(written 12:30 6-26-07, Astor Victoria Hostel)
Well hello there - I'm writing the entry from our hostel this time - we have a little bit of time to kill before we have to head to Gatwick to grab our plane to Dublin, so I figured I'd update a bit on London.
We got to the train station, took a bit of an unneeded walk too far past the train station to get to our hostel, but when we got here, we found we had made a good decision - it was nice, it was clean, it was fairly convenient (close to an underground station) - we were all set. We hung out here for a bit, then two of our roommates at the hostel decided they were going to hang out with us - we had decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner - you know, "THE" hard rock cafe - the "one that started it all." (In case you don't know how it got started, eric clapton liked to go to the hard rock a lot, and decided that he would leave a guitar there to save a table for him whenever he came by. So he left that there, and Pete Townshend saw that and said "mine's as good as his" so he left his.... and so on and so forth). So we waited for an hour and a half for a table at the pub next door, had dinner, and went back to bed. The next day, we took the Sandeman's new europe free tour which we had taken in Berlin and Munich - very good tour by the way. The guy was a good tour guide who braved the nasty rain all day with us and showed us the top attractions of london, which I of course took pictures of. Later that night, after getting our fish and chips for dinner at a local pub down the street with a glass of "warm" beer (it's not that warm, just kinda like basement temperature), we hung out for a bit, recovering from all our walking, then checked out Piccadilly circus - ahh, the times square of london. After that, we checked out Oxford Circus where the infamous apple store was located - it was closed, but cool to check it out - it's reallyyyy big. This morning, we woke up, checked out of the hostel, and headed out to Buckingham palace to see the changing of the guard - pretty neat, but we should have just stuck to one place along the wall instead of trying to see it all and jumping back and forth from the outside yard to the inside gated areas - oh well, we saw enough red coats with the giant fluffy black hats, so we had had enough. Now we're back at the hostel chilling for a bit, and in a bit, we'll head out to victoria station, take a train to Gatwick and hop on a plane for the Guinness capital of the world- Dublin! So, until then, enjoy your 90 degree weather (assuming you're in rochester - gheesh, we're freezing our tails off here in wet london), and I'll see all of you in a few days - we have 3 nights in Dublin, we fly home the 29th and get into toronto at 11:00 local time, so we'll crash there, and head back in the morning of the 30th. Check out the pictures, and I'll catch ya all later. Here's the address if you like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98781425@N00/
Love and miss all of you!
-Matt
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
All about Paris
(Written at 9:35, 6-24-07, Train to London)
Hey there everybody - Here's another blog entry! So we did paris in about a day - what a rush - we saw like 7 major things in a day and a quarter, and we were pretty psyched about that. We get to do the same thing in a couple of hours when we get to London, so we're jazzed to get going.
We started out by visiting the Louvre Museum with La Pyramide lighting up the entrance of course. We got in at around 3, and before that, simon had read that the louvre is free after 6 to people under 26 - so that worked out really well - we got to go to the louvre for free, and we didn't have to waste any time waiting around for it. We checked into our room for the first night (we had two different hotels for the two nights in paris), and so we headed out to go do our thing. We got a little something to eat first, then went to the Louvre. We saw, of course, the Mona Lisa, which had changed a bit since the last time I saw it - they colored in her face a little bit, made her smile a bit more natural and dyed her hair blond. Hahah, oh I'm such a funny guy - no no, it was the same, but they did change the presentation a bit - before it was behind a giant cube of glass that prevented you from getting close to it because of the glass, but now it's behind a piece of glass 2 inches from it, on it's own separate wall in the museum, and they have 2 levels of viewing. One, if you just want to walk up and see it, you fight your way through the mass of people trying to get a glimpse, and two, you can wait in line for a private 30 seconds 3 feet closer to the painting than everyone else behind you. We decided that it was probably going to look the same whether we got the "ultra special closeup view" so we decided not to wait in the 15 min line for that, but we still got to see her, with her crazy smile. We tried to act a bit like geeky art students - "So, how does this painting make you feel when you look at it? What is the meaning of the coloration on her left nostril? Why do you think he chose to paint her eyes open instead of closed?" Silly stuff like that. (By the way, sorry, no pictures of the painting - the museum staff were on people like white on rice if they even brought their cameras out - i figure you can do a google search and that'll probbaly work out better than some sort of bootleg, "i'll look one way while I take a picture the other way" mona lisa shot.)
After the louvre, we walked through the big park in front of the museum, which we thought was close to the arc de triumph - It looked close enough to walk to, but apparently we were wrong - it was an optical illusion. It was so big, it looked close, but in the time it took us to walk 20 min, we still had another 2 of those lengths to walk until we got to the arc. Better see that the next day. Our hotel was near Montmatre so later that night, we walked up to the top to see Sacre Coeur - fantastic view, with a fantastic church at the top - we couldn't get in because it was later, but it was still beautiful from the outside.
The next day, we started out on our power tour of paris - We first went to Notre Dame Cathedral - well, kinda - they were holding a large service for what we could only assume from what we saw on the big tv screen outside was the ordaining of many new priests. It was kind of an invitation only type thing, where even people that wanted to attend had to sit outside and watch the big tv monitor. But, obviously the outside of the church is nice, although seeing the inside is obviously cool as well.
Then we hit the catacombs - woah - crazyness -they used it as a quarry and then later when the cemeteries got full, they exhumed people and threw their bones in the underground tunnels - a TON of bones, as you'll see from the pictures when I get those up. 1.7 Kilometers of it to be exact - wow.
Then we went to the Eiffel Tower which was fantastic as always. We decided to save a few euro and walk up (which ended up being 700 steps to the second floor, by the way) but I'll tell you - that was a bit scary because it's completely open (well ok, there's a cage around the staircase, but it's still open to the wind) - but once we got up there it was a bit easier on my stomach. We took some great pictures of the surrounding area, and so that was that. Then we headed to the arc de triumph, which is much easier to get to by metro instead of by walking. It was pretty cool, but we didn't go up to the top, seeing as how we had just been on the eiffel tower - didn't need more "views from above."
After that we headed back to our new hotel (we had gotten up that morning and moved our stuff to the new place - if you're wondering why we did that, it was because no hotel nor hostel had availability for more than one day without getting ridiculous on price, so we switched - it wasn't a big deal to do, just letting you know), we found a place to use the internet and sent some emails and such, and went to do laundry, our final (or so we hope) laundry run of the trip. We have done laundry 4 times including yesterday, which makes sense given the amount of time we were gone. It wasn't a big deal having to do it, except for yesterday the machine only took coins and we were both fresh out - so we went scouting for places that would give us change back in coinage instead of bigger bills.
So we got up early and went to the train station that the Eurostar train leaves out of, went through customs for the first time since entering into the european union (crazy brits, checking passports and asking us where we're going), and we are now London-bound. I hope things are going well back at home - I'm pretty excited about the upcoming Independence Day celebration with everyone in town and such. It's been on fantastic trip so far, with a bit more to go, but I am looking forward to going home and seeing everyone.
Thanks for reading - what I set out to write was a quick entry, and it turned into a novel, so forgive me, but thanks for reading this far. See you all soon!
Love,
Matt
Hey there everybody - Here's another blog entry! So we did paris in about a day - what a rush - we saw like 7 major things in a day and a quarter, and we were pretty psyched about that. We get to do the same thing in a couple of hours when we get to London, so we're jazzed to get going.
We started out by visiting the Louvre Museum with La Pyramide lighting up the entrance of course. We got in at around 3, and before that, simon had read that the louvre is free after 6 to people under 26 - so that worked out really well - we got to go to the louvre for free, and we didn't have to waste any time waiting around for it. We checked into our room for the first night (we had two different hotels for the two nights in paris), and so we headed out to go do our thing. We got a little something to eat first, then went to the Louvre. We saw, of course, the Mona Lisa, which had changed a bit since the last time I saw it - they colored in her face a little bit, made her smile a bit more natural and dyed her hair blond. Hahah, oh I'm such a funny guy - no no, it was the same, but they did change the presentation a bit - before it was behind a giant cube of glass that prevented you from getting close to it because of the glass, but now it's behind a piece of glass 2 inches from it, on it's own separate wall in the museum, and they have 2 levels of viewing. One, if you just want to walk up and see it, you fight your way through the mass of people trying to get a glimpse, and two, you can wait in line for a private 30 seconds 3 feet closer to the painting than everyone else behind you. We decided that it was probably going to look the same whether we got the "ultra special closeup view" so we decided not to wait in the 15 min line for that, but we still got to see her, with her crazy smile. We tried to act a bit like geeky art students - "So, how does this painting make you feel when you look at it? What is the meaning of the coloration on her left nostril? Why do you think he chose to paint her eyes open instead of closed?" Silly stuff like that. (By the way, sorry, no pictures of the painting - the museum staff were on people like white on rice if they even brought their cameras out - i figure you can do a google search and that'll probbaly work out better than some sort of bootleg, "i'll look one way while I take a picture the other way" mona lisa shot.)
After the louvre, we walked through the big park in front of the museum, which we thought was close to the arc de triumph - It looked close enough to walk to, but apparently we were wrong - it was an optical illusion. It was so big, it looked close, but in the time it took us to walk 20 min, we still had another 2 of those lengths to walk until we got to the arc. Better see that the next day. Our hotel was near Montmatre so later that night, we walked up to the top to see Sacre Coeur - fantastic view, with a fantastic church at the top - we couldn't get in because it was later, but it was still beautiful from the outside.
The next day, we started out on our power tour of paris - We first went to Notre Dame Cathedral - well, kinda - they were holding a large service for what we could only assume from what we saw on the big tv screen outside was the ordaining of many new priests. It was kind of an invitation only type thing, where even people that wanted to attend had to sit outside and watch the big tv monitor. But, obviously the outside of the church is nice, although seeing the inside is obviously cool as well.
Then we hit the catacombs - woah - crazyness -they used it as a quarry and then later when the cemeteries got full, they exhumed people and threw their bones in the underground tunnels - a TON of bones, as you'll see from the pictures when I get those up. 1.7 Kilometers of it to be exact - wow.
Then we went to the Eiffel Tower which was fantastic as always. We decided to save a few euro and walk up (which ended up being 700 steps to the second floor, by the way) but I'll tell you - that was a bit scary because it's completely open (well ok, there's a cage around the staircase, but it's still open to the wind) - but once we got up there it was a bit easier on my stomach. We took some great pictures of the surrounding area, and so that was that. Then we headed to the arc de triumph, which is much easier to get to by metro instead of by walking. It was pretty cool, but we didn't go up to the top, seeing as how we had just been on the eiffel tower - didn't need more "views from above."
After that we headed back to our new hotel (we had gotten up that morning and moved our stuff to the new place - if you're wondering why we did that, it was because no hotel nor hostel had availability for more than one day without getting ridiculous on price, so we switched - it wasn't a big deal to do, just letting you know), we found a place to use the internet and sent some emails and such, and went to do laundry, our final (or so we hope) laundry run of the trip. We have done laundry 4 times including yesterday, which makes sense given the amount of time we were gone. It wasn't a big deal having to do it, except for yesterday the machine only took coins and we were both fresh out - so we went scouting for places that would give us change back in coinage instead of bigger bills.
So we got up early and went to the train station that the Eurostar train leaves out of, went through customs for the first time since entering into the european union (crazy brits, checking passports and asking us where we're going), and we are now London-bound. I hope things are going well back at home - I'm pretty excited about the upcoming Independence Day celebration with everyone in town and such. It's been on fantastic trip so far, with a bit more to go, but I am looking forward to going home and seeing everyone.
Thanks for reading - what I set out to write was a quick entry, and it turned into a novel, so forgive me, but thanks for reading this far. See you all soon!
Love,
Matt
Friday, June 22, 2007
bonjour a nice
(6/22/07 - 11:00 - Train to Paris)
Well, it's sufficient to say that Nice, was nice. Let's start from the beginning. While we were on a train to Nice, or so we thought, from Genova, the conductor came by to check tickets and said "oh, by the way, this train is not going to Nice - there is a french rail strike going on now. You have to get off and go to another train to get to Nice." umm.... ok? Sure - so we did that, and finally got there. Simple enough? I'll skip to the end, where we had to buy 1st class tickets on the TGV to Paris, in which we don't have seats, so at the moment, we're sitting in the car, hoping that nobody comes to sit down in our seats. Oh well - it's part of the adventure!
When we got to Nice, it was late, so we grabbed some dinner - chinese food from the place next door. We used an internet cafe for a bit, then headed back to the hostel. We met the aussie (we never did remember his name - we simply referred to him as "our aussie friend") who was our roommate then, and got some sleep. The next morning, we decided to go to the beach, and he followed us there - for the entire time we were in Nice, we were with this aussie guy, who was really cool, but it was a bit strange that he just kinda decided to tag along. It worked out really well though cause he was a nice guy, and gosh darnit, people liked him. So, to the beach, simon got burned, I listened to a lot of podcasts, and we just enjoyed the sun and the water. The blue water was beautiful, that's for sure. We headed back after the sun to grab a little nap, and I went to go upload some pictures to the internet of Florence (they're up now if you didn't notice before). We decided to check out if there were some bars around, and we did find a cool english pub in Old Nice where there was a cover band from Norway called "The Nobodies" who played some classic rock - you know, AC/DC and Kiss - that kind of stuff. They were a little on the strange side, but that's ok, their music was good.
The next day (yesterday), we decided to check out Monte Carlo - We showed up at the train station (across the street from our hostel), at 11:30 or so, expecting to hop right on a local train. Simon and I filled out our eurail passes, and our aussie friend bought a ticket from the machine. We went to hop on, and they said "oh, I'm sorry, but there's only one train going there, and that's at 2:30, there's a strike going on you know." So the strike, um, struck again. We got some lunch and headed back around 2 or so and got on the very crowded train (the only one running) to Monacco and Monte Carlo. We saw the sights there - the Prince's palace and the old prince's car collection and the giant yachts all in a line for some sort of "really big, expensive boat convention." Unfortunately, because of the strike, simon and I were not able to go have dinner at the restaurant my Mom wanted us to - there just simply wasn't a way for us to get there and have dinner, and be able to get home. I did see a sign for the hotel, so I took a picture of that though - Someday I'll get there, someday :-\. Sorry mom! We did however see the extravagant casino, although we didn't go inside as A) we weren't dressed properly, and B) there was a cover of 15 Euros just to get in! So, instead, we decided to stay out and bet that we wouldn't be making our 15 euro back at the tables.
That afternoon, we finally got a train back to Nice, grabbed some beers and sat on the beach and watch silly high school band kids fall into the water with their street clothes on (did I mention that the beach is made out of stones? I'll tell you, if there wasn't such a reputation for the stoney beaches, and I was in charge of Nice, I'd grind those suckers up - it's uncomfortable!)
Yesterday was, and pardon my french, the Fete de la Musique - Basically a music festival all over france - so Nice was no exception. We walked around Old Nice which was a happening place, with people everywhere listening to bands of every variety - jazz, hard rock, reggae - you name it, it was there. We listened for a bit, but then realizing we had to get up early, walked back home and went to bed.
We're on the train to Paris now - I apologize for such long entries, but sometimes I just get carried away with the details. Hopefully this one was a bit more manageable and won't take you 20 minutes to read. Thanks for reading, by the way, I hope you've enjoyed them so far. We have roughly 7 days in europe left - Some parts flew by, some parts dragged, but so far, we have had one excellent trip - I'm very happy that I came, it's been a very fun and exciting few weeks, although I am homesick and do want to see everyone again very badly.
Well, strike be damned, we're going to get to Paris sometime today - I think we're going to hit up the Louvre for starters - See you all soon!
From a TGV (not going very GV at the moment - GV = High Speed) to Paris,
Matt
Well, it's sufficient to say that Nice, was nice. Let's start from the beginning. While we were on a train to Nice, or so we thought, from Genova, the conductor came by to check tickets and said "oh, by the way, this train is not going to Nice - there is a french rail strike going on now. You have to get off and go to another train to get to Nice." umm.... ok? Sure - so we did that, and finally got there. Simple enough? I'll skip to the end, where we had to buy 1st class tickets on the TGV to Paris, in which we don't have seats, so at the moment, we're sitting in the car, hoping that nobody comes to sit down in our seats. Oh well - it's part of the adventure!
When we got to Nice, it was late, so we grabbed some dinner - chinese food from the place next door. We used an internet cafe for a bit, then headed back to the hostel. We met the aussie (we never did remember his name - we simply referred to him as "our aussie friend") who was our roommate then, and got some sleep. The next morning, we decided to go to the beach, and he followed us there - for the entire time we were in Nice, we were with this aussie guy, who was really cool, but it was a bit strange that he just kinda decided to tag along. It worked out really well though cause he was a nice guy, and gosh darnit, people liked him. So, to the beach, simon got burned, I listened to a lot of podcasts, and we just enjoyed the sun and the water. The blue water was beautiful, that's for sure. We headed back after the sun to grab a little nap, and I went to go upload some pictures to the internet of Florence (they're up now if you didn't notice before). We decided to check out if there were some bars around, and we did find a cool english pub in Old Nice where there was a cover band from Norway called "The Nobodies" who played some classic rock - you know, AC/DC and Kiss - that kind of stuff. They were a little on the strange side, but that's ok, their music was good.
The next day (yesterday), we decided to check out Monte Carlo - We showed up at the train station (across the street from our hostel), at 11:30 or so, expecting to hop right on a local train. Simon and I filled out our eurail passes, and our aussie friend bought a ticket from the machine. We went to hop on, and they said "oh, I'm sorry, but there's only one train going there, and that's at 2:30, there's a strike going on you know." So the strike, um, struck again. We got some lunch and headed back around 2 or so and got on the very crowded train (the only one running) to Monacco and Monte Carlo. We saw the sights there - the Prince's palace and the old prince's car collection and the giant yachts all in a line for some sort of "really big, expensive boat convention." Unfortunately, because of the strike, simon and I were not able to go have dinner at the restaurant my Mom wanted us to - there just simply wasn't a way for us to get there and have dinner, and be able to get home. I did see a sign for the hotel, so I took a picture of that though - Someday I'll get there, someday :-\. Sorry mom! We did however see the extravagant casino, although we didn't go inside as A) we weren't dressed properly, and B) there was a cover of 15 Euros just to get in! So, instead, we decided to stay out and bet that we wouldn't be making our 15 euro back at the tables.
That afternoon, we finally got a train back to Nice, grabbed some beers and sat on the beach and watch silly high school band kids fall into the water with their street clothes on (did I mention that the beach is made out of stones? I'll tell you, if there wasn't such a reputation for the stoney beaches, and I was in charge of Nice, I'd grind those suckers up - it's uncomfortable!)
Yesterday was, and pardon my french, the Fete de la Musique - Basically a music festival all over france - so Nice was no exception. We walked around Old Nice which was a happening place, with people everywhere listening to bands of every variety - jazz, hard rock, reggae - you name it, it was there. We listened for a bit, but then realizing we had to get up early, walked back home and went to bed.
We're on the train to Paris now - I apologize for such long entries, but sometimes I just get carried away with the details. Hopefully this one was a bit more manageable and won't take you 20 minutes to read. Thanks for reading, by the way, I hope you've enjoyed them so far. We have roughly 7 days in europe left - Some parts flew by, some parts dragged, but so far, we have had one excellent trip - I'm very happy that I came, it's been a very fun and exciting few weeks, although I am homesick and do want to see everyone again very badly.
Well, strike be damned, we're going to get to Paris sometime today - I think we're going to hit up the Louvre for starters - See you all soon!
From a TGV (not going very GV at the moment - GV = High Speed) to Paris,
Matt
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Florence, Firenze, whatever you want to call it
(train from pisa to genova, enroute to Nice, 3:30, tuesday 19th)
Hey everyone,
Hopefully if i'm sending this out, i also had a chance to send out the pictures we took from florence - wow, what a beautiful city and area in general. We did however run into a bit of a road block with stuff to do that was going to interest us, but that's ok, we just kinda relaxed and took advantage of our incredibly cool, air conditioned room as well as our view from said room.
We arrived at like 12:30 two days ago, so we really got a chance to see a lot of Florence or Firenze or however you want to call it, on the first day. Our hotel, not a hostel, was literally 3 minutes away from the station which was nice, and we got right in, dropped our stuff off, and headed out. We first just walked around down some streets to the Duomo - what a beautiful church. In fact, I would say that it is more beautiful on the outside than on the inside - it's (by others we have seen's standards) very plain inside actually with a few interesting notable items: 1) the big clock on the back wall, 2) the sundial, which you can't see, because it only lights up one little area on the 20th of june or something like that?, 3) the neat "shadowed" tilework on the floor. I think I took a picture of all that. Oh hey, in case you've forgotten, the link for the pictures is http://www.flickr.com/photos/98781425@N00 Just thought I'd let you know again. After seeing the Duomo, and seeing the really long line to get into said duomo, we decided to come back the next day, a plan, which unlike the vatican museums's, actually worked. But on to the rest of the first day: We walked around until we found the Uffizi, an art museum so huge it would have taken years to see everything in it - so actually, in an effort to get our buck's worth, we're still there, and have been there for a past couple of days, and I've only recently found some wireless to send this to you. Ha ha... just kidding - we saw the "highlights" that our guidebooks told us to check out, and we were pretty satisfied. I can't remember exactly what we saw, but everything was really old, really cool looking and just in general, um, cool, for lack of a better working dictionary in my head. Some of the statues and paintings there had been there since 1200! Anyway, after that, we went to this really old bridge, the name of which escapes me, but it is lined by gold and jewelry stores the entire way. Ladies, have no fear, I picked up a couple gold necklaces and earrings for all of you, just remind me next time I see you. That night, we decided that it was time for a real, authentic, italian dinner, which was fantastic, which simon treated me to for my birthday, which made it extra nice. We sat outside on the street underneath big umbrellas, and it was just really nice. Simon had stewed wild boar, while I had swordfish - both were really good. That night, we wanted to take a walk, which turned into us getting a bit lost, but we found some cool little digital map outside some hotel which guided us back to our hotel in no time flat. We also saw a really neat mcdonalds - in the pictures you will see that it's the one with the black walls, cool colored lights, and the golden arches on a sign on the left - most chic mcdonalds I've ever seen. The next day, we got up at 8, had some breakfast at a little cafe - an espresso and a breakfast item of some sort... kinda like a danish I guess, and headed out to the duomo. On our way there, we stopped in a book store which happened to have an international section, where simon picked up 2 more english books to read on the trip. Great find, because he was really dying to get into some more books, as he had polished off 4 already. The duomo, which I already mentioned, was pretty plain inside, but great to see, and was massive. The outside pictures are a bit more stunning so you should check them out (assuming they're posted when you're reading this). Our next and final official stop in florence was "the big giant hill at the south east corner of florence across the river" - obviously I have no idea what it was actually called, but I think it was near Michelangelo piazza or something like that. One of the copies of Michaelangelo's (sp?) David is up there - it's the copper one, the stone one is somewhere else - we saw that too. Up there, we took some of the most amazing photos yet - stunning shots of the city, and the surrounding mountains. We also got some gelato, which was very good - but be forewarned - should you arrive a place of gelato sales where the tiramisu gelato is fresh and has it's chocolate powder exposed, do not, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to inhale the powder - it makes you cough like you're dying. Simon was just about ready to hit me with the heimlach maneuver when I told him I was ok, and had just gotten a little chocolate powder in my lungs. I'm fine now, if you were wondering, it just took me a couple of minutes to stop coughing and drink a lot of water. So, that pretty much ends our formal trip to florence - later that night we went to a grocery, got some loafs of hard crusty bread (fantastic) and some fresh made pesto and some chocolate, and went to town on that for dinner - we had been eating a lot here and there for lunch, so that was enough to satiate our hunger. We used the internet and such from one of the dozens of internet points, and headed back for a good night's sleep before our trek to Nice today - 8 hours I might add. We're about halfway through, maybe a little more, and the air conditioning seems to be working a bit better than it was before - really stuffy in this car! Anyway, we're staying 3 nights in Nice and 2 in Paris before we take the Chunnel to London for another 2 nights, then fly to Dublin for another 3 nights. Then we're back in the states (er, canada). Quickly on the topic of canada, we ran into some germans on some sort of class trip on a bus to rome from our campsite. One of them looked at the canadian tags on our packs and said to simon "ahh, I love your country!" - we're like, um... "Ohhh, right, you love canada" to ourselves. We didn't have the guts to tell them we were american and have them tell us they didn't like our country so much anymore. Anyway, I think most people like the united states and its citizens, but just aren't pleased with the united states government and such. Anyway, on that note I'm going to go see if they have any Labatt Blue on this train... Arrivedeci Italy, Bonjour France!
Matt, from a slightly cooler than it was earlier train from Pisa to Genova, enroute to Nice.
Edit: oops, no internet connection to my machine yet, so no pictures from florence, but soon
Hey everyone,
Hopefully if i'm sending this out, i also had a chance to send out the pictures we took from florence - wow, what a beautiful city and area in general. We did however run into a bit of a road block with stuff to do that was going to interest us, but that's ok, we just kinda relaxed and took advantage of our incredibly cool, air conditioned room as well as our view from said room.
We arrived at like 12:30 two days ago, so we really got a chance to see a lot of Florence or Firenze or however you want to call it, on the first day. Our hotel, not a hostel, was literally 3 minutes away from the station which was nice, and we got right in, dropped our stuff off, and headed out. We first just walked around down some streets to the Duomo - what a beautiful church. In fact, I would say that it is more beautiful on the outside than on the inside - it's (by others we have seen's standards) very plain inside actually with a few interesting notable items: 1) the big clock on the back wall, 2) the sundial, which you can't see, because it only lights up one little area on the 20th of june or something like that?, 3) the neat "shadowed" tilework on the floor. I think I took a picture of all that. Oh hey, in case you've forgotten, the link for the pictures is http://www.flickr.com/photos/98781425@N00 Just thought I'd let you know again. After seeing the Duomo, and seeing the really long line to get into said duomo, we decided to come back the next day, a plan, which unlike the vatican museums's, actually worked. But on to the rest of the first day: We walked around until we found the Uffizi, an art museum so huge it would have taken years to see everything in it - so actually, in an effort to get our buck's worth, we're still there, and have been there for a past couple of days, and I've only recently found some wireless to send this to you. Ha ha... just kidding - we saw the "highlights" that our guidebooks told us to check out, and we were pretty satisfied. I can't remember exactly what we saw, but everything was really old, really cool looking and just in general, um, cool, for lack of a better working dictionary in my head. Some of the statues and paintings there had been there since 1200! Anyway, after that, we went to this really old bridge, the name of which escapes me, but it is lined by gold and jewelry stores the entire way. Ladies, have no fear, I picked up a couple gold necklaces and earrings for all of you, just remind me next time I see you. That night, we decided that it was time for a real, authentic, italian dinner, which was fantastic, which simon treated me to for my birthday, which made it extra nice. We sat outside on the street underneath big umbrellas, and it was just really nice. Simon had stewed wild boar, while I had swordfish - both were really good. That night, we wanted to take a walk, which turned into us getting a bit lost, but we found some cool little digital map outside some hotel which guided us back to our hotel in no time flat. We also saw a really neat mcdonalds - in the pictures you will see that it's the one with the black walls, cool colored lights, and the golden arches on a sign on the left - most chic mcdonalds I've ever seen. The next day, we got up at 8, had some breakfast at a little cafe - an espresso and a breakfast item of some sort... kinda like a danish I guess, and headed out to the duomo. On our way there, we stopped in a book store which happened to have an international section, where simon picked up 2 more english books to read on the trip. Great find, because he was really dying to get into some more books, as he had polished off 4 already. The duomo, which I already mentioned, was pretty plain inside, but great to see, and was massive. The outside pictures are a bit more stunning so you should check them out (assuming they're posted when you're reading this). Our next and final official stop in florence was "the big giant hill at the south east corner of florence across the river" - obviously I have no idea what it was actually called, but I think it was near Michelangelo piazza or something like that. One of the copies of Michaelangelo's (sp?) David is up there - it's the copper one, the stone one is somewhere else - we saw that too. Up there, we took some of the most amazing photos yet - stunning shots of the city, and the surrounding mountains. We also got some gelato, which was very good - but be forewarned - should you arrive a place of gelato sales where the tiramisu gelato is fresh and has it's chocolate powder exposed, do not, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to inhale the powder - it makes you cough like you're dying. Simon was just about ready to hit me with the heimlach maneuver when I told him I was ok, and had just gotten a little chocolate powder in my lungs. I'm fine now, if you were wondering, it just took me a couple of minutes to stop coughing and drink a lot of water. So, that pretty much ends our formal trip to florence - later that night we went to a grocery, got some loafs of hard crusty bread (fantastic) and some fresh made pesto and some chocolate, and went to town on that for dinner - we had been eating a lot here and there for lunch, so that was enough to satiate our hunger. We used the internet and such from one of the dozens of internet points, and headed back for a good night's sleep before our trek to Nice today - 8 hours I might add. We're about halfway through, maybe a little more, and the air conditioning seems to be working a bit better than it was before - really stuffy in this car! Anyway, we're staying 3 nights in Nice and 2 in Paris before we take the Chunnel to London for another 2 nights, then fly to Dublin for another 3 nights. Then we're back in the states (er, canada). Quickly on the topic of canada, we ran into some germans on some sort of class trip on a bus to rome from our campsite. One of them looked at the canadian tags on our packs and said to simon "ahh, I love your country!" - we're like, um... "Ohhh, right, you love canada" to ourselves. We didn't have the guts to tell them we were american and have them tell us they didn't like our country so much anymore. Anyway, I think most people like the united states and its citizens, but just aren't pleased with the united states government and such. Anyway, on that note I'm going to go see if they have any Labatt Blue on this train... Arrivedeci Italy, Bonjour France!
Matt, from a slightly cooler than it was earlier train from Pisa to Genova, enroute to Nice.
Edit: oops, no internet connection to my machine yet, so no pictures from florence, but soon
Sunday, June 17, 2007
All roads lead to Rome
(written at 12:00 on 6-17 on train to florence)
Well, we did as the romans do.... we um, saw rome. What a city though! I had been there before, but it was just as fun to get lost again in the ancient city once again. The first day we got there, we made it to our hostel, or campsite as it turned out to be, and just kinda hung out there for the night. In retrospect, we probably wouldn't stay there again just because it was far out from the heart of rome, and it was only supposed to take like 15 or 20 min to get to rome, but with traffic and about a billion people on the metro, it usually took a little longer. But the next day, we got into rome, and started to see the sites. We checked out the vatican first, and saw the awesome st. peter's basilica, and just marveled at the size and awesomeness of the square out front. after that, we went to the pantheon to see that gigantic building - what a site - what really makes me wonder, is how they got that solid piece of poured concrete all the way up on top of that building - absolutely amazing. the preservedness (not a word but you get the idea) of many of the ancient roman buildings and structures was truly amazing. After the pantheon, we checked out the world famous gelato place next door - we had been told by some lady on the water bus in venice that the place next to the pantheon, on the right hand side of the entrance, was the best in the world - we tried it, and by gosh, she was right. If you're ever there, you gotta get it - it's the one with all the newspaper articles plastered on the wall telling you (in italian of course) how good it is. We looked at the map, and saw, "oh hey, the trevi fountain is close to here, let's check it out!" about an hour and a half later, and nearly completely lost, we hopped on a bus to the main train station and decided that we should probably start over from a place we know, and find the fountain later. we were so lost, it was nuts. so after that, we went to the coliseum which was clearly marked on the map, not to mention 30 meters or so from the metro station (impossible to mess this one up) - so we went there, and that was once again, fantastic and breathtaking. After the coliseum, we headed back to the main train station, where stopped for a slice of fine, italian pizza at this place next to it, and rested our feet for a bit. After going to see the spanish steps and being nearly assaulted with fake purses, watches, and dolci and gabana belts on the international steps, we headed back to the campsite and hung out with the guys across the walk from our cabin. One was from australia and one was from california, there with his "girlfriend," although the way they were fighting (we could hear them loud and clear) it didn't sound like they would be together much longer... but maybe they'll surprise us! not that we'll be around to find out. The next day, we decided we were going to wake up "early" and go to the vatican museum to get there early to beat the lines, and make our way into the sistine chapel, and then meander our way back into the rest of the museum. This, all in an effort to beat the crowds. Um, so we got to the museum, and almost got into the line that was only for private tours.... which was about 25 people long. He told us that we had to go into the main line. I swear, the line for the museum was 5 people wide, and went on, around the outside wall of the vatican for around 3/4 of a mile. At the end, we heard people talking about 3 hours wait from that point. We figured that since we're only 21 (today i'm 22!) years old, we have a good number of years to come back and see it. I've seen it once, and it would have been good to see more of it, but, um, it's not worth the 3 hours wait. Oh, of course, there were some tour sharks walking around the line asking people if they wanted to join their private tour for 60 bucks which would include the ticket and jump you right inside the museum in 15 minutes. What a plan! So, if you're willing to spend the money, it's not too bad, but if not, be prepared to get there at say.... 4AM and wait until it opens - it's like waiting in line for concert tickets or to try out for american idol - nuts. So instead we went to check out the trevi fountain, which we had figured out the location of. Very cool - it would have been even neater to see at night, because I have seen pictures of that, but it was pretty nice during the day too. We continued from there to see the roman ruins, which were pretty spectacular - we walked through many an archeological dig site where they were still uncovering more ancient ruins. We went to the top of this big hill, which our previous day's ticket the coliseum had somehow included, and we got some more pictures of the city from atop the hill. Then we went to circus maximus, which is a little bit of a let down, as it's just a big dirt track now, with some old buildings on one side, but still cool to see where they did some chariot races, back in the day. Which was a wednesday, by the way. We went back to the campsite after that, and had decided that we wanted to stay another day there, and just chill for a bit, by the pool, and rest up for the weeks to come. We did that yesterday - just read our books for a while (I've finished two now, and i think simon just finished his 4th), and soaked up the sun. I've got a nice farmer's tan working, but it's getting better because i took my shirt off for a bit by the pool. Now we're heading to florence, which we have planned to stay 2 days at, just like venice. We figure, that if there's more to see, and more to do, we'll just stay another day, no big deal, but we're betting it's goign to be able to be done in a day and an afternoon. After florence, we head to nice, and check out there and the surrounding areas like Cannes and Monte Carlo. Should be a good time!
I hope everyone is enjoying the fantastic weather that you have been having, as we have, and that all is well!
Love and miss all of you,
Matt, on a train from Roma to Firenze (how the hell did they get "Florence" from "Firenze?")
Well, we did as the romans do.... we um, saw rome. What a city though! I had been there before, but it was just as fun to get lost again in the ancient city once again. The first day we got there, we made it to our hostel, or campsite as it turned out to be, and just kinda hung out there for the night. In retrospect, we probably wouldn't stay there again just because it was far out from the heart of rome, and it was only supposed to take like 15 or 20 min to get to rome, but with traffic and about a billion people on the metro, it usually took a little longer. But the next day, we got into rome, and started to see the sites. We checked out the vatican first, and saw the awesome st. peter's basilica, and just marveled at the size and awesomeness of the square out front. after that, we went to the pantheon to see that gigantic building - what a site - what really makes me wonder, is how they got that solid piece of poured concrete all the way up on top of that building - absolutely amazing. the preservedness (not a word but you get the idea) of many of the ancient roman buildings and structures was truly amazing. After the pantheon, we checked out the world famous gelato place next door - we had been told by some lady on the water bus in venice that the place next to the pantheon, on the right hand side of the entrance, was the best in the world - we tried it, and by gosh, she was right. If you're ever there, you gotta get it - it's the one with all the newspaper articles plastered on the wall telling you (in italian of course) how good it is. We looked at the map, and saw, "oh hey, the trevi fountain is close to here, let's check it out!" about an hour and a half later, and nearly completely lost, we hopped on a bus to the main train station and decided that we should probably start over from a place we know, and find the fountain later. we were so lost, it was nuts. so after that, we went to the coliseum which was clearly marked on the map, not to mention 30 meters or so from the metro station (impossible to mess this one up) - so we went there, and that was once again, fantastic and breathtaking. After the coliseum, we headed back to the main train station, where stopped for a slice of fine, italian pizza at this place next to it, and rested our feet for a bit. After going to see the spanish steps and being nearly assaulted with fake purses, watches, and dolci and gabana belts on the international steps, we headed back to the campsite and hung out with the guys across the walk from our cabin. One was from australia and one was from california, there with his "girlfriend," although the way they were fighting (we could hear them loud and clear) it didn't sound like they would be together much longer... but maybe they'll surprise us! not that we'll be around to find out. The next day, we decided we were going to wake up "early" and go to the vatican museum to get there early to beat the lines, and make our way into the sistine chapel, and then meander our way back into the rest of the museum. This, all in an effort to beat the crowds. Um, so we got to the museum, and almost got into the line that was only for private tours.... which was about 25 people long. He told us that we had to go into the main line. I swear, the line for the museum was 5 people wide, and went on, around the outside wall of the vatican for around 3/4 of a mile. At the end, we heard people talking about 3 hours wait from that point. We figured that since we're only 21 (today i'm 22!) years old, we have a good number of years to come back and see it. I've seen it once, and it would have been good to see more of it, but, um, it's not worth the 3 hours wait. Oh, of course, there were some tour sharks walking around the line asking people if they wanted to join their private tour for 60 bucks which would include the ticket and jump you right inside the museum in 15 minutes. What a plan! So, if you're willing to spend the money, it's not too bad, but if not, be prepared to get there at say.... 4AM and wait until it opens - it's like waiting in line for concert tickets or to try out for american idol - nuts. So instead we went to check out the trevi fountain, which we had figured out the location of. Very cool - it would have been even neater to see at night, because I have seen pictures of that, but it was pretty nice during the day too. We continued from there to see the roman ruins, which were pretty spectacular - we walked through many an archeological dig site where they were still uncovering more ancient ruins. We went to the top of this big hill, which our previous day's ticket the coliseum had somehow included, and we got some more pictures of the city from atop the hill. Then we went to circus maximus, which is a little bit of a let down, as it's just a big dirt track now, with some old buildings on one side, but still cool to see where they did some chariot races, back in the day. Which was a wednesday, by the way. We went back to the campsite after that, and had decided that we wanted to stay another day there, and just chill for a bit, by the pool, and rest up for the weeks to come. We did that yesterday - just read our books for a while (I've finished two now, and i think simon just finished his 4th), and soaked up the sun. I've got a nice farmer's tan working, but it's getting better because i took my shirt off for a bit by the pool. Now we're heading to florence, which we have planned to stay 2 days at, just like venice. We figure, that if there's more to see, and more to do, we'll just stay another day, no big deal, but we're betting it's goign to be able to be done in a day and an afternoon. After florence, we head to nice, and check out there and the surrounding areas like Cannes and Monte Carlo. Should be a good time!
I hope everyone is enjoying the fantastic weather that you have been having, as we have, and that all is well!
Love and miss all of you,
Matt, on a train from Roma to Firenze (how the hell did they get "Florence" from "Firenze?")
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Bonjourno!
6/13/07
Train to Roma
2:55 PM
Well, Venice was certainly interesting - so weird to see a city completely intertwined with such water. I think I'll just start right into it, there's not a whole heck of a lot to tell, but enough for a post. We got to the station, and after figuring out which boat to take, and which one was actually showing up at the time we were there, we got to our island - we weren't staying on venice proper, but we stayed on an island called Lido. We got to the island, and the directions that the website had given us on how to get to the hotel (not hostel - it was a real hotel this time - no hostels available anymore when we booked), really were horrible - it said to "take the bus" so we got on a bus, but it was the wrong one. After aimlessly walking in "the directions we thought it was," it turned out we were right, and we kinda sorta just stumbled onto the place. Really lucky. We had a shower, cause we were really sweaty, and headed out to check out venice. We meandered around, got lost, found a place to eat, continued to get lost, got lost some more, and then finally later that night, found the grand canal and found our way out - being lost is indeed more fun than being found, according to the guidebook, because it was just neat to explore. Check out the pictures for what all the exploring showed us. We went back to the hotel later that night, posted an email and a blog entry and headed to bed. We woke up late the next day and walked out into the drizzling venice air. It wasn't a fantastic day because of the on again off again rain, but it was ok - and we did the same thing as the previous day - got lost, got something to eat, and then got more lost. San Marco square was indeed spectacular, which is where we always started our trips to get lost. We didn't see it really flood till the last night, where there was quite a bit of water in there - see the pictures for a bit more of an illustration. We spent just enough time in venice to see what it was all about, but I think that if I was going to come back, it would be with Claire, as it is obviously a very romantic city, and even then, only for a few days to see the sights, as it's very likely that we could see entirely different things on two occasions because of all the randomness in the walking. Anyway - venice was cool, and now on to Rome. We're on the train now - our hostel is actually a hostel and a campsite outside rome a bit with a regular shuttle into the vatican, which should be very convenient. we're staying there at least 3 days, maybe 4 if we feel there is too much to see and not enough time. I'll post this when we get there, and hopefully I'll have another one when we're there to tell you all about the hostel and how we're making out in Rome. I hope everything is going well - If you're in rochester, check out the jazz festival for me and tell me how it is! Catch ya later
Train to Roma,
Matt
Train to Roma
2:55 PM
Well, Venice was certainly interesting - so weird to see a city completely intertwined with such water. I think I'll just start right into it, there's not a whole heck of a lot to tell, but enough for a post. We got to the station, and after figuring out which boat to take, and which one was actually showing up at the time we were there, we got to our island - we weren't staying on venice proper, but we stayed on an island called Lido. We got to the island, and the directions that the website had given us on how to get to the hotel (not hostel - it was a real hotel this time - no hostels available anymore when we booked), really were horrible - it said to "take the bus" so we got on a bus, but it was the wrong one. After aimlessly walking in "the directions we thought it was," it turned out we were right, and we kinda sorta just stumbled onto the place. Really lucky. We had a shower, cause we were really sweaty, and headed out to check out venice. We meandered around, got lost, found a place to eat, continued to get lost, got lost some more, and then finally later that night, found the grand canal and found our way out - being lost is indeed more fun than being found, according to the guidebook, because it was just neat to explore. Check out the pictures for what all the exploring showed us. We went back to the hotel later that night, posted an email and a blog entry and headed to bed. We woke up late the next day and walked out into the drizzling venice air. It wasn't a fantastic day because of the on again off again rain, but it was ok - and we did the same thing as the previous day - got lost, got something to eat, and then got more lost. San Marco square was indeed spectacular, which is where we always started our trips to get lost. We didn't see it really flood till the last night, where there was quite a bit of water in there - see the pictures for a bit more of an illustration. We spent just enough time in venice to see what it was all about, but I think that if I was going to come back, it would be with Claire, as it is obviously a very romantic city, and even then, only for a few days to see the sights, as it's very likely that we could see entirely different things on two occasions because of all the randomness in the walking. Anyway - venice was cool, and now on to Rome. We're on the train now - our hostel is actually a hostel and a campsite outside rome a bit with a regular shuttle into the vatican, which should be very convenient. we're staying there at least 3 days, maybe 4 if we feel there is too much to see and not enough time. I'll post this when we get there, and hopefully I'll have another one when we're there to tell you all about the hostel and how we're making out in Rome. I hope everything is going well - If you're in rochester, check out the jazz festival for me and tell me how it is! Catch ya later
Train to Roma,
Matt
Monday, June 11, 2007
Tomato, Tomato, Konstanz, Constance, Venizia, Venice
1:10 PM
6/11/07
Train to Venice
Well here I am, sitting on a train to Venice, which left from Milan. A pretty nice train, and in fact, it has power plugs at the seats, so I don't even have to use battery power. No wireless though - that would be just too much. Anyway, we've just spent the last few days in Konstanz or Constance if you're spelling it the english way, but it was a beautiful little town (I say little, but it was the biggest town on lake Konstanz) on the border of switzerland, and on the other side of the lake, it's Austria. The clouds were a little thick most of the time, at least in the way of seeing the alps in the distance, but on clear days (I saw pictures) you can see them with their snow topped, um, tops off in the distance. We ended up in Konstanz because Simon's girlfriend Rachel's family had an exchange student live with them a few years ago, for a year. This is who we stayed with - her and her family. What wonderful people they are (the Windisch family). They treated us like kings by giving us a place to stay (thanks to Hendi's twin sister Saskia for letting us use her room), and food to eat, and wonderful conversation. They all spoke english - it amazed simon and I that they would speak english just the same way they would speak german - it was if nothing was changed. We had very interesting and extremely intelligent (well, I can't say much for myself, but they all were) conversations. Her mom teaches english at a boarding school across the lake - a beautiful place from what I saw in the brochure, and her father is a professor in stuttgart, where he lives for most of the week, then returns home to be with his family. When we arrived there, we were whisked off to Hendrickje's grandmother's house where we had coffee, cake, amazing strawberries, and conversation. So after a while, went back to Hendi's house, dropped our stuff off, showered (as we were sweating like pigs from the trip in, as it was a very hot day), and we immediately went out to check out Konstanz. We walked around and she showed us all the sights in her area just a little outside the town itself. We went home, and had dinner with her mother and her sister, Saskia. We had so much to talk about, we finished dessert at 1:00 AM and so we headed to bed. The next day, after a wonderful breakfast, we went biking through to Konstanz proper, as well as another town (which I can't remember the name of) across the lake, and saw all the history and the things to see there. We visited an old castle, and just checked out all of the lake / hills views that were to be seen from there. Meanwhile, this whole time, we were pelting Hendi with questions about Germany and the language, and her studies, and the government and taxes, and all kinds of stuff she probably didn't want to be talking about, but she gladly answered them - very nice of her. We returned home, again sweaty, so we showered, and had dinner, this time, with her whole family, father included, as well as Hendi's friend from her running team's parents. They were wonderful, and although their english was not quite as good as the Windisch's, they were wonderful people to talk to, even with a little translation in between. Yesterday (sunday) we woke up later, and again headed out by bike to check out the surrounding areas of Konstanz, which we took two ferries to get to, with the bikes. It was a very scenic tour, stopping once at a church/vineyard to check that out, as well as rest and have a little snack. We returned home, but not after seeing these very old (or recreated to look very old about 80 years ago), stilt houses which were built by people in the stone age and the bronze age (as I recall). They used all kinds of primitive tools and such to do their living to kill bears, and deer and find fish. There was actually a movie made called "Stone Age - The Experiment," in where some families lived in these houses and used the tools those people would have used to live and eat. We didn't see the movie, but we heard that it was more interesting than was thought, because while the families were trained to use the tools and such, it began to rain a lot, which made using the tools very difficult. Hendi was very kind to translate the tour, as the lady who was having it (and held the keys to the houses, so we had to follow her) was only speaking german, so she told us the important highlights and such. We went home, had a shower again, and went out to dinner with her family, minus Saskia who went to a movie with her grandmother. We went to an italian restaurant, fittingly enough, as we are on our way to Venice right now, where we will stay for 2 nights. We had a little ice cream, went home, discussed computers for a bit, booked our hostel for Venice, and went to bed, only to wake up to breakfast cooked and ready for us (at 5:00 in the morning, as our train left Konstanz at 5:57 this morning) - what a guy Hendi's dad is to do that for us.
In other news, the internet is very weird here in europe - in the states, many cafes and restaurants open their wireless internet for anyone to use - in fact, it's a selling point for people like me, but in europe, they close everything down! Oh well, I guess it's just one of those differences, but I was under the impression they had a lot of wireless internet here - at least, that's what people that had been here recently told me. Anyway, I'm going to put my computer away now. I'm happy to have power here on the train, but I can't do too much without the internet. I hope everything is going well back at home, and I can't wait to see you all to tell you more about the trip. E-mail if you like!
Love,
Matt
6/11/07
Train to Venice
Well here I am, sitting on a train to Venice, which left from Milan. A pretty nice train, and in fact, it has power plugs at the seats, so I don't even have to use battery power. No wireless though - that would be just too much. Anyway, we've just spent the last few days in Konstanz or Constance if you're spelling it the english way, but it was a beautiful little town (I say little, but it was the biggest town on lake Konstanz) on the border of switzerland, and on the other side of the lake, it's Austria. The clouds were a little thick most of the time, at least in the way of seeing the alps in the distance, but on clear days (I saw pictures) you can see them with their snow topped, um, tops off in the distance. We ended up in Konstanz because Simon's girlfriend Rachel's family had an exchange student live with them a few years ago, for a year. This is who we stayed with - her and her family. What wonderful people they are (the Windisch family). They treated us like kings by giving us a place to stay (thanks to Hendi's twin sister Saskia for letting us use her room), and food to eat, and wonderful conversation. They all spoke english - it amazed simon and I that they would speak english just the same way they would speak german - it was if nothing was changed. We had very interesting and extremely intelligent (well, I can't say much for myself, but they all were) conversations. Her mom teaches english at a boarding school across the lake - a beautiful place from what I saw in the brochure, and her father is a professor in stuttgart, where he lives for most of the week, then returns home to be with his family. When we arrived there, we were whisked off to Hendrickje's grandmother's house where we had coffee, cake, amazing strawberries, and conversation. So after a while, went back to Hendi's house, dropped our stuff off, showered (as we were sweating like pigs from the trip in, as it was a very hot day), and we immediately went out to check out Konstanz. We walked around and she showed us all the sights in her area just a little outside the town itself. We went home, and had dinner with her mother and her sister, Saskia. We had so much to talk about, we finished dessert at 1:00 AM and so we headed to bed. The next day, after a wonderful breakfast, we went biking through to Konstanz proper, as well as another town (which I can't remember the name of) across the lake, and saw all the history and the things to see there. We visited an old castle, and just checked out all of the lake / hills views that were to be seen from there. Meanwhile, this whole time, we were pelting Hendi with questions about Germany and the language, and her studies, and the government and taxes, and all kinds of stuff she probably didn't want to be talking about, but she gladly answered them - very nice of her. We returned home, again sweaty, so we showered, and had dinner, this time, with her whole family, father included, as well as Hendi's friend from her running team's parents. They were wonderful, and although their english was not quite as good as the Windisch's, they were wonderful people to talk to, even with a little translation in between. Yesterday (sunday) we woke up later, and again headed out by bike to check out the surrounding areas of Konstanz, which we took two ferries to get to, with the bikes. It was a very scenic tour, stopping once at a church/vineyard to check that out, as well as rest and have a little snack. We returned home, but not after seeing these very old (or recreated to look very old about 80 years ago), stilt houses which were built by people in the stone age and the bronze age (as I recall). They used all kinds of primitive tools and such to do their living to kill bears, and deer and find fish. There was actually a movie made called "Stone Age - The Experiment," in where some families lived in these houses and used the tools those people would have used to live and eat. We didn't see the movie, but we heard that it was more interesting than was thought, because while the families were trained to use the tools and such, it began to rain a lot, which made using the tools very difficult. Hendi was very kind to translate the tour, as the lady who was having it (and held the keys to the houses, so we had to follow her) was only speaking german, so she told us the important highlights and such. We went home, had a shower again, and went out to dinner with her family, minus Saskia who went to a movie with her grandmother. We went to an italian restaurant, fittingly enough, as we are on our way to Venice right now, where we will stay for 2 nights. We had a little ice cream, went home, discussed computers for a bit, booked our hostel for Venice, and went to bed, only to wake up to breakfast cooked and ready for us (at 5:00 in the morning, as our train left Konstanz at 5:57 this morning) - what a guy Hendi's dad is to do that for us.
In other news, the internet is very weird here in europe - in the states, many cafes and restaurants open their wireless internet for anyone to use - in fact, it's a selling point for people like me, but in europe, they close everything down! Oh well, I guess it's just one of those differences, but I was under the impression they had a lot of wireless internet here - at least, that's what people that had been here recently told me. Anyway, I'm going to put my computer away now. I'm happy to have power here on the train, but I can't do too much without the internet. I hope everything is going well back at home, and I can't wait to see you all to tell you more about the trip. E-mail if you like!
Love,
Matt
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Munich.... or munchkin.... however you want to say it
Munich (Munchen)
I think I'll start out with a little excitement - there was a bit of an accident that will leave Simon and I looking at bunk beds with wary eyes for the rest of our lives, I believe. The last night we were in Berlin, simon went to climb back up into his bunk, and upon getting on said bunk, had it completely collapse in on him. The side supports that had been holding the plank up decided to give out which sent him tumbling. I took some shots of it so you can see what happened. Simon came out mostly unscathed, save for a few minor cuts and bruises which were aided by his first-aid kit which he brought, including the ice pack for the bruises. Our night wasn't so great, at least for me, because we walked to this place called Matrix with this guy Greg we had met. It wasn't all that much fun, but that's not the point - the point is, I had been wearing thong flip flop sandals which I had not worn in months - the kind that had rubber between the toes for the thong part. Big mistake, because after walking 20 minutes to get to this place, I had blisters in-between/on the bottom of my feet and toes. But, Simon falling through the bed shifted my thoughts from my feet to his "still livingness." We told the owner of the hostile, and for the only time we ever saw him serious, he apologized for what had happened and was genuinely sorry. Then he went back to being hilarious and cracking jokes and such. The train ride went off without a hitch and we got to Munich or Munchen as they call/say it, found our hostel and have been enjoying all that the "boy monk city" has to offer.
We decided to check out one of the famous biergartens, Augustiner Keller, where they serve Augustiner beer by the liter in gigantic glasses as well as half chickens, sausage and other such german cuisine. This place is set under really old chestnut trees with picnic benches upon picnic benches underneath these trees. A very picturesque place, with room to seat 9,000 by the way.
The next day we headed out to check out the free tour - the same company as the one that did it in Berlin, but with slightly less gusto on the part of the tour guide this time. We learned a lot of stuff, once again, but happily by walking a lot less. The Hoffbrau house was pretty sweet (the place Hitler had his first public speech) - just a neat old place where they of course serve beer and such. After this tour, we hung around in the square where the Glockenspiel is (slightly boring by the way, but fun to watch for 30 seconds or so), until the free bike tour was leaving. This tour, while still informative (the facts were sometimes different from the previous tour, which we trusted a little bit more than the bike tour guy), was more tuned to the college kid demographic as he explained the history in a more.... crass fashion. He would refer to a statue of a lady on top of a pillar as "the gold bitch" up on the pillar and other such unique descriptions. But he did show us other interesting locations that we hadn't had the leg-power to see on the walking tour. We got to see another government building which they had recently covered in glass to once again show that the people should always be watching their government - kind of a recurring theme from a country who's government did some not nice things to it's people a little while back. After that we kind hung out at our hostel for a bit, then attempted to head out to go to a bar or something for a while - no such luck - everything was very very ritzy and we were certainly not dressed to go to such events. We ended up getting a slice of pizza and ate it at a cafe on the street and a coke, then returning home.
Today we got up and checked out the highly acclaimed Deutches Museum which is pretty much the Smithsonian of Germany. It had so many exhibits -- from physics, to aeronautics, to engines and motors, to chemistry to musical instruments, to mining coal and other natural resources. I might add that the mining section, down in the basement, was extremely extensive, and while it might have been educational to an individual who reads german, we couldn't really grasp the fullness of all it had to offer. Lucky for us, many other other exhibits were in english as well so we learned quite a bit from that today. We walked around to find some place to eat, and we thought we would go back to this giant marketplace which offers all kinds of fresh fruit and german food, and ice cream, and beer which we had seen yesterday. Upon arriving, we remembered that there is a very big Bavarian (meaning only celebrated in bavaria, which we happen to be in) religious holiday going on today, so everything was closed up. Other restaurants and such were open, so we went and had some sausage and potato salad from some restaurant on the street. We finished our day so far, by going to the english garden. This is a gigantic park - think central park in new york, but much bigger - its the largest city park in europe. Um, apparently nudism is allowed in some places of the park, as we saw some naked old guys walking around - not exactly what we were looking to see when we went to the park to soak up some rays. But, to each his own, and they can do that if they want... I guess... Anyway, we rested there for a while, made our way back to the hostel here, and are just kinda chillin at the moment.
Tomorrow, we're going to take a train to Konstanz, which is a town on the south border of Germany and switzerland where we're going to stay with a girl who was a foreign exchange student who lived with Simon's girlfriend, Rachel at her house in Rochester for a while. We'll stay there for a day or two, getting the feeling for a smaller town in germany, as well as taking a break from the city life. It certainly is quite nice of her to let us stay there and I hope we don't impose too much.
Well, back to chilling for a bit - not sure what to do tonight, but I'm sure we'll find something.
Until next time!
-Matt from Munchen
I think I'll start out with a little excitement - there was a bit of an accident that will leave Simon and I looking at bunk beds with wary eyes for the rest of our lives, I believe. The last night we were in Berlin, simon went to climb back up into his bunk, and upon getting on said bunk, had it completely collapse in on him. The side supports that had been holding the plank up decided to give out which sent him tumbling. I took some shots of it so you can see what happened. Simon came out mostly unscathed, save for a few minor cuts and bruises which were aided by his first-aid kit which he brought, including the ice pack for the bruises. Our night wasn't so great, at least for me, because we walked to this place called Matrix with this guy Greg we had met. It wasn't all that much fun, but that's not the point - the point is, I had been wearing thong flip flop sandals which I had not worn in months - the kind that had rubber between the toes for the thong part. Big mistake, because after walking 20 minutes to get to this place, I had blisters in-between/on the bottom of my feet and toes. But, Simon falling through the bed shifted my thoughts from my feet to his "still livingness." We told the owner of the hostile, and for the only time we ever saw him serious, he apologized for what had happened and was genuinely sorry. Then he went back to being hilarious and cracking jokes and such. The train ride went off without a hitch and we got to Munich or Munchen as they call/say it, found our hostel and have been enjoying all that the "boy monk city" has to offer.
We decided to check out one of the famous biergartens, Augustiner Keller, where they serve Augustiner beer by the liter in gigantic glasses as well as half chickens, sausage and other such german cuisine. This place is set under really old chestnut trees with picnic benches upon picnic benches underneath these trees. A very picturesque place, with room to seat 9,000 by the way.
The next day we headed out to check out the free tour - the same company as the one that did it in Berlin, but with slightly less gusto on the part of the tour guide this time. We learned a lot of stuff, once again, but happily by walking a lot less. The Hoffbrau house was pretty sweet (the place Hitler had his first public speech) - just a neat old place where they of course serve beer and such. After this tour, we hung around in the square where the Glockenspiel is (slightly boring by the way, but fun to watch for 30 seconds or so), until the free bike tour was leaving. This tour, while still informative (the facts were sometimes different from the previous tour, which we trusted a little bit more than the bike tour guy), was more tuned to the college kid demographic as he explained the history in a more.... crass fashion. He would refer to a statue of a lady on top of a pillar as "the gold bitch" up on the pillar and other such unique descriptions. But he did show us other interesting locations that we hadn't had the leg-power to see on the walking tour. We got to see another government building which they had recently covered in glass to once again show that the people should always be watching their government - kind of a recurring theme from a country who's government did some not nice things to it's people a little while back. After that we kind hung out at our hostel for a bit, then attempted to head out to go to a bar or something for a while - no such luck - everything was very very ritzy and we were certainly not dressed to go to such events. We ended up getting a slice of pizza and ate it at a cafe on the street and a coke, then returning home.
Today we got up and checked out the highly acclaimed Deutches Museum which is pretty much the Smithsonian of Germany. It had so many exhibits -- from physics, to aeronautics, to engines and motors, to chemistry to musical instruments, to mining coal and other natural resources. I might add that the mining section, down in the basement, was extremely extensive, and while it might have been educational to an individual who reads german, we couldn't really grasp the fullness of all it had to offer. Lucky for us, many other other exhibits were in english as well so we learned quite a bit from that today. We walked around to find some place to eat, and we thought we would go back to this giant marketplace which offers all kinds of fresh fruit and german food, and ice cream, and beer which we had seen yesterday. Upon arriving, we remembered that there is a very big Bavarian (meaning only celebrated in bavaria, which we happen to be in) religious holiday going on today, so everything was closed up. Other restaurants and such were open, so we went and had some sausage and potato salad from some restaurant on the street. We finished our day so far, by going to the english garden. This is a gigantic park - think central park in new york, but much bigger - its the largest city park in europe. Um, apparently nudism is allowed in some places of the park, as we saw some naked old guys walking around - not exactly what we were looking to see when we went to the park to soak up some rays. But, to each his own, and they can do that if they want... I guess... Anyway, we rested there for a while, made our way back to the hostel here, and are just kinda chillin at the moment.
Tomorrow, we're going to take a train to Konstanz, which is a town on the south border of Germany and switzerland where we're going to stay with a girl who was a foreign exchange student who lived with Simon's girlfriend, Rachel at her house in Rochester for a while. We'll stay there for a day or two, getting the feeling for a smaller town in germany, as well as taking a break from the city life. It certainly is quite nice of her to let us stay there and I hope we don't impose too much.
Well, back to chilling for a bit - not sure what to do tonight, but I'm sure we'll find something.
Until next time!
-Matt from Munchen
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Ach, Berlin
Well hello everyone, and welcome back to the matt in europe show. As I look back to see when the last time I posted something was, i realize, wow, that was like 5 days ago, I've been busy, eh? I will work forwards from the last time.
We took the bikes out again the next day for a trip to the van Gogh museum, which was really neat. It put everything down chronologically including the time period (other artists) before he started painting, and then his work in order. There were a ton of people there which was hard to get through, but the art was neat. The part that I thought was really cool, was the "colorization" section. He had black and white copies of other artists work, and from those, he created copies, in color, of their work. The differences and similarities of his work to the original, with the only link being black and white was very intriguing. After which, we went to lunch at the hard rock, which was, well, not that great, but still ok. We continued on to biking down the Amstel River, which was beautiful (see pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98781425@N00/ ). We saw a windmill and cows and such, which was cool, because 15 min prior, we had been deep in Amsterdam, and only left by bike. After this excursion, we hit up the grocery store for a bite, and headed back to turn our bikes in. I might add that we had to sit down very gingerly for a day or so after the biking because our butts were really hurting - like really hurting - we did a lot of biking in Amsterdam. We walked back, and a had a little nap I think, and went out for a bit after making phone calls and reservations for Berlin. If you'll see from the pictures, there was a guy, with a fireball that he kept "juggling" around his body in the square near our hostel. We went out to the bars later that night for a while, till we got tired, and realized we had to get up early the next morning.
The train ride to Berlin went off without a hitch - we got there, (again, too early, just like Toronto - better safe than sorry) and got on the train, and enjoyed the ride there. We almost got off a station too early, but we figured it out before we got off and had to face an unusually long local train system ride. Once again, we got out and said "uhhhhh so now what" when faced with how to get to our hostel, but we found an information booth, and he helped us. We are a little bit farther east than he was familiar with, and so he mapped the location and told us how to use the S-Bahn (surface trains), and the U-Bahn (underground trains) to get to our destination. I think i posted pictures of the station closest to us, Ostkaruz, which reminded me of what nazi germany should look like, but just because of the graffiti, and the overgrownness of the plant life. Our hostel is great though - great people, especially the owner Glenn, who left New Zealand when he was 18, never went back, and somehow ended up in Berlin. Great guy though - owns the hostel, a cafe next door where I've been using the internet, and probably the apartment building upstairs. We met some cool people from california who we went to hang out with that night and talked about such things as the meaning of the word "fickle" to the environmental situation in the united states / the world. Yesterday, we went on a Free Walking Tour which was one of the best tours I've ever been on - they operate solely on tips. Our tour guide was very animated as perhaps you can see from the pictures (he's the guy in the red shirt) and very good at explaining the stuff we saw. The one exhibit you might be wondering about that I took pictures of, was all the different height stones, with the narrow spaces in between. That is the "Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe" (or something similar using the word "Murdered") That was quite the memorial, with quite the name which is intended to use striking language - they don't really want what actually happened to fall by the wayside. Also, we saw the berlin wall, with all the stories that went along with it. Crazy stuff, I'll tell you. After the tour, we walked around a festival (greener earth type thing we think) which featured bands - one of which was a Ska band. They were good, but it was definitely weird hearing ska in german. We proceeded to go to the Reichstad building or the parliament building which is the glass sucker that we took all the pictures on top of. It's an older building that they added the dome to the top later on. The interesting thing about that, is the purpose of the glass dome. In the bottom of the building is where the parliament members all sit. The dome is directly above it. The point is that the people of germany can walk up there and look down on their government to make sure they like what they're doing, because they are all elected officials. Make your government work for you is pretty much the theme there. That night we just kind of hung out with the other people staying at the hostel which included a bunch of guys from california, and boston, and some girls who were on vacation in Berlin from Munich - can you believe they are only 15 and 16? I don't know how things work here, but if I were their parents, I wouldn't let them go stay in a hostel at 15 and 16 years of age - whatever, they were good at speaking english, which they told us was the universal language - "you have to learn english" is what they said. Speaking of languages - it's the general consensus between me and simon that we feel bad that we sort of expect everyone to know english. We love it that they all do though - I mean, the world pretty much takes english as their second or third language, so it works for us, and I suppose for them too because people in other countries also take english, and so now french people and german people can converse if they both took english.
Today we went out to go see the Gugenheim (sp?) museum, which was free today, but was slightly underwhemling. It was just one room with some works in it, but nothing all that special. Oh, and it had a cafe. That's it - I guess it was good that it was free. From there, we continued on to the Pergamonmuseum which houses greek and roman artifacts, statues, parts of statues, and a giant gate they stole (oops, "collected") from Turkey. It was undergoing repairs because they have yet to put it back together after it got nailed by a bomb from WWII. An interesting thing we learned on the tour yesterday was how to date buildings. If the building had bullet holes and shrapnel scars, it was older than the war. If not, and it just looked old, it was just made to look old, and was built after the war. Kind of sad to have to date things with bullet holes, but as you can see from the pictures I took of the side of one building, it's pretty evident that they are there, and everywhere. After the pergamon, we decided our feet hurt too much, and we came back to the hostel after stopping at a street vendor called Check Point Curry, a play on words from the military checkpoint ran by the americans called Checkpoint Charlie. They have very good curryworst, which is sausage, cut up, covered with this kind of sauce and curry, along with fries. Very good. We made some phone calls, booked the Munich hostel, and grabbed a nap. We just had some dinner at the cafe next door - very good chicken curry for me, and a fantastic looking cheeseburger for simon. We'll see what we do tonight, but I'm sure i'm going to be tired fairly early, given that it is 10:15 already, and we have to get up "early" tomorrow to hop on an 10:57 train to munich.
Thanks for reading so much at one time - hope you enjoyed the info.
I love and miss you all so very very much-- thanks for all the support!
From Berlin, in the schlafmeile hostel,
Matt
We took the bikes out again the next day for a trip to the van Gogh museum, which was really neat. It put everything down chronologically including the time period (other artists) before he started painting, and then his work in order. There were a ton of people there which was hard to get through, but the art was neat. The part that I thought was really cool, was the "colorization" section. He had black and white copies of other artists work, and from those, he created copies, in color, of their work. The differences and similarities of his work to the original, with the only link being black and white was very intriguing. After which, we went to lunch at the hard rock, which was, well, not that great, but still ok. We continued on to biking down the Amstel River, which was beautiful (see pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98781425@N00/ ). We saw a windmill and cows and such, which was cool, because 15 min prior, we had been deep in Amsterdam, and only left by bike. After this excursion, we hit up the grocery store for a bite, and headed back to turn our bikes in. I might add that we had to sit down very gingerly for a day or so after the biking because our butts were really hurting - like really hurting - we did a lot of biking in Amsterdam. We walked back, and a had a little nap I think, and went out for a bit after making phone calls and reservations for Berlin. If you'll see from the pictures, there was a guy, with a fireball that he kept "juggling" around his body in the square near our hostel. We went out to the bars later that night for a while, till we got tired, and realized we had to get up early the next morning.
The train ride to Berlin went off without a hitch - we got there, (again, too early, just like Toronto - better safe than sorry) and got on the train, and enjoyed the ride there. We almost got off a station too early, but we figured it out before we got off and had to face an unusually long local train system ride. Once again, we got out and said "uhhhhh so now what" when faced with how to get to our hostel, but we found an information booth, and he helped us. We are a little bit farther east than he was familiar with, and so he mapped the location and told us how to use the S-Bahn (surface trains), and the U-Bahn (underground trains) to get to our destination. I think i posted pictures of the station closest to us, Ostkaruz, which reminded me of what nazi germany should look like, but just because of the graffiti, and the overgrownness of the plant life. Our hostel is great though - great people, especially the owner Glenn, who left New Zealand when he was 18, never went back, and somehow ended up in Berlin. Great guy though - owns the hostel, a cafe next door where I've been using the internet, and probably the apartment building upstairs. We met some cool people from california who we went to hang out with that night and talked about such things as the meaning of the word "fickle" to the environmental situation in the united states / the world. Yesterday, we went on a Free Walking Tour which was one of the best tours I've ever been on - they operate solely on tips. Our tour guide was very animated as perhaps you can see from the pictures (he's the guy in the red shirt) and very good at explaining the stuff we saw. The one exhibit you might be wondering about that I took pictures of, was all the different height stones, with the narrow spaces in between. That is the "Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe" (or something similar using the word "Murdered") That was quite the memorial, with quite the name which is intended to use striking language - they don't really want what actually happened to fall by the wayside. Also, we saw the berlin wall, with all the stories that went along with it. Crazy stuff, I'll tell you. After the tour, we walked around a festival (greener earth type thing we think) which featured bands - one of which was a Ska band. They were good, but it was definitely weird hearing ska in german. We proceeded to go to the Reichstad building or the parliament building which is the glass sucker that we took all the pictures on top of. It's an older building that they added the dome to the top later on. The interesting thing about that, is the purpose of the glass dome. In the bottom of the building is where the parliament members all sit. The dome is directly above it. The point is that the people of germany can walk up there and look down on their government to make sure they like what they're doing, because they are all elected officials. Make your government work for you is pretty much the theme there. That night we just kind of hung out with the other people staying at the hostel which included a bunch of guys from california, and boston, and some girls who were on vacation in Berlin from Munich - can you believe they are only 15 and 16? I don't know how things work here, but if I were their parents, I wouldn't let them go stay in a hostel at 15 and 16 years of age - whatever, they were good at speaking english, which they told us was the universal language - "you have to learn english" is what they said. Speaking of languages - it's the general consensus between me and simon that we feel bad that we sort of expect everyone to know english. We love it that they all do though - I mean, the world pretty much takes english as their second or third language, so it works for us, and I suppose for them too because people in other countries also take english, and so now french people and german people can converse if they both took english.
Today we went out to go see the Gugenheim (sp?) museum, which was free today, but was slightly underwhemling. It was just one room with some works in it, but nothing all that special. Oh, and it had a cafe. That's it - I guess it was good that it was free. From there, we continued on to the Pergamonmuseum which houses greek and roman artifacts, statues, parts of statues, and a giant gate they stole (oops, "collected") from Turkey. It was undergoing repairs because they have yet to put it back together after it got nailed by a bomb from WWII. An interesting thing we learned on the tour yesterday was how to date buildings. If the building had bullet holes and shrapnel scars, it was older than the war. If not, and it just looked old, it was just made to look old, and was built after the war. Kind of sad to have to date things with bullet holes, but as you can see from the pictures I took of the side of one building, it's pretty evident that they are there, and everywhere. After the pergamon, we decided our feet hurt too much, and we came back to the hostel after stopping at a street vendor called Check Point Curry, a play on words from the military checkpoint ran by the americans called Checkpoint Charlie. They have very good curryworst, which is sausage, cut up, covered with this kind of sauce and curry, along with fries. Very good. We made some phone calls, booked the Munich hostel, and grabbed a nap. We just had some dinner at the cafe next door - very good chicken curry for me, and a fantastic looking cheeseburger for simon. We'll see what we do tonight, but I'm sure i'm going to be tired fairly early, given that it is 10:15 already, and we have to get up "early" tomorrow to hop on an 10:57 train to munich.
Thanks for reading so much at one time - hope you enjoyed the info.
I love and miss you all so very very much-- thanks for all the support!
From Berlin, in the schlafmeile hostel,
Matt
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