I had been looking forward to Copenhagen for about 2 years now, ever since I first learned anything about it. It is the only city we visited in Scandanavia, the region that I really really REALLY want to travel. They have the best design there and seem like really cool people. Unfortunately, Copenhagen turned out to be the most expensive city we've been to, including London. It was gorgeous there, though, and we had a view of the river through the window of our hostel.
One of my favorite things about the city was the biking there. I'm pretty sure there are more bikes than cars in Copenhagen and they have an awesome system worked out where the cars, bikes, and pedestrians each have a different level of paved surface so nobody has to worry about being mowed down by something bigger & faster than themselves. We went on a canal tour and saw the main sights of the city, and it was cold enough to wear jeans and a scarf! It really put me in the mood for a Cincinnati Fall.
One night we went to the Ice Bar, a bar where everything but the bottles is made out of ice. The bar itself, the walls, the seats, and the glasses are all solid ice, which makes for a pretty fun experience. At the door they give you a giant furry poncho, gloves, and boots so you dont freeze to death. The place is too expensive to do anything but just stand there, but we had a ton of fun anyway.
Another night we went to Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen's amusement park. That, too was too expensive to do anything, but we got to see the pretty lights at nighttime and it was fun just to walk around.
I loved Copenhagen... my one regret was that I forgot to try a Danish in Denmark : (
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Nowhere Near Berlin
Our next stop brought us to Berlin. As it turns out, Germany may be my overall favorite country that we've visited. I loved Munich, and Berlin was no disappointment. I had been gettng pretty used to the beautiful, centuries-old architecture of every single European city and I must say that in this respect Berlin was a breath of fresh air. Pretty much everything was leveled in the 1940's (in the case of the opera house, twice) for obvious reasons, so everything that wasn't rebuilt to look exactly the same as before is pretty modern and fun to look at.
Berlin is a history fan's dream. So much stuff went on there and you can still see the evidence of it. We went on a walking tour with a girl who graduated with a degree in history, so we got to hear some pretty good stories. We saw, among others, the Brandenburg Gate, a memorial to the Jews killed in the Holocaust (designed by Peter Eisenman, DAAP man), the site of Hitler's bunkers, the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the square where the nazis burnt the books, and the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over a balcony. One of my favorite things was the square where the books were burned. In the center of the square is an underground room with shelves enough to house the 2000-some books burned there. You can look down and see the empty shelves through a glass skylight, but the room is permanently sealed to represent the irrevocable event.
One of the days in Berlin we spent 8 HOURS at the zoo! It was a nice change of pace, and totally excusable because the Berlin zoo is supposed to be really well designed and stuff like that. I got to see Knut, the famous (not so) baby polar bear that has his own TV show and theme song in Germany. We watched the Emperor Penguins, my favorites, for about 20 minutes and got to see giraffes making new giraffes. One of the best parts of the day was when Megan thought that the red raccoons were hyenas. We still havent let her live that one down.
Berlin is a history fan's dream. So much stuff went on there and you can still see the evidence of it. We went on a walking tour with a girl who graduated with a degree in history, so we got to hear some pretty good stories. We saw, among others, the Brandenburg Gate, a memorial to the Jews killed in the Holocaust (designed by Peter Eisenman, DAAP man), the site of Hitler's bunkers, the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the square where the nazis burnt the books, and the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over a balcony. One of my favorite things was the square where the books were burned. In the center of the square is an underground room with shelves enough to house the 2000-some books burned there. You can look down and see the empty shelves through a glass skylight, but the room is permanently sealed to represent the irrevocable event.
One of the days in Berlin we spent 8 HOURS at the zoo! It was a nice change of pace, and totally excusable because the Berlin zoo is supposed to be really well designed and stuff like that. I got to see Knut, the famous (not so) baby polar bear that has his own TV show and theme song in Germany. We watched the Emperor Penguins, my favorites, for about 20 minutes and got to see giraffes making new giraffes. One of the best parts of the day was when Megan thought that the red raccoons were hyenas. We still havent let her live that one down.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Czech out Prague
Prague officialy ranks among my top 5 favorite Europen Cities (so far). It has a history worthy of history class and some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Our first day there we went on a free walknig tour, where we accidentally landed a tourguide who is legitimately famous with travelers, he is so good. His name is Issac and apparently through word of mouth he is the tourguide that people seek out. It was like a history lesson and a standup comedy act all rolled into one, and even if it wasn't free I still would have gone.
One of the coolest things we did was go up and see the Prague castle, where all sorts of political goings-on happened way back when. In fact, my favorite ever political event occurred there, the Defenestration of Prague. Basically the Protestants got mad at the Catholics and started throwing them out the windows of the castle, and this started the 30 Years War. Defenestrate is my favorite word, and that's the truth. You better believe that I got a picture next to the actual window, and Kristin is pretending to throw me out of it. It's pretty cool.
Another neat thing about Prague is that beer is, honestly, cheaper ounce for ounce than water. Maybe this is because Prague is so close to Pilsen, where pilsner comes from, but I still find it mind-boggling.
It wasnt all fun and games, though, and we were serious for some of the time. We had decided a while ago that we weren't going to go to any concentration camps over here because we heard that they are seriously just too awful. However, there is a concentration camp called Terezin just an hour outside of Prague and there is a Synagogue in the Jewish quarters of Prague that pays homage to its victims. We were told that the experience of the memorial is a more reflective and uplifting one than a concentration camp would provide, so we decided to go. Inside were the names of the thousands of Czech Jews who were murdered during WWII, all hand-painted alphabetically and by region on the walls (Madeline Albright found her grandparents here). From far away the words just looked like patterned wallpaper, and the effect was pretty powerful. While I was looking I found the name Ferencz (I'm a little Jewish?) with a birth to death date of 1910-1941. Upstairs the memorial turned into something totally unique. A little background: Terezin was one of the less awful concentraiton camps out there because nazis used it to document & show the media that life in the camps 'weren't so bad'. However, almost everyone who went through there ended up in Auschwitz. There had also been a baby boom in the area, so children in the camp outnumbered adults 7 to 1 or something like that. Understandably, the kids were battling depression although the adults in the Jewish community were doing their best to make life as normal as possible for them. A Jewish psychologist sat down with every single child in the camp and gave them markers, newspapers, and construction paper and asked them to draw exactly what it was in their mind that had them so ditressed. Amazingly, many of these drawings survived the war and they are on rotating display in the Synagogue. The subject matter ranged from traumatic events to images of home to Bible passages, but the effect was heartwrenching. Next to every drawing was the name and dates of the child artist, and almost every one died in the summer of 1944. It was so sad but the best war memorial I've seen so far (and there have been several). It was definitely one of the best experiences I've had over here. Sorry for ending on such a downer!
One of the coolest things we did was go up and see the Prague castle, where all sorts of political goings-on happened way back when. In fact, my favorite ever political event occurred there, the Defenestration of Prague. Basically the Protestants got mad at the Catholics and started throwing them out the windows of the castle, and this started the 30 Years War. Defenestrate is my favorite word, and that's the truth. You better believe that I got a picture next to the actual window, and Kristin is pretending to throw me out of it. It's pretty cool.
Another neat thing about Prague is that beer is, honestly, cheaper ounce for ounce than water. Maybe this is because Prague is so close to Pilsen, where pilsner comes from, but I still find it mind-boggling.
It wasnt all fun and games, though, and we were serious for some of the time. We had decided a while ago that we weren't going to go to any concentration camps over here because we heard that they are seriously just too awful. However, there is a concentration camp called Terezin just an hour outside of Prague and there is a Synagogue in the Jewish quarters of Prague that pays homage to its victims. We were told that the experience of the memorial is a more reflective and uplifting one than a concentration camp would provide, so we decided to go. Inside were the names of the thousands of Czech Jews who were murdered during WWII, all hand-painted alphabetically and by region on the walls (Madeline Albright found her grandparents here). From far away the words just looked like patterned wallpaper, and the effect was pretty powerful. While I was looking I found the name Ferencz (I'm a little Jewish?) with a birth to death date of 1910-1941. Upstairs the memorial turned into something totally unique. A little background: Terezin was one of the less awful concentraiton camps out there because nazis used it to document & show the media that life in the camps 'weren't so bad'. However, almost everyone who went through there ended up in Auschwitz. There had also been a baby boom in the area, so children in the camp outnumbered adults 7 to 1 or something like that. Understandably, the kids were battling depression although the adults in the Jewish community were doing their best to make life as normal as possible for them. A Jewish psychologist sat down with every single child in the camp and gave them markers, newspapers, and construction paper and asked them to draw exactly what it was in their mind that had them so ditressed. Amazingly, many of these drawings survived the war and they are on rotating display in the Synagogue. The subject matter ranged from traumatic events to images of home to Bible passages, but the effect was heartwrenching. Next to every drawing was the name and dates of the child artist, and almost every one died in the summer of 1944. It was so sad but the best war memorial I've seen so far (and there have been several). It was definitely one of the best experiences I've had over here. Sorry for ending on such a downer!
Budapest and Katie's Forefathers
Budapest was one of my favorite cities in awhile. Buda is on the hilly side of the river Danube (which is not blue) and Pest is on the opposite side, and the two were united at some point in time for some reason, and now they are Budapest. The city smells pretty gross but other than that it was amazing: the architecture is beautiful, there's a ton to occupy your time, and it is DIRT CHEAP. Compared to the rest of the places we're going. I'm pretty sure that the bank thought that I'd died or something because I didnt have to withdraw money every 7 hours.
We did all the touristy stuff there, the coolest of which was the Turkish Bath. We figured that because we cut out Istambul, we might as well try one out in Hungary, where they are extremely popular and you get to wear bathing suits. Basically at the one we went to there were a couple dozen small indoor pools meant for soaking in, all at different temperatures ranging from 'when do you add the vegetables and reduce to a simmer?' and 'colder than most of the drinking water they serve over here'. There are also saunas and steam rooms, and outside was a pool meant for swimming and two other warm ones. The indoor pools were fun to try out but a little nasty because they arent chlorinated and Europeans are dirty. The only empty one in the whole place was the really cold one, which we all crept into and then sat down in for a second, just to say that we did. I went into a steam room for the first time, which I do not recommend. It's hard to see, hard to breathe, and really kind of scary. The sauna was better, and just like in the movies.
The highlight of the city was when I realized that when I tell people that my heritage is 'Italian Polish Hungarian Ukranian Welsh', I should really just say 'Hungarian!' Yes, not only are the names 'Ferenc' and 'Ferencz' super common in Budapest, but someone named Joseph Ferencz was imoprtant enough in Hungarian history to have over 3 metro stops named after him as well as his name engraved really big on the Chain Bridge, Budapest's second most recognisable landmark (for those of you who do not know, my grandpa's late brother was named Joseph Ferencz... but I don't think that he was the Metro guy, mostly because Budapest has Europe's oldest metro system, built in 1895 or something like that).
The lowlight of the city was the trip out of it to Prague, where we boarded the wrong train, paid as much to cross the entire country of Slovakia as we did to go in a cab down two streets, rode a train that broke down for a grand total of 2+ hours, arrived in Prague at 2am and got to walk through the park that all the homeless people live in to get to a taxi. That's a good story if you ever get time to hear the whole thing.
We did all the touristy stuff there, the coolest of which was the Turkish Bath. We figured that because we cut out Istambul, we might as well try one out in Hungary, where they are extremely popular and you get to wear bathing suits. Basically at the one we went to there were a couple dozen small indoor pools meant for soaking in, all at different temperatures ranging from 'when do you add the vegetables and reduce to a simmer?' and 'colder than most of the drinking water they serve over here'. There are also saunas and steam rooms, and outside was a pool meant for swimming and two other warm ones. The indoor pools were fun to try out but a little nasty because they arent chlorinated and Europeans are dirty. The only empty one in the whole place was the really cold one, which we all crept into and then sat down in for a second, just to say that we did. I went into a steam room for the first time, which I do not recommend. It's hard to see, hard to breathe, and really kind of scary. The sauna was better, and just like in the movies.
The highlight of the city was when I realized that when I tell people that my heritage is 'Italian Polish Hungarian Ukranian Welsh', I should really just say 'Hungarian!' Yes, not only are the names 'Ferenc' and 'Ferencz' super common in Budapest, but someone named Joseph Ferencz was imoprtant enough in Hungarian history to have over 3 metro stops named after him as well as his name engraved really big on the Chain Bridge, Budapest's second most recognisable landmark (for those of you who do not know, my grandpa's late brother was named Joseph Ferencz... but I don't think that he was the Metro guy, mostly because Budapest has Europe's oldest metro system, built in 1895 or something like that).
The lowlight of the city was the trip out of it to Prague, where we boarded the wrong train, paid as much to cross the entire country of Slovakia as we did to go in a cab down two streets, rode a train that broke down for a grand total of 2+ hours, arrived in Prague at 2am and got to walk through the park that all the homeless people live in to get to a taxi. That's a good story if you ever get time to hear the whole thing.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Vienna is not in Australia
Vienna was clean. It had blue skies free of haze, beautiful puffy clouds, and was around 75-80 degrees farenheit. In short, it was a truly wonderful moment to walk off the plane from Athens, which was hazy, dirty, and hot. The city of classical music and Freud was beautiful. On our first venture out to see stuff, we were stopped in a popular tourist area by a man in period costume who was selling tickets to an orchestra event. Of course, because we were a group of 5 and are "beautiful ladies", the man offered us a good deal and we accepted because we all wanted to go see a concert. We spent the day walking around and sampled some of the coffee that Vienna is famous for, as well as some pretty delicious chocolate cake. This was probably the stupidest purchase I've made in Europe yet, as we were in a very touristy area and overpaid by A LOT. The cake and iced coffee together came to about 20 US dollars, which I've never even spent at Starbucks. We watched ourselves after that.
That night we arrived at the orchestra hall and went to takeour seats, which were not in the superb location that the period costume man had promised us. Nor was the hall as big as he'd claimed, or the performance on time. In short, we had walked right into a tourist trap. The music was lovely, but in between songs this guy came out and made stupid jokes, which brought the experience down a bit for us. We sat next to a French girl who had bought her tickets from the same guy we did, and she was up in arms about the somewhat misleading description he had given her as well. After the show she went and complained, which was pretty funny. We all had an okay time though, and Kristin spent the train ride back to the hostel doing ballet moves.
We tried coffee again the next day, this time at a place that was recommended to us and has been in Vienna for 200 years or something like that. It was the strongest coffee I've ever had, and I felt crazy for the better part of the day. It was a little expensive, but not nearly as bad as the chocolate cake place.
It probably sounds like Vienna sucked, but we actually really liked it. But if you ever go there, dont trust the men in the period costumes.
That night we arrived at the orchestra hall and went to takeour seats, which were not in the superb location that the period costume man had promised us. Nor was the hall as big as he'd claimed, or the performance on time. In short, we had walked right into a tourist trap. The music was lovely, but in between songs this guy came out and made stupid jokes, which brought the experience down a bit for us. We sat next to a French girl who had bought her tickets from the same guy we did, and she was up in arms about the somewhat misleading description he had given her as well. After the show she went and complained, which was pretty funny. We all had an okay time though, and Kristin spent the train ride back to the hostel doing ballet moves.
We tried coffee again the next day, this time at a place that was recommended to us and has been in Vienna for 200 years or something like that. It was the strongest coffee I've ever had, and I felt crazy for the better part of the day. It was a little expensive, but not nearly as bad as the chocolate cake place.
It probably sounds like Vienna sucked, but we actually really liked it. But if you ever go there, dont trust the men in the period costumes.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Santorini and the Worst Transportation in Europe
The group decided to take Istambul off the itinerary, and to make ourselves feel better about it we added a few days to the Greek Island portion of the trip (which was originally supposed to be a day trip). In Athens we booked a ferry trip to Santorini, and we spend most of our time in Athens getting excited to go to Santorini. We were all set to take the ferry in, arrive at 8pm, and go see what the island's nightlife had to offer, but the boat was 2 hours late to pick us up. We made friends with the lady next to us onthe ferry, and she was kind enough to translate for us when the crew announced that we wouldn't arrive in Santorini until 12:30am. Our resolve was only strengthened to go have fun, however, so when we arrived at our hostel at 1 in the moring we freshened up and then headed for Fira, Santorini's most popular town. It was the only time in my whole life that I stayed up past sunrise and wasn't doing homework.
The next day we had breakfast at noon and then spent some time on the black sand beach of Parissa, just a 5 minute walk from our hostel (which was all white and blue and had a swimming pool!). We walked up along the beach to see the restaurants and shops and found a place that offered scuba diving and snorkeling excursions, and decided to do some sorkeling the next day. I had never done it before and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do it right (I remember hearing Heather's story), but it was actually really easy (sorry, Heather). There weren't any coral reefs or anything like that, but we saw some pretty fish and the water was so blue and so so clear. We got to go through some caves, too, but I thought of that scary movie where they go cave diving and then it was less pleasant.
On the way out to the snorkeling spots, the guides drove the boat really fast so that it was comparable to riding a jet ski. There was a family of four going on the excursion with us, and the mom fell off theboat on a particularly large bump. She was okay, butI think her daughter was traumatized for life and cried a lot, that was a downer. The rest of the trip went off without a hitch, though, and Megan even got to pee in the ocean.
True to Greek form, the ferry to go back to the mainland was late picking us up from Santorini. The island was beautiful and so fun, and we were sad to have to go back to Athens for the last day.
The next day we had breakfast at noon and then spent some time on the black sand beach of Parissa, just a 5 minute walk from our hostel (which was all white and blue and had a swimming pool!). We walked up along the beach to see the restaurants and shops and found a place that offered scuba diving and snorkeling excursions, and decided to do some sorkeling the next day. I had never done it before and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do it right (I remember hearing Heather's story), but it was actually really easy (sorry, Heather). There weren't any coral reefs or anything like that, but we saw some pretty fish and the water was so blue and so so clear. We got to go through some caves, too, but I thought of that scary movie where they go cave diving and then it was less pleasant.
On the way out to the snorkeling spots, the guides drove the boat really fast so that it was comparable to riding a jet ski. There was a family of four going on the excursion with us, and the mom fell off theboat on a particularly large bump. She was okay, butI think her daughter was traumatized for life and cried a lot, that was a downer. The rest of the trip went off without a hitch, though, and Megan even got to pee in the ocean.
True to Greek form, the ferry to go back to the mainland was late picking us up from Santorini. The island was beautiful and so fun, and we were sad to have to go back to Athens for the last day.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Athens is Dirty
It really is. It was also hot and sweaty, under a lot of construction, smelled a lot like carbon emissions, and police walked around everywhere with machine guns. However, the Acropolis was way cooler than in the pictures we saw in Architectural history classes. The main temple was covered in scaffolding, although we've gotten used to this... At least one major building in every city we've been to has been under construction. It makes me wonder why they do that during tourist season. We take pictures anyway.
I'm in the middle of reading a book about Helen of Troy, so being in Greece was pretty fun for that reason. Other than that, it was actually a bit of a letdown simply because I was so eager to go there. It was the opposite of Paris, where I thought I wasn't going to like it but ended up loving it. The food was good, though, and we ate gyros for just about every meal, including breakfast. Baklava is better here, and I've become inspired to start eating yogurt with honey and nuts (yes, mom, I finally tried it).
I'm trying to catch up on posts, as we are traveling to Budapest today which means that I still have to do Santorini and Vienna, both of which I have a lot to talk about. With some luck, the Budapest hostel will have free internet and I can update there! Sorry for the lateness.
I'm in the middle of reading a book about Helen of Troy, so being in Greece was pretty fun for that reason. Other than that, it was actually a bit of a letdown simply because I was so eager to go there. It was the opposite of Paris, where I thought I wasn't going to like it but ended up loving it. The food was good, though, and we ate gyros for just about every meal, including breakfast. Baklava is better here, and I've become inspired to start eating yogurt with honey and nuts (yes, mom, I finally tried it).
I'm trying to catch up on posts, as we are traveling to Budapest today which means that I still have to do Santorini and Vienna, both of which I have a lot to talk about. With some luck, the Budapest hostel will have free internet and I can update there! Sorry for the lateness.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
When in Rome
Whenever I meet someone on this trip and get to talking about our travels, they inevitably ask me why I am traveling. The typical response is, "Well, I'm not taking any classes or anything over here, but I'm getting school credit for it". People are usually surprised and jealous, and I can't blame them. Nothing that I'm doing over here really seems like work. On that note, however, when I got to Rome I was surprised and very proud of myself for everything that I remember from my painfully boring architectural history classes. I found myself rattling off information about all the different ruins, and even remembered some dates of things. As it turns out, memorizing 700 buildings on flashcards does actually have its uses. But only really if you go to Rome.
The ruins here were incredible, although by the end of it I was pretty prepared to see some complete buildings, and maybe some grass. Rome is hot hot hot and sweaty, and not a lot grows there. The Italian food was the best I've ever eaten in my life, and I was sad to leave the pasta and gelato for Athens.
The ruins here were incredible, although by the end of it I was pretty prepared to see some complete buildings, and maybe some grass. Rome is hot hot hot and sweaty, and not a lot grows there. The Italian food was the best I've ever eaten in my life, and I was sad to leave the pasta and gelato for Athens.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Cinque Terre: The 5 Villages
We traveled to Cinque Terre and it was even more beautiful than people have been telling us for the past month and a half. Imagine the most romantic sea setting you can think of: cliffs, waves, blue blue ocean, and a hundred stone houses clinging onto a mountain, and that is Rio Maggiore, the southernmost of the 5 villages that make up Cinque Terre and the one we stayed in. Nobody in this place even locked their doors it was so authentic.
Being carefree Italians, the hostel people overlooked our reservations so we had to separate into two apartments across the village. The four girls were in one up the hill, and I was alone in one farther down. I had to go down about 30 steps to reach the ocean, though, so mine was way better. We spent the remainder of our first day on the beach (which was actually just gigantic rocks) and then made friends with some other travelers after the sun went down. We even got a fireworks show, because a local girl had gotten married that day (we had seen the wedding party taking pictures down by the ocean earlier).
The next day we planned on checking out, storing our backpacks, and then hiking from our village all the way up to the northernmost, which was estimated to take about 6 hours. I was on my way up the hill to drop my luggage and then meet up with the girls when I overlooked a step, tripped down it, popped something in my foot, and cut up my hand breaking my fall. I'm working on a cooler story than that, though, because it's pretty embarassing when someone asks me why my foot is all wrapped up and I have to tell them that I tripped down a stair. One. I was afraid it was broken at first, but went on the 5 village hike anyway (sorry Mom, Dad, Sean) and that didnt really help matters. However, I've been wrapping it up and the swelling has gone down a lot since then and it doesn't bother me to walk on it anymore. When we got to Rome later that day I asked the hostel worker for ice for my foot and he told me he hadn't seen that in Rome yet. Needless to say, I'm being more careful. I did get some really fantastic pictures from that hike, though, and hope to post them here soon!
Being carefree Italians, the hostel people overlooked our reservations so we had to separate into two apartments across the village. The four girls were in one up the hill, and I was alone in one farther down. I had to go down about 30 steps to reach the ocean, though, so mine was way better. We spent the remainder of our first day on the beach (which was actually just gigantic rocks) and then made friends with some other travelers after the sun went down. We even got a fireworks show, because a local girl had gotten married that day (we had seen the wedding party taking pictures down by the ocean earlier).
The next day we planned on checking out, storing our backpacks, and then hiking from our village all the way up to the northernmost, which was estimated to take about 6 hours. I was on my way up the hill to drop my luggage and then meet up with the girls when I overlooked a step, tripped down it, popped something in my foot, and cut up my hand breaking my fall. I'm working on a cooler story than that, though, because it's pretty embarassing when someone asks me why my foot is all wrapped up and I have to tell them that I tripped down a stair. One. I was afraid it was broken at first, but went on the 5 village hike anyway (sorry Mom, Dad, Sean) and that didnt really help matters. However, I've been wrapping it up and the swelling has gone down a lot since then and it doesn't bother me to walk on it anymore. When we got to Rome later that day I asked the hostel worker for ice for my foot and he told me he hadn't seen that in Rome yet. Needless to say, I'm being more careful. I did get some really fantastic pictures from that hike, though, and hope to post them here soon!
Venice
We went to Venice last week. The city is comparable to a gigantic hedge maze: The canals and streets go every which direction, sometimes it's hard to find bridges across the canals, and all the while you are closed in by 4-5 floor stone buildings. As Justine put it, the place could have used a city planner. Nonetheless, we all absolutely loved it there. Our hostel was really strange, though. We arrived at a 16th century mansion with no locks on the doors, no lockers in the rooms, and no reception desk. It was a little shady, but the people staying there ended up being very nice. The next day the hostel manager took us to the beach on Lido, another island (we took the water taxi over there and we did it the "Italian way", meaning that we didnt buy tickets). He introduced us to some of his friends and soon we were invited back to Lido for an authentic home-cooked Italian dinner!
The next day we were awoken early by the hostel people, who lured us out of our rooms with breakfast at about a quarter till 8. As it turns out, they were having inspections that day and woke everyone up so that they could move bunk beds out of all the rooms... evidentally there are supposed to be only 5 per room, but they were cramming in 8-10 (shady hostel, right?). We decided to take a water taxi over to Murano, where they do all the glassblowing. We also decided not to look at the stop schedule as we were getting on, and spent an hour and a half standing on a boat because we got on in the wrong direction. Milano was great, though, and I could have spend hours and hours looking at all the incredible glass work. Stay tuned for updates on Cinque Terre, Rome, Athens, and Santorini (where we are going tomorrow!)
The next day we were awoken early by the hostel people, who lured us out of our rooms with breakfast at about a quarter till 8. As it turns out, they were having inspections that day and woke everyone up so that they could move bunk beds out of all the rooms... evidentally there are supposed to be only 5 per room, but they were cramming in 8-10 (shady hostel, right?). We decided to take a water taxi over to Murano, where they do all the glassblowing. We also decided not to look at the stop schedule as we were getting on, and spent an hour and a half standing on a boat because we got on in the wrong direction. Milano was great, though, and I could have spend hours and hours looking at all the incredible glass work. Stay tuned for updates on Cinque Terre, Rome, Athens, and Santorini (where we are going tomorrow!)
Monday, July 20, 2009
München Munchkins
Munich is so fun! We spent the first night in one hostel and got up in the morning to switch to our current (and better) one, Wombats. I love love love it here. We went on a free bike tour led by a vulgar Irishman on Sunday. It took us all around the city and was mildly informative (let's just say it's a good thing it was free). For lunch the tour stopped at a biergarten in Munich's HUGE park, Englischer Gardens. We partook in a traditional liter of Munich's "regular" beer, the hellis. And then rode bikes some more. It was a funny afternoon, partly because of the ensuing biking and partly because Justine and Kristin got soaked from spray off of the river. There's a spot just past a bridge where daring locals surf, and it was rather impressive, but one of them made a turn too fast and absolutely drenched anyone standing close enough.
While on the tour, we made friends with a few people from L.A. After a break at the hostel, we met up with them and went to Hofbräuhaus, Munich's biggest tourist attraction. It turned out to be Brandon from L.A.'s birthday, so we did some celebrating and paid the musicians there to come sing to us. We also found out during the course of the evening that Brandon's younger brother (who was also there) was in Michael Jackson's Black or White music video as a baby. But that's irrelevant.
Today we hung out at the hostel for a while before going to Munich's engineering museum, which is rumored to require a full 33 days to see completely. It was one of those fun museums where you get to play with things. We saw some more of the city before getting Mexican food for dinner (and it was one of the 4 best meals I've had over here). Tomorrow we go to Neuschwanstein Castle in the mountains and the next day we're off to Italy!
While on the tour, we made friends with a few people from L.A. After a break at the hostel, we met up with them and went to Hofbräuhaus, Munich's biggest tourist attraction. It turned out to be Brandon from L.A.'s birthday, so we did some celebrating and paid the musicians there to come sing to us. We also found out during the course of the evening that Brandon's younger brother (who was also there) was in Michael Jackson's Black or White music video as a baby. But that's irrelevant.
Today we hung out at the hostel for a while before going to Munich's engineering museum, which is rumored to require a full 33 days to see completely. It was one of those fun museums where you get to play with things. We saw some more of the city before getting Mexican food for dinner (and it was one of the 4 best meals I've had over here). Tomorrow we go to Neuschwanstein Castle in the mountains and the next day we're off to Italy!
Basel, not Basil
Let's get the ridicule out of the way right now... when we arrived in Basel, Switzerland, the first thing we did was go to the theater and see Harry Potter (in English)! Laugh if you'd like, but it was a pleasant change to sit and watch a film in English for a few hours. Our hostel was immaculately clean and had a kitchen, so we picked up groceries for the week. It's a good thing, too, because although Basel isn't a huge tourist spot, it is extremely expensive to do anything there, including eating. The grocery thing worked out well for us, except when someone stole Kara's yogurt. She threw a fit.
The next day we got back into the groove and went to the Vitra Design Museum (furniture and whatnot). We saw an awesome exhibition of Fernando & Humberto Campana's work and it made me miss Jim Postell and our off-the-wall conversations. We were all excited to go back to the hostel and make pasta for lunch, but the kitchen was shut down for cleaning when we got there! We asked and they told us that it was literally the one day of the year that they did such an intensive clean. Just our luck.
Later we walked around the city and saw the Rhine river, which made me miss home. After a visit to Europe's oldest university, we got some overpriced fondue for dinner. After some reflection, I am coming to realize that my diet here consists almost entirely of bread and cheese. Not that I'm complaining, because I love these foods, but Europeans eat a lot a lot a lot of ham. And I'm just not into that.
The next day Kristin and Justine went to Zurich to visit Kristin's uncle. Kara, Megan and I went out on the town (Basel) and saw a museum before taking a rainy-day nap and then going down to the shipyards to stand in three countries at once (Germany, France, Switzerland)! Then we went back to the hostel and watched part of The Whole 10 Yards (in English!).
The next day turned out to be one of the biggest days of the year for Basel, the Tattoo. It was awesome because we all missed out on the 4th of July parades at home. This one represented several countries and was overrun with bagpipes. It rained on our parade a little, so we made up for it by buying very expensive and extremely delicious chocolates. The Swiss do it right.
The next day we got back into the groove and went to the Vitra Design Museum (furniture and whatnot). We saw an awesome exhibition of Fernando & Humberto Campana's work and it made me miss Jim Postell and our off-the-wall conversations. We were all excited to go back to the hostel and make pasta for lunch, but the kitchen was shut down for cleaning when we got there! We asked and they told us that it was literally the one day of the year that they did such an intensive clean. Just our luck.
Later we walked around the city and saw the Rhine river, which made me miss home. After a visit to Europe's oldest university, we got some overpriced fondue for dinner. After some reflection, I am coming to realize that my diet here consists almost entirely of bread and cheese. Not that I'm complaining, because I love these foods, but Europeans eat a lot a lot a lot of ham. And I'm just not into that.
The next day Kristin and Justine went to Zurich to visit Kristin's uncle. Kara, Megan and I went out on the town (Basel) and saw a museum before taking a rainy-day nap and then going down to the shipyards to stand in three countries at once (Germany, France, Switzerland)! Then we went back to the hostel and watched part of The Whole 10 Yards (in English!).
The next day turned out to be one of the biggest days of the year for Basel, the Tattoo. It was awesome because we all missed out on the 4th of July parades at home. This one represented several countries and was overrun with bagpipes. It rained on our parade a little, so we made up for it by buying very expensive and extremely delicious chocolates. The Swiss do it right.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
And Then I Jumped into a Canyon
Interlaken, Switzerland is, hands down and no question about it, my favorite trip so far. It's nestled, as the name suggests, in between two lakes in the Swiss Alps and everything about it was absolutely amazing. It looked, felt, tasted, smelled, and sounded better than any of the other places we've visited. For the most part we took in our environment, but the highlight of the stop was when we went Canyoning. Rumor has it this is not allowed in the States, and it involves jumping off of waterfalls, rappelling down cliffsides, and sliding down fast canyon river currents. I cannot even relate to you how scary it was! Before even going up to the water, Justine had to separate Megan and I so we wouldnt scare each other worse than we already were. Our highest jump was about 24 ft off the top of a rock above a waterfall, and our guides had us jump into a specific spot where we wouldnt be killed by too-shallow water. Needless to say, it was the most thrilling and scariest thing Ive ever done, but I am so glad I did it.
(I bought a package of photos from the adventure and will upload them here the next time a hostel has a place to stick a cd)
Later that day we trekked up to Harder Klum, a mountain top 4337 ft above sea level. And, to prove to you that it is a small world after all, halfway up I ran into someone who graduated high school at St. Francis with Sean. Strange, right?
(I bought a package of photos from the adventure and will upload them here the next time a hostel has a place to stick a cd)
Later that day we trekked up to Harder Klum, a mountain top 4337 ft above sea level. And, to prove to you that it is a small world after all, halfway up I ran into someone who graduated high school at St. Francis with Sean. Strange, right?
Friday, July 10, 2009
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona is shaping up to kick Paris out of the my-favorite-city spot. It was rainy when we arrived yesterday, and we were really tired from a late night plus a long train ride, so the first evening was spent napping.
Today we were up early and saw pretty much all the Gaudi stuff in the city (Look him up, his work is amazing). The Sagrada Familia was so much more awesome than I ever could have expected, and we spent the whole morning there. We also went into the Casa Battlo & took a tour, which was also really awesome... I wish I could post pictures.
The worst thing about Barcelona so far: I spent €26 today just to see Gaudi stuff!! I´m justifying it by saying that I´m an interior design student and it´s rather necessary, but honestly.
We did some more walking around and saw the Mediterranean. Tomorrow we may go sit on the you-know-what (we cant say the ¨b¨word because it will get overcast and cold) and get some sun.
Random note: We´ve been here a day and a half and Justine is the only one who hasnt fallen down stairs somewhere in the city (Megan fell twice).
Today we were up early and saw pretty much all the Gaudi stuff in the city (Look him up, his work is amazing). The Sagrada Familia was so much more awesome than I ever could have expected, and we spent the whole morning there. We also went into the Casa Battlo & took a tour, which was also really awesome... I wish I could post pictures.
The worst thing about Barcelona so far: I spent €26 today just to see Gaudi stuff!! I´m justifying it by saying that I´m an interior design student and it´s rather necessary, but honestly.
We did some more walking around and saw the Mediterranean. Tomorrow we may go sit on the you-know-what (we cant say the ¨b¨word because it will get overcast and cold) and get some sun.
Random note: We´ve been here a day and a half and Justine is the only one who hasnt fallen down stairs somewhere in the city (Megan fell twice).
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Madrid, minus the Bullfights
We navigated our way from the train station to our hostel in Madrid, one of the better (and cheaper) ones we´ve stayed in. We have all been internet-starved and this place is no different. Their three computers are always occupied and the internet is very slow, so I´m in an internet café down the street. We saw advertised a free walking tour of the city and went with a few of our new roommates to check it out. Unfortunately, it seems that Madrid´s official tourism people have been protesting the free tours, and when things got violent at the protests this group decided to stop doing the tours. Our tourgide was very nice, though, and drew on our map the tour that he would typically give, as well as gave us information on some of the major landmarks. We took the tour by ourselfves to avoid angry Spanish officials, and it was actually pretty fun. The next day we went on a tapas tour with the same guy and got to taste some of the traditional flavors of Madrid as well as learn the history of the tapas.
Long story short, there was a Spanish king a long time ago who had digestive problems and was perscribed by his doctor to have several small meals in a day, and now we have tapas bars. We tried some very tasty stuff including a spanish omelette of eggs, potatoes, and onions. And, you probably won´t believe it, but I tried a bite of grilled pig´s ear. It was another one of those i´ll-never-have-the-chance-again moments, so I went for it. It was even more unpleasant than the French sausage, but a few in our tourgroup actually liked it. We topped off our night with a visit to Madrid´s donated Egyptian Temple to watch the sunset and hang out with our new friends.
So far I am enjoying Madrid. Its a smaller city that it pretty easily navigable and easy to walk, which is a pleasant change from gigantic Paris´Metro system. The buildings are Spanish if I ever saw it, and I havent had to watch a bullfight yet. It is a city rich in history and I cant wait to see our last spot in Spain, Barcelona!
Long story short, there was a Spanish king a long time ago who had digestive problems and was perscribed by his doctor to have several small meals in a day, and now we have tapas bars. We tried some very tasty stuff including a spanish omelette of eggs, potatoes, and onions. And, you probably won´t believe it, but I tried a bite of grilled pig´s ear. It was another one of those i´ll-never-have-the-chance-again moments, so I went for it. It was even more unpleasant than the French sausage, but a few in our tourgroup actually liked it. We topped off our night with a visit to Madrid´s donated Egyptian Temple to watch the sunset and hang out with our new friends.
So far I am enjoying Madrid. Its a smaller city that it pretty easily navigable and easy to walk, which is a pleasant change from gigantic Paris´Metro system. The buildings are Spanish if I ever saw it, and I havent had to watch a bullfight yet. It is a city rich in history and I cant wait to see our last spot in Spain, Barcelona!
Beach Day!
After Paris we rode an overnight train to San Sebastian, Spain. Oddly enough, it was one of the better nights of sleep I´ve had over here (what does that tell you?). Now, the whole trip we have had the MOST PERFECT weather. Dublin and London, both dreary cities by nature, were sunny and warm. France was beautiful. So, naturally, San Sebastian was overcast and rainy for all but one hour that we were there.
We were determined to relax on the beach, however, and spent most of our day there watching the surfers take on some of the waves. We stayed at a great hostel and made friends with just about everyone staying there and went out on the town with all of them on Saturday night, making for our latest night out yet (In Spain they really do take siestas from about 2-4pm to prepare for their crazy nights. The places we went to were open until about 8am, and the streets were still packed when we walked home at 4am).
The next day we sat on the beach before climbing up a mountain with a statue of Jesus on top for an absolutely incredible view of the city and it´s surrounding mountains. As we went back down, the sun finally came out from between clouds and to celebrate the occasion we played in the ocean. Unfortunately we had to leave about an hour later so we had to say goodbye to the beautiful blue water and sit on a train for 6 hours with sand in our clothes. This was tempered by the fact that the Spanish countryside is actually one of the most beautiful things I´ve seen on the trip so far. All 6 hours I just wanted to look out the window.
Stay tuned for news about Madrid!
We were determined to relax on the beach, however, and spent most of our day there watching the surfers take on some of the waves. We stayed at a great hostel and made friends with just about everyone staying there and went out on the town with all of them on Saturday night, making for our latest night out yet (In Spain they really do take siestas from about 2-4pm to prepare for their crazy nights. The places we went to were open until about 8am, and the streets were still packed when we walked home at 4am).
The next day we sat on the beach before climbing up a mountain with a statue of Jesus on top for an absolutely incredible view of the city and it´s surrounding mountains. As we went back down, the sun finally came out from between clouds and to celebrate the occasion we played in the ocean. Unfortunately we had to leave about an hour later so we had to say goodbye to the beautiful blue water and sit on a train for 6 hours with sand in our clothes. This was tempered by the fact that the Spanish countryside is actually one of the most beautiful things I´ve seen on the trip so far. All 6 hours I just wanted to look out the window.
Stay tuned for news about Madrid!
Paris Wrapup
We closed Paris out nicely with a trip to Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, and some good French company. The whole city was just so overwhelmingly charming, and much more fun than I expected. I suppose part of this can be attributed to the fact that we were staying with a Parisian family, and they were able to point us in the direction of all the best stuff... sights, food, pastries, etc. One night we went to the Sienne River for a picnic with our host family at a very un-touristy spot and were able to hang out with actual French people (almost everyone we´ve made friends with so far have been other travelers).
We also learned from our French family that frog´s legs are nasty, that most people havent tried escargot, and that patè (goose liver) is actually not that bad (yes, I tried it). I´m trying to branch out in my acceptance of food and tasted a little bite of a special French sausage/jerky that they love over there. I didn´t really enjoy it, but at least I tried.
We also learned from our French family that frog´s legs are nasty, that most people havent tried escargot, and that patè (goose liver) is actually not that bad (yes, I tried it). I´m trying to branch out in my acceptance of food and tasted a little bite of a special French sausage/jerky that they love over there. I didn´t really enjoy it, but at least I tried.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Bonjour from Paris!
Our first non-English speaking country! I was very apprehensive about coming here, and wasnt even really looking forward to it, but this place is just so charming! I know we all hear about the snobby French people, but everyone we have met here has just been so nice and helpful. Our host family, the parents and brother and sister of our friend Alex from school, is SO great and it`s good to have a native Parisian giving you tips. Im having a ton of fun with the language barrier, and it seems that as long as you`re giving French a real shot when asking for help, people are very responsive. Both Megan and Kristen took French in High School, so we are managing pretty well.
Im running low on time on this computer (still in the cafè) so here`s an overview of our first day here:
We saw the Luxembourg Palace, which we learned about in school. It looks the same as in the pictures. We went to th outside of Notre Dame, but decided to go in later for Vespers. We visited the Conciergere, where they locked up Marie Antionette as well as many other prisoners. Next to the Conciergere was Sainte-Chapelle, and absolutely INCREDIBLE church meant originally for royalty. It used to house several sacred relics, including a piece of the true cross and the crown of thorns. It has stained glass windows that depict the entire Bible from Genesis to the resurrection of Christ, and they were awe-inspiring.
I have one minute left before I`m kicked off, so stay tuned for more Paris in the days to come!!
Im running low on time on this computer (still in the cafè) so here`s an overview of our first day here:
We saw the Luxembourg Palace, which we learned about in school. It looks the same as in the pictures. We went to th outside of Notre Dame, but decided to go in later for Vespers. We visited the Conciergere, where they locked up Marie Antionette as well as many other prisoners. Next to the Conciergere was Sainte-Chapelle, and absolutely INCREDIBLE church meant originally for royalty. It used to house several sacred relics, including a piece of the true cross and the crown of thorns. It has stained glass windows that depict the entire Bible from Genesis to the resurrection of Christ, and they were awe-inspiring.
I have one minute left before I`m kicked off, so stay tuned for more Paris in the days to come!!
Update: London
Please forgive the long pause between posts, as well as my poor spelling in this post because I am on a time limit at a French internet cafe and the keyboards here arent the same as in America. We had to pay to use internet at the London hostel, and the family we are staying with in Paris has no access to it.
London was very fun, but we did a ton of stuff so I`ll just give a brief overview. Megan and I had to move around the hostel due to a shortage of beds, and the place was HUGE. There were six floors and something like 40 rooms per floor, so it was pretty hectic. The showers were very European and saved water by only running for 8 seconds at a time (NOT exaggerating). We saw several parks over the course of the week, including Regents park with its beautiful flowers and Hyde Park which contains Kensington Gardens, my Mecca, where Peter Pan was inspired and written, where there is a statue tribute to the story, and where the play was being performed that week. The parks there are all green and floral, and we spent a lot of time lounging in them (I think that London was the height of our achy feet from walking everywhere).
We also got to go to Portobello Road (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, anybody?) which is this great antique flea market. We also saw Picadilly Circus, London`s Times Square. Oh, and did I mention that I went to Wimbledon? It was kind of a last-minute decision, and we waited in line for HOURS, but we read up on the Michael Jackson situation in line and made friends with some very nice Australian people behind us so the wait wasnt so bad. The tennis was totally worth it and it was a fun experience... we didnt get to see any big-ticket matches, but we did manage to get into the 2nd court to see Andreas Seppi and Igor Andreev play a very very close one. They were about even when it was postponed due to poor lighting.
I think that my favorite part of London was our tour of the Tower of London. It was SO touristy, but our guide was fantastic and we got a lot of history out of it. He is a Yeoman Warder, or "beefeater", and is descended from the people who would guard prisoners like Anne Boleyn and Elisabeth I. We found out that in order to be a Beefeater one must serve at least 22 years in the military (but not the Navy, they dont trust them) and reach a certain rank. Our tourguide has a 12,000 pound (currency, not weight) uniform that he wears for special events like coronations. He also lives with all of the other Yeoman Warders and their families within the Tower of London complex. I thought that it was cool that someone with such an important role was giving tours to a bunch of Americans.
Side note: American cutlure is way bigger over here than I would have expected. They play the same music in bars and at restaurants, only more ABBA (which is okay with me!).
Whenever someone finds out that we are American, they ask us about Michael Jackson. Yes, we are devestated. Please stop pouring salt on our open wounds!
Anyway, there are memorials to him everywhere, its kind of funny. There was one at Notre Dame cathedral and someone made t-shirts.
Please see next post for Paris!
London was very fun, but we did a ton of stuff so I`ll just give a brief overview. Megan and I had to move around the hostel due to a shortage of beds, and the place was HUGE. There were six floors and something like 40 rooms per floor, so it was pretty hectic. The showers were very European and saved water by only running for 8 seconds at a time (NOT exaggerating). We saw several parks over the course of the week, including Regents park with its beautiful flowers and Hyde Park which contains Kensington Gardens, my Mecca, where Peter Pan was inspired and written, where there is a statue tribute to the story, and where the play was being performed that week. The parks there are all green and floral, and we spent a lot of time lounging in them (I think that London was the height of our achy feet from walking everywhere).
We also got to go to Portobello Road (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, anybody?) which is this great antique flea market. We also saw Picadilly Circus, London`s Times Square. Oh, and did I mention that I went to Wimbledon? It was kind of a last-minute decision, and we waited in line for HOURS, but we read up on the Michael Jackson situation in line and made friends with some very nice Australian people behind us so the wait wasnt so bad. The tennis was totally worth it and it was a fun experience... we didnt get to see any big-ticket matches, but we did manage to get into the 2nd court to see Andreas Seppi and Igor Andreev play a very very close one. They were about even when it was postponed due to poor lighting.
I think that my favorite part of London was our tour of the Tower of London. It was SO touristy, but our guide was fantastic and we got a lot of history out of it. He is a Yeoman Warder, or "beefeater", and is descended from the people who would guard prisoners like Anne Boleyn and Elisabeth I. We found out that in order to be a Beefeater one must serve at least 22 years in the military (but not the Navy, they dont trust them) and reach a certain rank. Our tourguide has a 12,000 pound (currency, not weight) uniform that he wears for special events like coronations. He also lives with all of the other Yeoman Warders and their families within the Tower of London complex. I thought that it was cool that someone with such an important role was giving tours to a bunch of Americans.
Side note: American cutlure is way bigger over here than I would have expected. They play the same music in bars and at restaurants, only more ABBA (which is okay with me!).
Whenever someone finds out that we are American, they ask us about Michael Jackson. Yes, we are devestated. Please stop pouring salt on our open wounds!
Anyway, there are memorials to him everywhere, its kind of funny. There was one at Notre Dame cathedral and someone made t-shirts.
Please see next post for Paris!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I already love the Brits
As I suspected, the end of the trip in Ireland was the best part. We took a 25 euro tour into the country to see Wicklow county and it was nauseatingly beatiful, like something out of a movie. in fact, we did see two spots where Braveheart and another movie were filmed.
We found out when leaving for the tour that the convent next to our hostel housed the remains of St. Valentine, and that was pretty cool. The tour leader told the 16 passengers all about the city until we got out of the limits. We reached the countryside and saw an amazing overlook of Dublin, Loch Kay (gorgeous, and a billionaire owns it as well as the land around it), the bogs, a couple waterfalls, an old ruined Medieval monastic town, and tons of sheep peppering the landscape (or, as noted by Megan, 'salting' the landscape because they are white).
At the medieval town I tested an old legend by stretching my arms all the way around a 1,000 year old Celtic cross and because I could touch my fingers together I was allowed a wish. The Irish countryside was absolutely incredible and totally worth what we paid for it. Plus our tourguide was fun to listen to because of his strong Irish accent.
We arrived in London last night at 11pm. It made a good first impression and hopefully will continue in that manner. I've already leaned to speak some British from some people on the plane. There was a British man (who smelled a little like vodka) who called a friend to pick him up when the plane landed and proceeded to curse wildly at the person who refused. It was like that all the way onto the tarmac, and as we were exiting the plane a stewardess said, 'He's on the line with the mrs. and she's giving him some grief down the pipe!'
We thought it was so funny we repeated it all night... but then, we were pretty tired.
We finally got into the hostel at 2:30 in the morning, and Megan and I had to make our beds in the dark on top bunks while our 4 stranger roommates slept (we couldnt all get one room together because Taste of London and Wimbledon are going on. Dave Matthews is also here, although I'm not sure we can blame him for crowded hostels). Today we are going to do the first leg of our London sightseeing, and I'll let you know how it goes!
And, as promised, I'll leave you with an out-of-context Megan quote:
'Do you know what would make this perfect?'
'What?'
'Butterflies!'
We found out when leaving for the tour that the convent next to our hostel housed the remains of St. Valentine, and that was pretty cool. The tour leader told the 16 passengers all about the city until we got out of the limits. We reached the countryside and saw an amazing overlook of Dublin, Loch Kay (gorgeous, and a billionaire owns it as well as the land around it), the bogs, a couple waterfalls, an old ruined Medieval monastic town, and tons of sheep peppering the landscape (or, as noted by Megan, 'salting' the landscape because they are white).
At the medieval town I tested an old legend by stretching my arms all the way around a 1,000 year old Celtic cross and because I could touch my fingers together I was allowed a wish. The Irish countryside was absolutely incredible and totally worth what we paid for it. Plus our tourguide was fun to listen to because of his strong Irish accent.
We arrived in London last night at 11pm. It made a good first impression and hopefully will continue in that manner. I've already leaned to speak some British from some people on the plane. There was a British man (who smelled a little like vodka) who called a friend to pick him up when the plane landed and proceeded to curse wildly at the person who refused. It was like that all the way onto the tarmac, and as we were exiting the plane a stewardess said, 'He's on the line with the mrs. and she's giving him some grief down the pipe!'
We thought it was so funny we repeated it all night... but then, we were pretty tired.
We finally got into the hostel at 2:30 in the morning, and Megan and I had to make our beds in the dark on top bunks while our 4 stranger roommates slept (we couldnt all get one room together because Taste of London and Wimbledon are going on. Dave Matthews is also here, although I'm not sure we can blame him for crowded hostels). Today we are going to do the first leg of our London sightseeing, and I'll let you know how it goes!
And, as promised, I'll leave you with an out-of-context Megan quote:
'Do you know what would make this perfect?'
'What?'
'Butterflies!'
Sunday, June 21, 2009
In Ireland
We made it to Ireland early this morning... so early, in fact, that it was still the middle of the night in Ohio time. My initial impression from seeing the landscape through the landing plane's window was that it actually looks a lot like Ohio: it was rainy & gray, kind of flatter than I expected, and nothing too spectacular. After much grumbling, some lunch, and some strong coffee we set about exploring the city. Turns out, coffee is all you need in order to recover from screaming babies and kick-happy seat neighbors on an overnight airplane on which you get no sleep. I'm still going and it's almost 9pm here!
Anyway, we wandered around for a few hours today soaking in the architecture (and the rain)and it turns out that Dublin is actually quite a lot cooler than Ohio, or at least most parts of it. I got some great photos that I hope to actually getting around to uploading when we get back to the states. The people that we've met so far, minus the customs workers (I didn't get a stamp on my passprot in Canada!) have been very nice, and our hostel appears to be nice enough and roach-free, although running the shower does flood the entire bathroom.
Tomorrow we see some more specific sights in town ending with a tour & tasting at the Guinness Brewery, which celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. The next day (Tuesday?) should be the crescendo of the Ireland portion of our trip, and we'll take a bus trip out to the country to see some cliffs, waterfalls, and woods in Wicklow & Glendalough.
After that, its a late-night flight to London, where we'll act like tourists and pester the Buckingham Palace guards and ride around on double-decker busses. I miss all of you, ESPECIALLY the ones that belong here in Ireland with me (Kara)!
Anyway, we wandered around for a few hours today soaking in the architecture (and the rain)and it turns out that Dublin is actually quite a lot cooler than Ohio, or at least most parts of it. I got some great photos that I hope to actually getting around to uploading when we get back to the states. The people that we've met so far, minus the customs workers (I didn't get a stamp on my passprot in Canada!) have been very nice, and our hostel appears to be nice enough and roach-free, although running the shower does flood the entire bathroom.
Tomorrow we see some more specific sights in town ending with a tour & tasting at the Guinness Brewery, which celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. The next day (Tuesday?) should be the crescendo of the Ireland portion of our trip, and we'll take a bus trip out to the country to see some cliffs, waterfalls, and woods in Wicklow & Glendalough.
After that, its a late-night flight to London, where we'll act like tourists and pester the Buckingham Palace guards and ride around on double-decker busses. I miss all of you, ESPECIALLY the ones that belong here in Ireland with me (Kara)!
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