When we last spoke, I only mentioned how I had a difficult day of travel... Now I will explain why.
I decided, since Allison was going to be busy with school, that I should do a little traveling by myself for a couple of days. She would be taking a school sponsored trip to San Sebastian, and I could simply meet her there in 4 days. In the meanwhile, I figured I could maybe learn how to surf.
The day begins at 6:30 in the morning, at which time I awoke and rapidly made my way to the train station. Without breakfast, or for that matter even brushing my teeth, I was on my 7:00 AM train and headed west. So far, so good.
I ordered a tortilla con queso on the train, and soon found out that the spanish have an entirely different idea of what constitutes a tortilla. There was definately cheese, but where I expected a flat, circular, flour consistency treat, I received an egg like, sponge consistency meal. This seems to be one aspect of traveling, eating food that for some reason or another, isn´t exactly what you had in mind.
Several hours later, 6 to be accurate, I got off the train, grabbed some bread, and quickly boarded my next train. Here is when the day really starts to go downhill...
On the first train, the conductor had written on my eurail pass. Unfortunately, the manner in which this train conductor did so, made my pass look as if I was trying to cheat. This ultimately resulted in the next train conductor, who I might suggest was kinda an asshole (excuse me), telling me that my pass was "no valido" among other things in spanish that I could not understand. I tried my hardest to communicate with the guy, using words like escribier (to write), or esta valido (it is valid), but that was about the extent of my conversation with the guy.
Angrily, he said passport. I showed him my passport. Then, he tried to take my passport and eurail pass, an action, which I was not going to allow. The Eurail cost 700$, and I would go kicking and screaming if anybody took that away from me. The passport was my ticket back to the US, something that is worth more than money. I grabbed the pass and my passport back, and action which regrettably, he did not seem to agree with. He walked angrily away from me, and hit a button near the ceiling of the train.
So, let me tell you, the brakes on trains are good. The train stopped so fast that I went flying and luckily landed in a seat, and not some other passenger´s lap. I was being kicked out of the train, and not even at a train station. I had to make the 4 foot jump from the train down to the tracks.
So here I am, in the middle of Northern Spain, walking to the nearest train station. I was hungry, tired, and pissed off. Frustratingly, what poor lunch I was having, the bread, was left on the train in all of the commotion.
The train station I found myself at was disserted. Nobody worked there, the doors were locked, the clock on the outside of the train station looked as if somebody had thrown a rock through it, and obviously didn´t work. Luckily, the one thing this station did have, was a timetable. Unfrotunately, the one thing I didn´t have, was a watch.
After fully looking over the time table, I found that about 4 trains a day stopped at this train stration. I sat in front of this train station for an hour and a half waiting for 1 of the 2 remaining trains scheduled that day. Eventually a 16 year old girl arrived, and in broken spanish I found out that this town had 3,000 people, and was mainly a farm town. I looked around, and I saw only but a couple of houses. From where I was, it seemed as if it were a ghost town.
Time passes, and eventually a train arrives. I had no choice, I was going to Pamplona. 1.5 hours later on a train, which luckily, I didn´t get my pass checked on, I arrived. Now I had some decision making to do, so I checked availability for trains going to San Sebastian (full), and then I checked trains going back to Barcelona (full). It looked as if I had no choice, I was staying in Pamplona. Now, if you are ever planning on going to Pamplona, don´t. The town really isn´t that impressive, and their only draw is the running of the bulls.
During their 15 day festival, which I was so lucky to arrive at, prices apparently are jacked up 300% and availability is scarce. I quickly realized this, and was facing a serious problem, I didn´t really have a place to sleep. After some quick investigation work, I found a bus station, and caught a bus up to San Sebastian.
Another 1.5 hours later... So now I´m exhausted and hungry in San Sebastian. Even worse, the weather is ugly, and I find out that there are no campgrounds anywhere near the city and hostels are full. The campground I was planning on staying at was closer to France, and I obviously hadn´t made it quite that far.
After a couple of quick talks, one with my mom, and one with Allison, I just gave up. I booked another bus from San Sebastian to Barcelona, a 7 hour bus ride that leaves the bus station at midnight.
So there you have it, I spent the night on a crowded bus, with my hat pulled over my eyes, and arms crossed so that I wouldn´t be touching the person to the left of me. I had my bag tied around my feet, with my passport and credit cards in it. After maybe 3 hours of sleep, I arrived in Barcelona. 24 hours of traveling, and I ended up exactly where I departed from.
So there was my day. As you might imagine, this took a little bit of wind out of my sails. Since then, I have been reading, relaxing, and taking full advantage of the cheap internet to organize my life.
Moral of the story? I´m still trying to figure that one out...
Saturday, 7 July 2007
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Since then...
Greetings everyone,
All we can really say for not updating the blog is that we are sorry... The internet has been rediculous, 8 euros for an hour. We figured that anyone reading this would rather we eat than update the blog. Nevertheless, prepare yourself for a novel.
We have accomplished quite a bit. As you may have seen, in the last update there were some pictures of Allison with some other girls. These were other students at Willamette University who were traveling with family throughout Europe. Both of the girls, Jordyn and Grace, are in Allison´s sorority. We spent the afternoon together, which consisted of some quality wine (2 euros), some quality food (3 euros), and a boat that we found floating near the beach (0 euros).
The Italian coast was quite relaxing, beautiful, and was well needed. One of the most scenic spots on our trip has been the hike from village to village over the mountains, through vineyards, overlooking the mediterreanian. This hike was actually pretty difficult, taking us over 4 hours to finish in the heat.
From Levanto (the italian coast), we traveled by train to Pisa simply to see the leaning tower. The iconic tower is actually pretty cool to see. The town of Pisa, is not. Better than the tower, were the cliche tourists. Nearly every person, literally 100´s, were all taking pictures acting like they were holding the tower up with one arm.
After 2 hours in pisa, we jumped a train to Florence. Once in Florence we booked an overnight train to Brig, Switzerland. We had 4 hours to see Florence, and had every intention to see as much of it as was humanly possible. We ran madly through the streets, seeing nearly everything except for the statue of David (closed). We even had time to find a restaurant that was supposed to have the ¨best Italian food in all of Italy.¨ Unfortunately, when you are dressed like you have been traveling all day, good restaurants don´t always seat you. Lucky for us, the Guiness bar a couple of doors down does not discriminate.
This bar was an interesting place. So we are in the heart of Italy, and we go to a Guiness bar (irish), which was run by chinese people. Quite the combo. Anyhow, the bar turned out to be a great deal. We bought our overpriced beer (5 euros), and they provided us with a buffet of free food! Although we were upset about the restaurant up the street, this turned out to be a decent way to spend the evening.
After our 4 hour whirlwind tour of Florence, we jumped the train to Brig where we had every intention of staying in the town of Zermatt, at the base of the legendary Matterhorn. After a short night in the train (5 hours of poor sleep), we arrived in Brig only to find out that the tickets to Zermatt, which is only serviced by a private train company (50 euros each), we reluctantly found another place to go... The #1 candidate ended up being a small town with a big reputation, namely Interlaken.
This town is a thrill seekers dream. Located right in the mountainous Jungfrau region, local adventure companies allow you to fly off cliffs (6,000 feet worth of paragliding), bungee jump from bridges (450 feet), sky dive over the alps (14,000 feet high), or slide down and jump off of natural waterfalls. Basically, whatever your thrill is, and you have money, you can do it here. Although we were tempted, we chose to go hiking (free).
The views were absolutely amazing. The alps are really not that tall, both Mt. Ranier and Mt. Shasta are significantly taller. Nevertheless, the mountains are literally straight up and down. Small little mountain towns are located in some of the most scenic vallies, with green fields, white glaciers, jagged ridges, and wild flowers everywhere. From village to village, you can hike with well maintained and well marked hiking trails. Among these trails you see old ladies, with hunched backs, sometimes beating the young people up the mountain side.
From Interlaken we went to another Alp hotspot, this time in France. After one of the most scenic railroad rides in Europe, we arrived in the small ski town named Chamonix. Although for the most part it was a torrential downpour, when the sun came out we were at the base of the beautiful Mt. Blanc, the tallest mountain in all of Europe. Furthermore, we were within a couple hundred meters of a giant glacier that looked as if it was going to hit the town.
This place is truly amazing. The ski park is known throughout the world as being one that is dangerously good. France doesn´t really care what you do with yourself, so they don´t really care about "out of bounds." Consequently, several inexperienced and unintelligent skiiers and snowboarders die every year from avalanches and cliffs. Some of the worlds best skiiers and snowboarders in the world call this place home. It is definately a place that I wouldn´t mind visiting in the future.
From Chamonix, we went to Avignon, the former home of Allison´s mother for a semester. Avignon was the home of the "Franco Vaticano" for some number of years, and as a result, it is a walled city with a beautiful cathedral in the heart of the town.
It took only 1 day in Avignon to see nearly everything there is to see there, and once again, we were on our way to Allison´s home for a month, Barcelona. So that is pretty much what we have been up to the last couple of weeks. Allison has a very nice apartment in the heart of the town, and has started her language intensive program.
After dropping off Allison for her study abroad program, I had a bad experience traveling. But as for now, I am going to leave you with a cliff hanger. Sometime in the near future, I will fill you in on my horrible day of travel in lovely Espana (no worries, I´m safe).
Adios!
PS. Pictures next time too!
All we can really say for not updating the blog is that we are sorry... The internet has been rediculous, 8 euros for an hour. We figured that anyone reading this would rather we eat than update the blog. Nevertheless, prepare yourself for a novel.
We have accomplished quite a bit. As you may have seen, in the last update there were some pictures of Allison with some other girls. These were other students at Willamette University who were traveling with family throughout Europe. Both of the girls, Jordyn and Grace, are in Allison´s sorority. We spent the afternoon together, which consisted of some quality wine (2 euros), some quality food (3 euros), and a boat that we found floating near the beach (0 euros).
The Italian coast was quite relaxing, beautiful, and was well needed. One of the most scenic spots on our trip has been the hike from village to village over the mountains, through vineyards, overlooking the mediterreanian. This hike was actually pretty difficult, taking us over 4 hours to finish in the heat.
From Levanto (the italian coast), we traveled by train to Pisa simply to see the leaning tower. The iconic tower is actually pretty cool to see. The town of Pisa, is not. Better than the tower, were the cliche tourists. Nearly every person, literally 100´s, were all taking pictures acting like they were holding the tower up with one arm.
After 2 hours in pisa, we jumped a train to Florence. Once in Florence we booked an overnight train to Brig, Switzerland. We had 4 hours to see Florence, and had every intention to see as much of it as was humanly possible. We ran madly through the streets, seeing nearly everything except for the statue of David (closed). We even had time to find a restaurant that was supposed to have the ¨best Italian food in all of Italy.¨ Unfortunately, when you are dressed like you have been traveling all day, good restaurants don´t always seat you. Lucky for us, the Guiness bar a couple of doors down does not discriminate.
This bar was an interesting place. So we are in the heart of Italy, and we go to a Guiness bar (irish), which was run by chinese people. Quite the combo. Anyhow, the bar turned out to be a great deal. We bought our overpriced beer (5 euros), and they provided us with a buffet of free food! Although we were upset about the restaurant up the street, this turned out to be a decent way to spend the evening.
After our 4 hour whirlwind tour of Florence, we jumped the train to Brig where we had every intention of staying in the town of Zermatt, at the base of the legendary Matterhorn. After a short night in the train (5 hours of poor sleep), we arrived in Brig only to find out that the tickets to Zermatt, which is only serviced by a private train company (50 euros each), we reluctantly found another place to go... The #1 candidate ended up being a small town with a big reputation, namely Interlaken.
This town is a thrill seekers dream. Located right in the mountainous Jungfrau region, local adventure companies allow you to fly off cliffs (6,000 feet worth of paragliding), bungee jump from bridges (450 feet), sky dive over the alps (14,000 feet high), or slide down and jump off of natural waterfalls. Basically, whatever your thrill is, and you have money, you can do it here. Although we were tempted, we chose to go hiking (free).
The views were absolutely amazing. The alps are really not that tall, both Mt. Ranier and Mt. Shasta are significantly taller. Nevertheless, the mountains are literally straight up and down. Small little mountain towns are located in some of the most scenic vallies, with green fields, white glaciers, jagged ridges, and wild flowers everywhere. From village to village, you can hike with well maintained and well marked hiking trails. Among these trails you see old ladies, with hunched backs, sometimes beating the young people up the mountain side.
From Interlaken we went to another Alp hotspot, this time in France. After one of the most scenic railroad rides in Europe, we arrived in the small ski town named Chamonix. Although for the most part it was a torrential downpour, when the sun came out we were at the base of the beautiful Mt. Blanc, the tallest mountain in all of Europe. Furthermore, we were within a couple hundred meters of a giant glacier that looked as if it was going to hit the town.
This place is truly amazing. The ski park is known throughout the world as being one that is dangerously good. France doesn´t really care what you do with yourself, so they don´t really care about "out of bounds." Consequently, several inexperienced and unintelligent skiiers and snowboarders die every year from avalanches and cliffs. Some of the worlds best skiiers and snowboarders in the world call this place home. It is definately a place that I wouldn´t mind visiting in the future.
From Chamonix, we went to Avignon, the former home of Allison´s mother for a semester. Avignon was the home of the "Franco Vaticano" for some number of years, and as a result, it is a walled city with a beautiful cathedral in the heart of the town.
It took only 1 day in Avignon to see nearly everything there is to see there, and once again, we were on our way to Allison´s home for a month, Barcelona. So that is pretty much what we have been up to the last couple of weeks. Allison has a very nice apartment in the heart of the town, and has started her language intensive program.
After dropping off Allison for her study abroad program, I had a bad experience traveling. But as for now, I am going to leave you with a cliff hanger. Sometime in the near future, I will fill you in on my horrible day of travel in lovely Espana (no worries, I´m safe).
Adios!
PS. Pictures next time too!
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Greetings!
The internet in Italy is more expensive than the pasta (1.5 euros for 15 minutes!). So we scraped together some coins, and put some photos up on our blog.
We are still in the Cinque Terra... We will leave in a day or so, and on the way to Rome we will spend some time in Pisa.
The weather is beautiful, the food great, and we dont really want to leave. All of the other cities we have been to have been large commercial and touristy... Levanto, where we are now, is a small town, and it seems as if we are the only english people here.
Well, we will write more soon. Until then, we will be on the beach...
The internet in Italy is more expensive than the pasta (1.5 euros for 15 minutes!). So we scraped together some coins, and put some photos up on our blog.
We are still in the Cinque Terra... We will leave in a day or so, and on the way to Rome we will spend some time in Pisa.
The weather is beautiful, the food great, and we dont really want to leave. All of the other cities we have been to have been large commercial and touristy... Levanto, where we are now, is a small town, and it seems as if we are the only english people here.
Well, we will write more soon. Until then, we will be on the beach...
Sunday, 17 June 2007
8 minute blog...
OK.
We have 8 minutes to use the internet... We will put as much as we can.
Sorry for not having updated lately. We have been in some pretty interesting places, and internet access has been slightly difficult or expensive.
We spent some time in Budapest, Hungary. The castles, architecture, and roman ruins were all amazing. Unfortunately, Budapest is a hard city to get out of. Corruption is everywhere, with people working buses, trains, and multiple other modes of transport all pocketing money. To get a ticket out of Budapest, they tried to charge us nearly 300 american dollars! Really, once we got to Vienna, the same ticket cost only 40! Just have to be careful...
Since Budapest, we spent some time in Venice. Apparently, this city has 15 million visitors annually! It was quite obvious that this was the most touristy place we have been to yet. Nevertheless, the city is beautiful and the italian food addictive. To give you an idea how expensive this place has gotten, gondola rides now cost 8o euros (approximately 100 american dollars) for 1 hour. If we have called other cities difficult to get around, we lied. Venice takes the cake, or the pasta, or whatever it is, it wins. We were lost probably 1/3 of our time in Venice. The canals, dead ends, back streets, tunnels, confused us and mislead us to the point where we no longer knew where were. It was all beautiful none the less, and was actually quite a pleasent place to get lost...
Now we are at the Cinque Terra. So far, as far as beauty goes, this place wins. So far, this is our favorite. Lovely little fishing villages perched on steep hills overlooking the sea...
We will update you soon.
We have 8 minutes to use the internet... We will put as much as we can.
Sorry for not having updated lately. We have been in some pretty interesting places, and internet access has been slightly difficult or expensive.
We spent some time in Budapest, Hungary. The castles, architecture, and roman ruins were all amazing. Unfortunately, Budapest is a hard city to get out of. Corruption is everywhere, with people working buses, trains, and multiple other modes of transport all pocketing money. To get a ticket out of Budapest, they tried to charge us nearly 300 american dollars! Really, once we got to Vienna, the same ticket cost only 40! Just have to be careful...
Since Budapest, we spent some time in Venice. Apparently, this city has 15 million visitors annually! It was quite obvious that this was the most touristy place we have been to yet. Nevertheless, the city is beautiful and the italian food addictive. To give you an idea how expensive this place has gotten, gondola rides now cost 8o euros (approximately 100 american dollars) for 1 hour. If we have called other cities difficult to get around, we lied. Venice takes the cake, or the pasta, or whatever it is, it wins. We were lost probably 1/3 of our time in Venice. The canals, dead ends, back streets, tunnels, confused us and mislead us to the point where we no longer knew where were. It was all beautiful none the less, and was actually quite a pleasent place to get lost...
Now we are at the Cinque Terra. So far, as far as beauty goes, this place wins. So far, this is our favorite. Lovely little fishing villages perched on steep hills overlooking the sea...
We will update you soon.
Friday, 8 June 2007
Poland...
Although we had a rough start in Prague, we recovered nicely...
The last couple days were full of meandering, sight seeing, and good ol' Czech beer (which is cheaper than water, and can serve as a meal too). Apparently, the real Budweiser was founded in the Czech Republic hundreds of years ago, and an ongoing legal battle is still occurring today over their name with the American beer company.
The castle was beautiful and overlooked the entire city. Unfortunately, this was where a protest was occurring as a result of President Bush's visit regarding the escalating situation between Russia and the US. Apparently, and I would have to check my sources, the US would like to put a defense system in the Czech Republic for "Iran." However, Russia has responded by saying that if a war were to start, Prague would be the first city to be bombed as a result of the implementation of such a system (sounds like the cold war never ended). Once again, I would have to check my sources (difficult when all credible information is in a different language).
After a couple of days, we caught a train over to Krakow, Poland. Unfortunately, we found out that our extremely expensive rail pass was not valid in Poland or the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, we had made plans to see Krakow and Auschwitz, and we were going to stick to them.
Krakow, thus far, seems to be the most untouched by western influences of tourism, television, etc... Although it is a city of 700,000 people, it is comfortable, safe, and relatively small compared to most western cities. English is typically only spoken by the younger people, but nevertheless, people are friendly in trying to help you find your way and get situated. Just by chance, we happened to fall into town on the towns 750th anniversary for reestablishment. The towns square, which is the biggest in Europe, was completely filled with nuns, priests, orchestras, and thousands of community members. At night, we attended a classical concert in the square. This concert, although the music was soft, seemed more like a rock concert by how many people were shoved into such a small space. We managed to follow an old man pushing a bike through the masses, and weasel our way at least halfway to the front.
Unfortunately, Auschwitz and Birknau were somewhat disappointing due to our tour guide. First of all, we understand that it is difficult and intimidating to speak in a foreign language. Our guide, struggled to speak English, and repeated similar things over and over, and quite frankly, read the captions under the pictures. Sentences were drawn out to make it more dramatic, and long pauses were added for effect, alongside intense (and somewhat uncomfortable) eye contact.
Here is a sample of what he would say:
"As you can see in this photograph, there is an old man (pause), this old man cannot work (pause), therefore if he cannot work, he must go and they will kill him, and he will die (long pause/eye contact)."
The history lesson was equivalent to that of about a 1st grader. We felt as if we could have provided more information to our group than he had. Auschwitz and Birknau alone demand respect, and any additional drama is unnecessary. Simply provide the facts, human emotion will take care of the rest. Both of us agreed, the historical exhibitions in London and Washington DC were more moving than the actual place...
All in all, it was still an amazing experience to actually see and be inside the compounds. To see rows and rows of barracks burned to the ground that were once overcrowded with suffering people. To touch the firing range with your own hands, walk beside and into the gas chambers, to see the holes were poison gas was dropped, and to see the exact furnaces that eliminated all of the evidence of human life. To make the place even more eerie, a storm rolled in and thunder, lightning and rain echoed throughout the compound.
It was a great experience. Come and see it, just don't pay extra for a guide...
Tonight we are off to Vienna, then either Budapest or Venice. We never really have any idea of where we are going until we are there.
We will keep in touch!
The last couple days were full of meandering, sight seeing, and good ol' Czech beer (which is cheaper than water, and can serve as a meal too). Apparently, the real Budweiser was founded in the Czech Republic hundreds of years ago, and an ongoing legal battle is still occurring today over their name with the American beer company.
The castle was beautiful and overlooked the entire city. Unfortunately, this was where a protest was occurring as a result of President Bush's visit regarding the escalating situation between Russia and the US. Apparently, and I would have to check my sources, the US would like to put a defense system in the Czech Republic for "Iran." However, Russia has responded by saying that if a war were to start, Prague would be the first city to be bombed as a result of the implementation of such a system (sounds like the cold war never ended). Once again, I would have to check my sources (difficult when all credible information is in a different language).
After a couple of days, we caught a train over to Krakow, Poland. Unfortunately, we found out that our extremely expensive rail pass was not valid in Poland or the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, we had made plans to see Krakow and Auschwitz, and we were going to stick to them.
Krakow, thus far, seems to be the most untouched by western influences of tourism, television, etc... Although it is a city of 700,000 people, it is comfortable, safe, and relatively small compared to most western cities. English is typically only spoken by the younger people, but nevertheless, people are friendly in trying to help you find your way and get situated. Just by chance, we happened to fall into town on the towns 750th anniversary for reestablishment. The towns square, which is the biggest in Europe, was completely filled with nuns, priests, orchestras, and thousands of community members. At night, we attended a classical concert in the square. This concert, although the music was soft, seemed more like a rock concert by how many people were shoved into such a small space. We managed to follow an old man pushing a bike through the masses, and weasel our way at least halfway to the front.
Unfortunately, Auschwitz and Birknau were somewhat disappointing due to our tour guide. First of all, we understand that it is difficult and intimidating to speak in a foreign language. Our guide, struggled to speak English, and repeated similar things over and over, and quite frankly, read the captions under the pictures. Sentences were drawn out to make it more dramatic, and long pauses were added for effect, alongside intense (and somewhat uncomfortable) eye contact.
Here is a sample of what he would say:
"As you can see in this photograph, there is an old man (pause), this old man cannot work (pause), therefore if he cannot work, he must go and they will kill him, and he will die (long pause/eye contact)."
The history lesson was equivalent to that of about a 1st grader. We felt as if we could have provided more information to our group than he had. Auschwitz and Birknau alone demand respect, and any additional drama is unnecessary. Simply provide the facts, human emotion will take care of the rest. Both of us agreed, the historical exhibitions in London and Washington DC were more moving than the actual place...
All in all, it was still an amazing experience to actually see and be inside the compounds. To see rows and rows of barracks burned to the ground that were once overcrowded with suffering people. To touch the firing range with your own hands, walk beside and into the gas chambers, to see the holes were poison gas was dropped, and to see the exact furnaces that eliminated all of the evidence of human life. To make the place even more eerie, a storm rolled in and thunder, lightning and rain echoed throughout the compound.
It was a great experience. Come and see it, just don't pay extra for a guide...
Tonight we are off to Vienna, then either Budapest or Venice. We never really have any idea of where we are going until we are there.
We will keep in touch!
Sunday, 3 June 2007
Czech. Repub.
Hey fans.
We have continued our world tour and today we are in Prague, Czech Republic.
Once again, we struggled to get our bearings on a new city. This time, we traveled 10 hours from Innsbruck, Austria only to figure out that we had booked our hostel for the wrong night. We were homeless, again... After a little scrambling to try to find a place at 1:00 AM, we kinda figured we were out of luck. We thought to ourselves, we have 3 options:
1. Rent an expensive motel for about 6 hours of sleep.
2. Somehow get in touch with the people we know in Prague.
3. Pull an all nighter and check in to our hostel at the earliest opportunity the next day.
After evaluating option number 1, we figured that it wasn't worth sacrificing approximately 7-8 meals.
We searched the possibility of number 2 by sending numerous e-mails to our friends in Prague, after a couple hours, it seemed as if option number 3 was our best choice. However, after about a half of an hour, Allison began to get tired... Luckily, our friends had managed to stay up late that night, received our SOS message, and responded. By 3:00 or so, we had a roof over our heads.
All of this simply makes traveling a little more exciting, or for some of you, maybe more stressful. To add to the fun, Prague is a maze. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful maze. A maze that somehow, during World War II, managed not to get bombed. The streets are lined with statues, ancient bridges cross the river, and on top of a hill lays a giant castle. The architecture here is amazing, and to give you a hint on how old this place is, the "new" part of town was built in 1300.
The adventures will continue. We have another 3 nights here in Prague... We will surely add photos and some additional stories as soon as we have a chance...
As they say in Mexico,
Adios.
Or here...
Ahoj (pronounced like a pirate).
We have continued our world tour and today we are in Prague, Czech Republic.
Once again, we struggled to get our bearings on a new city. This time, we traveled 10 hours from Innsbruck, Austria only to figure out that we had booked our hostel for the wrong night. We were homeless, again... After a little scrambling to try to find a place at 1:00 AM, we kinda figured we were out of luck. We thought to ourselves, we have 3 options:
1. Rent an expensive motel for about 6 hours of sleep.
2. Somehow get in touch with the people we know in Prague.
3. Pull an all nighter and check in to our hostel at the earliest opportunity the next day.
After evaluating option number 1, we figured that it wasn't worth sacrificing approximately 7-8 meals.
We searched the possibility of number 2 by sending numerous e-mails to our friends in Prague, after a couple hours, it seemed as if option number 3 was our best choice. However, after about a half of an hour, Allison began to get tired... Luckily, our friends had managed to stay up late that night, received our SOS message, and responded. By 3:00 or so, we had a roof over our heads.
All of this simply makes traveling a little more exciting, or for some of you, maybe more stressful. To add to the fun, Prague is a maze. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful maze. A maze that somehow, during World War II, managed not to get bombed. The streets are lined with statues, ancient bridges cross the river, and on top of a hill lays a giant castle. The architecture here is amazing, and to give you a hint on how old this place is, the "new" part of town was built in 1300.
The adventures will continue. We have another 3 nights here in Prague... We will surely add photos and some additional stories as soon as we have a chance...
As they say in Mexico,
Adios.
Or here...
Ahoj (pronounced like a pirate).
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Österreich!
Well, Austria couldn't have started any less exciting. We arrived, found out Lars was out of town, and immediately it began to rain... We wandered around, tried to find a hostel, and ended up at a campground outside of town. After a long day of travel, 12 hours on a train, this was hardly what we were hoping to find in Austria.
After a couple of relaxing days of rain, Lars came back, the sun came out, and the mountains were gorgeous. This town could probably be called the Boulder of the Alps. Innsbruck is a town of about 100,000 people of which 25,000 are college students. The ski park gondola even leaves from the edge of town... A ski bums dream of college.
The olympics were held here twice in the sixties and seventies, and you can still visit the ski long jump stadium in town. It is one thing to watch these people on TV, but you have a completely different amount of respect for them once you actually see the jump. The ramp is narrow and literally straight up and down. An amateur would probably fall off the ramp and break their neck before they could jump off of it.
Lars is still Lars for all of you who knew him. An extremely light haired fun loving, skiing, mountain biking, surfing german who occassionally claims to be swedish simply to impress girls. He lives with two roommates on the sixth floor of a building overlooking downtown. In his small apartment there are 4 bikes, 8 snowboards, and 1 pair of skis. This town, this apartment, seem all too perfect for Lars.
From here we will leave in a day or so and travel to Krakow, Poland and visit the famous little place called Auschwitz...
As they say here, Auf Wiedersehen.
PS. Which member of the Grafton family do I look like in the last photo?
PPS. Apparently "fahrting" is a big problem here... See picture below.
After a couple of relaxing days of rain, Lars came back, the sun came out, and the mountains were gorgeous. This town could probably be called the Boulder of the Alps. Innsbruck is a town of about 100,000 people of which 25,000 are college students. The ski park gondola even leaves from the edge of town... A ski bums dream of college.
The olympics were held here twice in the sixties and seventies, and you can still visit the ski long jump stadium in town. It is one thing to watch these people on TV, but you have a completely different amount of respect for them once you actually see the jump. The ramp is narrow and literally straight up and down. An amateur would probably fall off the ramp and break their neck before they could jump off of it.
Lars is still Lars for all of you who knew him. An extremely light haired fun loving, skiing, mountain biking, surfing german who occassionally claims to be swedish simply to impress girls. He lives with two roommates on the sixth floor of a building overlooking downtown. In his small apartment there are 4 bikes, 8 snowboards, and 1 pair of skis. This town, this apartment, seem all too perfect for Lars.
From here we will leave in a day or so and travel to Krakow, Poland and visit the famous little place called Auschwitz...
As they say here, Auf Wiedersehen.
PS. Which member of the Grafton family do I look like in the last photo?
PPS. Apparently "fahrting" is a big problem here... See picture below.
Monday, 28 May 2007
Saturday, 26 May 2007
Goodbye UK.
Hello,
As expensive as London was, it was worth it. On our last full day, we visited a couple science museums and attended Prof. Myles Jackson's talk at the Imperial College in London. Afterwards, we accompanied him and his colleagues to a pub down the street where we sat, ate dinner, and enjoyed a couple of beers, and made the walk back to the hostel.
The very next day, we had to figure out how we are going to get out of London... The city, as I have said and many of you have experienced, is huge. We decided to go the cost effective route, by buying a plane ticket from Stansted, an airport located about 30 miles outside of London. You could either take a bus the whole way for 20 dollars each, or take a train most of the way, and then a bus for even more. We (inexperienced london travelers), decided to take the bus... It took us 3.5 hours just to get out of the town! Luckily, people let us to the front of the check in line, otherwise we would have missed our flight.
Now we are in Amsterdam, which is quite possibly the strangest city I have ever been to. The entire center of the city is a huge network of bridges and alleyways which lead you in circles. The city itself is beautiful, just extremely confusing... With street names like Oudeziijds Voorburwaal, or Lijnbaansgracht, you could understand why it is so hard to find you way around or let alone ask directions.
Nearly everyone here rides a bike. The streets are filled with them. There are even some cars that are so small that they drive in the bike lane and have an engine that sounds like a lawnmower.
The city is largely divided. The only thing that divides china town from the red ligh district is a street. You can literally go through an alleyway and find yourself in a completely different part of the town.
Red light district in detail: Strange. Women stand in window right on the street, nearly naked, trying to get you to come inside. We even sat down and had a beer in the red light district, just to watch the interaction between the women and the people passing by. It was really interesting to watch how many men really did go in there. Apparently, 80% of the people who come to amsterdam for this are British (1/2 hour by air for cheap). We didn't even realize it, but we were drinking our beer next to a pimp. Strange world...
Tomorrow, it looks like we may get on another train, and head eastward. We will be spending some time in Innsbruck, Austria with an old foreign exchange student, Lars Lotze.
We will put some pictures up asap... Right now, our library computer is about to kick us off. So for now, so long...
As expensive as London was, it was worth it. On our last full day, we visited a couple science museums and attended Prof. Myles Jackson's talk at the Imperial College in London. Afterwards, we accompanied him and his colleagues to a pub down the street where we sat, ate dinner, and enjoyed a couple of beers, and made the walk back to the hostel.
The very next day, we had to figure out how we are going to get out of London... The city, as I have said and many of you have experienced, is huge. We decided to go the cost effective route, by buying a plane ticket from Stansted, an airport located about 30 miles outside of London. You could either take a bus the whole way for 20 dollars each, or take a train most of the way, and then a bus for even more. We (inexperienced london travelers), decided to take the bus... It took us 3.5 hours just to get out of the town! Luckily, people let us to the front of the check in line, otherwise we would have missed our flight.
Now we are in Amsterdam, which is quite possibly the strangest city I have ever been to. The entire center of the city is a huge network of bridges and alleyways which lead you in circles. The city itself is beautiful, just extremely confusing... With street names like Oudeziijds Voorburwaal, or Lijnbaansgracht, you could understand why it is so hard to find you way around or let alone ask directions.
Nearly everyone here rides a bike. The streets are filled with them. There are even some cars that are so small that they drive in the bike lane and have an engine that sounds like a lawnmower.
The city is largely divided. The only thing that divides china town from the red ligh district is a street. You can literally go through an alleyway and find yourself in a completely different part of the town.
Red light district in detail: Strange. Women stand in window right on the street, nearly naked, trying to get you to come inside. We even sat down and had a beer in the red light district, just to watch the interaction between the women and the people passing by. It was really interesting to watch how many men really did go in there. Apparently, 80% of the people who come to amsterdam for this are British (1/2 hour by air for cheap). We didn't even realize it, but we were drinking our beer next to a pimp. Strange world...
Tomorrow, it looks like we may get on another train, and head eastward. We will be spending some time in Innsbruck, Austria with an old foreign exchange student, Lars Lotze.
We will put some pictures up asap... Right now, our library computer is about to kick us off. So for now, so long...
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
London!
Well, it has been an interesting couple of days...
We successfully managed getting from the airport to our hostel located right in the heart of London. This city is absolutely giant, and although I have never been to New York, everyone seems to think that the two cities are twins... We have met some interesting people from Maine, Australia, New Mexico, Mexico City, China, Macedonia, and New Zealand. This city, among many things, is a cultural hub.
We have taken 'the tube' all over the city and have visited British National Gallery, The War Museum, The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Leicester Square, among other things... We spent nearly 2 hours in the Holocaust exhibit and left feeling utterly exhausted and nearly sick to our stomachs. We also spent a significant amount of time in the Van Gogh and Monet exhibit at the national Gallery where we saw the painting sunflowers among others... In the museums alone, there is so much art that it would take weeks to fully appreciate it all.
As we walked through Hyde Park, we also got to see a BBC film being made. 2 actors, surrounded by nearly 20 people holding booms, cameras, wires, a director yelling orders. Quite the spectacle for a simple, low budget operation...
While in the 'Soho' district, we were amazed at how beautiful restaurants could be along side pornography shops. In the windows, women would try to allure the passing business men and women inside. If London is known for swingers like Austin Powers, it is because of this neighborhood. Fortunate for us, we found£1.50 ($3.00, a bargain here) drinks at a bar. As would be expected, the bar was overflowing with people. We meandered our way inside and found the bar. After ordering a drink, Allison realized that she was the only female in the entire bar. Not only was she the only female, but she was the only thing separating me from the men trying to dance with me. We had our drink, and went on our way...
We successfully managed getting from the airport to our hostel located right in the heart of London. This city is absolutely giant, and although I have never been to New York, everyone seems to think that the two cities are twins... We have met some interesting people from Maine, Australia, New Mexico, Mexico City, China, Macedonia, and New Zealand. This city, among many things, is a cultural hub.
We have taken 'the tube' all over the city and have visited British National Gallery, The War Museum, The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Leicester Square, among other things... We spent nearly 2 hours in the Holocaust exhibit and left feeling utterly exhausted and nearly sick to our stomachs. We also spent a significant amount of time in the Van Gogh and Monet exhibit at the national Gallery where we saw the painting sunflowers among others... In the museums alone, there is so much art that it would take weeks to fully appreciate it all.
As we walked through Hyde Park, we also got to see a BBC film being made. 2 actors, surrounded by nearly 20 people holding booms, cameras, wires, a director yelling orders. Quite the spectacle for a simple, low budget operation...
While in the 'Soho' district, we were amazed at how beautiful restaurants could be along side pornography shops. In the windows, women would try to allure the passing business men and women inside. If London is known for swingers like Austin Powers, it is because of this neighborhood. Fortunate for us, we found£1.50 ($3.00, a bargain here) drinks at a bar. As would be expected, the bar was overflowing with people. We meandered our way inside and found the bar. After ordering a drink, Allison realized that she was the only female in the entire bar. Not only was she the only female, but she was the only thing separating me from the men trying to dance with me. We had our drink, and went on our way...
Saturday, 19 May 2007
Edinburgh and final days in Scotland...
Tomorrow, we will make the drive down to Edinburgh one last time, this time to catch a flight to London. We are even fortunate to have an experienced Scottish driver behind the wheel, Allison's Aunt Sharon. Maybe this time we will stay on the road...
Once in London, we plan to check out some of the museums, stay in a hostel for a couple nights, and attend a talk at the Imperial College (even sounds British) given by Prof. Myles Jackson from Willamette University (Allison's advisor).
In our earlier visit to Edinburgh we visited Museums, and were lucky enough to see paintings from Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt, etc... We especially liked Monet's work. Even the people working in the art galleries were wearing traditional Scottish plaid pants. Additionally, we experienced some lovely Scottish weather (down pour, heavy winds). One police officer, while giving us directions, even expressed his love for the unexpected weather. The city really is quite pretty, with huge Gothic buildings, the royal mile, and a soiree of shopping throughout the streets.
Another thing I have noticed is the way they pour beer here in Scotland. In 'The States' it seems as if bartenders simply pour the beer. Here it seems as if it is an ancient ritual, moving the glass in various ways, as if they are seeking to pour a perfect beer... Strange observation, I know... Maybe things seem more poetic than they really are after having a couple of room temperature beers myself.
Highlights from our trip to Edinburgh:
Once in London, we plan to check out some of the museums, stay in a hostel for a couple nights, and attend a talk at the Imperial College (even sounds British) given by Prof. Myles Jackson from Willamette University (Allison's advisor).
In our earlier visit to Edinburgh we visited Museums, and were lucky enough to see paintings from Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt, etc... We especially liked Monet's work. Even the people working in the art galleries were wearing traditional Scottish plaid pants. Additionally, we experienced some lovely Scottish weather (down pour, heavy winds). One police officer, while giving us directions, even expressed his love for the unexpected weather. The city really is quite pretty, with huge Gothic buildings, the royal mile, and a soiree of shopping throughout the streets.
Another thing I have noticed is the way they pour beer here in Scotland. In 'The States' it seems as if bartenders simply pour the beer. Here it seems as if it is an ancient ritual, moving the glass in various ways, as if they are seeking to pour a perfect beer... Strange observation, I know... Maybe things seem more poetic than they really are after having a couple of room temperature beers myself.
Highlights from our trip to Edinburgh:
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Wednesday, 16 May 2007
Here. Finally...
So we are here. We made it. Somehow...
This story starts in a small town called Seattle, located in the lovely Pacific Northwest. Here, a small plane, a 777, took off at 1:00 PM, 5/14/2007 and landed in the city of Amsterdam at 7:00 AM, 5/15/2007! A fabulously long flight, one in which I received approximately 3 hours of sleep and Allison watched a grand total of 4 movies. Never Been Kissed, Because I Said So, and two other equally fabulous movies.
Once in Amsterdam, we went to our connecting flight and waited for the line to decrease as they loaded the plane. The line continued to grow until we became concerned, 20 minutes before the flight took off, at which point we reluctantly went to the end of the line. At this time, we discovered that they were loading two planes at one terminal, one to Edinburgh, and the other to Munich. The only problem was, our plane left in 20 minutes, and the line looked to be about 25 minutes long. Allison, being a young attractive female, fixed the problem by going directly to the front of the line where a rather British looking (we will leave it at that) man was traveling alone. This nice man then allowed us to step in front of him, and as a result, we made our flight.
2 flights down. We arrived in Scotland, at which point we realized we didn't know who was going to pick us up, or what number to reach anybody at. Much to our surprise, Allison's grandparents were waiting outside to pick us up. All fine and dandy, until we get in the car with Charlie at the helm. Brief description of the surroundings: narrow roads, crazy drivers, round abouts, drive on the left hand side of the road, and the driver side and passenger switched. While navigating our way back to St. Andrews, Charlie managed to get passed in round abouts, delay traffic, nearly go off the left hand side of the road (mud on car to prove it), all while providing us with a guided tour including the history of just about everything. After traveling for nearly 20 hours, this resulted in an irreperable loss of our sanity.
After 45 minutes of driving that would made most theme parks seem dull, we arrived in St. Andrews, the home of golf. Here, herds of golfers pilgrimage to their mecca. We met several that had played 36 holes of golf in a single day! I played 9 several months ago and was not only tired, but frustrated and demoralized as well. These people are crazy.
The surroundings are beautiful. It seems as if the entire island looks like Western Oregon in the spring, with slightly overcast skies, lush green fields, a frigid ocean, a fairly chilly breeze and trees and flowers abloom. However, there is a significant difference in the accent that people talk with, and the buildings they live in. Here it seems as if a building is new if it was built in the last 3 centuries. There are even the remains of a church and a castle in town, with only a couple pillars and walls remaining.
After meeting a couple of students from the local University, extremely exhausted from the day, we called it quits. We had been up for 31 straight hours. We retired to the lovely bed and breakfast that Allison's grandparents had reserved for us...
After having what would be considered a short coma (12 hours of sleep), the hostess woke us up and fed us a lovely traditional Scottish meal rich in cholesterol and fat. We had bacon, sausage, fried eggs, and blood pudding (an item made out of the innerds of sheep mixed with blood and oats, not necessarily worth trying...).
If you are tight on money, don't spend your 'holiday' in the UK... Everything has the same price as the US, except it is in pounds... For example, a hamburger is 7£, but 1£=2$. So the real price you get to pay for that lovely hamburger is $14 (ouch!). We are already looking forward to Eastern Europe...
Kevin
This story starts in a small town called Seattle, located in the lovely Pacific Northwest. Here, a small plane, a 777, took off at 1:00 PM, 5/14/2007 and landed in the city of Amsterdam at 7:00 AM, 5/15/2007! A fabulously long flight, one in which I received approximately 3 hours of sleep and Allison watched a grand total of 4 movies. Never Been Kissed, Because I Said So, and two other equally fabulous movies.
Once in Amsterdam, we went to our connecting flight and waited for the line to decrease as they loaded the plane. The line continued to grow until we became concerned, 20 minutes before the flight took off, at which point we reluctantly went to the end of the line. At this time, we discovered that they were loading two planes at one terminal, one to Edinburgh, and the other to Munich. The only problem was, our plane left in 20 minutes, and the line looked to be about 25 minutes long. Allison, being a young attractive female, fixed the problem by going directly to the front of the line where a rather British looking (we will leave it at that) man was traveling alone. This nice man then allowed us to step in front of him, and as a result, we made our flight.
2 flights down. We arrived in Scotland, at which point we realized we didn't know who was going to pick us up, or what number to reach anybody at. Much to our surprise, Allison's grandparents were waiting outside to pick us up. All fine and dandy, until we get in the car with Charlie at the helm. Brief description of the surroundings: narrow roads, crazy drivers, round abouts, drive on the left hand side of the road, and the driver side and passenger switched. While navigating our way back to St. Andrews, Charlie managed to get passed in round abouts, delay traffic, nearly go off the left hand side of the road (mud on car to prove it), all while providing us with a guided tour including the history of just about everything. After traveling for nearly 20 hours, this resulted in an irreperable loss of our sanity.
After 45 minutes of driving that would made most theme parks seem dull, we arrived in St. Andrews, the home of golf. Here, herds of golfers pilgrimage to their mecca. We met several that had played 36 holes of golf in a single day! I played 9 several months ago and was not only tired, but frustrated and demoralized as well. These people are crazy.
The surroundings are beautiful. It seems as if the entire island looks like Western Oregon in the spring, with slightly overcast skies, lush green fields, a frigid ocean, a fairly chilly breeze and trees and flowers abloom. However, there is a significant difference in the accent that people talk with, and the buildings they live in. Here it seems as if a building is new if it was built in the last 3 centuries. There are even the remains of a church and a castle in town, with only a couple pillars and walls remaining.
After meeting a couple of students from the local University, extremely exhausted from the day, we called it quits. We had been up for 31 straight hours. We retired to the lovely bed and breakfast that Allison's grandparents had reserved for us...
After having what would be considered a short coma (12 hours of sleep), the hostess woke us up and fed us a lovely traditional Scottish meal rich in cholesterol and fat. We had bacon, sausage, fried eggs, and blood pudding (an item made out of the innerds of sheep mixed with blood and oats, not necessarily worth trying...).
If you are tight on money, don't spend your 'holiday' in the UK... Everything has the same price as the US, except it is in pounds... For example, a hamburger is 7£, but 1£=2$. So the real price you get to pay for that lovely hamburger is $14 (ouch!). We are already looking forward to Eastern Europe...
Kevin
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