Hey from Switzerland! Since the last post, we've been to two continents and five countries! Damn, we get around.
Took a long ass evening train to Barcelona from Pamplona in all of our nasty outfits, and ended up having the best train ride ever. Turns out the bar cart was in the one beside us, and one casual beer amongst two friends turned into several shotgunned beer and shots of vodka, sambuca and whiskey. Oh my! The train ride went by blazingly fast, needless to say. Barcelona was a great time though. About 8 of us crammed into one 4-person apartment so it was nice and cheap. Took in all the sights Barcelona had to offer - Gaudi architecture, beaches, Olympic Village, La Rambla - and also checked out the nightlife. Bernard, Troy and Anthony got attacked by very, very aggressive prostitutes which was entertainment in itself. Dollar beer on the streets, coka and hash, and various other adventures went down. Also had to say goodbye to two very cool people, Anthony and Amber, as they were on their way to Greece then back to Canada. Sal and I also said our goodbye to Troy and Bernard, who are going back to Pamplona for round 2 with the bulls. Kim and Carol were also leaving for Canada, so we were down to just a few of us.
Sal and I took off to Lisboa to check out Portugal, with hopeful plans to meet up with B and T in Lagos, in one piece! Took in the party scene in the Bairro Alto in Lisbon, which was surprisingly fun. Headed down to Lagos which was a total resort town - bars, beaches and Australians. Great time, and we scored a wicked apartment in the center of the city for 15 EUR each. Wouldn't do Lagos again, but it was definitely fun while it lasted. If anyone goes, check out the Shaker Bar on Rua 25 de Abril - best mojitos in town and a happy hour that lasts half the day. Bernie and Troy made it to Lagos, albeit with a nasty flu from dirty Pamplona, so Troy's trip didn't end on the greatest note.
From Portugal it was off to Morocco. Tune in next time, same bat time, same bat channel!
Lots of love from Team BernieTang-InterKech (the explanation for which will have to wait until the next riveting post...)
Monday, July 23, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
July 6th-7th - San Fermin!
Running of the Bulls! We took off early in the morning to make it to Pamplona for the opening festivities on the 6th, and it was an unbelievable time. We met two more Canadians on the train, Jaeson and Coady, who made our Canadian contingent even that much bigger (10 of us all together)! We arrived to a sea of red and white - everyone, and we mean everyone, was in the traditional San Fermin clothing. White pants/tops, red waist sashes, and red scarfs around the wrist or neck. Toddlers, elderly people, drunk young people - the entire town was ready!
The festival opens with the rocket launch, but what we weren't prepared for was the launch of liquor into the air at the strike of 12. Sangria, wine, champagne corks, beer, cocoa powder, ketchup, mustard...clearly our white clothes weren't white for long. Sketchy and I decided to head right into the thick of things while everyone else hung out in the shade on the side...some unbelievable videos when I get time to post them.
We mostly just wandered the city, taking the festival in. There are lots of cool things that happen during San Fermin. Locals run around to the balconies singing a song so that they'll get water poured on them, and usually we tourists get in the crossfire. There's also this ritual called the Fountain Jump, where brave (read: drunk) people climb this fountain, and jump not into the water, but into the arms of their friends, who are hopefully ready to catch them below. It was absolute mayhem. Bottles, food and drinks were being thrown on the people climbing, and we saw one girl go head first, and it's not likely that her friends caught her. Sort of a stupid thing to do, but entertaining nonetheless. We lost Bernard and Troy briefly in the madness (we need to leash them up...) but found them a couple of hours later.
After celebrating for awhile, we decided to try to catch a bullfight, since San Fermin has one on every day of the festival. We arrived at 6:00pm, only to find out it was sold out and it started at 6:30pm. Old Spanish men were trying to scalp tickets for 40, 50 EUR, but we eventually found a guy selling at face value for 10 EUR. Problem was, there was 10 of us, 8 who wanted to see a fight, so we looked for some more. At some point we only had 5 tickets, but the two guys that sold them to us snuck us in because he knew the ticket taker at the door. We were in the Plaza del Toros, now we only had to get into the actual bullfight!
We walked to every admission gate, but each one turned our guys away. Finally, on one of the lowest levels (10 rows from the ring), some guy miraculously lets us in with only 5 tickets, and we have some of the best seats in the house! It was a pretty cool experience. The bullfights themselves are cruel and unnecessary, but the showmanship and the level to which the locals appreciate the fight is what was interesting for me. We learned a lot about the rituals as well from the locals in front of us - they even fed us food and drinks!
The partying lasted well into the night, until we finally tried to lay it down in a park in Pamplona. Was cold, wet and uncomfortable, but a cool experience nonetheless. The boys tried to run at 7am but got caught in a riot and were pushed away from the running line, so it wasn't successful at all. Bernard cut his finger to top it all off, too!
Oh well, onto Barcelona we go!! We've got our Canadian contingent still together, so there will be good times had for sure! We'll be glad to leave this crazy town though, that is for sure!
The festival opens with the rocket launch, but what we weren't prepared for was the launch of liquor into the air at the strike of 12. Sangria, wine, champagne corks, beer, cocoa powder, ketchup, mustard...clearly our white clothes weren't white for long. Sketchy and I decided to head right into the thick of things while everyone else hung out in the shade on the side...some unbelievable videos when I get time to post them.
We mostly just wandered the city, taking the festival in. There are lots of cool things that happen during San Fermin. Locals run around to the balconies singing a song so that they'll get water poured on them, and usually we tourists get in the crossfire. There's also this ritual called the Fountain Jump, where brave (read: drunk) people climb this fountain, and jump not into the water, but into the arms of their friends, who are hopefully ready to catch them below. It was absolute mayhem. Bottles, food and drinks were being thrown on the people climbing, and we saw one girl go head first, and it's not likely that her friends caught her. Sort of a stupid thing to do, but entertaining nonetheless. We lost Bernard and Troy briefly in the madness (we need to leash them up...) but found them a couple of hours later.
After celebrating for awhile, we decided to try to catch a bullfight, since San Fermin has one on every day of the festival. We arrived at 6:00pm, only to find out it was sold out and it started at 6:30pm. Old Spanish men were trying to scalp tickets for 40, 50 EUR, but we eventually found a guy selling at face value for 10 EUR. Problem was, there was 10 of us, 8 who wanted to see a fight, so we looked for some more. At some point we only had 5 tickets, but the two guys that sold them to us snuck us in because he knew the ticket taker at the door. We were in the Plaza del Toros, now we only had to get into the actual bullfight!
We walked to every admission gate, but each one turned our guys away. Finally, on one of the lowest levels (10 rows from the ring), some guy miraculously lets us in with only 5 tickets, and we have some of the best seats in the house! It was a pretty cool experience. The bullfights themselves are cruel and unnecessary, but the showmanship and the level to which the locals appreciate the fight is what was interesting for me. We learned a lot about the rituals as well from the locals in front of us - they even fed us food and drinks!
The partying lasted well into the night, until we finally tried to lay it down in a park in Pamplona. Was cold, wet and uncomfortable, but a cool experience nonetheless. The boys tried to run at 7am but got caught in a riot and were pushed away from the running line, so it wasn't successful at all. Bernard cut his finger to top it all off, too!
Oh well, onto Barcelona we go!! We've got our Canadian contingent still together, so there will be good times had for sure! We'll be glad to leave this crazy town though, that is for sure!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
July - France (Pt. 2), Monaco, Spain (Pt. 1)
Getting further west! From Cinque Terre we hauled ass to Nice, France for a night just to break up the travel. We are gearing up for Festival de San Fermin in Pamplona, aka Running of the Bulls, and making our way West!
Nice was alright, although Bernardus realized he had forgotten his passport folder on the train with all his important documents inside, as well as the photocopies of my credit cards, etc. so we both had some running around to do in order to cancel all the stuff. It sucks, I didn't even lose my shit!
But we still made decent use of the day. Checked out the waterfront and the promenade but saw no one famous. The beach wasn't all that nice, it was actually quite rocky. Decided to hop a train to Monaco and see the rich and famous, but all we got were four-storey yachts, some high end shops, and nice cars. Oh wait, what else is there in Monaco? Monaco was pretty cool though - everyone lives in luxury. We couldn't hold Kim off for much longer, and she got her Gucci watch in Monaco of all places. Balla, shot calla! Had some French Old Country Buffet style food (Flunch) before catching our obnoxiously long night train from Nice to San Sebastian, Spain.
On the train the Canadians dominated! We had one girl from Vancouver, and two guys (Zeev and Jesse) from Vancouver/Manitoba to spend the trip with, so it was pretty fun. We slept most of the way, and when we woke up, we had traveled across France and halfway across Spain...I love what happens when we travel by night!
As we get into the San Seb station, we see Anthony and Amber, who got there the night before. They decided to follow our whole route all the way to Barcelona, so we had two more buddies on our trip. We stayed in the house of some little old Basque lady, with five beds crammed into one, but we only planned on sleeping there anyways. The Basque are definitely very patriotic, so we made a point of learning some Basque words.
San Sebastian is all about beaches! We stayed there most of the time, except for one morning where we decided to hike to the highest point in the city to see the church and the Jesus statue. Amazing views! We literally sat up there soaking it all in for about 30 minutes. That's a long time to stare at nothing. We also made plans to meet up with Sketchy (Ryan, UofC) one of my friends from conferences, and we actually met up with him too! 2/2! We all hit up a 4th of July party that was all you can drink and all you can eat, right on the beach. We got enough Sangria to feed a small country, and all for free. When we were done with our free drinks, we decided to move onto our 1.50EUR bottles of wine, affectionately known as cooking wine to the locals. Too funny. Slammed a few bottles on the beach then inside to dance to more bad American music. Met some cool people there though, these two girls Ashley and Katie, one of which gave Troy the coldest shoulder ever...
We're off to Pamplona tomorrow morning for nearly 36 hours of partying and sleeping in parks (if possible). If we make it out alive, you'll hear from me!
Nice was alright, although Bernardus realized he had forgotten his passport folder on the train with all his important documents inside, as well as the photocopies of my credit cards, etc. so we both had some running around to do in order to cancel all the stuff. It sucks, I didn't even lose my shit!
But we still made decent use of the day. Checked out the waterfront and the promenade but saw no one famous. The beach wasn't all that nice, it was actually quite rocky. Decided to hop a train to Monaco and see the rich and famous, but all we got were four-storey yachts, some high end shops, and nice cars. Oh wait, what else is there in Monaco? Monaco was pretty cool though - everyone lives in luxury. We couldn't hold Kim off for much longer, and she got her Gucci watch in Monaco of all places. Balla, shot calla! Had some French Old Country Buffet style food (Flunch) before catching our obnoxiously long night train from Nice to San Sebastian, Spain.
On the train the Canadians dominated! We had one girl from Vancouver, and two guys (Zeev and Jesse) from Vancouver/Manitoba to spend the trip with, so it was pretty fun. We slept most of the way, and when we woke up, we had traveled across France and halfway across Spain...I love what happens when we travel by night!
As we get into the San Seb station, we see Anthony and Amber, who got there the night before. They decided to follow our whole route all the way to Barcelona, so we had two more buddies on our trip. We stayed in the house of some little old Basque lady, with five beds crammed into one, but we only planned on sleeping there anyways. The Basque are definitely very patriotic, so we made a point of learning some Basque words.
San Sebastian is all about beaches! We stayed there most of the time, except for one morning where we decided to hike to the highest point in the city to see the church and the Jesus statue. Amazing views! We literally sat up there soaking it all in for about 30 minutes. That's a long time to stare at nothing. We also made plans to meet up with Sketchy (Ryan, UofC) one of my friends from conferences, and we actually met up with him too! 2/2! We all hit up a 4th of July party that was all you can drink and all you can eat, right on the beach. We got enough Sangria to feed a small country, and all for free. When we were done with our free drinks, we decided to move onto our 1.50EUR bottles of wine, affectionately known as cooking wine to the locals. Too funny. Slammed a few bottles on the beach then inside to dance to more bad American music. Met some cool people there though, these two girls Ashley and Katie, one of which gave Troy the coldest shoulder ever...
We're off to Pamplona tomorrow morning for nearly 36 hours of partying and sleeping in parks (if possible). If we make it out alive, you'll hear from me!
June 30th - Cinque Terre does Canada Day!
We arrived in lovely Cinque Terre on the afternoon of the 30th and I was floored by the view (would be helpful if I could toss a picture up, but no dice). Imagine five fishing villages, where all the houses are built on top of each other and can barely stand up, with some of the best seafood and views I've had all trip. We found Troy as soon as we got there (yay, Dirty!), but of course, rather than taking the 2 minute walk through the tunnel through the mountain to our hostel, we decided (and by we I mean Bernard) to hike up to the top of the town, and all the way around. Good times with our 15 kg packs! But it was worth it in the end. Our 'dorm' hostel ended up being a four-floor, four bedroom flat with full kitchen, terrace, and ocean view. Say what?! We definitely lucked out! We stayed in the smallest and least touristy town of the five, called Riomaggiore, and although it didn't really have a beach, it had some nice smooth rocks and clean, fun water to swim in. Took in a little sun on the rocks, and met up with Reena and Puneet. We just told Kim to watch for two brown girls, and she actually found them!
Ate dinner at this great place at the base of our flat, and had some of the best seafood ever at a great price. Walked down the main drag to find some '1.85EUR' specials, and were blessed with 3.35EUR 1.5L specials! haha we are so classy! We actually got to meet three pretty cool guys from Ohio, Chad, Tyler and Ben, who had just come from Rome as well. They were also perusing the 3.35EUR specials.
Met Reena's friend Ben (who was totally crushing on her) from Cali who told us the pier was the place to be. Couldn't have been more right! There is where we met a key character in the Eurotrip...Anthony! Anthony from Regina moved to Cali for dentistry school moving to Kelowna of all places! He was the first to tell us that Canada Day was while we were in Cinque Terre, so we knew we had to rip it up. The advertising started right then and there for the party. But before the night of the 1st, we had to party for the night of the 30th, and did we ever. Met tons of people on the pier, and although bed didn't happen until 4am, the hike through all five villages is apparently happening at 9am? Oh dear...
9am on the 1st. Happy Canada Day! Not so happy campers ready to hike though - I think we were all sweating wine...! But we sucked it up and it was so worth it. Riomaggiore (#1) through the tunnel of love to Manarola (#2) for a quick gelato stop, then onto Corniglia (#3), which was far from #2 but a pretty cool place. You had to tae 370 steps up to the actual town, but we had to go through the town anyways so there wasn't any real choice on that one. Walked through some vineyards past Guvano Beach (nude beach down some steep incline), onto Vernazza (#4) which was at an unheard of elevation (at least it felt like it). Stopped for some pizza and a refresher, as we'd been hiking about 4 hours at this point. Then we plugged onto Monterosso (#5), where we got to soak in some beach and swim time. Of all the towns, Riomaggiore still seemed the nicest, and Monterosso still the most touristy. Happy with our choice.
Had to wait an hour for the ferry, but took it through all the villages back to our own, which was a cool way to spend the evening, and definitely got us even more amped for Canada Day festivities. We told a ton of people on the hike that there was a party in Village #1 for Canada Day, and the response was either hell yeah I'll come, or I've already heard about it! Word is spreading!!
****CANADA DAY****
Festivities were awesome! People came from as far away as Monterosso to party with us, and we had at least 100 people there to celebrate. Americans, Israelis, Spanish, Canadians, you name it, they were there. Everyone was partying hard, and Anthony, Troy and I got the anthem going a few times, and probably woke half the town up. Though it might not be the same as CDay back in TB or Van, it was definitely a wicked experience. Oh, Canada! Our home and native land!
Ate dinner at this great place at the base of our flat, and had some of the best seafood ever at a great price. Walked down the main drag to find some '1.85EUR' specials, and were blessed with 3.35EUR 1.5L specials! haha we are so classy! We actually got to meet three pretty cool guys from Ohio, Chad, Tyler and Ben, who had just come from Rome as well. They were also perusing the 3.35EUR specials.
Met Reena's friend Ben (who was totally crushing on her) from Cali who told us the pier was the place to be. Couldn't have been more right! There is where we met a key character in the Eurotrip...Anthony! Anthony from Regina moved to Cali for dentistry school moving to Kelowna of all places! He was the first to tell us that Canada Day was while we were in Cinque Terre, so we knew we had to rip it up. The advertising started right then and there for the party. But before the night of the 1st, we had to party for the night of the 30th, and did we ever. Met tons of people on the pier, and although bed didn't happen until 4am, the hike through all five villages is apparently happening at 9am? Oh dear...
9am on the 1st. Happy Canada Day! Not so happy campers ready to hike though - I think we were all sweating wine...! But we sucked it up and it was so worth it. Riomaggiore (#1) through the tunnel of love to Manarola (#2) for a quick gelato stop, then onto Corniglia (#3), which was far from #2 but a pretty cool place. You had to tae 370 steps up to the actual town, but we had to go through the town anyways so there wasn't any real choice on that one. Walked through some vineyards past Guvano Beach (nude beach down some steep incline), onto Vernazza (#4) which was at an unheard of elevation (at least it felt like it). Stopped for some pizza and a refresher, as we'd been hiking about 4 hours at this point. Then we plugged onto Monterosso (#5), where we got to soak in some beach and swim time. Of all the towns, Riomaggiore still seemed the nicest, and Monterosso still the most touristy. Happy with our choice.
Had to wait an hour for the ferry, but took it through all the villages back to our own, which was a cool way to spend the evening, and definitely got us even more amped for Canada Day festivities. We told a ton of people on the hike that there was a party in Village #1 for Canada Day, and the response was either hell yeah I'll come, or I've already heard about it! Word is spreading!!
****CANADA DAY****
Festivities were awesome! People came from as far away as Monterosso to party with us, and we had at least 100 people there to celebrate. Americans, Israelis, Spanish, Canadians, you name it, they were there. Everyone was partying hard, and Anthony, Troy and I got the anthem going a few times, and probably woke half the town up. Though it might not be the same as CDay back in TB or Van, it was definitely a wicked experience. Oh, Canada! Our home and native land!
Rest of June - Belgium, France (Pt. 1), Italy
***Bernie Mac put up photos, so check it out at bernieblogsthrougheurope.blogspot.com***
Okay...so it's been a long time since I've been able to update the blog and/or email you all, so I apologize! I can barely keep up with my own life, let alone all the great things that are happening with you all.
Since Koln, Germany, I've made my way through 5 countries and roughly 15 towns or cities. We're motoring! After Koln we made our way to this beautiful little place called Bruges in Belgium, just outside of Brussels. It was a quaint little place that is only surviving today because of tourism. We stayed at this crazy hostel with chain-pull showers and 30 Belgian beers in stock. Met a lot of great people, and we saw plenty in the couple of days we were there. If you ever make your way there, ask Melissa at De Snuffel about the alligators in the river that eat the sewer rats.
We made our way to the wonderful city of Paris and probably walked 40km in the days we were there...we saw almost everything Paris had to offer in one day, and even caught the Eiffel tower lit up at night. We managed to find the only open hotel in Paris (for dirt cheap) that weekend, as it was the first day of summer, and every year Paris celebrates with la Fete de Musique. Over 3000 musicians and bands hold impromptu concerts around the city, so everywhere we went there was live music. It was a fantastic experience, and pretty wicked that it only happens one day a year. Many more stories to tell, but hopefully they will be in my blog soon.
Attempted to get to Milan from Paris but the trains were booked, so we made a wonderful yet unforgettable detour through Lyon. Absolutely amazing, and quite possibly the best food I had had all trip, and for the best price. Quite an amazing church on the hilltops in Lyon, that we hiked (read: took the funicular) to, which gave us a panoramic view of the entire city. We also ended up staying in a 3 star hotel for 70 EUR altogether...and with four people, you can imagine how cheap it was. A great little rest before moving on with the rest of our trip. Off to Milano! Or is it?
Before we left Paris, we attempted to figure out our route to Milan, since our direct train wasn't available. The SNCF lady tells us that we can connect via Torino and get into Milan. Perfect. We've got times and dates, we're ready to roll. As we leave Lyon, we arrive to buy our tickets for the train...but reservations are closed. What? Train reservations don't close. Train? Oh no, it's actually a bus. Perfect. You can't buy tickets for the buses unless you arrive at least 30 minutes before, and having waited in the line and speaking to a representative that can't speak English, we had 15 minutes to get to the bus and plead to get on. Hello grade 9-12 french class! I manage to use broken French to speak to the conductor to get us on. Sure he says, but for 30 EUR each. No, no, it's free with our pass. No, it's not. Sure enough, we go into the station and we speak again to the broken french crew, and we get on for free, and don't even have to get a reservation. We're on our way! Schonberger and her french class really saved us there. Kind of cool to be able to use another language!
Milan was cool, lots of shopping and trying to get Kim to stop shopping (to no real avail). Milan didn't have too many sights, so it was a fairly relaxing couple of days, with some shopping in the middle.
Made our way down to Rome, where we spent 5 days and 4 nights taking it all in. Some very impressive sights, although Rome is unbelievably touristy. Not to say that we weren't tourists, but I don't know if we saw any locals at all! We were staying right in the middle of Rome though, and for once did not have to take a Metro or a bus to get anywhere. Tackled the Old City in one day (Colosseo, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, St. Peter's Basilica in Vincoli) which was nice but not as cool as I thought it would be. The next day we tackled the Vatican, and it was a good thing because the next two days it would have been closed! St. Peter's Square is amazing, with colossal stone structures everywhere and some pretty cool architecture. The Vatican was overall decently impressive, although the Sistine Chapel wasn't all it was cracked up to be. As soon as you walk in, the guards tell you no photos...then you look up and there are about 300 people all with their cameras out and snapping pictures. Guess they don't care that much! The artwork itself was nice to look at, but not necessarily worth all the hassle. The Basilica on the other hand was downright amazing. Every direction you turned, you were faced with some amazing sculture or piece of artwork. The alter was fantastic as well.
Decided to chill at our hotel with some bottles of cheap wine (1.85 EUR specials...haha) on our terrace. We ended up staying beside two Icelanders (Andri, and don't remember) who gave us the lowdown on Reykjevik, and somehow we agreed to an Iceland 2008 trip? We've got his info if we actually follow through.
Our last night in Rome actually fell on the Festival of St. Peter (San Pietro) so very little was open, but it was fun to just kick it around and eat gelato like it was nobody's business. I'm very ready to get the hell out of Rome though and onto greener pastures.
Alright, the Tour of Italy continues on as we make our way to La Spezia (Cinque Terre), where we'll be meeting up with Reena and her sister Puneet. Good times!!
Okay...so it's been a long time since I've been able to update the blog and/or email you all, so I apologize! I can barely keep up with my own life, let alone all the great things that are happening with you all.
Since Koln, Germany, I've made my way through 5 countries and roughly 15 towns or cities. We're motoring! After Koln we made our way to this beautiful little place called Bruges in Belgium, just outside of Brussels. It was a quaint little place that is only surviving today because of tourism. We stayed at this crazy hostel with chain-pull showers and 30 Belgian beers in stock. Met a lot of great people, and we saw plenty in the couple of days we were there. If you ever make your way there, ask Melissa at De Snuffel about the alligators in the river that eat the sewer rats.
We made our way to the wonderful city of Paris and probably walked 40km in the days we were there...we saw almost everything Paris had to offer in one day, and even caught the Eiffel tower lit up at night. We managed to find the only open hotel in Paris (for dirt cheap) that weekend, as it was the first day of summer, and every year Paris celebrates with la Fete de Musique. Over 3000 musicians and bands hold impromptu concerts around the city, so everywhere we went there was live music. It was a fantastic experience, and pretty wicked that it only happens one day a year. Many more stories to tell, but hopefully they will be in my blog soon.
Attempted to get to Milan from Paris but the trains were booked, so we made a wonderful yet unforgettable detour through Lyon. Absolutely amazing, and quite possibly the best food I had had all trip, and for the best price. Quite an amazing church on the hilltops in Lyon, that we hiked (read: took the funicular) to, which gave us a panoramic view of the entire city. We also ended up staying in a 3 star hotel for 70 EUR altogether...and with four people, you can imagine how cheap it was. A great little rest before moving on with the rest of our trip. Off to Milano! Or is it?
Before we left Paris, we attempted to figure out our route to Milan, since our direct train wasn't available. The SNCF lady tells us that we can connect via Torino and get into Milan. Perfect. We've got times and dates, we're ready to roll. As we leave Lyon, we arrive to buy our tickets for the train...but reservations are closed. What? Train reservations don't close. Train? Oh no, it's actually a bus. Perfect. You can't buy tickets for the buses unless you arrive at least 30 minutes before, and having waited in the line and speaking to a representative that can't speak English, we had 15 minutes to get to the bus and plead to get on. Hello grade 9-12 french class! I manage to use broken French to speak to the conductor to get us on. Sure he says, but for 30 EUR each. No, no, it's free with our pass. No, it's not. Sure enough, we go into the station and we speak again to the broken french crew, and we get on for free, and don't even have to get a reservation. We're on our way! Schonberger and her french class really saved us there. Kind of cool to be able to use another language!
Milan was cool, lots of shopping and trying to get Kim to stop shopping (to no real avail). Milan didn't have too many sights, so it was a fairly relaxing couple of days, with some shopping in the middle.
Made our way down to Rome, where we spent 5 days and 4 nights taking it all in. Some very impressive sights, although Rome is unbelievably touristy. Not to say that we weren't tourists, but I don't know if we saw any locals at all! We were staying right in the middle of Rome though, and for once did not have to take a Metro or a bus to get anywhere. Tackled the Old City in one day (Colosseo, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, St. Peter's Basilica in Vincoli) which was nice but not as cool as I thought it would be. The next day we tackled the Vatican, and it was a good thing because the next two days it would have been closed! St. Peter's Square is amazing, with colossal stone structures everywhere and some pretty cool architecture. The Vatican was overall decently impressive, although the Sistine Chapel wasn't all it was cracked up to be. As soon as you walk in, the guards tell you no photos...then you look up and there are about 300 people all with their cameras out and snapping pictures. Guess they don't care that much! The artwork itself was nice to look at, but not necessarily worth all the hassle. The Basilica on the other hand was downright amazing. Every direction you turned, you were faced with some amazing sculture or piece of artwork. The alter was fantastic as well.
Decided to chill at our hotel with some bottles of cheap wine (1.85 EUR specials...haha) on our terrace. We ended up staying beside two Icelanders (Andri, and don't remember) who gave us the lowdown on Reykjevik, and somehow we agreed to an Iceland 2008 trip? We've got his info if we actually follow through.
Our last night in Rome actually fell on the Festival of St. Peter (San Pietro) so very little was open, but it was fun to just kick it around and eat gelato like it was nobody's business. I'm very ready to get the hell out of Rome though and onto greener pastures.
Alright, the Tour of Italy continues on as we make our way to La Spezia (Cinque Terre), where we'll be meeting up with Reena and her sister Puneet. Good times!!
Monday, June 18, 2007
June 17th - Köln, Germany
We somehow ended up in Cologne!? Well sort of deliberately. We heard most of Belgium was sort of lame, so we decided to trek to Cologne and see some Germany (so that Kim and Carol could go there). The train was excellent, a new ICE train, but of course, with the fact we were so new to train travel, we ended up sitting in someone's reserved seats. Oh well. Too bad the guy was a bastard, putting his bare feet up on the seat beside you, etc. Disgusting. Good thing it was short though.
Any issues we had there were quickly consumed by the fact that our hostel is great! Our room looks straight out of an IKEA catalogue, even down to the power bars and curtain rods. It's hilarious. Super clean, super cheap, and so close to the station and all attractions.
Over these past two days, we've checked out the Dom (amazing, absolutely amazing), Altstadt (Old City), shopping, Kölsch beer (local to the area), bockwurst and of course the Rhine, including the chocolate museum alongside it. We got some tips from Julia on what to eat and where to go, and turns out our hostel was close to all suggestions.
Tomorrow we are off to Brugges and Brussels for some Belgian fun. Waffles, mussels and beer, OH MY!
P.S. thanks again Julia for the good tips on food...it was awesome.
Lots of love!
Any issues we had there were quickly consumed by the fact that our hostel is great! Our room looks straight out of an IKEA catalogue, even down to the power bars and curtain rods. It's hilarious. Super clean, super cheap, and so close to the station and all attractions.
Over these past two days, we've checked out the Dom (amazing, absolutely amazing), Altstadt (Old City), shopping, Kölsch beer (local to the area), bockwurst and of course the Rhine, including the chocolate museum alongside it. We got some tips from Julia on what to eat and where to go, and turns out our hostel was close to all suggestions.
Tomorrow we are off to Brugges and Brussels for some Belgian fun. Waffles, mussels and beer, OH MY!
P.S. thanks again Julia for the good tips on food...it was awesome.
Lots of love!
June 14th - Amsterdam, Netherlands (Hoeeeeeeeee-down!)
Amsterdam! One of those places where you've got to wonder, is it everything it's cracked up to be? I thought it was. It was a great time!
After a quick and seamless flight, we got to our hostel (Hans Brinker Budget Hotel...oh yeah) which was actually awesome. It had a bar, club, free internet, and clean rooms, which is all someone can really ask for. And it was pretty cheap, and located in a great part of town.
Our first night was spent chillin in the hotel bar, eating some dinner, when all of a sudden...Bernard and I hear 'Yeeee-haaaaaaaa!' followed by 'Hoeeeeeeee-downnnnnnn!!'. We nearly messed ourselves. Could it be? Canadian Engineers? No! English field hockey players from Portsmouth, UK! They know that game? Their whole university does, not just the Engineers. Needless to say, Bernardus and I taught them the Canadian rules, and like always, they got smashed. So did we. Cheap pints of Heineken flowed faster than water at that place.
The next day was good times again, with lots of touristy stuff. Only after a very good breakfast though. Eggs, bread, cheese, meat and NUTELLA! Well, the Dutch version, but it was just as good. And free, what a deal. The Anne Frank house and the Heineken brewery were on the menu for today, and both were pretty awesome. At the end of the Heineken tour, we got two free small drinks, but being Bernard and myself, we ended up behind the bar with several more pints and full control over the music system. We had that bar going! Pictures definitely to come. That night, we hit the infamous Red Light District, which is just as messed up as people think it is, but still cool to see. My sources tell me services go for 50 EUR for 15 minutes, just in case you were wondering (and I know you were, pervert).
The last day of our trip was spent on bikes getting around the only way the Dutch know how. Everyone rides a bike! We trekked through Vondelpark, through their markets, and into their coffeeshops. Amsterdam is one of those places where you just want to keep on staying sometimes...dank u Amsterdaam!
After a quick and seamless flight, we got to our hostel (Hans Brinker Budget Hotel...oh yeah) which was actually awesome. It had a bar, club, free internet, and clean rooms, which is all someone can really ask for. And it was pretty cheap, and located in a great part of town.
Our first night was spent chillin in the hotel bar, eating some dinner, when all of a sudden...Bernard and I hear 'Yeeee-haaaaaaaa!' followed by 'Hoeeeeeeee-downnnnnnn!!'. We nearly messed ourselves. Could it be? Canadian Engineers? No! English field hockey players from Portsmouth, UK! They know that game? Their whole university does, not just the Engineers. Needless to say, Bernardus and I taught them the Canadian rules, and like always, they got smashed. So did we. Cheap pints of Heineken flowed faster than water at that place.
The next day was good times again, with lots of touristy stuff. Only after a very good breakfast though. Eggs, bread, cheese, meat and NUTELLA! Well, the Dutch version, but it was just as good. And free, what a deal. The Anne Frank house and the Heineken brewery were on the menu for today, and both were pretty awesome. At the end of the Heineken tour, we got two free small drinks, but being Bernard and myself, we ended up behind the bar with several more pints and full control over the music system. We had that bar going! Pictures definitely to come. That night, we hit the infamous Red Light District, which is just as messed up as people think it is, but still cool to see. My sources tell me services go for 50 EUR for 15 minutes, just in case you were wondering (and I know you were, pervert).
The last day of our trip was spent on bikes getting around the only way the Dutch know how. Everyone rides a bike! We trekked through Vondelpark, through their markets, and into their coffeeshops. Amsterdam is one of those places where you just want to keep on staying sometimes...dank u Amsterdaam!
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