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| Eurotrip
18 days of straight travel is intense. There really is no other way to describe it. Of course there are dozens of humorous anecdotes, but you'll just have to catch me in person for those. I'll try to make this just a little recap of my trek through Europe.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is an amazing city. Amazing in a way that I don't think I could possibly spend more than one night there at a time. It's quite a bit to take in.. anyone who has been knows what I am talking about. Imagine sidewalks that also serve as roads- leaving virtually nowhere safe for pedestrians to walk. Imagine singing bathroom attendents. And getting lost at 1am without a map. There is so much to say about Amsterdam.. Kyle Fernandez, my travel buddy, and I met up with a really cool girl from Idaho named Erin and took Amsterdam by storm in 48 hours. We saw the sites - went into a museum dedicated to Van Gogh and a different to Rembrandt. We even ate at a fastfood place that only served fries. Oh yeah, and I got hit by a motorcycle.
London
A city full of amazing cars - within 5 minutes of exiting the airport we had already seen a Lamborghini. In London I saw countless Ferraris - a 348, several 360s, 430, 612.. It was a Ferrari lover's dream. Beyond Ferraris, we happened to run into several nice Bentleys and TVRs as well. Kyle and I met up with Susannah, Erin (from OU, not Idaho), Sarah, and a couple of Sarah's friends. We had fun touring the city together, taking pictures with Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and whatnot. Kyle and I ventured out to find Abbey Road where the Beatles took that famous picture. We happened to find a pub for the game when England happened to lose to Portugal in the World Cup. Also, our hostel was short to long-term residence of a host of Polish kids who had been "deported" from the states.
Manchester
Not all that much to say about Manchester, but we did find the stadium where the mighty reds play. "If you're not a manc, you're a wank" Isn't that how it goes? I met someone from Croatia and a ton of Australians in Manchester as well.
Liverpool
Home of the Beatles, we saw the official Beatles museum. We also stayed at a "youth" hostel and were the only ones under 40 in our dorm room. I got pooped on by a bird leaving H&M.
Dublin
Met up with a couple of Spanish ladies in our hostel that were a lot of fun to hang out with. Of course we visited the Guinness factory, which is actually probably the coolest thing in the city. Our second day in Ireland was spent on a day trip outside the city in the Wicklow Region, where films such as Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, and Reign of Fire were filmed. Absolutely gorgeous landscapes - it was more or less exactly how I wanted Ireland to be. Except that it was a bit cold/rainy (which is where I think I picked up a mean cough that I still have)
Paris
I didn't much care for Paris. I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that it took us 5 hours to get from the airport to the hotel either. There's just something about France that rubs me the wrong way. I mean, I'm glad that I went and all, but I don't see myself going back any time soon. In all of one day we went to the Louvre, Notre Dame, Saint Sulpice, Pantheon, Eiffel Tower, Arc du Triomphe, and watched France lose to Italy in the World Cup final. That was an intense experience....
Bordeaux
A nice, quiet town (especially compared to Paris). Without knowing it, we planned our stay for the same day that Le Tour de France happened to be passing by. That wasn't much like how I expected it to be, but very cool to be a part of nonetheless. The next day we went on a wine tour through some of the nicest Chateaus in the region. And a nice Chateau in the Bordeaux region is very nice indeed. I ended up drinking wine that was older than I am, that actually tasted nice as well.
Berlin
Actually, I think I expected the least from Berlin but ended up liking it the most. Our hostel was in an incredible location - it was easy to walk to pretty much everything. We saw all of the tourist sites on our first day, and just happened to be staying the second day during the more or less largest techno rave/parade in Europe. If you're into techno music, check out loveparade.net and then be jealous. Paul Van Dyk, Tom Novy, Voodoo & Serano, Tiesto.. yeah, they were all there.
Anyhoo, I really don't feel like I did this trip justice. I'm just exhausted and in a really weird mood right now. To be honest, I'd rather talk about it in person anyway. I've got a lot of packing and cleaning ahead of me, followed by quite the journey home. Anyone reading this stateside, I'll be seeing you soon.
Fin. | | |
| a quick word...
i would like to thank everyone for their concerns following the recent tragedy in valencia. fortunately i was on the road, far from the city during the accident. the accident occured in a fairly remote part of town, an area i had only been to once. i am thankful for that, as it could easily have been in a much busier part of town.
i am currently in bordeaux, france. who would have known but the tour de france actually comes through town today; that'll be cool to check out.
i promise for a full recap of my travels, but these french keyboards are quite taxing to use. with pictures too. but for now all i'll say is be safe everyone and i'll see you soon. | | |
| I figure I should write a bit about my last trip before I forget some details. This might end up being a bit long, but here goes... Don't feel pressured to read all or even any of it, it's more for my own sake later.
Italia
On June 7th, I had the pleasure of flying to Milan with James and Kyle, two friends studying in Valencia from Oklahoma State. I had been to Milan before for the Olymic trip back in February, but this time was completely different. Know what made all the difference? Good weather. The last time I was there it was cold, rainy, and miserable nearly the entire time. This time around we had blue sky and warm weather the entire time.
Ok, back to Milan. It took us nearly two hours from the airport to get to our hotel, which was kind of lame. Our hotel was really nice though, and it was right off a tram stop that went straight into the center of town. That night we didn't do a whole lot, just walked around the center of the city and saw the Duomo and such. We had dinner at a restuarant that was super fancy with chandeliers and the name of the restaurant embroidered in the napkins and such. I wouldn't particularly say we ate there because it was so fancy, but moreso because it was only 5 euro for a pizza.
The next day we spent the morning touring more of the city - saw a cathedral, a castle, and the city arch. (I think just about every city in Europe has some sort of arch) The only thing we didn't get to see was Da Vinci's 'Ultima Cena', because apparently you have to make reservations something like a month in advance. We took pictures outside the museum anyway.
We left that afternoon by train for Venice. Venice really is a beautiful town, but I don't think I could ever spend more than a day there at a time. I haven't been so surrounded by English since I left the states, and to be honest it was a little odd. The whole city was packed with American tourists (although I realize I was a part of that group, I somehow dissociate myself since having lived in Europe for the last 5 months). We had delicious pizza that was in cone form, saw some gondoles, and rode a water metro. That night we hung out with some pretty cool Virginians that were in our hotel and ended up paying way too much for a pretty average Chinese dinner.
The next day we left for Bologna. Bologna is a very nice, fairly quiet town (at least in comparison to Milan and Venice). The hotel we stayed at was the nicest place I've ever seen - our room had two floors with the master bed downstairs and two singles up. We walked around the historical city the entire day and ended up eating what would be my favorite pizza of the trip. I was a bit saddened though, because we were maybe 30 minutes or less outside of Maranello, home of Ferrari, and did not have time to make an extra day trip.
We only stayed in Bologna a day - the next day was off to Florence. Florence is definitely one of my favorite cities that I've ever been to. We spent two nights in Florence, and I feel that I could have easily spent more time there. We went on two different bus tours of the city to make sure we would at least see all of the sites on the first day. We made a few stops along the way at points that overlooked the entire city. It was actually on this bus tour that I saw my first Ferrari while in Italy - a red 360 Modena. The next day we continued the bus tour since our ticket was valid for 24 hours. In the morning we rode over to the National Gallery Museum, home of Michaelangelo's David. The line we waited in was a little ridiculous, but the sculpture is worth it. The museum had some other cool stuff as well, so it was all good. After our bus tours expired, we rented bikes so we could go back and see some parts of the city again. Crazy fun was had. While on this bike I saw no less than 3 more Ferraris - a black 360, another red 360, and a red 355. Unfortunately, the 355 is the only I managed to get a picture of. We met up with some friends (edit: the awesome girls from Missouri State) for dinner that night that also happened to be in town.
The next day we headed out pretty early for Pisa. We only spent 3 hours in Pisa, but that was about all that we wanted. Actually, we probably only spent one of those hours actually in the historic part where the famous tower is located. The rest of the time was spent figuring out how to get from the train station to the tower and waiting on a pizza to cook. (We ate pizza every single day we were in Italy) The hour was enough - it was plenty of time to take goofy tourist photos of ourselves "holding up" the leaning tower.
That same afternoon we hopped on another train headed for Rome. Rome is an incredible city. We found our hotel and were off. We didn't get to Rome until almost evening, but we spent that time seeing some of the sites. That night we went by the Coloseum and what's left of ancient Rome. Early the next morning we actually left Rome and Italy and went to Vatican City. (Only about 30 minutes from our hotel) While waiting in line to see St. Peter's Basilica, a man came over to us and just started speaking fairly loudly in English, "Hello all English speakers. My name is Douglas and I'm a phD in art history. Today I'm going to take you all on a free tour of St. Peters and show you a few things you might not notice otherwise." Or something along those lines. Either way, Douglas was simply incredible. And when I say incredible, I mean intense. Intensely funny. I'm not sure I could really do him justice by writing about him, but Kyle managed to get the perfect video of him speaking, so anyone that wants to fully understand should come by and you'll see what I mean.
St. Peters is amazing. It's the largest basilica in the world, and the tallest structure in all of Rome. Err, since it's not technically in Rome, I'll say that it's taller than anything in Rome. Douglas kept referring to everything inside as an optical illusion since everything was so massive. For example, there was an 80-foot tall alter near the center that couldactually fit inside of the tiny peak of the dome 500 feet above us. Little facts like that are what made me really love Douglas. St Peters actually has floor markings where other basilicas would end if placed inside of St Peters that included the Duomo of Milan (absolutely massive).
Afterwards we headed over to the Vatican Museum and to see the Sistine Chapel. We got there around lunch time and so we only had to wait 20-30 minutes while the crowds were away. They were both really amazing - I don't even know how to describe it. Imagine rooms that are painted floor to ceiling with inticate details. Other rooms that are completely packed full of beautiful sculptures. We took several pictures while inside the Museum, but were not allowed to take any while inside the Chapel. Once finished with the tour, we each bought postcards to mail from the Vatican post service to our families and were off.
That afternoon we went by the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, and all of those other Roman monuments. On our way to somewhere or other, I walked right past Lamborghini Rome without even noticing. Lucky for me, Kyle stopped and pointed it out. While they only had two Gallardos in the window, it was still nice to see the Italian sports car while in Italy. We didn't stay out too late that night, as our flight home left at 7am (which meant we were supposed to be at the airport at 5am) (did I mention the airport is 40 minutes away by bus?) We woke up insanely early the next day and headed home with just enough time to cram for our last exam, which was two days later.
All in all, I think Italy very well be one of the best trips I've taken. Ever. Fin. | | |
| ¡Hola! ¡Hola! ¡Hola! ¿Que tal todos?
So Spain life has been nice these last few weeks. Here´s just a bit of what´s been going down:
- Last week I had my second test in my marketing class. Since I passed them both, I don´t have to take a final next month. Also, my group for that class turned in a 64 page report and gave a 45 minute presentation. Pretty intense.
- On Friday I got in the water for the first time. I ended up spending quite a bit of time out at the playa napping and playing in the waves. Repeat Saturday. Repeat Sunday. Well, actually on Sunday we went to visit Niket in Castellón and ended up playing on the playa there.
- Ann is in town. We´ve been checking out some fairly ethnic things, doing tourist stuff and the like: we´ve seen most of the city, gone to watch a Flamenco dancer, gone to a café teatro, and visited the Lladró factory. Next up on the list is to eat paella at school, go to the mall, and hopefully get a camping trip orgranized for the weekend.
On an unrelated note, I´ve been reflecting a bit about my time here and wanted to make a list of all the countries from which I have met people. Here´s my working list so far:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Colombia
- Czech Republic
- El Salvador
- England
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Holland
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Portugal
- Scotland
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- United States of America
- Venezuela
- Wales
Spain has been good to me. That is all. | | |
| FC Barcelona 2, Arsenal FC 1.
VIVA BARCA! | | |
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