came over and asked us which desert we wanted (which was also included in the menu). A few seconds later we were presented with an enormous serving of flan and whipped cream- delicious. After finishing off what felt like a third lunch, we continued on towards the Plaza Mayor.
The plaza was quite nice, and also pigeon filled. Nick had a few close calls. The plaza and surrounding area was quite touristy, so we took a few pictures and kept going. We had planned on visiting the Reina Sofia museum, but it just so happened to be closed on Tuesday so we went to the Palacio Real instead. Wow- the palace didn't get any hype from the guidebook but it was amazing! We decided the palace was easily as cool as Versaille and a bargain at only 3 euro each. The decorations inside the palace were incredible, and they had several huge tapestries that were originals from the 17th century. They also had a set of string instruments that were made from the original Stradivarius himself. The coolest part is that the palace is still used for the occasional royal function, and the instruments are even played a few times a year! Included with our tour of the palace was admission to the royal pharmacy and the armory. The pharmacy was actually pretty cool and included entire walls filled with vases and other containers that use to hold their medicines. The armory was also huge, and included several life size horse models complete with full armor and mounted knights. The palace balcony, located just off of the courtyard offered spectacular views of Madrid. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited inside of all of the buildings, so photos of the outside of the palace will have to suffice.
After visiting the palace, we decided to experience a bit more Spanish culture by taking a traditional afternoon siesta in our hostel. We topped off the evening by people watching off of our balcony. We amused ourselves by coming up with a story for every person that walked down the street (we saw some very interesting characters). The highlight of our people watching experience came when a large older man was stumbling down the street out of La Corte Ingles (the department/grocery store) with two store employees hanging on to him. At first we thought we were witnessing a medical emergency, but the man soon made a break for it and started running from the women. Seconds later several police offers caught up with the man (he wasn't going too fast) and apprehended the apparent shoplifter. It was like watching an episode of Cops Madrid style. Soon after, we visited La Corte Ingles to pick up dinner and lunch for the train. We carefully paid for all of our goods so as to avoid an international incident!
We got up early this morning to catch our high speed train to Barcelona. Our guide book listed train routes as taking between 5 and 9 hours from Madrid to Barcelona, but we were lucky to get a train here in less than three hours. The Spanish countryside is spectacular. The terrain varies widely from region to region with mountains everywhere and some green and some desert areas. We arrived in Barcelona around 11:00 and checked into our hostel, which is located in a really cool building near the center of the city. We appear to have lucked out with good roommates again with two nice girls from Louisiana and three from Brazil.
After checking in, we began a walking tour through the city. Barcelona is definitely the most distinctive city we've seen. The guide book calls it funky and we definitely agree. The architecture is very unique and the people are spirited. We walked down Las Ramblas, a very popular avenue for tourists. It is full of street vendors, performers, and human statues. We also stopped at La Boqueria, a HUGE street market where you can buy just about any part of an animal from land or sea. Luckily they also had lots of fruit and other produce and we bought a fruit bowl for an afternoon snack.
Next, we made our way down to the harbor and took in some good sights with Barcelona's famous Christopher Columbus statue, the marinas, and some tourists feeding fish (there were hundreds!). We then strolled through the Parc de la Ciutadella. Some of the locals there were very open in their love and admiration for each other - public displays of affection taken to a new level. At the end of the park was the Spanish version of the Arch de Triomphe, a cool site in itself.
Finally, we hiked across the city to La Sangrada Familia, an incredible modern cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's favorite son. Construction began in 1882 and is still underway today. The architecture and design is completely unique, but it still has all of the grandeur of the classical cathedrals we've seen. It was neat to see how a cathedral is built, and it amazes us how people were able to build the older cathedrals hundreds of years ago with far less sophisticated equipment.
By this time, we were starving as we hadn't had any real food all day, so we made our way to an all-you-can-eat buffet we had passed earlier and decided to take advantage of this great opportunity for unlimited food. It ended up being delicious, but after we made our way halfway down the buffet line, there was a striking lack of meat. Sure enough, it was actually a vegetarian restaurant. After stuffing ourselves full of these healthy platters, we returned to the hostel to plan tomorrow's itinerary.
Hasta Luego!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Madrid Day 1
Our trip to Madrid began with a trip back to Paris on a really slow but rather comfortable train. The trip on the TGV high speed train to Tours was only an hour, but our return trip was 3 hours. The nice part was that we got to see several other small towns of the Loire Valley and a few chateaus on our way back to Paris.
The second leg of our journey was an overnight train from Paris to the border city of Irun, France. We had be bracing ourselves for 8 hours in a reclining chair, which is what we thought our tickets were for (we bought them from a woman who spoke as much English as we speak French). We were more than pleasantly surprised when we discovered that we actually couchettes (little beds) for the night. There were 6 couchettes stacked three on each side in a tiny little room within the train. Not the most comfortable accommodations, but far better than what we thought we would have. We were both able to rest up a bit for our third train ride.
Train #3 took us from Irun to Madrid, Spain. The trains here are set up very much like an airplane, except you are firmly planted on the ground. Plus, trains make for much better sightseeing on the trip. Our train followed the coastline for a while and we also traveled through the mountains. We enjoyed watching the scenery, and even saw the occasional castle in the distance. Our train arrived in Madrid around 2pm. We were glad to finally hear Spanish over the intercom, as we can usually catch enough words to have a good idea of what is going on.
After a short ride on the metro we arrived at the RC Miguel Angel hostel- located right in the center of Madrid just off of the Puerta del Sol. The location is perfect, as most of the sights are within a reasonable walking distance. The hostel itself is also really nice, we even have a balcony overlooking the city! Last night we only had one other roommate in our four bed room. He was a college student on his last night in Europe after spending a semester studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain. Interestingly enough, he is from Louisville, KaY and goes to the University of Kentucky. He even went to Crosby Middle School (the same as Nick)! Small world. He gave us a few good ideas of things to do in Madrid- so we will see how much we can cram in before we leave for Barcelona tomorrow.
After checking into our hostel yesterday afternoon we took a walk around the city to orient ourselves a bit. We ended up at huge city park that was filled with trails, ponds, and fountains. We walked around the park for quite a while and took in the sights. There was a large pond with an impressive monument on one side and row boat rentals on the other. A local entertainer was playing Italian love songs on the accordion- for a moment we thought we were in Venice!
Following our visit in the park we headed back tour our hostel, grabbed some food from the grocery store (conveniently located across the street), and spent the remainder of the evening hanging out in the hostel. Today we are going to see as many sights as possible, and plan on trying out some Tapas for dinner. More to come later. Adios!
The second leg of our journey was an overnight train from Paris to the border city of Irun, France. We had be bracing ourselves for 8 hours in a reclining chair, which is what we thought our tickets were for (we bought them from a woman who spoke as much English as we speak French). We were more than pleasantly surprised when we discovered that we actually couchettes (little beds) for the night. There were 6 couchettes stacked three on each side in a tiny little room within the train. Not the most comfortable accommodations, but far better than what we thought we would have. We were both able to rest up a bit for our third train ride.
Train #3 took us from Irun to Madrid, Spain. The trains here are set up very much like an airplane, except you are firmly planted on the ground. Plus, trains make for much better sightseeing on the trip. Our train followed the coastline for a while and we also traveled through the mountains. We enjoyed watching the scenery, and even saw the occasional castle in the distance. Our train arrived in Madrid around 2pm. We were glad to finally hear Spanish over the intercom, as we can usually catch enough words to have a good idea of what is going on.
After a short ride on the metro we arrived at the RC Miguel Angel hostel- located right in the center of Madrid just off of the Puerta del Sol. The location is perfect, as most of the sights are within a reasonable walking distance. The hostel itself is also really nice, we even have a balcony overlooking the city! Last night we only had one other roommate in our four bed room. He was a college student on his last night in Europe after spending a semester studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain. Interestingly enough, he is from Louisville, KaY and goes to the University of Kentucky. He even went to Crosby Middle School (the same as Nick)! Small world. He gave us a few good ideas of things to do in Madrid- so we will see how much we can cram in before we leave for Barcelona tomorrow.
After checking into our hostel yesterday afternoon we took a walk around the city to orient ourselves a bit. We ended up at huge city park that was filled with trails, ponds, and fountains. We walked around the park for quite a while and took in the sights. There was a large pond with an impressive monument on one side and row boat rentals on the other. A local entertainer was playing Italian love songs on the accordion- for a moment we thought we were in Venice!
Following our visit in the park we headed back tour our hostel, grabbed some food from the grocery store (conveniently located across the street), and spent the remainder of the evening hanging out in the hostel. Today we are going to see as many sights as possible, and plan on trying out some Tapas for dinner. More to come later. Adios!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Tours
Saturday afternoon we embarked on our tour of three French chateaus in the Loire Valley. Our tour guide was a friendly French man that drove us around between the chateaus in a diesel VW minivan. First we visited Chenonceau or 'castle of the ladies'. The chateau is actually built like a bridge over the Cher River (a tributary of the Loire). The chateau was quite impressive, as were the gardens and woods that surrounded it. We had nearly 2 hours to visit, which gave us plenty of time to tour the castle and walk on a few of the trails. Once again we managed to luck out with the weather. It had been raining on and off all day, but managed to be perfect whenever we wanted to be outside. After Chenonceau we drove to Amboise to see Close Luce- the last house of Leonardo da Vinci. We were able to tour his house and even see the bed where he died! Most of the exhibits within the house focused on him as an engineer rather than an artist (which Nick really enjoyed, of course). In the basement of the house there were several replica models of many of the machines or tools that he designed. After visiting the house we walked through the gardens that also included some larger working models of his inventions. Next we took a short drive to the royal castle in Amboise. Since all the royal palaces were starting to look the same we opted not to pay another 7 euro to go inside. Instead we walked around the medieval town, took some pictures of the outside of the castle, walked down by the river bank, and most importantly- bought some delicious ice cream with the money we saved! There was also a bit of wine tasting at the conclusion of our tour- neither of us will ever be wine drinkers, but at least we can say that we have had some of the famous Loire Valley wine.
For dinner last night we decided we were up for a taste of Europe (fast food style) and tried out the local Nabab Kabab. The kabab is a really large hunk of what we believe to be pork that spins around under a heat lamp all day. When you order, they shave your portion of meat off of the kabab and put it on a toasted bun with white sauce, chili sauce, or ketchup- delicious!
Today (Sunday) we rested up a bit from our long day we had yesterday. We enjoyed a new type of pastry for breakfast from a local bakery- paille- a crunchy layered pastry with some kind of jam in the center. Then we walked around the old part of Tours that consisted of a gothic cathedral and several medieval buildings. We even stumbled upon a large street market, which was really more like a town yard sale. We decided that the random junk they try and sell in France is remarkably similar to that of yard sales in the US. The season 2 Friends VHS tapes were pretty tempting, but we were able to restrain ourselves (plus we don't have that kind of room in our backpacks). After wandering through the market we walked over a bridge to whatever small town is across the river from Tours. The bridge offered some great views of the river and the houses that are on the hills.
Once our walking tour of Tours was finished, it was time to tackle washing our clothes in a French laundromat. Doing laundry here was incredibly expensive (over 4 euro to wash and dry!) so we settled on doing only one load to get us by until we find somewhere cheaper. So to everyone for gave us a hard time about how much stuff we brought... we are really glad that we aren't going to have to do laundry as often! We managed to figure out the odd assortment of knobs and buttons, and we also had our first experience in using the small free washer that is located in the sink :)
We leave on the train for Madrid in less than an hour. Going to Madrid includes a nearly 3 hour trip back to Paris, a 8 hour ride to the border city of Irun, and a final 6 hour ride to Madrid. On the bright side- we are getting all of this travel through the beautiful countryside for only 24 euro a piece with our rail pass. We will update again from Spain once we recover from our journey. Adios!
For dinner last night we decided we were up for a taste of Europe (fast food style) and tried out the local Nabab Kabab. The kabab is a really large hunk of what we believe to be pork that spins around under a heat lamp all day. When you order, they shave your portion of meat off of the kabab and put it on a toasted bun with white sauce, chili sauce, or ketchup- delicious!
Today (Sunday) we rested up a bit from our long day we had yesterday. We enjoyed a new type of pastry for breakfast from a local bakery- paille- a crunchy layered pastry with some kind of jam in the center. Then we walked around the old part of Tours that consisted of a gothic cathedral and several medieval buildings. We even stumbled upon a large street market, which was really more like a town yard sale. We decided that the random junk they try and sell in France is remarkably similar to that of yard sales in the US. The season 2 Friends VHS tapes were pretty tempting, but we were able to restrain ourselves (plus we don't have that kind of room in our backpacks). After wandering through the market we walked over a bridge to whatever small town is across the river from Tours. The bridge offered some great views of the river and the houses that are on the hills.
Once our walking tour of Tours was finished, it was time to tackle washing our clothes in a French laundromat. Doing laundry here was incredibly expensive (over 4 euro to wash and dry!) so we settled on doing only one load to get us by until we find somewhere cheaper. So to everyone for gave us a hard time about how much stuff we brought... we are really glad that we aren't going to have to do laundry as often! We managed to figure out the odd assortment of knobs and buttons, and we also had our first experience in using the small free washer that is located in the sink :)
We leave on the train for Madrid in less than an hour. Going to Madrid includes a nearly 3 hour trip back to Paris, a 8 hour ride to the border city of Irun, and a final 6 hour ride to Madrid. On the bright side- we are getting all of this travel through the beautiful countryside for only 24 euro a piece with our rail pass. We will update again from Spain once we recover from our journey. Adios!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
End of London, Paris, and Tours (yes, we're behind)
Our stay in London ended Wednesday with a visit of the Tower of London. We took a tour with the Yeoman Warders- the guys that use to take people to get their heads chopped off. The tour was great as we saw the first castle built in London by William of Normandy and learned the bloody history of the place through Henry VIII and beyond. We also stopped by the Jewel House to view the crowned jewels. Afterwards, we walked around the tower grounds and exhibits, took a few pictures of the Tower Bridge, and enjoyed a traditional lunch of fish and chips. We ran out of time to visit St. Paul's Cathedral, but we will have a second chance when we return to London at the end of our trip.
After visiting the Tower of London, it was time to grab our bags from the hostel and make our way to the train station. After an easy 2 1/2 hour journey we hopped off the train and into the language barrier. Contrary to popular belief, everyone the Gare du Nord train station does not speak English, and Mastercard and Visa are not always where you want to be. After wandering around dazed, confused, and a little culture shocked, we made it to the ticket counter, found an ATM, and managed to get on the right metro. After finding our hotel, we comforted ourselves with some late night McDonald's (it's much cheaper than eating French) and got some much needed rest.
Thursday morning, we started out with breakfast from a local bakery - chocolate filled croissants have become our breakfast of choice. We began with a walking tour across a quarter of Paris through Chinatown and a variety of Parisian streets until we reached the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was all that Disney made it out to be, and more! After Notre Dame, we set on another cross-town journey by foot to see the Catacombs. On the way we saw bunches of military and police bearing large machine guns and riot control gear. We were a little worried about the possibility of martial law but apparently this is normal. Go France. We got to the Catacombs at 4:01 - a minute after they close but the people admitted us anyway. The Catacombs were very spooky. Walls of thousands and thousands of skulls and bones lined the streets of Paris far underground. This made for some creepy pictures for sure!
After the catacombs we finally used the metro to go to the Eiffel Tower. It looks just like we imagined - truly magical. We took the standard photos, but decided not to go up to the top (cheap). We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe and took some more pictures of this awesome French monument. After walking through nearly 3/4's of Paris, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Our next adventure was eating a cheap dinner in the City of Light. We figured our best bet was the local Monoprix. Thirty minutes later we left with 2 ham sandwiches, a bag of chips, juice, bananas, peaches, yogurt, and 2 days worth of the now standard chocolate croissants for a mere 7 Euro!
We woke up early on Friday in an attempt to beat the crowds to Versaille. We took the Paris RER (regional train) to Versailles and got there soon after it opened. It is a spectacular place. We can't believe that the old kings needed so much. Everything was so ornate on the walls and ceilings. And by the looks on the paintings, they thought very highly of themselves, haha. We were also able to tour the gardens which were also very nice, although many of the flowers and plants were not in full bloom yet. After the Chateaux we got pizza for lunch at a local restaurant. The pizza was a pretty good size so we split it to the chagrin of our waitress. It was very good though and our first real taste of local cuisine (Italian in France??).
We then napped back at the hostel and prepared for an evening at the Louvre. The museum is free to students on Friday nights and we took advantage of this. The actual Louvre Palace was spectacular - just as impressive as the works it contained. We saw the Mona Lisa of course, but honestly it seemed less impressive than many of the other works. We also realized that our art history knowledge was not quite up to par.
After our art history lesson of the evening, we set off on our seemingly neverending quest in search of the golden arches (a.k.a. a McDonald's with free wireless). The second myth we have busted on our trip is that the internet is everywhere in Europe. Our search took us nearly two hours, but on the way we were able to see the Musee D'Orsay, the National Assembly, Invalides, and a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower at dusk. Finally, like a mirage in the desert, we saw the elusive yellow M glowing in the distance. After munching down on our second 'cultural' meal of the day, we were able to do some much needed catching up online. After getting our internet fix, we went back to the hostel and crashed.
Today (Saturday) we got up bright and early to catch our high speed TGV train to Tours, France- our home base for visiting the Loire Valley. We had a near disaster with our arrival in Tours this morning- the train stopped at what looked to be the Tours station, but the door didn't stay open long and we didn't make it out in time with our large bags. We were a bit concerned, when the train started to pull away from the station but we had no choice but to stay on board. Of course we were unsure of what was going on because all of the announcements and signs were only in French! We made the decision to just get off at the next stop wherever that may be, fortunately this was actually the correct station located one minute from our hotel- whew!!
Tours is turning out to be a very interesting town- they actually have a medieval town center and large cathedral that we are going to check out tomorrow before we leave. We booked a tour to visit three chateaus this afternoon, along with a little wine tasting! We have been mooching internet outside of McDonald's (our new favorite European restaurant) while we wait for our tour van. We should be able to update later before we embark on our 18 hour train journey to Madrid.
Au revoir!
After visiting the Tower of London, it was time to grab our bags from the hostel and make our way to the train station. After an easy 2 1/2 hour journey we hopped off the train and into the language barrier. Contrary to popular belief, everyone the Gare du Nord train station does not speak English, and Mastercard and Visa are not always where you want to be. After wandering around dazed, confused, and a little culture shocked, we made it to the ticket counter, found an ATM, and managed to get on the right metro. After finding our hotel, we comforted ourselves with some late night McDonald's (it's much cheaper than eating French) and got some much needed rest.
Thursday morning, we started out with breakfast from a local bakery - chocolate filled croissants have become our breakfast of choice. We began with a walking tour across a quarter of Paris through Chinatown and a variety of Parisian streets until we reached the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was all that Disney made it out to be, and more! After Notre Dame, we set on another cross-town journey by foot to see the Catacombs. On the way we saw bunches of military and police bearing large machine guns and riot control gear. We were a little worried about the possibility of martial law but apparently this is normal. Go France. We got to the Catacombs at 4:01 - a minute after they close but the people admitted us anyway. The Catacombs were very spooky. Walls of thousands and thousands of skulls and bones lined the streets of Paris far underground. This made for some creepy pictures for sure!
After the catacombs we finally used the metro to go to the Eiffel Tower. It looks just like we imagined - truly magical. We took the standard photos, but decided not to go up to the top (cheap). We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe and took some more pictures of this awesome French monument. After walking through nearly 3/4's of Paris, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Our next adventure was eating a cheap dinner in the City of Light. We figured our best bet was the local Monoprix. Thirty minutes later we left with 2 ham sandwiches, a bag of chips, juice, bananas, peaches, yogurt, and 2 days worth of the now standard chocolate croissants for a mere 7 Euro!
We woke up early on Friday in an attempt to beat the crowds to Versaille. We took the Paris RER (regional train) to Versailles and got there soon after it opened. It is a spectacular place. We can't believe that the old kings needed so much. Everything was so ornate on the walls and ceilings. And by the looks on the paintings, they thought very highly of themselves, haha. We were also able to tour the gardens which were also very nice, although many of the flowers and plants were not in full bloom yet. After the Chateaux we got pizza for lunch at a local restaurant. The pizza was a pretty good size so we split it to the chagrin of our waitress. It was very good though and our first real taste of local cuisine (Italian in France??).
We then napped back at the hostel and prepared for an evening at the Louvre. The museum is free to students on Friday nights and we took advantage of this. The actual Louvre Palace was spectacular - just as impressive as the works it contained. We saw the Mona Lisa of course, but honestly it seemed less impressive than many of the other works. We also realized that our art history knowledge was not quite up to par.
After our art history lesson of the evening, we set off on our seemingly neverending quest in search of the golden arches (a.k.a. a McDonald's with free wireless). The second myth we have busted on our trip is that the internet is everywhere in Europe. Our search took us nearly two hours, but on the way we were able to see the Musee D'Orsay, the National Assembly, Invalides, and a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower at dusk. Finally, like a mirage in the desert, we saw the elusive yellow M glowing in the distance. After munching down on our second 'cultural' meal of the day, we were able to do some much needed catching up online. After getting our internet fix, we went back to the hostel and crashed.
Today (Saturday) we got up bright and early to catch our high speed TGV train to Tours, France- our home base for visiting the Loire Valley. We had a near disaster with our arrival in Tours this morning- the train stopped at what looked to be the Tours station, but the door didn't stay open long and we didn't make it out in time with our large bags. We were a bit concerned, when the train started to pull away from the station but we had no choice but to stay on board. Of course we were unsure of what was going on because all of the announcements and signs were only in French! We made the decision to just get off at the next stop wherever that may be, fortunately this was actually the correct station located one minute from our hotel- whew!!
Tours is turning out to be a very interesting town- they actually have a medieval town center and large cathedral that we are going to check out tomorrow before we leave. We booked a tour to visit three chateaus this afternoon, along with a little wine tasting! We have been mooching internet outside of McDonald's (our new favorite European restaurant) while we wait for our tour van. We should be able to update later before we embark on our 18 hour train journey to Madrid.
Au revoir!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
London Day 1 Cont. & Day 2
After having a lively conversation with the British 'we don't have your baggage' man... we took a groggy tube (subway) ride to our hostel that is just north of the central part of London. The hostel is very nice, it is actually a large renovated historic home. After checking in, we set off on our first day of sightseeing around the city. We watched the tail end of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, took a few pictures, then we rested (aka napped) in the sunshine for an hour or so in Queen's Park directly across the street (don't worry- we had our money belts securely in place). After we felt a bit more refreshed we walked over to Westminster and checked out the Abbey and Parliament. Since we were still quite tired and felt we weren't really absorbing our surroundings we went back to the hostel, took another nap, and got ready for dinner. We met up with Laura's friends Calvin and Marie for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and then went on a Jack-the-Ripper tour around the Whitechapel area of East London. The tour guide was great and the stories were pretty creepy. After the tour we headed straight back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.
After a tasty English breakfast this morning we headed back to Westminster to re-do the sightseeing from yesterday. We were able to appreciate all the sights much more today after our 10 hours of sleep :) After revisiting the Abbey and Parliament we went through St. Margaret's Church and crossed the Thames River via the Westminster Bridge. Then we took an up close look at the London Eye but decided we didn't want to spend the ££ to climb aboard. We continued wandering around London for several more hours and saw the Royal Cavalry, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, the British Museum, and other places we can't remember the names of. Overall it was a great day- the weather has been perfect the entire time- sunny and in the 70's. We have become masters of getting around via the tube and have visited more stations than we can count. It is really easy to get around here and we haven't been lost once!!
Tomorrow we are going to get up bright and early and head to Old London to see St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, and the Tower of London. In the afternoon we leave for Paris on the Eurostar. That's all for now- next update from Paris!
After a tasty English breakfast this morning we headed back to Westminster to re-do the sightseeing from yesterday. We were able to appreciate all the sights much more today after our 10 hours of sleep :) After revisiting the Abbey and Parliament we went through St. Margaret's Church and crossed the Thames River via the Westminster Bridge. Then we took an up close look at the London Eye but decided we didn't want to spend the ££ to climb aboard. We continued wandering around London for several more hours and saw the Royal Cavalry, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, the British Museum, and other places we can't remember the names of. Overall it was a great day- the weather has been perfect the entire time- sunny and in the 70's. We have become masters of getting around via the tube and have visited more stations than we can count. It is really easy to get around here and we haven't been lost once!!
Tomorrow we are going to get up bright and early and head to Old London to see St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, and the Tower of London. In the afternoon we leave for Paris on the Eurostar. That's all for now- next update from Paris!
Monday, May 12, 2008
First Day in London
We arrived in London this morning at about 7:30 am local time. The flight was fantastic as we were able to sit in the emergency exit aisle and Nick could stretch his legs the whole way. Plus they served good dinner and breakfast and we were able to watch movies and play games on the flight. We also got a little sleep on the way, but probably not enough.
At Heathrow, Nick grabbed his backpack but Laura's was nowhere to be found :( Apparently it did not make the trip over with us and we will get it tomorrow afternoon. More later....
At Heathrow, Nick grabbed his backpack but Laura's was nowhere to be found :( Apparently it did not make the trip over with us and we will get it tomorrow afternoon. More later....
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Welcome
Welcome all to our blog, Nick and Laura's European Adventure 2008!! We look forward to posting pictures and sharing our stories of our summer backpacking trip through Western Europe on this blog. We start out with our flight from Chicago O'Hare to London Heathrow tomorrow. More to come soon, but thanks for visiting!
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