Tyler and I made it home safely yesterday on Day 28. Did we land in Montreal or Toronto?
Well, way back on October 6 (Day 5), I e-mailed Air Transat to see about changing our final destination to Montreal from Toronto, since our plane stopped in Montreal on the way to Toronto. The reply I got back on October 7 said that it was impossible due to the "Terms & Conditions" of our tickets. Well, that didn't stop us because on October 28 (Day 27), I phoned Air Transat and asked the same thing. This time the woman on the phone informed me that it's possible to do, but only 22 days before our flight. Interestingly, I had actually e-mailed them about it 23 days before our flight, so Tyler and I decided to print out the e-mail I sent on October 6 and argue with them when we checked in for our flight on October 29. On October 29th, we arrive at the airport and ask the lady at Air Transat if we could change our final destination to Montreal from Toronto. The lady replies: "Yes, no problem." It just goes to show you that it's always better to speak to someone face to face, rather than over the phone or e-mail.
Our flight was delayed an hour and a half due to fog at the airport in Paris, but once it got off the ground the flight was smooth and uneventful. The movies were Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Both good movies.
We finally touched down in Montreal at 3:55 PM, after a 7 and a half hour flight, and made it out of customs and baggage at 4:20 PM. If we were going to Toronto, like we were originally, we would have only arrived in Toronto at 6:00 PM and then would have had to drive back to Ottawa (another 4 and a half hours).
I appreciate how Ottawa has welcomed us back with cold temperatures and 15 cm of snow on the ground. It really makes me feel at home ;).
Our 28 days in Europe was a great experience and I'd certainly go back to some of the places we went. All of our destinations were very interesting and offered us a unique cultural experience.
Europe also made me appreciate Canada more. Why? Here are some reasons:
1) Europe (with the exception of Switzerland) is very dirty and polluted.
2) The smokers outnumber the non-smokers. In some countries, you can even buy cigarettes from a vending machine on the sidewalk.
3) The houses and apartments in the cities are very tiny.
4) In some places, one litre of normal gas in Europe costs 3 euros. We can't complain about our gas prices in Canada anymore.
5) No parking spaces. When Tyler and I were in Paris the first time, we witnessed a car parking. Unfortunately there was no parking space available, so the driver backed his car up into a small VW Golf and pushed the Golf into the next car behind it. Basically the golf was sandwiched in between 2 cars and was riding up the hood of the car behind it. That's the parking situation in Europe. Oh, and make sure you don't buy a VW Golf, or some bigger car may beat you up.
6) The cost of living is very high and on average people only make 500 Euros a month.
7) It's just not Canada.
Thank you to everyone who has read my blog and also to those people who left comments. It was a fun experience and I'd probably do it again if I went on another long trip.
13) BEST PLACE WE VISITED: Barcelona, Spain.
WORST PLACE WE VISITED: Carcassonne, France (see Day 06).
14) MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE WE VISITED: Gimmelwald, Switzerland.
MOST DIRTIEST PLACE WE VISITED: Budapest, Hungary.
15) BEST CASTLE/PALACE: Schonnbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria.
WORST CASTLE/PALACE: Residenz in Munich, Germany (although it was still pretty good).
16) BEST TRAIN STATION: St. Pancras International in London, England.
WORST TRAIN STATION: Budapest-Keleti in Budapest, Hungary.
17) BEST AIRPORT: Charles de Gaulle in Paris, France.
WORST AIRPORT: Gatwick in London, England.
18) BEST DAY: Day 22
WORST DAY: Day 06
Blog you later,
Jim
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Day 27
All we did today was go to the Charles de Gaulle airport to try to change our flight, but unfortunately Air Transat was closed, so at the moment we're still arriving in Toronto. We'll be trying to change it again tomorrow morning when we check in for our flight.
I hear there's a Nor'Easter storm hitting Ottawa tonight and tomorrow. Tyler and I will probably miss the storm, but we may have some shovelling to do. It doesn't affect our flight as the storm is not hitting Montreal or Toronto, but that could always change.
I also noticed that the Sens won for once. I'm surprised!
Continuing the best and worst lists from yesterday:
7) BEST SUBWAY SYSTEM: Paris, France.
WORST SUBWAY SYSTEM: Budapest, Hungary (we had to pay for another ticket each time we changed metro lines)
8) BEST SUBWAY TRAIN: Barcelona, Spain.
WORST SUBWAY SYSTEM: Budapest, Hungary (it's supposedly the oldest underground system in Europe, unfortunately it also looks it's age).
9) BEST CULTURAL EXPERIENCE: The Romanian Guy who sat across from us on the train from Salzburg to Vienna (see Day 14 (continued)).
WORST CULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Tyler losing his wallet on the train from Munich to Salzburg (see Day 12).
10) BEST COINCIDENTAL EVENT: Tyler finding his wallet a couple of days later on the same train he lost it, but missing the Euros. (see Day 14 (continued)).
WORST COINCIDENTAL EVENT: The France train workers going on strike (see Day 06).
11) BEST WEATHER: Rome, Italy.
WORST WEATHER: Vienna, Austria.
12) BEST STORE: Any store that sold lederhosen.
WORST STORE: The tie store (see Day 12).
I hear there's a Nor'Easter storm hitting Ottawa tonight and tomorrow. Tyler and I will probably miss the storm, but we may have some shovelling to do. It doesn't affect our flight as the storm is not hitting Montreal or Toronto, but that could always change.
I also noticed that the Sens won for once. I'm surprised!
Continuing the best and worst lists from yesterday:
7) BEST SUBWAY SYSTEM: Paris, France.
WORST SUBWAY SYSTEM: Budapest, Hungary (we had to pay for another ticket each time we changed metro lines)
8) BEST SUBWAY TRAIN: Barcelona, Spain.
WORST SUBWAY SYSTEM: Budapest, Hungary (it's supposedly the oldest underground system in Europe, unfortunately it also looks it's age).
9) BEST CULTURAL EXPERIENCE: The Romanian Guy who sat across from us on the train from Salzburg to Vienna (see Day 14 (continued)).
WORST CULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Tyler losing his wallet on the train from Munich to Salzburg (see Day 12).
10) BEST COINCIDENTAL EVENT: Tyler finding his wallet a couple of days later on the same train he lost it, but missing the Euros. (see Day 14 (continued)).
WORST COINCIDENTAL EVENT: The France train workers going on strike (see Day 06).
11) BEST WEATHER: Rome, Italy.
WORST WEATHER: Vienna, Austria.
12) BEST STORE: Any store that sold lederhosen.
WORST STORE: The tie store (see Day 12).
Monday, October 27, 2008
Day 26
We are now in Paris at the Goldas' house once again. Tyler and I are exhausted so we're not going anywhere today. Tomorrow we'll be going to the airport to see if we can disembark in Montréal instead of Toronto. After that, we'll be staying and relaxing at the Goldas.
It's been an exhausting trip but we've seen and experienced many interesting things and cultures that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Today I'll start listing my best and worst things that have happened to us on this trip:
1) BEST HOSTEL: Ante Portas in Salzburg, Austria
WORST HOSTEL: Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald, Switzerland (only because we were in a dorm)
2) BEST FOOD: The Goldas in Paris, France. The food never stops!
WORST FOOD: Gimmelwald, Switzerland (because there were no restaurants open when we wanted them)
3) BEST MEAL: Ribs and chips in Barcelona, Spain.
WORST MEAL: Spaghetti in London, England (it was still ok).
4) WORST CROSSWALKS: Italy. Because you just cross the street and pray the traffic will stop for you.
BEST CROSSWALKS: London, England. Because they tell you on the street which way to look.
5) BEST WEATHER: Rome, Italy.
WORST WEATHER: Vienna, Austria
6) BEST TRAINS: Switzerland.
WORST TRAINS: Hungary.
to be continued tomorrow...
It's been an exhausting trip but we've seen and experienced many interesting things and cultures that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Today I'll start listing my best and worst things that have happened to us on this trip:
1) BEST HOSTEL: Ante Portas in Salzburg, Austria
WORST HOSTEL: Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald, Switzerland (only because we were in a dorm)
2) BEST FOOD: The Goldas in Paris, France. The food never stops!
WORST FOOD: Gimmelwald, Switzerland (because there were no restaurants open when we wanted them)
3) BEST MEAL: Ribs and chips in Barcelona, Spain.
WORST MEAL: Spaghetti in London, England (it was still ok).
4) WORST CROSSWALKS: Italy. Because you just cross the street and pray the traffic will stop for you.
BEST CROSSWALKS: London, England. Because they tell you on the street which way to look.
5) BEST WEATHER: Rome, Italy.
WORST WEATHER: Vienna, Austria
6) BEST TRAINS: Switzerland.
WORST TRAINS: Hungary.
to be continued tomorrow...
Day 25
On Day 25 we went to Vatican where we waited 40 minutes in a crowd of people just to get into St. Peter's. After looking around the church, we went up to the Cupola, and yes it gets really narrow and is kind of scary. But we survived!
That's all we had time to see at the Vatican as we had to go catch our train to Paris. Even though we got beds this time, the night train was uncomfortable (we're 3 for 3 on night trains this trip), and we only managed to sleep a few hours. The train ride was approximately 16 hours long and after we disembarked we were still swaying like the train was all night.
That's all we had time to see at the Vatican as we had to go catch our train to Paris. Even though we got beds this time, the night train was uncomfortable (we're 3 for 3 on night trains this trip), and we only managed to sleep a few hours. The train ride was approximately 16 hours long and after we disembarked we were still swaying like the train was all night.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Day 24
Today we were feeling lazy again, so we just went to the beach and stayed around the hostel (and played pool and ping pong). Tomorrow we'll be going to the Vatican, then heading back to Paris on the night train.
The beach had lots of garbage laying around, so we didn't much feel like laying out on the sand or playing frisbee. Instead we just walked along the shore and skipped rocks. We also saw a live jellyfish in the water, and don't worry we didn't get to close to it. Tyler was throwing rocks in its vicinity to get it to move. The sand is black, not white. I think that this means that the sand comes from ground lava swells, rather than sea shells.
4 days left...
The beach had lots of garbage laying around, so we didn't much feel like laying out on the sand or playing frisbee. Instead we just walked along the shore and skipped rocks. We also saw a live jellyfish in the water, and don't worry we didn't get to close to it. Tyler was throwing rocks in its vicinity to get it to move. The sand is black, not white. I think that this means that the sand comes from ground lava swells, rather than sea shells.
4 days left...
Friday, October 24, 2008
Day 23
We are completely and utterly exhausted so we didn't do anything today.
Tyler did laundry in the morning, but I'm sure you don't want the details of that. I on the other hand did not do laundry because I like wearing smelly clothes. (Actually, my clothes aren't that bad, but it seems like a waste to wash clothes when we have only 5 days left.)
Tomorrow we plan to go to the beach (if it's not raining), followed by a trip to the Vatican for our meeting with the Pope. It should be exemplary. The weather here has been great so far. Today was 20-something degrees and sunny, as was yesterday. I can't really make fun of your weather in Ottawa as its still looks pretty warm, though rainy. I do see that in the long term forcast they're calling for snow showers on the 29th and for the next 4 days after. Unfortunately, we'll be back in Ottawa by then.
Ciao,
Jim
Tyler did laundry in the morning, but I'm sure you don't want the details of that. I on the other hand did not do laundry because I like wearing smelly clothes. (Actually, my clothes aren't that bad, but it seems like a waste to wash clothes when we have only 5 days left.)
Tomorrow we plan to go to the beach (if it's not raining), followed by a trip to the Vatican for our meeting with the Pope. It should be exemplary. The weather here has been great so far. Today was 20-something degrees and sunny, as was yesterday. I can't really make fun of your weather in Ottawa as its still looks pretty warm, though rainy. I do see that in the long term forcast they're calling for snow showers on the 29th and for the next 4 days after. Unfortunately, we'll be back in Ottawa by then.
Ciao,
Jim
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Day 22
Today we toured around Rome and saw many sights. First we saw the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, both are archealogical sites and have lots to see, including some still-intact temples and arches. We also went into the Colosseum which was very impressive.
We also saw the Circus Maximus, but it just looks like a field, not the way it was.
Then we made our way over to the Castel Sant'Angelo. It was originally built in the 2nd century AD as a mausoleum, but in the 14th century it was converted into a fortress for the popes. It's an interesting looking building with many statues of angels standing guard. We didn't go in the fortress, but we walked around it on the outside.
Then we walked over to the Pantheon and quickly saw the inside. It's also very beautiful and has a very large dome that has a hole at the very top to the outside sky.
Shortly before arriving at the Pantheon, I had noticed some police standing on a street with riot gear. Later after leaving the Pantheon, we come to a road that is full of police with riot gear. We quickly cross the road, and not a moment too soon as I hear a rumble in the distance. A protest march quickly came around the bend and had hundreds of people involved. We overheard from someone speaking English that it had to do with public school vs. private school funding. That was an interesting experience and Tyler took some video of it, so you can experience what it was like where we were.
We then left to see the Piramide. Yes, there is a pyramid in Rome! It wasn't built by the Egyptians, but constructed as a tomb for someone important.
We got hungry so we ate at a restaurant near the Piramide. Tyler and I both got a pasta called, well I can't remember the name, but it had large spaghetti noodles with hot pepper sauce and bacon. It was pretty good. They also had a TV on and a game show was on the air while we ate. The game show started off innocently enough as a type of quiz show with about 8 contestants. There was a male hst who would ask the questions, and there were also 4 girls/models who would also occasionally ask questions or demonstrate things. When the game show was down to 2 contestants, as some kind of segway/reward, the 4 girls/models, who's only purpose so far on the game show was for sex appeal and cleavage, were sitting on a couch and rubbing their hands up their legs. Then they all jump up and start seductively dancing and rubbing themselves. At this Tyler and I burst out laughing. That is certainly not something you see on a North American game show. The audience consisted of men, women, and children, plus the remaining 2 contestants were women. (This wasn't some kind of male game show or anything). Unfortunately, before we could find out what the models would do when one of the contestants won, the channel was changed to an Italian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, that unfortunately was not nearly as interesting.
And I noticed that the Sens lost once again last night, this time against the Panthers. It looks like they'll be fighting with the Leafs for last place lol
We also saw the Circus Maximus, but it just looks like a field, not the way it was.
Then we made our way over to the Castel Sant'Angelo. It was originally built in the 2nd century AD as a mausoleum, but in the 14th century it was converted into a fortress for the popes. It's an interesting looking building with many statues of angels standing guard. We didn't go in the fortress, but we walked around it on the outside.
Then we walked over to the Pantheon and quickly saw the inside. It's also very beautiful and has a very large dome that has a hole at the very top to the outside sky.
Shortly before arriving at the Pantheon, I had noticed some police standing on a street with riot gear. Later after leaving the Pantheon, we come to a road that is full of police with riot gear. We quickly cross the road, and not a moment too soon as I hear a rumble in the distance. A protest march quickly came around the bend and had hundreds of people involved. We overheard from someone speaking English that it had to do with public school vs. private school funding. That was an interesting experience and Tyler took some video of it, so you can experience what it was like where we were.
We then left to see the Piramide. Yes, there is a pyramid in Rome! It wasn't built by the Egyptians, but constructed as a tomb for someone important.
We got hungry so we ate at a restaurant near the Piramide. Tyler and I both got a pasta called, well I can't remember the name, but it had large spaghetti noodles with hot pepper sauce and bacon. It was pretty good. They also had a TV on and a game show was on the air while we ate. The game show started off innocently enough as a type of quiz show with about 8 contestants. There was a male hst who would ask the questions, and there were also 4 girls/models who would also occasionally ask questions or demonstrate things. When the game show was down to 2 contestants, as some kind of segway/reward, the 4 girls/models, who's only purpose so far on the game show was for sex appeal and cleavage, were sitting on a couch and rubbing their hands up their legs. Then they all jump up and start seductively dancing and rubbing themselves. At this Tyler and I burst out laughing. That is certainly not something you see on a North American game show. The audience consisted of men, women, and children, plus the remaining 2 contestants were women. (This wasn't some kind of male game show or anything). Unfortunately, before we could find out what the models would do when one of the contestants won, the channel was changed to an Italian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, that unfortunately was not nearly as interesting.
And I noticed that the Sens lost once again last night, this time against the Panthers. It looks like they'll be fighting with the Leafs for last place lol
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Day 21
Today we took the train to Pisa where we quickly saw the leaning tower, the baptistery, and the church. The tower actually appeared to lean more than I had realized. We then ate at a restaurant in Pisa and we both got lasagna. Of course, the lasagna was very good (we're in Italy). I don't think that we've been dissapointed with too many meals on this trip.
We then left on the train to Rome. Once we reached Rome, we still had another 40 minutes to reach our hostel, which is located in Lido (Ostia). Our hostel is very nice and very big. It also has a bar, pool table, ping pong table, 4 computers, and a movie every night. Plus it's across the road from the beach (on the Mediterranen Sea).
We then left on the train to Rome. Once we reached Rome, we still had another 40 minutes to reach our hostel, which is located in Lido (Ostia). Our hostel is very nice and very big. It also has a bar, pool table, ping pong table, 4 computers, and a movie every night. Plus it's across the road from the beach (on the Mediterranen Sea).
Day 20
On day 20 we met some of Brittani's friends who live in Brescia.
I got to talking with one of them about football (soccer) and we had a nice argument about Italian vs. English football and which one was better.
For lunch, we ate at a lady named Teresa's home. We had 6 italian pizzas to devour and they tasted great.
It was nice getting to know people who actually live in the places we're visiting. It gives you a different perspective on things.
I got to talking with one of them about football (soccer) and we had a nice argument about Italian vs. English football and which one was better.
For lunch, we ate at a lady named Teresa's home. We had 6 italian pizzas to devour and they tasted great.
It was nice getting to know people who actually live in the places we're visiting. It gives you a different perspective on things.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Day 19
After our tiring train ride through Croatia and Slovenia, we finally made it to Venice.
Venice was incredibly beautiful. I loved it. It's different because no one has cars, instead they have boats, and the rivers are their roads. I saw some cruise ships, including a Royal Caribbean one.
We ended up taking a water bus (6 €) which is much cheaper than a gondola ride (85 €) . We also walked around the coastline and visited St. Mark's Square. It was a nice relaxing day.
The weather was sunny and around 20 degrees. We couldn't ask for a better day.
Then we went to Brescia where Brittani was waiting for us. We slept in the aprtment she's staying at and the next day we would be going out and meeting some of the locals.
And in Habs news: they win again, this time against the Florida Panthers. Now their record is 5-0-1. Yes, I believe the Cup will be coming to Montreal this year...
Venice was incredibly beautiful. I loved it. It's different because no one has cars, instead they have boats, and the rivers are their roads. I saw some cruise ships, including a Royal Caribbean one.
We ended up taking a water bus (6 €) which is much cheaper than a gondola ride (85 €) . We also walked around the coastline and visited St. Mark's Square. It was a nice relaxing day.
The weather was sunny and around 20 degrees. We couldn't ask for a better day.
Then we went to Brescia where Brittani was waiting for us. We slept in the aprtment she's staying at and the next day we would be going out and meeting some of the locals.
And in Habs news: they win again, this time against the Florida Panthers. Now their record is 5-0-1. Yes, I believe the Cup will be coming to Montreal this year...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Day 18
* Some people are wondering why we called the Hungarian hostel employee "Attila". The answer is simple, we can't remember his name and he looks a little like Attila the Hun.
On Day 18 we simply walked around Budapest and did some window shopping. Nothing too interesting happened until our night train to Venice.
You see, originally on our itinerary, we had our night train going from Budapest to Salzburg, and then switching trains to go from Salzburg to Venice. But when we got to Budapest on Day 17 and booked our night train, we got what seemed to be a better train: one train from Budapest to Venice.
Unfortunately, I had not seen a map for some time and I had forgotten exactly where Budapest was. It was surprising to see our train cross the border into Croatia (one part of the former Yugoslavia, but not too bad of a country). It was a little worrisome to get passport checks at every stop. Then I looked at my Eurail map to make sure that we wouldn't be going through Serbia or Bosnia, and thankfully we didn't. We did have to go through Slovenia, a socialist state but a part of the European Union, where we again had numerous passport checks. Yes, once again we hardly got any sleep on a night train.
We are now safely in Venice, having arrived at 7 AM local time. This afternoon we'll be leaving for Brescia, Italy where tomorrow we'll be meeting up with Tyler's friend, Brittani.
On Day 18 we simply walked around Budapest and did some window shopping. Nothing too interesting happened until our night train to Venice.
You see, originally on our itinerary, we had our night train going from Budapest to Salzburg, and then switching trains to go from Salzburg to Venice. But when we got to Budapest on Day 17 and booked our night train, we got what seemed to be a better train: one train from Budapest to Venice.
Unfortunately, I had not seen a map for some time and I had forgotten exactly where Budapest was. It was surprising to see our train cross the border into Croatia (one part of the former Yugoslavia, but not too bad of a country). It was a little worrisome to get passport checks at every stop. Then I looked at my Eurail map to make sure that we wouldn't be going through Serbia or Bosnia, and thankfully we didn't. We did have to go through Slovenia, a socialist state but a part of the European Union, where we again had numerous passport checks. Yes, once again we hardly got any sleep on a night train.
We are now safely in Venice, having arrived at 7 AM local time. This afternoon we'll be leaving for Brescia, Italy where tomorrow we'll be meeting up with Tyler's friend, Brittani.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Day 17
On Day 17, we took a tour bus, the Hop On Hop Off bus to see most of the tourist sites in Budapest. We got off in the Castle District of Budapest where the Buda Castle and Fisherman's Bastion are located, as well as many other things. It's a very beautiful area and we walked through the whole thing and got some interesting pictures.
We also quickly saw the Citadella, a 19th century fotress built by the Habsburg royal family. We also got some great views from here.
We ate at a restaurant called Stex where Tyler got his goulash and I got a Caesar salad. We noticed later that there was a roulette table on the top floor, but it seemed separate from the restaurant. At least, that's our story...
That night we had a long conversation with one of the Hungarian hostel employees wo we will call Attilla. He was asking us about English words, and whether he should visit Canada (Vancouver), Australia, or New Zealand. We convinced him that Canada or New Zealand was the place to go, because of his interest in winter sports and fishing.
I'm Yours by Jason Marz is playing right now. :)
The Habs won for the 4th straight time last night, 4-1. Tanguay got a couple more goals. And the Sens lost against the Bruins...too bad so sad.
We also quickly saw the Citadella, a 19th century fotress built by the Habsburg royal family. We also got some great views from here.
We ate at a restaurant called Stex where Tyler got his goulash and I got a Caesar salad. We noticed later that there was a roulette table on the top floor, but it seemed separate from the restaurant. At least, that's our story...
That night we had a long conversation with one of the Hungarian hostel employees wo we will call Attilla. He was asking us about English words, and whether he should visit Canada (Vancouver), Australia, or New Zealand. We convinced him that Canada or New Zealand was the place to go, because of his interest in winter sports and fishing.
I'm Yours by Jason Marz is playing right now. :)
The Habs won for the 4th straight time last night, 4-1. Tanguay got a couple more goals. And the Sens lost against the Bruins...too bad so sad.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Day 16
Tyler estimates that we have traveled over 2000 km so far (in Europe). That's a lot of traveling, and we are starting to feel it as we are getting more and more tired as this trip wears on. But we're enjoying Europe a lot!
This morning we ate muffins for breakfast, then set out on foot to the Schloss Schonnbrunn, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The walking idea was a mistake as it took about 40 minutes to get there and it was very windy and very cold. But somehow we made it and it was worth the trip.
First, we went inside the palace and did the short, cheap tour. It went by very quick but we saw a total of 26 rooms that were fully furnished. After the tour, we went out back to the huge garden/park area. We first went into the maze/labyrinth area. We did a hedge maze, which we finished in 3 minutes and 42 seconds. There was one old guy who was stuck in the maze for a long time, so maybe we're just especially good at mazes (and I taped some of the old guy's struggles in the maze). The other 2 mazes were not so much mazes but labyrinths, and they had some neat obstacles/games in them. Again, I have some of these on video. From there we hiked up another hill, I'm really getting sick of hills, to a large royal monument. Up there we got a nice view of the palace.
On the way back we took the subway, because we're lazy, and as I said above, tired. We were getting hungry so we stopped by our favourite Austrian restaurant. We were in line behind 2 of my dream girls. Why are they my dream girls you ask? Well, not only were they 11s on a 1-10 scale of hotness, but they were in line at our favourite Austrian restaurant of them all: KFC. We speculated as to what they would order: a twin bucket, a party bucket? Would they they get original, spicy, or extra crispy? Would they get french fries or chicken fries? It turns out one got a garden salad and the other got a garden salad with a piece of chicken. But it doesn't matter what they got, the fact that these two hot girls ate at KFC automatically guarantees them a spot on my dream girl list. *sigh*
We ate our KFC on the train, (yes I know, we're really eating healthy this trip), and tried to relax. Unfortunately, we were sitting in someone's reserved seats, so we had to move. And right when I was in the middle of eating a chicken wing! We pick some new seats, and right after I take another bite of the wing, some more people come and say that they've reserved these seats as well. We switch seats for the third time and thankfully no one claims our seats this time.
We arrive in Budapest and easily find our hostel. Our room is pretty big and spacious. We ate at a place called the Pink Cadillac, an Italian restaurant, and we both had spaghetti. I had the Bolognese (basically spaghetti with meat sauce). Tyler had spaghetti with a spicy sauce, I can't remember the name of it now. The menu was huge, it was like a book. They had at least 20 different varieties of spoaghetti, plus many different kinds of pasta and pizza. My spaghetti cost 6.40 Euro (or 1700 Hungarian Forint), very cheap, and Tyler's cost similar.
After our dinner, we took a nice walk down the pedestrian road in Budapest. It's smaller than the other ones we've been on, but it still has lots of interesting stores. It's also where we had another cultural experience.
We were walking down the pedestrian road when 2 extremely hot girls stopped us and asked us if we spoke English. They said that they were Croatian and had just arrived in Budapest this morning. They told us they were lost and looking for a club. We had a map so we showed them where the street was that they were looking for. It was in the same direction we were walking, so they walked with us down the street. Innocent, right? Well, then they ask us to join them for a coffee in this club. Now, to a normal person this may seem like the 2 girls were trying to pick us up. But soon, because of my superior intellect, the alarm bells started going off. Why would two very good looking girls, blonde, from Croatia, be roaming the street, looking for 2 guys to pick up? Normally, they shouldn't have any problem getting guys, in fact guys would probably be going after them. We soon got to the street they were looking for and we told them that we wouldn't be joining them for coffee. That's when they practically started begging us to go with them because it was "cold outside". Anyway, we got away from them and continued down the street. That's when Tyler and I started thinking about what exactly happened and what their motives were. We eventually turned around and started back the same way we had come. Lo and behold, out in the distance and walking the opposite way were those same 2 girls. I guess they were still "lost". It was then we decided that they must be working for this club that they wanted us to go to, and their job was to entice people to go in. So we decide to check down that road to see if there actually was a club. On the way back, we notice the 2 girls a little bit behind us walking back down the road again. We stop to "look" into a store to let them pass us, and then we follow them from a distance. They end up going into a McDonalds, close to the street that they "needed help finding". I guess they prefer the coffee in McDonalds. We go down the street where there was supposedly a club, and there is no club or coffee shop at all. There are 2 guys leaning against a corner farther down, and we don't go any farther just in case these girls were scamming us into getting mugged. They could have also been prostitutes. Or maybe they could have actually been hitting on us lol. Either way, it was an interesting cultural experience.
This morning we ate muffins for breakfast, then set out on foot to the Schloss Schonnbrunn, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The walking idea was a mistake as it took about 40 minutes to get there and it was very windy and very cold. But somehow we made it and it was worth the trip.
First, we went inside the palace and did the short, cheap tour. It went by very quick but we saw a total of 26 rooms that were fully furnished. After the tour, we went out back to the huge garden/park area. We first went into the maze/labyrinth area. We did a hedge maze, which we finished in 3 minutes and 42 seconds. There was one old guy who was stuck in the maze for a long time, so maybe we're just especially good at mazes (and I taped some of the old guy's struggles in the maze). The other 2 mazes were not so much mazes but labyrinths, and they had some neat obstacles/games in them. Again, I have some of these on video. From there we hiked up another hill, I'm really getting sick of hills, to a large royal monument. Up there we got a nice view of the palace.
On the way back we took the subway, because we're lazy, and as I said above, tired. We were getting hungry so we stopped by our favourite Austrian restaurant. We were in line behind 2 of my dream girls. Why are they my dream girls you ask? Well, not only were they 11s on a 1-10 scale of hotness, but they were in line at our favourite Austrian restaurant of them all: KFC. We speculated as to what they would order: a twin bucket, a party bucket? Would they they get original, spicy, or extra crispy? Would they get french fries or chicken fries? It turns out one got a garden salad and the other got a garden salad with a piece of chicken. But it doesn't matter what they got, the fact that these two hot girls ate at KFC automatically guarantees them a spot on my dream girl list. *sigh*
We ate our KFC on the train, (yes I know, we're really eating healthy this trip), and tried to relax. Unfortunately, we were sitting in someone's reserved seats, so we had to move. And right when I was in the middle of eating a chicken wing! We pick some new seats, and right after I take another bite of the wing, some more people come and say that they've reserved these seats as well. We switch seats for the third time and thankfully no one claims our seats this time.
We arrive in Budapest and easily find our hostel. Our room is pretty big and spacious. We ate at a place called the Pink Cadillac, an Italian restaurant, and we both had spaghetti. I had the Bolognese (basically spaghetti with meat sauce). Tyler had spaghetti with a spicy sauce, I can't remember the name of it now. The menu was huge, it was like a book. They had at least 20 different varieties of spoaghetti, plus many different kinds of pasta and pizza. My spaghetti cost 6.40 Euro (or 1700 Hungarian Forint), very cheap, and Tyler's cost similar.
After our dinner, we took a nice walk down the pedestrian road in Budapest. It's smaller than the other ones we've been on, but it still has lots of interesting stores. It's also where we had another cultural experience.
We were walking down the pedestrian road when 2 extremely hot girls stopped us and asked us if we spoke English. They said that they were Croatian and had just arrived in Budapest this morning. They told us they were lost and looking for a club. We had a map so we showed them where the street was that they were looking for. It was in the same direction we were walking, so they walked with us down the street. Innocent, right? Well, then they ask us to join them for a coffee in this club. Now, to a normal person this may seem like the 2 girls were trying to pick us up. But soon, because of my superior intellect, the alarm bells started going off. Why would two very good looking girls, blonde, from Croatia, be roaming the street, looking for 2 guys to pick up? Normally, they shouldn't have any problem getting guys, in fact guys would probably be going after them. We soon got to the street they were looking for and we told them that we wouldn't be joining them for coffee. That's when they practically started begging us to go with them because it was "cold outside". Anyway, we got away from them and continued down the street. That's when Tyler and I started thinking about what exactly happened and what their motives were. We eventually turned around and started back the same way we had come. Lo and behold, out in the distance and walking the opposite way were those same 2 girls. I guess they were still "lost". It was then we decided that they must be working for this club that they wanted us to go to, and their job was to entice people to go in. So we decide to check down that road to see if there actually was a club. On the way back, we notice the 2 girls a little bit behind us walking back down the road again. We stop to "look" into a store to let them pass us, and then we follow them from a distance. They end up going into a McDonalds, close to the street that they "needed help finding". I guess they prefer the coffee in McDonalds. We go down the street where there was supposedly a club, and there is no club or coffee shop at all. There are 2 guys leaning against a corner farther down, and we don't go any farther just in case these girls were scamming us into getting mugged. They could have also been prostitutes. Or maybe they could have actually been hitting on us lol. Either way, it was an interesting cultural experience.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Day 15
Unfortunately, we have no funny stories for Day 15 :(
We watched part of Mars Attacks this morning. Even though it was dubbed in German, it's still hilarious.
It was a rainy day in Vienna, so we went to the Natural History Museum, which is basically Ottawa's Museum of Nature x 100. It had many dead animals to see, and some live ones too.
We ate dinner at a pizza place (yes another pizza place), and we got the Al Capone pizza (tomato sauce, cheese, ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, and onions.) We also got potatoes and vegetable on the side. It was all very good.
Tomorrow during the day we'll be in Vienna, and in the evening we'll be taking the 3 hour train ride to Budapest.
And my Habs win again, this time against the Bruins.
We watched part of Mars Attacks this morning. Even though it was dubbed in German, it's still hilarious.
It was a rainy day in Vienna, so we went to the Natural History Museum, which is basically Ottawa's Museum of Nature x 100. It had many dead animals to see, and some live ones too.
We ate dinner at a pizza place (yes another pizza place), and we got the Al Capone pizza (tomato sauce, cheese, ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, and onions.) We also got potatoes and vegetable on the side. It was all very good.
Tomorrow during the day we'll be in Vienna, and in the evening we'll be taking the 3 hour train ride to Budapest.
And my Habs win again, this time against the Bruins.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Day 14 (continued)
Lots of interesting things happened to us on the way to Vienna and in Vienna tonight.
First, something I forgot to tell you about in Salzburg...
In old Salzburg we happened upon an exciting game of giant chess. I took some videos of the game so that you can watch the suspenseful match.
Now that that's out of the way, the continuation of the last blog...
We were on the same train that Tyler lost his wallet and we made sure that we sat on the same car. We unfortunately couldn't sit in the same section (on this train there's 6 chairs in a room with a sliding door and the section we wanted was full of people), but we got the section right beside it. The people in the other section where we wanted to search for the wallet didn't leave at the stop at Linz, so we were going to have to search for the wallet after the train stopped at Vienna.
In the meantime, a 20-something guy, who we later found out was Romanian, came to sit in our section. He had a beer in hand and later went to get another beer. I still find it weird seeing beer being drunk everywhere. Everything was quiet until about 30 minutes before we arrived in Vienna, when a large Russian man banged on our window and pointed at Tyler. I got worried thinking maybe Tyler looked at him in the wrong way and now we'd get in a fight with this giant of a man. Instead he was a Chelsea fan and had noticed Tyler's Chelsea FC jersey (that he was wearing at the time).
Then I could relax...but wait! The Romanian guy in our section has started talking to us in English with a heavy accent. He started talking to us about football and what teams we liked. Then he asked me what the best team now was and I answered Real Madrid, but it turns out I was wrong as according to him the answer is CFR Cluj, a Romanian club. Luckily, I know a lot about soccer/football and I know the club CFR Cluj, so I didn't get him angry. Eventually, he started talking about Vienna about how it's so beautiful and the women have BIG breasts. And he did a gesture when he mentioned BIG breasts. Supposedly Vienna has big everything, big buildings, big beauty, big money, and BIG breasts. Soon he started talking about the money he made in Romania and how much more money he's making in Salzburg (where he now lives). He said that he made 250 euros a month in Romania, but now he makes 500 euros a month in Salzburg. It's a good thing I didn't tell him how much a month I make in Canada as he might have robbed me. Soon he began talking about his girlfriend, whom he calls his bi*** (must be a common Romanian name), and that she makes more money than him. You see, she works in a "club" in Salzburg. Hmmm...must have missed that place while we were there... From there he started telling us about the prostitutes in Vienna. In case you're wondering, they come out at 0100 hours, cost about 100-200 euros, and have BIG breasts. He also said that the male prostitutes aren't that good. At this time he was also talking about lap dances and when he said lap dances he would rub my leg, just so we knew what he was talking about (heavy accent remember). Then he asked us how much a prostitute costs in Canada, and being the honest guys that we are, we told him the truth: $152.48/hr. (Not that we'd know or anything). But the story does not end there. No, now he wanted our phone numbers so he could hook us up with a girl. Unfortunately, we "didn't have any phones that worked in Europe" so we're still lonely in Vienna. As he was leaving, he gave us his address in Salzburg and told us we could stay with him and his bi*** anytime we wanted to. In case you're interested, his address is 29 Linzer Bunderstrasse, that coincidentally was very close to our hostel in Salzburg. He then ran to catch his train to Romania.
After that cultural exchange, Tyler went to look for his wallet. Way down, under the seat, in the dirtiest corner of the cabin, was Tyler's wallet. Yes, it was still on the train! Unfortunately the 60 euros were missing, but at least his credit card and debit card were still there! Oh wait, they're canceled. Oh well, it's a nice wallet... I hope that whoever took the 60 euros bought something really nice for themselves.
We easily found our hostel in Vienna, that while it's not as nice as the one in Salzburg, is still pretty good, and yes it has a TV with a couple of English channels.
Tyler and I were getting hungry, so we ate at this fabulous restaurant not too far from oour hostel. We both got a huge garden salad with assorted greens, tomatoes, peppers, and topped with the best French dressing. Next came the main course of chicken, breaded to perfection (a nice golden brown), with fried potatoes on the side. It's all some kind of recipe that was passed down from an American colonel. In case you're ever in Vienna, the name of the place was KFC. I wish this restaurant would expand to Canada because it's fabulous.
But no, the stories do not end there! Walking to this internet cafe, not to far from our hostel, we are stopped by a black man with the reddest eyes you've ever seen. He asks us why we're in Austria, (I guess we don't look Austrian), and we tell him that it's for vacation. Well, it turns out that the Austrians are evil anti-Semites that murdered countless Jews and blacks a few years ago, and now it's all being covered up. He says that we should visit a concentration camp and get the real history of Vienna. He then lets us know that he wants to go back to his home country of Gambia and make a lot of money. And how is he going to make a lot of money? Because he speaks fluent English. I think I'm going to go to Gambia and get rich since I also speak English fluently... Anyway, he informes us that he's very drunk and is heading to a store where you roll up something called a "joint" and smoke it. Being the upstanding, morally clean guys we are, we had no idea what he was talking about so we politely removed ourselves from the conversation. He sent us off with by pounding our arms with his hands and then we went on our way. Tyler now has some mysterious white marks on his coat. Who knows where they came from?
First, something I forgot to tell you about in Salzburg...
In old Salzburg we happened upon an exciting game of giant chess. I took some videos of the game so that you can watch the suspenseful match.
Now that that's out of the way, the continuation of the last blog...
We were on the same train that Tyler lost his wallet and we made sure that we sat on the same car. We unfortunately couldn't sit in the same section (on this train there's 6 chairs in a room with a sliding door and the section we wanted was full of people), but we got the section right beside it. The people in the other section where we wanted to search for the wallet didn't leave at the stop at Linz, so we were going to have to search for the wallet after the train stopped at Vienna.
In the meantime, a 20-something guy, who we later found out was Romanian, came to sit in our section. He had a beer in hand and later went to get another beer. I still find it weird seeing beer being drunk everywhere. Everything was quiet until about 30 minutes before we arrived in Vienna, when a large Russian man banged on our window and pointed at Tyler. I got worried thinking maybe Tyler looked at him in the wrong way and now we'd get in a fight with this giant of a man. Instead he was a Chelsea fan and had noticed Tyler's Chelsea FC jersey (that he was wearing at the time).
Then I could relax...but wait! The Romanian guy in our section has started talking to us in English with a heavy accent. He started talking to us about football and what teams we liked. Then he asked me what the best team now was and I answered Real Madrid, but it turns out I was wrong as according to him the answer is CFR Cluj, a Romanian club. Luckily, I know a lot about soccer/football and I know the club CFR Cluj, so I didn't get him angry. Eventually, he started talking about Vienna about how it's so beautiful and the women have BIG breasts. And he did a gesture when he mentioned BIG breasts. Supposedly Vienna has big everything, big buildings, big beauty, big money, and BIG breasts. Soon he started talking about the money he made in Romania and how much more money he's making in Salzburg (where he now lives). He said that he made 250 euros a month in Romania, but now he makes 500 euros a month in Salzburg. It's a good thing I didn't tell him how much a month I make in Canada as he might have robbed me. Soon he began talking about his girlfriend, whom he calls his bi*** (must be a common Romanian name), and that she makes more money than him. You see, she works in a "club" in Salzburg. Hmmm...must have missed that place while we were there... From there he started telling us about the prostitutes in Vienna. In case you're wondering, they come out at 0100 hours, cost about 100-200 euros, and have BIG breasts. He also said that the male prostitutes aren't that good. At this time he was also talking about lap dances and when he said lap dances he would rub my leg, just so we knew what he was talking about (heavy accent remember). Then he asked us how much a prostitute costs in Canada, and being the honest guys that we are, we told him the truth: $152.48/hr. (Not that we'd know or anything). But the story does not end there. No, now he wanted our phone numbers so he could hook us up with a girl. Unfortunately, we "didn't have any phones that worked in Europe" so we're still lonely in Vienna. As he was leaving, he gave us his address in Salzburg and told us we could stay with him and his bi*** anytime we wanted to. In case you're interested, his address is 29 Linzer Bunderstrasse, that coincidentally was very close to our hostel in Salzburg. He then ran to catch his train to Romania.
After that cultural exchange, Tyler went to look for his wallet. Way down, under the seat, in the dirtiest corner of the cabin, was Tyler's wallet. Yes, it was still on the train! Unfortunately the 60 euros were missing, but at least his credit card and debit card were still there! Oh wait, they're canceled. Oh well, it's a nice wallet... I hope that whoever took the 60 euros bought something really nice for themselves.
We easily found our hostel in Vienna, that while it's not as nice as the one in Salzburg, is still pretty good, and yes it has a TV with a couple of English channels.
Tyler and I were getting hungry, so we ate at this fabulous restaurant not too far from oour hostel. We both got a huge garden salad with assorted greens, tomatoes, peppers, and topped with the best French dressing. Next came the main course of chicken, breaded to perfection (a nice golden brown), with fried potatoes on the side. It's all some kind of recipe that was passed down from an American colonel. In case you're ever in Vienna, the name of the place was KFC. I wish this restaurant would expand to Canada because it's fabulous.
But no, the stories do not end there! Walking to this internet cafe, not to far from our hostel, we are stopped by a black man with the reddest eyes you've ever seen. He asks us why we're in Austria, (I guess we don't look Austrian), and we tell him that it's for vacation. Well, it turns out that the Austrians are evil anti-Semites that murdered countless Jews and blacks a few years ago, and now it's all being covered up. He says that we should visit a concentration camp and get the real history of Vienna. He then lets us know that he wants to go back to his home country of Gambia and make a lot of money. And how is he going to make a lot of money? Because he speaks fluent English. I think I'm going to go to Gambia and get rich since I also speak English fluently... Anyway, he informes us that he's very drunk and is heading to a store where you roll up something called a "joint" and smoke it. Being the upstanding, morally clean guys we are, we had no idea what he was talking about so we politely removed ourselves from the conversation. He sent us off with by pounding our arms with his hands and then we went on our way. Tyler now has some mysterious white marks on his coat. Who knows where they came from?
Day 14
We are officially halfway through our trip today.
Tyler and I walked around old Salzburg and did some window shopping. We also walked up the mountain to the fortress but didn't go in. Then we walked through the cemetery that's featured in The Sound Of Music.
For lunch I had a giant pizza pretzel and Tyler had a giant chocolate pretzel. Pretzels are to Germany/Austria as Beavertails are to Ottawa.
We're about to leave on the train to Vienna, the capital of Austria. We'll be on the exact same train where Tyler lost his wallet a few days ago, so maybe we'll find it (if no one took it and the train was never cleaned out). If not, Tyler made a withdrawal at the "Cole Bank" and has enough money to finish the trip.
I'm happy to see that my Habs are doing well. Much better than the Sens.
Tyler and I walked around old Salzburg and did some window shopping. We also walked up the mountain to the fortress but didn't go in. Then we walked through the cemetery that's featured in The Sound Of Music.
For lunch I had a giant pizza pretzel and Tyler had a giant chocolate pretzel. Pretzels are to Germany/Austria as Beavertails are to Ottawa.
We're about to leave on the train to Vienna, the capital of Austria. We'll be on the exact same train where Tyler lost his wallet a few days ago, so maybe we'll find it (if no one took it and the train was never cleaned out). If not, Tyler made a withdrawal at the "Cole Bank" and has enough money to finish the trip.
I'm happy to see that my Habs are doing well. Much better than the Sens.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Day 13
This morning we went to the train station to check with the Lost & Found, Tyler's wallet had not been found, but they said that it usually takes a few days. From there we met Tyler's parents to whom we relayed the bad news, and they will be loaning Tyler enough money to finish the trip.
Today we went with Tyler's parents to the Eagle's Nest, a retreat for Adolf Hitler back in the day. The bus ride up was very interesting with windy, narrow roads and steep inclines. Once up farther we enter a long bunker on foot and then go into a golden elevator that brings you 400 feet higher up the mountain. Outside, the views of the mountains and the surrounding area was great, similar but at the same time different than Gimmelwald.
After leaving the Eagle's Nest, we ate in a little town called Berchtesgaden. I had jagerscnhitzel (wiener scnhitzel with musroom sauce), and apple strudel for dessert. The food was excellent and the little town was very nice with lots of little stores with interesting merchandise.
Today we went with Tyler's parents to the Eagle's Nest, a retreat for Adolf Hitler back in the day. The bus ride up was very interesting with windy, narrow roads and steep inclines. Once up farther we enter a long bunker on foot and then go into a golden elevator that brings you 400 feet higher up the mountain. Outside, the views of the mountains and the surrounding area was great, similar but at the same time different than Gimmelwald.
After leaving the Eagle's Nest, we ate in a little town called Berchtesgaden. I had jagerscnhitzel (wiener scnhitzel with musroom sauce), and apple strudel for dessert. The food was excellent and the little town was very nice with lots of little stores with interesting merchandise.
Day 12
On Day 12, Tyler and I visited the Residenz, the former royal residence of the Holy Roman Empire of Bavaria. The state rooms and paintings were very interesting, as were the papal rooms..
After the Residenz, we walked by some stores on Munich's pedestrian walkway. We passed a tie store that looked interesting and Tyler decided to take a video of it. But right when he pressed the record button, all we hear out of the distance was "La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-la-la-la-la-la-la." No, we weren't close to a beer garden. What it was, was 2women who worked in the tie store, diving over the counter and launching themselves at Tyler and his camera. I turn around to get out of the store, and in comes another screaming woman pointing and reaching for my camera (which was still in its case). I don't think we were allowed to take pictures in their store.
Then we went on the train to Salzburg, which would have been very uneventful, if not for something very diabolical. We exit the train in Salzburg and Tyler realizes that he no longer has his wallet. He runs back on the train, which was about to leave for Vienna, and qucikly looks for his wallet, but he can't find it. Plus, there's people who got on at Salzburg who are now sitting in our seats. Inside his wallet was his driver's license, credit card, debit card, and 60 euros. All he had left for money at that point was 100 euros in his money belt. We think it fell out of his pocket while on the train because we had our feet up on the seats opposite us.
We go to the Information desk who promptly points us to the Lost & Found desk. Unfortunately, the Lost & Found is closed, so we return to the Information desk, where the lady tells us that we'll have to come back in the morning. People are very helpful in Austria.
We then decide to find our hostel, which is a little outside Salzburg. We get to the front door and there is a sign posted saying that we have to use our code to enter the front door. (There is no one at the front desk). What code? Yes, we never received a code to open the door. There's a number to phone, but no payphone close by and Tyler's cellphone still needed a SIM card. Anyway, before too long, a couple of guys who are staying at the hostel came back and opened the door for us grudgingly, because I don't think they fully trusted that we were staying there. We get into our room and it's the nicest room we've stayed in so far. It has a kitchenette, a private bathroom and shower, and satellite TV (with hundreds of channels, but only a handful in English). We also have lots of space, both in the room and the bathroom, which is a nice change from what we're used to.
Unfortunately, since we did not know the code to the front door, one of us had to stay in the room at all times to let the other one in. So Tyler left first to use the phone to cancel his cards. After he returned, I left to go get something to eat at McDonald's, which was a 15 minute walk down the street. After I returned, Tyler was hungry so he went to McDonald's. The next day we found out that our room key worked in the front door.
So my Thanksgiving Dinner was a Big Mac and a large fry, and it was mmmmm...good. I'm lovin' it.
After the Residenz, we walked by some stores on Munich's pedestrian walkway. We passed a tie store that looked interesting and Tyler decided to take a video of it. But right when he pressed the record button, all we hear out of the distance was "La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-la-la-la-la-la-la." No, we weren't close to a beer garden. What it was, was 2women who worked in the tie store, diving over the counter and launching themselves at Tyler and his camera. I turn around to get out of the store, and in comes another screaming woman pointing and reaching for my camera (which was still in its case). I don't think we were allowed to take pictures in their store.
Then we went on the train to Salzburg, which would have been very uneventful, if not for something very diabolical. We exit the train in Salzburg and Tyler realizes that he no longer has his wallet. He runs back on the train, which was about to leave for Vienna, and qucikly looks for his wallet, but he can't find it. Plus, there's people who got on at Salzburg who are now sitting in our seats. Inside his wallet was his driver's license, credit card, debit card, and 60 euros. All he had left for money at that point was 100 euros in his money belt. We think it fell out of his pocket while on the train because we had our feet up on the seats opposite us.
We go to the Information desk who promptly points us to the Lost & Found desk. Unfortunately, the Lost & Found is closed, so we return to the Information desk, where the lady tells us that we'll have to come back in the morning. People are very helpful in Austria.
We then decide to find our hostel, which is a little outside Salzburg. We get to the front door and there is a sign posted saying that we have to use our code to enter the front door. (There is no one at the front desk). What code? Yes, we never received a code to open the door. There's a number to phone, but no payphone close by and Tyler's cellphone still needed a SIM card. Anyway, before too long, a couple of guys who are staying at the hostel came back and opened the door for us grudgingly, because I don't think they fully trusted that we were staying there. We get into our room and it's the nicest room we've stayed in so far. It has a kitchenette, a private bathroom and shower, and satellite TV (with hundreds of channels, but only a handful in English). We also have lots of space, both in the room and the bathroom, which is a nice change from what we're used to.
Unfortunately, since we did not know the code to the front door, one of us had to stay in the room at all times to let the other one in. So Tyler left first to use the phone to cancel his cards. After he returned, I left to go get something to eat at McDonald's, which was a 15 minute walk down the street. After I returned, Tyler was hungry so he went to McDonald's. The next day we found out that our room key worked in the front door.
So my Thanksgiving Dinner was a Big Mac and a large fry, and it was mmmmm...good. I'm lovin' it.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Day 11
Today we went to the royal palace, the Residenz. It was closed on Sundays, but there's a very nice park outside it where we walked around and took some pictures. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Dachau concentration camp, just outside Munich. Then we'll be leaving for Salzburg, Austria in the afternoon.
Auf Wiedersehen,
Jim
Auf Wiedersehen,
Jim
Day 10
We finally found Tyler's parents in the morning. They had arrived in Gimmelwald at 10PM, 6 and a half hours late. They, like us, had train problems in France that messed up their entire schedule (they wer coming to Gimmelwald from Paris). We soon said our goodbyes because we were leaving for Munich at 9:30AM, and they were leaving for Munich at 11:00AM. We made plans to meet at the entrance of the train station in Munich at 7:30PM.
The train ride to Munich was mostly uneventful, though we passed a nuclear plant in Zurich, which I also have a picture have. We arrived in Munich, only to see that there were 3 entrances. What entrance would Tyler's parents be at? We then looked for our hostel and found it pretty easily as it's across the street from the station. We went back to the station to wait for his parents and tried to guess what train they'd be arriving on. Fortunately, we guessed correctly and we met them as they exited their train.
We walked with them to their hotel, also close to the train station, and we passed many adult clubs. I think I counted at least 10 in the one little neighbourhood. It was pretty funny to see a bar, a sex club, a hotel, and a church all in a row. We ate at the Hofbrauhaus, a German beer garden. It was packed with people, but we found a table outside in the courtyard. I got water of course, but the others all got big pints of beer. Tyler's parents ate wiener scnhitzel for dinner while Tyler and I ate steak with mashed potatoes. We also bought a giant pretzel. In case you're wondering, it tastes very similar to a tiny pretzel.
On our way back to the hotels, we got a little lost and it took us a while to find our way back. We passed more drunk people and sex clubs, until we finally reached our destination.
The train ride to Munich was mostly uneventful, though we passed a nuclear plant in Zurich, which I also have a picture have. We arrived in Munich, only to see that there were 3 entrances. What entrance would Tyler's parents be at? We then looked for our hostel and found it pretty easily as it's across the street from the station. We went back to the station to wait for his parents and tried to guess what train they'd be arriving on. Fortunately, we guessed correctly and we met them as they exited their train.
We walked with them to their hotel, also close to the train station, and we passed many adult clubs. I think I counted at least 10 in the one little neighbourhood. It was pretty funny to see a bar, a sex club, a hotel, and a church all in a row. We ate at the Hofbrauhaus, a German beer garden. It was packed with people, but we found a table outside in the courtyard. I got water of course, but the others all got big pints of beer. Tyler's parents ate wiener scnhitzel for dinner while Tyler and I ate steak with mashed potatoes. We also bought a giant pretzel. In case you're wondering, it tastes very similar to a tiny pretzel.
On our way back to the hotels, we got a little lost and it took us a while to find our way back. We passed more drunk people and sex clubs, until we finally reached our destination.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Day 09
Before I get into too much detail about Day 09, here's some more amusing things that have happened to us.
Europe must have the smallest bathrooms in the world. In London, the shower stall was so tiny that we could hardly turn 360 degrees. In Barcelona, the toilet was situated in such a way that it was impossible to sit on it the normal way. It was too close to the wall. You either had to sit on it sideways, or straddle it backwards (like Tyler did).
In Geneva, the floor of the bathroom was raised about half a foot over the room floor, and everytime we tried to get into the bathroom, we tripped and fell in. The first time I entered the bathroom, I tripped and began flying through the air. If it wasn't for the bathroom being so tiny, I would've fallen flat on my face. Instead, the far wall broke my impact. But I didn't feel too embarassed because the same thing happened to Tyler, shortly after he finished laughing at me.
We also had TV at our hotel in Geneva and the only English channel we got was CNN International. We ended up watching a French show called "Incroyable Talent" instead. It's a lot like America's Got Talent, but I think the French version came first.
Another thing that we've noticed in Europe are people making out in random places: in the middle of the street, in a subway, on a stairwell, on a train, in train stations, down escalators, up elevators, in castles, in prisons...everywhere. Every day that we've been here, we've seen two people making out. Thankfully, it was always a guy and a girl, never two guys. Unfortunately, it was also never two girls.
Day 09 began with us waking up in our hotel in Geneva and heading over to the train station to catch our first train to Gimmelwald, Switzerland. Yes, once again we went through the border into Switzerland, and once again there were no border police present.
The train ride went through some huge mountains and went past some streams, rivers, and lakes that were so clear you could see the bottom. On one of the trains, an older German couple sat opposite us. Whenever the husband talked to the wife, the wife would always reply with one sound: "Mmmmm". I never heard her say one word the entire trip. For example, the husband would ask, "Warum ist das Himmelblau?", and the wife would reply, "MMMMmmmmmmm". Then the husband would say, "Betrachten Sie diesen großen Berg", and the wife would say, "mmmmMMMmmm". Then the husband would remark, "Dieser Zug geht sehr schnell", and the wife would come back with "mmmMMMMMM". Then the husband would ask, "warum sind Sie keine Wörter sagend?", and the wife would reply, "MMMmmmMMMmmmMMMmmmmmmmm". I think you get the picture.
So we finally arrived in Gimmelwald, Switzerland. A little town in the Alps that is only accessible by cable car. It's at an elevation of 4523 feet. We got some amazing pictures there that will be posted shortly. We stayed at the Mountain hostel in a dorm room with 4 other guys. We prefer the private rooms, because we're private people, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless. There was one computer with internet and there was a very convoluted lineup to use it. We were only able to get on it at 9 PM, and that's where the Day 08 blog was written.
Soon after we arrived, Tyler and I went for a hike up to the hotel where his parents were going to be staying. I call it a hike because it was up these very steep stairs. By the time we got to the top, Tyler and I were out of breath and sweating profusely. We weren't even carrying our packs and it was hard. His parents hadn't arrived yet, so we made our way back down the stairs.
We next decided to go on a hike, since the stairs had warmed us up. We ended up hiking close to 1000 feet higher to the town of Murren. I'm proud to say that I did it with only 5 granola bars in my stomach. (All the restaurants were closed in Gimmelwald from 10AM to 5PM.) For water, there are troughs in various places with natural mountain water where you can drink out of.
We then went to the cable car station to wait for Tyler's parents to arrive, but they never showed up. We were runnning out of time to go to the top of the mountain, the Schiltorn, and the restaurant located there, the Piz Gloria. The restaurant was built and used in the James Bond film: On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The view up there, 9900 feet high, was breathtaking. Again, the pictures will be posted shortly. We ate in the revolving restaurant and then took the cable car back down the mountain.
On the cable car going down from the Schiltorn, there was a Japanese couple present. Every time the car would dip down a little bit, they would yell, "Whoooooo", because they were scared. Soon, some Swiss tourists were mocking them by yelling out "Whoooooo" with them. It was pretty funny.
We spent the rest of the night playing cards, waiting for our turn on the internet.
And by the way Stephen, Habs won last night 6-1 and the Sens lost. Too bad :(
Europe must have the smallest bathrooms in the world. In London, the shower stall was so tiny that we could hardly turn 360 degrees. In Barcelona, the toilet was situated in such a way that it was impossible to sit on it the normal way. It was too close to the wall. You either had to sit on it sideways, or straddle it backwards (like Tyler did).
In Geneva, the floor of the bathroom was raised about half a foot over the room floor, and everytime we tried to get into the bathroom, we tripped and fell in. The first time I entered the bathroom, I tripped and began flying through the air. If it wasn't for the bathroom being so tiny, I would've fallen flat on my face. Instead, the far wall broke my impact. But I didn't feel too embarassed because the same thing happened to Tyler, shortly after he finished laughing at me.
We also had TV at our hotel in Geneva and the only English channel we got was CNN International. We ended up watching a French show called "Incroyable Talent" instead. It's a lot like America's Got Talent, but I think the French version came first.
Another thing that we've noticed in Europe are people making out in random places: in the middle of the street, in a subway, on a stairwell, on a train, in train stations, down escalators, up elevators, in castles, in prisons...everywhere. Every day that we've been here, we've seen two people making out. Thankfully, it was always a guy and a girl, never two guys. Unfortunately, it was also never two girls.
Day 09 began with us waking up in our hotel in Geneva and heading over to the train station to catch our first train to Gimmelwald, Switzerland. Yes, once again we went through the border into Switzerland, and once again there were no border police present.
The train ride went through some huge mountains and went past some streams, rivers, and lakes that were so clear you could see the bottom. On one of the trains, an older German couple sat opposite us. Whenever the husband talked to the wife, the wife would always reply with one sound: "Mmmmm". I never heard her say one word the entire trip. For example, the husband would ask, "Warum ist das Himmelblau?", and the wife would reply, "MMMMmmmmmmm". Then the husband would say, "Betrachten Sie diesen großen Berg", and the wife would say, "mmmmMMMmmm". Then the husband would remark, "Dieser Zug geht sehr schnell", and the wife would come back with "mmmMMMMMM". Then the husband would ask, "warum sind Sie keine Wörter sagend?", and the wife would reply, "MMMmmmMMMmmmMMMmmmmmmmm". I think you get the picture.
So we finally arrived in Gimmelwald, Switzerland. A little town in the Alps that is only accessible by cable car. It's at an elevation of 4523 feet. We got some amazing pictures there that will be posted shortly. We stayed at the Mountain hostel in a dorm room with 4 other guys. We prefer the private rooms, because we're private people, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless. There was one computer with internet and there was a very convoluted lineup to use it. We were only able to get on it at 9 PM, and that's where the Day 08 blog was written.
Soon after we arrived, Tyler and I went for a hike up to the hotel where his parents were going to be staying. I call it a hike because it was up these very steep stairs. By the time we got to the top, Tyler and I were out of breath and sweating profusely. We weren't even carrying our packs and it was hard. His parents hadn't arrived yet, so we made our way back down the stairs.
We next decided to go on a hike, since the stairs had warmed us up. We ended up hiking close to 1000 feet higher to the town of Murren. I'm proud to say that I did it with only 5 granola bars in my stomach. (All the restaurants were closed in Gimmelwald from 10AM to 5PM.) For water, there are troughs in various places with natural mountain water where you can drink out of.
We then went to the cable car station to wait for Tyler's parents to arrive, but they never showed up. We were runnning out of time to go to the top of the mountain, the Schiltorn, and the restaurant located there, the Piz Gloria. The restaurant was built and used in the James Bond film: On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The view up there, 9900 feet high, was breathtaking. Again, the pictures will be posted shortly. We ate in the revolving restaurant and then took the cable car back down the mountain.
On the cable car going down from the Schiltorn, there was a Japanese couple present. Every time the car would dip down a little bit, they would yell, "Whoooooo", because they were scared. Soon, some Swiss tourists were mocking them by yelling out "Whoooooo" with them. It was pretty funny.
We spent the rest of the night playing cards, waiting for our turn on the internet.
And by the way Stephen, Habs won last night 6-1 and the Sens lost. Too bad :(
Day 08
with contributions by Tyler
red writing exclusively from him
Before this blog, here's a funny story I forgot to tell about one of our days in Paris (*DISCLAIMER: you may not find this funny, but we find it hysterical). Again, the French girls (heretofore called Martha 1 and Martha 2 *some names have been changed) we were with only spoke French, Polish, and a little bit of English. Sometimes, when myself and Tyler were having "private" conversations in English, they would all of a sudden burst out laughing. For example, it started to rain and Martha 1 went to get an umbrella from her apartment. Martha 2 said in polish French, "You brought one for me?" "No", says Martha 1 in a polish English. "Oh well," says Jim in English, "I'll use my coat." Then Tyler chimes in, also in English, "I'll just use my hat." Because he was wearing his tuque at the time. Instantly, after hearing the word "hat", Martha 1 and 2 spontaneously combust in laughter. We have no idea why.
This reminds me about another funny thing that happened, on Day 06 at 2200 hours GMT+1. If you remember, that day we had many problems with the trains, and now we'd finally arrived in Barcelona and were on our way to our hostel. On the final subway before our destination, as the subway slows, Tyler lifts his bag to take it off the train, and thats when it all falls apart. It was the perfect situation, the right combination of tallness, wind velocity, inertia, gravity, physical force and heavy bag syndrome. Anyway, he ended up in a Spaniard's lap. I guess it's Tyler's way of getting to know the locals. He did make an attempt at apologizing, however it came out as a "Achou" in the innocent man's general direction.
Now, Day 08. Most of our day was on the trains taking us to Geneva, Switzerland. Most of it was uneventful, except for a Swiss girl who was spying on us while we were "sleeping". I was resting my eyes, enjoying the soft and slow music playing in my ears. Every now and then glacing out the window to see if there was something interesting. It was one of these moments when I first spotted her, and it was then I knew.... At least she kept us entertained (and awake).
The above story does not end there, although my other narrative voice would like you to think so. Where was I.... yes... it was then I knew, that she was playing peek-a-boo. I caught her, ducking her little blonde head blues eyes behind the seat. So I decide to play along, at first just a raised eyebrow, then a friendly smile... I decided to change it up and go on the offensive, this time I would dodge to the right and come back hard to the left with a little "RAR". Little did I know this would result in a slight gleeful scream... And then her parents got worried... So I stopped playing and pretended to be sleeping, and it worked she left me alone. I hate when 4-year-olds get me into trouble.
So we finally arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, only to find out that our hotel was in Ferney, France. A stone's throw from Geneva airport. This meant that when we arrived, we went through French customs, then Swiss customs, then French customs, then Swiss customs. Then to get to our hotel, we went through the France border on our taxi, but there were no border police there (if only it were like that in Canada/US). Then when we left our hotel the next morning, we once again blew through the Swiss border with our contraband, and once again it was unmanned.
That night we started getting hungry and began to look for a place to eat. Out in the distance, we heard the sorrowful/beautiful tones of country music. It was coming from a place called "Buffalo Grill". Immediately we were drawn to the comfort of the West, the wild west, and its corn laden salads and its popcorn appetizers. We were greated and waited upon by a friendly cowgirl she spoke no english, but assured us that the steak was a piece of meat. Jimmy was not deceived he ordered the Buffalo Grill burger, I though ordered the steak special. After devouring our small corny salads, our main order finally came, Jimmy had a some what typical looking burger, large tomato, pickle, lettuce, buns, no mayo. Mine however, looked to be lower end model of the buffalo burger, no large tomato, no pickle, no lettuce, no buns, and yes, no mayo. I dubbed it the steak au ground beef and ate it with its imitation of the west, pepper sauce. It was meat nonetheless, so I eat it and was satisfied.
More stories to follow, hopefully tomorrow. T-Out
Day 09 blog will come tomorrow, but we're here in Gimmelwald and it's very, very beautiful. Pictures will also be uploaded.
red writing exclusively from him
Before this blog, here's a funny story I forgot to tell about one of our days in Paris (*DISCLAIMER: you may not find this funny, but we find it hysterical). Again, the French girls (heretofore called Martha 1 and Martha 2 *some names have been changed) we were with only spoke French, Polish, and a little bit of English. Sometimes, when myself and Tyler were having "private" conversations in English, they would all of a sudden burst out laughing. For example, it started to rain and Martha 1 went to get an umbrella from her apartment. Martha 2 said in polish French, "You brought one for me?" "No", says Martha 1 in a polish English. "Oh well," says Jim in English, "I'll use my coat." Then Tyler chimes in, also in English, "I'll just use my hat." Because he was wearing his tuque at the time. Instantly, after hearing the word "hat", Martha 1 and 2 spontaneously combust in laughter. We have no idea why.
This reminds me about another funny thing that happened, on Day 06 at 2200 hours GMT+1. If you remember, that day we had many problems with the trains, and now we'd finally arrived in Barcelona and were on our way to our hostel. On the final subway before our destination, as the subway slows, Tyler lifts his bag to take it off the train, and thats when it all falls apart. It was the perfect situation, the right combination of tallness, wind velocity, inertia, gravity, physical force and heavy bag syndrome. Anyway, he ended up in a Spaniard's lap. I guess it's Tyler's way of getting to know the locals. He did make an attempt at apologizing, however it came out as a "Achou" in the innocent man's general direction.
Now, Day 08. Most of our day was on the trains taking us to Geneva, Switzerland. Most of it was uneventful, except for a Swiss girl who was spying on us while we were "sleeping". I was resting my eyes, enjoying the soft and slow music playing in my ears. Every now and then glacing out the window to see if there was something interesting. It was one of these moments when I first spotted her, and it was then I knew.... At least she kept us entertained (and awake).
The above story does not end there, although my other narrative voice would like you to think so. Where was I.... yes... it was then I knew, that she was playing peek-a-boo. I caught her, ducking her little blonde head blues eyes behind the seat. So I decide to play along, at first just a raised eyebrow, then a friendly smile... I decided to change it up and go on the offensive, this time I would dodge to the right and come back hard to the left with a little "RAR". Little did I know this would result in a slight gleeful scream... And then her parents got worried... So I stopped playing and pretended to be sleeping, and it worked she left me alone. I hate when 4-year-olds get me into trouble.
So we finally arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, only to find out that our hotel was in Ferney, France. A stone's throw from Geneva airport. This meant that when we arrived, we went through French customs, then Swiss customs, then French customs, then Swiss customs. Then to get to our hotel, we went through the France border on our taxi, but there were no border police there (if only it were like that in Canada/US). Then when we left our hotel the next morning, we once again blew through the Swiss border with our contraband, and once again it was unmanned.
That night we started getting hungry and began to look for a place to eat. Out in the distance, we heard the sorrowful/beautiful tones of country music. It was coming from a place called "Buffalo Grill". Immediately we were drawn to the comfort of the West, the wild west, and its corn laden salads and its popcorn appetizers. We were greated and waited upon by a friendly cowgirl she spoke no english, but assured us that the steak was a piece of meat. Jimmy was not deceived he ordered the Buffalo Grill burger, I though ordered the steak special. After devouring our small corny salads, our main order finally came, Jimmy had a some what typical looking burger, large tomato, pickle, lettuce, buns, no mayo. Mine however, looked to be lower end model of the buffalo burger, no large tomato, no pickle, no lettuce, no buns, and yes, no mayo. I dubbed it the steak au ground beef and ate it with its imitation of the west, pepper sauce. It was meat nonetheless, so I eat it and was satisfied.
More stories to follow, hopefully tomorrow. T-Out
Day 09 blog will come tomorrow, but we're here in Gimmelwald and it's very, very beautiful. Pictures will also be uploaded.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Videos are now on Youtube (not)
I've started uploading videos to Youtube.
The web address is: http://ca.youtube.com/Europein28Days
* It's not working right now so I'll upload them in the coming days.
The web address is: http://ca.youtube.com/Europein28Days
* It's not working right now so I'll upload them in the coming days.
Photos are now on Flickr
I'm now uploading some photos to Flickr. There's a limit to how many I can upload each month, so I've only uploaded a few of the more interesting ones.
The web address is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehabsfan/
The web address is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehabsfan/
Day 07
Today we are in Barcelona. The city is very beautiful and the weather today was nice and warm (about 20 degrees), though it did start raining later in the afternoon.
We took the funicular and then a cable car up to the top of a mountain to see the Castell de Montjuïc (a 17th century fortress). It reminded me of Puerto Rico and the fortresses found there. It had a great view of the city and also of the Mediterranean Sea.
We also walked down La Rambla, a long street with many little shops.
We ate dinner at a British pub (yes a British pub in Barcelona), and we got Ribs, Chips, and Salad. It was a very good meal, one of the best we've had since arriving in Europe.
And our train difficulties continue...
We went to book our train to Geneva (for tomorrow night, on the way to Gimmelwald), but it was completely sold out. So instead we were forced to book a train that takes us to Montpellier, France at 8:46 AM tomorrow morning, and then another train that takes us to Geneva, where we'll arrive at 5:30 PM. Now we have to find a place to stay in Geneva.
It would have been nice to have another day in Barcelona as it's a very nice city with lots to see.
And Tyler has found his SD reader (he had it with him the whole time), so I'll upload a few pictures shortly.
Hasta luego,
Jim
We took the funicular and then a cable car up to the top of a mountain to see the Castell de Montjuïc (a 17th century fortress). It reminded me of Puerto Rico and the fortresses found there. It had a great view of the city and also of the Mediterranean Sea.
We also walked down La Rambla, a long street with many little shops.
We ate dinner at a British pub (yes a British pub in Barcelona), and we got Ribs, Chips, and Salad. It was a very good meal, one of the best we've had since arriving in Europe.
And our train difficulties continue...
We went to book our train to Geneva (for tomorrow night, on the way to Gimmelwald), but it was completely sold out. So instead we were forced to book a train that takes us to Montpellier, France at 8:46 AM tomorrow morning, and then another train that takes us to Geneva, where we'll arrive at 5:30 PM. Now we have to find a place to stay in Geneva.
It would have been nice to have another day in Barcelona as it's a very nice city with lots to see.
And Tyler has found his SD reader (he had it with him the whole time), so I'll upload a few pictures shortly.
Hasta luego,
Jim
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Day 06
Day 06 aka Nightmare Day.
It started at the end of Day 05 when we took the night train. The seats weren't too comfortable (they were for some reason less comfortable then the day trains we've taken). Then we find out, while on the train, that the French train workers are on strike. Now when they go on strike there is still service, just reduced service. So our train, which was supposed to take us to Carcassonne, ended up taking us to Toulouse (at 4:10 AM), and we had to take another train to Carcassonne that arrived 2 hours later at 7:00 AM.
So we took the train to Carcassonne and arrived at 8:00 AM. Tyler and I are also coming down with colds (we must have picked them up from someone on the subway) and add that to the hardly any sleep and you can see that we weren't feeling too good. Anyway, we decide to book our train to Barcelona when we arrived at the Carcassonne train station, and it turns out that the train we wanted to take is completely sold out (because of the reduced service). So to get to Carcassonne, the ticket seller tells us to take a train at 11:30 AM from Carcassonne one stop down the line to Narbonne, then take another train to Port Vandres (which is also in France), and then take another train from there to Barcelona (and we will arrive at Narbonne).
Well, this kind of messed up our plans a little bit, but we decided to go see the Carcassonne castle quickly anyway. So we look for lockers for our huge packs. We can't find any lockers. So we decide to take a taxi to the fortress. We go and try to flag down taxis, but all of them are full with people already. By 10:00 AM we decide to give up as we wouldn't make it back to the station in time for our train at 11:30 AM. So the only parts of Carcassonne we saw were the train station and a little bit of the road leading from the train station.
So we get on our train to Narbonne from Carcassonne. We arrive at Narbonne and wait in line at the ticket counter for a while only to find out that the train we need to take next has been cancelled because of the strike. Now the ticket seller tells us to go from Narbonne, to Perpignon, to Port Bou, to Barcelona. We have to wait 90 minutes for our train to Perpignon and finally it arrives at 2:12 PM. We take it to Perpignon where we have to wait another 150 minutes for the train to Port Bou (a town on the France/Spain border). Perpignon was pretty nice, had palm trees, and was very warm. Our train to Port Bou finally arrived at 5:26 PM. Then we had to wait another 50 minutes for our train to Barcelona. That train departed at 7:10 PM. We finally arrived in Barcelona at 9:50 PM. Thank you France train service for going on strike! It got to the point where I thought we would never be able to get out of France and that we would have to sleep overnight in a train station somewhere because we'd be stuck. And again we were feeling sick at the same time. We were on trains and in train stations for almost 24 hours straight! Don't worry I took pictures of most of the stations and trains we were on so you can see all the different varieties we experienced (yay).
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the UNESCO World Heritage Sight at Carcassonne, but at least we arrived safely in Barcelona. Hopefully we feel better tomorrow so that we can enjoy our first of two days in Barcelona.
It started at the end of Day 05 when we took the night train. The seats weren't too comfortable (they were for some reason less comfortable then the day trains we've taken). Then we find out, while on the train, that the French train workers are on strike. Now when they go on strike there is still service, just reduced service. So our train, which was supposed to take us to Carcassonne, ended up taking us to Toulouse (at 4:10 AM), and we had to take another train to Carcassonne that arrived 2 hours later at 7:00 AM.
So we took the train to Carcassonne and arrived at 8:00 AM. Tyler and I are also coming down with colds (we must have picked them up from someone on the subway) and add that to the hardly any sleep and you can see that we weren't feeling too good. Anyway, we decide to book our train to Barcelona when we arrived at the Carcassonne train station, and it turns out that the train we wanted to take is completely sold out (because of the reduced service). So to get to Carcassonne, the ticket seller tells us to take a train at 11:30 AM from Carcassonne one stop down the line to Narbonne, then take another train to Port Vandres (which is also in France), and then take another train from there to Barcelona (and we will arrive at Narbonne).
Well, this kind of messed up our plans a little bit, but we decided to go see the Carcassonne castle quickly anyway. So we look for lockers for our huge packs. We can't find any lockers. So we decide to take a taxi to the fortress. We go and try to flag down taxis, but all of them are full with people already. By 10:00 AM we decide to give up as we wouldn't make it back to the station in time for our train at 11:30 AM. So the only parts of Carcassonne we saw were the train station and a little bit of the road leading from the train station.
So we get on our train to Narbonne from Carcassonne. We arrive at Narbonne and wait in line at the ticket counter for a while only to find out that the train we need to take next has been cancelled because of the strike. Now the ticket seller tells us to go from Narbonne, to Perpignon, to Port Bou, to Barcelona. We have to wait 90 minutes for our train to Perpignon and finally it arrives at 2:12 PM. We take it to Perpignon where we have to wait another 150 minutes for the train to Port Bou (a town on the France/Spain border). Perpignon was pretty nice, had palm trees, and was very warm. Our train to Port Bou finally arrived at 5:26 PM. Then we had to wait another 50 minutes for our train to Barcelona. That train departed at 7:10 PM. We finally arrived in Barcelona at 9:50 PM. Thank you France train service for going on strike! It got to the point where I thought we would never be able to get out of France and that we would have to sleep overnight in a train station somewhere because we'd be stuck. And again we were feeling sick at the same time. We were on trains and in train stations for almost 24 hours straight! Don't worry I took pictures of most of the stations and trains we were on so you can see all the different varieties we experienced (yay).
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the UNESCO World Heritage Sight at Carcassonne, but at least we arrived safely in Barcelona. Hopefully we feel better tomorrow so that we can enjoy our first of two days in Barcelona.
Day 05
Our last day in Paris (until the end of the trip). We saw the Arc de Triomphe and we walked down Champs d'Elysses.
Champs d'Elysses has some very cool stores, including some very interesting car stores. I was kind of disappointed that the Mercedes store didn't have a McLaren SLR on display, but it was still pretty good.
I liked Paris a lot. It had great atmosphere and an interesting French culture. The only problem is the amount of smoke you inhale second-hand (cough).
Champs d'Elysses has some very cool stores, including some very interesting car stores. I was kind of disappointed that the Mercedes store didn't have a McLaren SLR on display, but it was still pretty good.
I liked Paris a lot. It had great atmosphere and an interesting French culture. The only problem is the amount of smoke you inhale second-hand (cough).
Monday, October 6, 2008
Day 04
So I learned some Polish today: "jendobray", which means "hello".
Two girls our age took us around Paris to see the sights. We saw the Louvre, many little streets and shops, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, and many more stuff. Once I post the pictures, you'll see.
My french language skills are greatly improving as the days go by. The first day I could hardly speak any French, but now I'm pretty good. This is useful because the Goldas only speak Polish, French, and just a little bit of English.
Tonight we take the night train to Carcassonne and from there we take another train to Barcelona.
Au revoir mes amis.
Two girls our age took us around Paris to see the sights. We saw the Louvre, many little streets and shops, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, and many more stuff. Once I post the pictures, you'll see.
My french language skills are greatly improving as the days go by. The first day I could hardly speak any French, but now I'm pretty good. This is useful because the Goldas only speak Polish, French, and just a little bit of English.
Tonight we take the night train to Carcassonne and from there we take another train to Barcelona.
Au revoir mes amis.
Day 03
* The next two blogs will be quick.
On day 03 we saw the British Museum which was very close to our hostel. We saw Egyptian mummies, Assyrian statues, Roman and Greek sculptures, and many other things. We ate English style hot dogs with onions from a vendor on the road.
Then we took the train to Paris and arrived at the Golda's (friends of Tyler's parents).
On day 03 we saw the British Museum which was very close to our hostel. We saw Egyptian mummies, Assyrian statues, Roman and Greek sculptures, and many other things. We ate English style hot dogs with onions from a vendor on the road.
Then we took the train to Paris and arrived at the Golda's (friends of Tyler's parents).
Friday, October 3, 2008
Day 02
* We still can't upload any pictures because I forgot my USB at home, and Tyler forgot his SD reader at home too (but his parents will hopefully bring the SD reader for us in Gimmelwald).
Today we went to the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, Horse Guards, Buckingham Palace, St. James's Park the London Eye, ate at Sherlock Holmes Restaurant, Trafalgar Square, and finished our day off walking around Piccadilly Circus.
The Palace of Westminster is in session so we weren't able to go in, but we did walk around the outside of it and got some good pictures. And yes we saw and heard Big Ben chime 3:00.
Westminster Abbey was very cool as it's basically a huge church doubling as a tomb. Most of the royal family is buried here with some effigies of them carved into their coffins. There are also some writers and scientists buried here such as: Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Isaac Newton. Ironically, Charles Darwin is also buried here in a church and Tyler and I walked over his grave (he's buried underneath the floor).
Then we went walking towards Buckingham Palace. On the way we stopped to get a picture of the Royal Horse Guards, presumably Britain's version of the Mounties. Then we walked past Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives), and passed some royal residences including St. James's Palace.
Then we arrived at Buckingham Palace which we also couldn't go in, but we got some good pictures of the outside and of a big fountain. There was a furry hat guard outside Buckingham who couldn't stop twitching. He should be fired ;-)
Then we made our way through St. James's Park, a royal park, that has pelicans. Yes, pelicans. It also has many other types of birds. The swans reminded me of Ottawa. It also has the most friendliest squirrells I've ever seen. They eat right out of your hand (like chipmunks). At one point Tyler knelt down to take a picture of some picgeons and they all started crowding around him like he was going to feed them, and I feel something on my leg. At first I think it's a pigeon, but it's a squirrel who has wrapped his legs around my leg and is climbing up my body. When I tried to take my camera out to take a picture of it, it ran away.
Then we rode on the London Eye, the world's biggest ferris wheel (or something like that). While getting in line to get our ticket we encountered James Bond/Pierce Brosnan (picture coming shortly). Each pod can hold about 15-20 people and it takes 30 minutes to complete the full cycle. I got some good pictures from the ride, including one of Vauxhall Cross (MI6 Headquarters).
Next, Tyler and I got some fish & chips at the Sherlock Holmes restaurant. The food was excellent and I'll post a picture of my meal once we're able to upload pictures.
We quickly stopped at Trafalgar Square which has a couple of fountains and statues.
Piccadilly Circus was our last stop of the day. No, it's not a circus with acrobats and human cannonballs. Instead, it's London's version of Times Square. It has big electronic billboards and theatres. Seeing the theatres in this area reminded me of Broadway in NYC. Some big stars like Josh Hartnett were starring in the shows. The area was packed with people going to shows or shopping at the high-priced stores.
Tomorrow is our last day in London and at 5:30 PM local time, we are leaving for Paris (a 2 hrs and 45 min train ride).
The weather today was 11 degrees Celsius with some sun, some cloud, and some rain. The wind was pretty cold at times.
And to clarify my very sleepy blog post from last night, the intersections don't just have 4 streets intersecting (which is pretty common everywhere), but they all seem to be diagonally meeting each other and some are one-ways, others are 4-lane streets. It's very confusing. Especially knowing which way to look.
Today we went to the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, Horse Guards, Buckingham Palace, St. James's Park the London Eye, ate at Sherlock Holmes Restaurant, Trafalgar Square, and finished our day off walking around Piccadilly Circus.
The Palace of Westminster is in session so we weren't able to go in, but we did walk around the outside of it and got some good pictures. And yes we saw and heard Big Ben chime 3:00.
Westminster Abbey was very cool as it's basically a huge church doubling as a tomb. Most of the royal family is buried here with some effigies of them carved into their coffins. There are also some writers and scientists buried here such as: Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Isaac Newton. Ironically, Charles Darwin is also buried here in a church and Tyler and I walked over his grave (he's buried underneath the floor).
Then we went walking towards Buckingham Palace. On the way we stopped to get a picture of the Royal Horse Guards, presumably Britain's version of the Mounties. Then we walked past Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives), and passed some royal residences including St. James's Palace.
Then we arrived at Buckingham Palace which we also couldn't go in, but we got some good pictures of the outside and of a big fountain. There was a furry hat guard outside Buckingham who couldn't stop twitching. He should be fired ;-)
Then we made our way through St. James's Park, a royal park, that has pelicans. Yes, pelicans. It also has many other types of birds. The swans reminded me of Ottawa. It also has the most friendliest squirrells I've ever seen. They eat right out of your hand (like chipmunks). At one point Tyler knelt down to take a picture of some picgeons and they all started crowding around him like he was going to feed them, and I feel something on my leg. At first I think it's a pigeon, but it's a squirrel who has wrapped his legs around my leg and is climbing up my body. When I tried to take my camera out to take a picture of it, it ran away.
Then we rode on the London Eye, the world's biggest ferris wheel (or something like that). While getting in line to get our ticket we encountered James Bond/Pierce Brosnan (picture coming shortly). Each pod can hold about 15-20 people and it takes 30 minutes to complete the full cycle. I got some good pictures from the ride, including one of Vauxhall Cross (MI6 Headquarters).
Next, Tyler and I got some fish & chips at the Sherlock Holmes restaurant. The food was excellent and I'll post a picture of my meal once we're able to upload pictures.
We quickly stopped at Trafalgar Square which has a couple of fountains and statues.
Piccadilly Circus was our last stop of the day. No, it's not a circus with acrobats and human cannonballs. Instead, it's London's version of Times Square. It has big electronic billboards and theatres. Seeing the theatres in this area reminded me of Broadway in NYC. Some big stars like Josh Hartnett were starring in the shows. The area was packed with people going to shows or shopping at the high-priced stores.
Tomorrow is our last day in London and at 5:30 PM local time, we are leaving for Paris (a 2 hrs and 45 min train ride).
The weather today was 11 degrees Celsius with some sun, some cloud, and some rain. The wind was pretty cold at times.
And to clarify my very sleepy blog post from last night, the intersections don't just have 4 streets intersecting (which is pretty common everywhere), but they all seem to be diagonally meeting each other and some are one-ways, others are 4-lane streets. It's very confusing. Especially knowing which way to look.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Day 01
First of all, no pictures in this Day 01 blog. Hopefully we'll get some uploaded tomorrow (if this computer lets us do it).
Today we went to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. The Tower of London was very neat and interesting. Unfortunately, as I've said in a previous post, we were half asleep, so we didn't enjoy it as much as we would have otherwise. We do have some nice pictures though. After that we went to eat at a little Italian restaurant in the Chelsea area, and walked around Chelsea/Kensington after. It's a very rich neighbourhood with BMWs and Mercedes all over the place. Also saw a nice Maserati and two different Bugatti Veyrons drove past 2 minutes apart.
London is though extremely busy, confusing, and BIG!. Here it is, a Thursday night, and there are loads of people out at clubs, restaurants, theatre shows. It's crazy! Then there's the confusing intersections. They're not really traffic circles, but there are always about 4 streets interecting at each intersection. Plus, the cars of course drive on the left side of the road, but we're always looking on the right hand side first (because in Canada we drive on the correct side of the road.) So we're always in danger of getting run over ;-) The subway is also confusing. The trains come very often, but we're constantly walking great distances underground lost in a maze, or traversing giant escalators.
But overall, I'm a fan of London and its culture and am looking forward to the next 2 days spent here. Hopefully Tyler and I will be more awake tomorrow when we go to the British Museum and the Westminster/Whitehall area.
And in case you're wondering, the weather today was 8 degrees Celsius (pretty cold) but sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be 11 degrees and sunny, and on Saturday it's supposed to rain but be warmer.
Today we went to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. The Tower of London was very neat and interesting. Unfortunately, as I've said in a previous post, we were half asleep, so we didn't enjoy it as much as we would have otherwise. We do have some nice pictures though. After that we went to eat at a little Italian restaurant in the Chelsea area, and walked around Chelsea/Kensington after. It's a very rich neighbourhood with BMWs and Mercedes all over the place. Also saw a nice Maserati and two different Bugatti Veyrons drove past 2 minutes apart.
London is though extremely busy, confusing, and BIG!. Here it is, a Thursday night, and there are loads of people out at clubs, restaurants, theatre shows. It's crazy! Then there's the confusing intersections. They're not really traffic circles, but there are always about 4 streets interecting at each intersection. Plus, the cars of course drive on the left side of the road, but we're always looking on the right hand side first (because in Canada we drive on the correct side of the road.) So we're always in danger of getting run over ;-) The subway is also confusing. The trains come very often, but we're constantly walking great distances underground lost in a maze, or traversing giant escalators.
But overall, I'm a fan of London and its culture and am looking forward to the next 2 days spent here. Hopefully Tyler and I will be more awake tomorrow when we go to the British Museum and the Westminster/Whitehall area.
And in case you're wondering, the weather today was 8 degrees Celsius (pretty cold) but sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be 11 degrees and sunny, and on Saturday it's supposed to rain but be warmer.
We've arrived!
Tyler and I have arrived in London, and we hardly got any sleep on the plane. So we're walking everywhere half asleep. Pictures will follow tomorrow (hopefully).
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Departure Day
Tonight our flight leaves from Toronto. Tomorrow we will be walking the streets of London.
At the bottom of each post, there's a comment section where you can leave comments for us like how cold it is in Ottawa, or how good the Habs are doing.
At the bottom of each post, there's a comment section where you can leave comments for us like how cold it is in Ottawa, or how good the Habs are doing.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Revised Schedule #2
Ok, I think this is going to be the final schedule...
October 1: Fly from Toronto to London.
October 2 - October 4: London, England
October 4 - October 6: Paris, France
October 7: Carcassonne, France
October 7 - October 9: Barcelona, Spain
October 10 - October 11: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
October 11 - October 13: Munich, Germany
October 13 - October 15: Salzburg, Austria
October 15 - October 17: Vienna, Austria
October 17 - October 19: Budapest, Hungary
October 20: Venice, Italy
October 20 - October 22: Florence, Italy
October 22: Pisa, Italy
October 22 - October 26: Rome, Italy
October 27 - October 29: Paris, France
October 29: Fly from Paris to Toronto
October 1: Fly from Toronto to London.
October 2 - October 4: London, England
October 4 - October 6: Paris, France
October 7: Carcassonne, France
October 7 - October 9: Barcelona, Spain
October 10 - October 11: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
October 11 - October 13: Munich, Germany
October 13 - October 15: Salzburg, Austria
October 15 - October 17: Vienna, Austria
October 17 - October 19: Budapest, Hungary
October 20: Venice, Italy
October 20 - October 22: Florence, Italy
October 22: Pisa, Italy
October 22 - October 26: Rome, Italy
October 27 - October 29: Paris, France
October 29: Fly from Paris to Toronto
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Revised Schedule
Because our flight has changed, the schedule had to change slightly:
Here is the schedule of our trip to Europe:
October 1: Fly from Toronto to London.
October 2 - October 4: London, England
October 4 - October 6: Paris, France
October 7: Carcassonne, France
October 7 - October 9: Barcelona, Spain
October 10 - October 11: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
October 11 - October 13: Munich, Germany
October 13 - October 15: Salzburg, Austria
October 15 - October 17: Vienna, Austria
October 17 - October 19: Prague, Czech Republic
October 20: Venice, Italy
October 20 - October 22: Florence, Italy
October 22: Pisa, Italy
October 22 - October 26: Rome, Italy
October 27 - October 29: Paris, France
October 29: Fly from Paris to Toronto
So long Naples, we hardly knew ya...
Here is the schedule of our trip to Europe:
October 1: Fly from Toronto to London.
October 2 - October 4: London, England
October 4 - October 6: Paris, France
October 7: Carcassonne, France
October 7 - October 9: Barcelona, Spain
October 10 - October 11: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
October 11 - October 13: Munich, Germany
October 13 - October 15: Salzburg, Austria
October 15 - October 17: Vienna, Austria
October 17 - October 19: Prague, Czech Republic
October 20: Venice, Italy
October 20 - October 22: Florence, Italy
October 22: Pisa, Italy
October 22 - October 26: Rome, Italy
October 27 - October 29: Paris, France
October 29: Fly from Paris to Toronto
So long Naples, we hardly knew ya...
Air Transat
And our Europe trip is back on, thanks to Air Transat. Hopefully, Air Transat doesn't go bankrupt until November.
Zoom Airlines
What an afternoon it has been. Zoom Airlines, the airline that we are taking to Europe has gone bankrupt. I guess the flights were too cheap.
We are looking for alternate travel arrangements, but right now our Europe trip is no longer a definite.
We are looking for alternate travel arrangements, but right now our Europe trip is no longer a definite.
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Schedule
Here is the schedule of our trip to Europe:
October 1: Fly from Ottawa to London.
October 2 - October 4: London, England
October 4 - October 6: Paris, France
October 7: Carcassonne, France
October 7 - October 9: Barcelona, Spain
October 10 - October 11: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
October 11 - October 13: Munich, Germany
October 13 - October 15: Salzburg, Austria
October 15 - October 17: Vienna, Austria
October 17 - October 19: Prague, Czech Republic
October 20: Venice, Italy
October 20 - October 22: Florence, Italy
October 22: Pisa, Italy
October 22 - October 24: Naples, Italy
October 24 - October 29: Rome, Italy
October 29: Fly from Rome to Montréal.
October 1: Fly from Ottawa to London.
October 2 - October 4: London, England
October 4 - October 6: Paris, France
October 7: Carcassonne, France
October 7 - October 9: Barcelona, Spain
October 10 - October 11: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
October 11 - October 13: Munich, Germany
October 13 - October 15: Salzburg, Austria
October 15 - October 17: Vienna, Austria
October 17 - October 19: Prague, Czech Republic
October 20: Venice, Italy
October 20 - October 22: Florence, Italy
October 22: Pisa, Italy
October 22 - October 24: Naples, Italy
October 24 - October 29: Rome, Italy
October 29: Fly from Rome to Montréal.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Youtube Channel
Our blog now has its own Youtube channel. We'll be posting some video clips from our trip to Europe on this channel (if we have time).
http://ca.youtube.com/Europein28Days
If we don't have enough time, they'll be posted after we arrive back home.
http://ca.youtube.com/Europein28Days
If we don't have enough time, they'll be posted after we arrive back home.
Europe in 28 days from Tyler's Perspective
Well Jimmy has been kind enough to let me share his Blog. So I will try to write a little on here whenever I get the chance. My pictures will also be on Flickr, but you will have to be a contact to see them. The link is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9098319@N03/. If I know you and are not already a contact just ask me and I'll add you. Later
Pictures on Flickr
All of my pictures will be posted on Flickr at this URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehabsfan
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Welcome to our blog
This is where you will find updates live from our trip to Europe (Oct. 1, 2008 - Oct. 29, 2008).
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