Well we arrived in a little town just outside of Cinque Terre at about 2:15 and had to wait there for a 20 min bus ride to the little village we were staying in. We got to our hostel at 4:45. Yep that's right, this means we waited for a bus for about 2 hours. To make matters worse, when we got to our hostel we found out that we were a good 2 hour walk from the first of the 5 cities and the last bus left for our hostel at 6:30. We said oh well and started walking to the Cities. We made it to the first one, Riomaggiore, at about 7 then sat at a nice little place and had a great seafood pasta dinner, it was awesome. After dinner we decided it was prob. a good idea to start walking back to our hostel seeing it was going to take us about 2 hours to get there. On the way back, we decided we were going to try and stop everyone as they were going by to see if they would pick us up. We were finally successful about 50 min into our walk. This nice couple from Hong Kong asked if we needed a ride. The man was a native Italian and his wife was from Singapore, so they spoke great English. They were so surprised we had walked the whole way and wouldn't let us pay them or anything. This was a highlight of the trip, hitch hiking in Italy!
The next day we decide we were going to wake up and take the first bus away from out hostel at 7am. When we got up we were greeted by rain...exactly what we didn't want to happen in our first beach city :(. We went back to bed for a little and got on the 9:50 bus and by that time the rain had pretty much stopped, just a little sprinkling here and there. Once in Rio, we took the train down to the other end to take the 12K hike from Monterosso back to Riomaggiore. We were informed this was would be much easier and much more beautiful. Although the overcast rainy day made the walk much cooler, it also made the mud trails very slippery, not good when you are climbing up and down mountains. Despite the minor setbacks, this was one of the prettiest walks I have ever made. It was so cool to round the corner and see this quaint little city on the hillside. Along the way, we would make a short stop in a few of the cities for a little bite to eat and just to take it all in. When we got back to Riomaggiore, we went to a few places looking to see if anyone had openings for next night. We found a great place for only 6 euro more than we were paying for our current place. We wanted to be able to stay actually in one of the towns so we could enjoy the night and a sunset there instead of eating at the one pizza place in the town we were currently in. The only problem was they didn't take reservations for single day guest, so we would have to show up the next morning and hope it was still available.
Luckily, it was, so we cancelled our current reservations and stayed at the night in Rio. During the day, we got on the train and made our way down to Monterosso slowly by stopping in a few of the towns along the way. It was cool to see how they were all very similar, but each still had its own vibe.
The next day, we woke up and got an early train out to Nice. Surprisingly it took us about 6 hours to get there. When we arrived in Nice, we found our hostel and some exciting news to go along with it. When checking in, the owner asked us if we would like to know the good or bad News first. We chose bad. He informed us that our room was on the second floor and one of his third floor showers had overflowed and messed up 5 of his rooms, ours being one of them. He said I do not have a place for you to stay here, but I have already called a hotel and had you a three person private room reservation at no extra cost. I will give you your deposit back and you will owe them exactly what you would have payed me. We were very impressed by his professionalism because along the way we ran into people who showed up at their hostel and the people told them they didn't have a room anymore and gave them no advice on where to go. For the remaining part of that day, we went down to the beach and then out for an amazing meal on the pedestrian promenade.
We decided to start the next day in style by going to another country, Monaco. Our first impression was a really nice train station, something we had yet to see on our trip. When we walked out of the station, we were immediately at the Marina with a collection of some of the biggest boats I had ever seen. Several of them had to have been close to 50ft wide and close to 125 ft. long. It was crazy! After looking at the boats for a little bit, we went on up to the Monte Carlo to take a picture. Drew was the first, so he walked up the steps. Little did we know, that was a no no. This guy came out told him to get off. They were mainly upset about the footprints drew left... After walking around for about an hour and a half, we headed back to Nice for lunch and relaxing on the beach. We did this for the rest of the day then went back to the same place for dinner. After dinner we called it a night because of our 14 hr train ride to Barcelona the next day starting at 6am.
Vamonos a la Barcelona!
Michael
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Best free pasta of my life!
So like I said in the last post, we left Rome early so we could go ahead and get to Florence early. Little did would mean we would make it just in time for the free dinner offered by our hostel. It was soo good! We got to chose from several different pizzas, pastas and salads, and it actually filled us up. After dinner we went to know is known as the golden bridge, because of all the gold being sold on it for an awesome sunset. After this we walked around a little more and stumbled upon a guy playing some awesome street music. He was originally from London and has been playing in the streets of Florence every night for about 8 years now. He played sevral covers and had a few great originals. After he was done for the night we went around a bit and found some of the best gelato in Italy. I dont even know how many I had over the two days we were in Florence. Josh and Drew inventeded their own Gelato crawl where they had 4 in one night...my stomach could not take it.
The next morning we woke up just in time for the free breakfast and the free walking tour of Florence. It was probably the worest tour I have ever been on. The guide had a very thick italian accent and was not entertaining at all. Not a good combination for a tour. Over the two hours I learned why all the churches were the same color and how the would kill people they didnt want in their palaces.
After the tour we went out to invade the Markets and get presents for the ladies in our lives. (Yes that does include you mom) It was crazy how much of the stuff I saw was the exact same things in the Cambodian Markets (less the Italian leather and silk of course). In the middle of the street market was an indoor food market where they had great pasta and cheese. While walking around the market we ran into a few friends who were on a day trip while studying abroad in a near by town. What a small world.
After the market we went back for more free food. This could not be passed up! I changed it up a little and got pizza instead of the amazing pasta I had the night before. After dinner the night looked much like the one before. Gelato, sunset, street music, gelato... On the way back to the hostel I decided to splurge a little and try the gelato on a waffle. It was one of the best thing I have ever had. I will deff. be doing this with Blue Bell when I get home.
The next morning we heade out for Cinque Terre where we would spend the next three nights. More on that later.
Ciao!
Michael
The next morning we woke up just in time for the free breakfast and the free walking tour of Florence. It was probably the worest tour I have ever been on. The guide had a very thick italian accent and was not entertaining at all. Not a good combination for a tour. Over the two hours I learned why all the churches were the same color and how the would kill people they didnt want in their palaces.
After the tour we went out to invade the Markets and get presents for the ladies in our lives. (Yes that does include you mom) It was crazy how much of the stuff I saw was the exact same things in the Cambodian Markets (less the Italian leather and silk of course). In the middle of the street market was an indoor food market where they had great pasta and cheese. While walking around the market we ran into a few friends who were on a day trip while studying abroad in a near by town. What a small world.
After the market we went back for more free food. This could not be passed up! I changed it up a little and got pizza instead of the amazing pasta I had the night before. After dinner the night looked much like the one before. Gelato, sunset, street music, gelato... On the way back to the hostel I decided to splurge a little and try the gelato on a waffle. It was one of the best thing I have ever had. I will deff. be doing this with Blue Bell when I get home.
The next morning we heade out for Cinque Terre where we would spend the next three nights. More on that later.
Ciao!
Michael
Thursday, June 4, 2009
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions,
loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance -- in this life or the next.
Well we started our 7 day tour of Italy in Rome. As I stated at the end of the last blog, we took a night train from Interlaken, so we arived at about 9AM. We were only going to be in Rome for a day and a half, so we wanted to get as much done as possible while we were there. From our hostel, we started our marathon of walking by going to the Trevi Fountain. We did the usual throw one coin in to ensure your return and then another to make a wish come true. From here he started to make our way over to the Colosseum, this is what i was most excited to see. On our way there we kept running into police having areas baracaded off. Eventually we found out they were having a military parade pretty much all over the city. So we took a few detours only to find out that the Parade ended at the Colosseum so it was closed until the parade was over. We decided we didnt have time to wait for this parade to be over, so we started over to the Vatican. If you have ever been to Rome, you know this is a very far walk. The Vatican was so cool to be at. St. Peters was so massive and beautiful inside. From St. Peters we went to the Sistine Chapel. It was almost sureal to see things like the top of the chapel, the vatican and the colosseum.
After the vatican we stated walking around the city a little more and ended up at the Piazza de Navona where this guy was puting on a great slap-stick show. At different points during the show he used both josh and I as props...Drew laughed. After we watched that for a while we decided to make our way back over to the Colosseum to see if it had re opened. Although we ran into many road blocks still on out way there, we were determined to get there and see itm so we did! WOOHOO! It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. From here we just walked around town a little more and saw what rome had to offer when the sun went down. The only thing we didnt make it to was the roman forum which we knocked out the next day.
At around noon of the next day we felt that we had seen all of Rome that we wanted to, so for a small 5 euro reservation fee (which goes on top of the 560 euro we already paid for out rail pass) we set out for Florence a few hours early.
Well there is the first of our three Italian cities, more to come very soon. Internet has been hard to come by lately, so you might be getting a few blogs all at one time in the near future.
Peace!
Michael
Well we started our 7 day tour of Italy in Rome. As I stated at the end of the last blog, we took a night train from Interlaken, so we arived at about 9AM. We were only going to be in Rome for a day and a half, so we wanted to get as much done as possible while we were there. From our hostel, we started our marathon of walking by going to the Trevi Fountain. We did the usual throw one coin in to ensure your return and then another to make a wish come true. From here he started to make our way over to the Colosseum, this is what i was most excited to see. On our way there we kept running into police having areas baracaded off. Eventually we found out they were having a military parade pretty much all over the city. So we took a few detours only to find out that the Parade ended at the Colosseum so it was closed until the parade was over. We decided we didnt have time to wait for this parade to be over, so we started over to the Vatican. If you have ever been to Rome, you know this is a very far walk. The Vatican was so cool to be at. St. Peters was so massive and beautiful inside. From St. Peters we went to the Sistine Chapel. It was almost sureal to see things like the top of the chapel, the vatican and the colosseum.
After the vatican we stated walking around the city a little more and ended up at the Piazza de Navona where this guy was puting on a great slap-stick show. At different points during the show he used both josh and I as props...Drew laughed. After we watched that for a while we decided to make our way back over to the Colosseum to see if it had re opened. Although we ran into many road blocks still on out way there, we were determined to get there and see itm so we did! WOOHOO! It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. From here we just walked around town a little more and saw what rome had to offer when the sun went down. The only thing we didnt make it to was the roman forum which we knocked out the next day.
At around noon of the next day we felt that we had seen all of Rome that we wanted to, so for a small 5 euro reservation fee (which goes on top of the 560 euro we already paid for out rail pass) we set out for Florence a few hours early.
Well there is the first of our three Italian cities, more to come very soon. Internet has been hard to come by lately, so you might be getting a few blogs all at one time in the near future.
Peace!
Michael
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Toblerone
So I think I found my favorite city outside of the US...Interlaken, Switzerland. The place is just absolutley beautiful. Everywhere you look there are Mountians.
We arivived around 3PM and headed strait for the infamous Balmer's Herbage, or the hostel we would be staying at for the next three nights. As soon as we checked in we headed over to outdoor interlaken to sign up for the outdoor extream sports we would be doing. All three of us were going Canyoning and the other two guys, Josh and Drew, were going to go white water rafting as well. I decided not to go because Noelle and I will hopefully be going in Colorado in a few weeks when we visit our friend David Jones who is working at Noah's Ark for the summer. Luckily There was a rafting trip leaving at 4PM so the guys hopped on it due to the great weather that day. This gave me an oppertunity to walk around the town a bit and then go sit in the park and have some much needed God time while sitting in the beautiful Alps. It was awesome! When the guys got back from rafting we stayed at the hostel and had a great american meal, bacon cheese burger with fries. The beef wasn't exactly like what we get in the states, but it was still a good change in pace for meals.
The next day started early with Canyoning. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done! We road a van up a mountian, then walked, jumped, and slid down the waterfalls all the way to the bottom. The only downside was the water was so cold i couldnt feel my hands after about 5 min, but it was deffinatly worth it. Without knowing it, we happened to be in Interlaken for the annual nissan outdoor games extream video contest. To start the night off there was a sweet air show with some base jumpers and skydivers. Then there was an aweful danish band followed by an even worse American MC. But what made the night all worth it were the sweet videos at the end. It was crazy to see what people could do.
The next day started with a bike ride out to Trummelbach Falls. This ride was up hill the whole way. I was exausted to say the least. Everytime we asked how far it was from Interlaken to the falls, we got a different answer. We decided it was somewhere between 15 and 20 K one way, so somewhere between 30 to 40 K round trip. The actual falls were beautiful. It was amazing to see what water can do to rock over millions of years (or thousands if you are a new earth guy). After the ride back we just walked around town and chilled for the evening. Interlaken is a great place for that. The next and final day was filled with much of the same. Josh and I watched the French Open all day long. It was pretty cool to see Roger Federer play while in Switzerland.
On the evening of our last day we took a night train to Rome. This one was far less exciting as the other one. Everyone in our room was normal, no weird names and we all were in the same car.
It is crazy to think that the end of Interlaken is just over the half way mark for our trip. We are continuing to be broken for the lost in this region of the world. Please be praying that God will shine through all we do on the rest of this trip. Thanks for all the prays thus far.
Till Roma,
Michael
We arivived around 3PM and headed strait for the infamous Balmer's Herbage, or the hostel we would be staying at for the next three nights. As soon as we checked in we headed over to outdoor interlaken to sign up for the outdoor extream sports we would be doing. All three of us were going Canyoning and the other two guys, Josh and Drew, were going to go white water rafting as well. I decided not to go because Noelle and I will hopefully be going in Colorado in a few weeks when we visit our friend David Jones who is working at Noah's Ark for the summer. Luckily There was a rafting trip leaving at 4PM so the guys hopped on it due to the great weather that day. This gave me an oppertunity to walk around the town a bit and then go sit in the park and have some much needed God time while sitting in the beautiful Alps. It was awesome! When the guys got back from rafting we stayed at the hostel and had a great american meal, bacon cheese burger with fries. The beef wasn't exactly like what we get in the states, but it was still a good change in pace for meals.
The next day started early with Canyoning. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done! We road a van up a mountian, then walked, jumped, and slid down the waterfalls all the way to the bottom. The only downside was the water was so cold i couldnt feel my hands after about 5 min, but it was deffinatly worth it. Without knowing it, we happened to be in Interlaken for the annual nissan outdoor games extream video contest. To start the night off there was a sweet air show with some base jumpers and skydivers. Then there was an aweful danish band followed by an even worse American MC. But what made the night all worth it were the sweet videos at the end. It was crazy to see what people could do.
The next day started with a bike ride out to Trummelbach Falls. This ride was up hill the whole way. I was exausted to say the least. Everytime we asked how far it was from Interlaken to the falls, we got a different answer. We decided it was somewhere between 15 and 20 K one way, so somewhere between 30 to 40 K round trip. The actual falls were beautiful. It was amazing to see what water can do to rock over millions of years (or thousands if you are a new earth guy). After the ride back we just walked around town and chilled for the evening. Interlaken is a great place for that. The next and final day was filled with much of the same. Josh and I watched the French Open all day long. It was pretty cool to see Roger Federer play while in Switzerland.
On the evening of our last day we took a night train to Rome. This one was far less exciting as the other one. Everyone in our room was normal, no weird names and we all were in the same car.
It is crazy to think that the end of Interlaken is just over the half way mark for our trip. We are continuing to be broken for the lost in this region of the world. Please be praying that God will shine through all we do on the rest of this trip. Thanks for all the prays thus far.
Till Roma,
Michael
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Two Days = Two Countries
Well we started our rapid fire tour of as far east in Europe as we would make it by a Czech woman coming and asking if we were going to Prague. When we said yes, she handed us a card reading " Dear Passengers, I am sorry to inform you this train will only be going to Pilzen today. Please try and change there." Oh great, stuck in some small czech town with no clue what to do. On the other side of the card it said 18:08, so we assumed this ment we were going to be changing onto another train at 18:08. We were right, so we boarded the next train and headed for Prague. When we got there we had no ability to read any of the signs telling us how to get to the tram, so we went to the info desk and the guy helped us a little with his broken english. The train station in Prague does not give it a very good first impression. It was covered in grafitie and had very shady people hanging out all around it. We got on the tram and headed for our hostel and the look of the area was not much better. We found the hostel and rang the door bell next to our hostel's name. A guy came and let us in and we found out we had to unlock 4 doors in order to get to our room. Safe right...
After we put our stuff up we went around the corner and had a great dinner. This is where it started looking up. After dinner we went back and went to bed early due to the fact we had been going all day. The next morning we got up and head for the city center to see the sights. The day started really early and with a light drizzle, but started looking better as the day went on. For the first few hours we just walked around on our own then took a free tour in the afternoon, the city was pretty and cool at first, but then when we took the tour we apriciated the city alot more. After the tour we went back for dinner at the same place as the night before. The food there was soo good and soo cheap.
The next day we left on a train for Salzberg at 7am for our 16 hour stay in Salzberg.
Salzberg was so beautiful. It was everything you would expect the Sound of Music town to be like. While there we went up to an old fotrest and saw Motzarts birth place. Besides this we just walked around the town and ate another great dinner. We had to hit the sack early again due to our 6am departure time for Interlaken.
Again, sorry about the unedited typos, internet is expensive in Interlaken.
Cheers,
Michael
After we put our stuff up we went around the corner and had a great dinner. This is where it started looking up. After dinner we went back and went to bed early due to the fact we had been going all day. The next morning we got up and head for the city center to see the sights. The day started really early and with a light drizzle, but started looking better as the day went on. For the first few hours we just walked around on our own then took a free tour in the afternoon, the city was pretty and cool at first, but then when we took the tour we apriciated the city alot more. After the tour we went back for dinner at the same place as the night before. The food there was soo good and soo cheap.
The next day we left on a train for Salzberg at 7am for our 16 hour stay in Salzberg.
Salzberg was so beautiful. It was everything you would expect the Sound of Music town to be like. While there we went up to an old fotrest and saw Motzarts birth place. Besides this we just walked around the town and ate another great dinner. We had to hit the sack early again due to our 6am departure time for Interlaken.
Again, sorry about the unedited typos, internet is expensive in Interlaken.
Cheers,
Michael
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
1/16th of my haritage
Well Munich as a blast to say the least. We started in Munich by ariving from our overnight train at about 7:30 in the morning. Luckily our hostel was very close to the train station. We got our luggage put away and head out for the center of the city, which was only about a 10 min walk away. When we got there we realized the city of Munich had yet to wake up on that beautiful Sunday morning. Suprisingly the only thing open was a McDonalds, so we went in and had a little taste of home. (I am loving Europe, but I really miss the states at times, things like this help) From Mcdonalds we walked around for a little bit and found an internet cafe open, so we spent a little time there catching up on things we couldn't do in Paris.
After the internet cafe we went to meet up with a group for a tour of a concentration camp. The specific camp we were going to just outside of Munich was called Duchau. It was not something we had fun doing, but we felt it was good for us to see. It was very sad for me to see how similar so much of it was to what I have seen at the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Enough sad stuff. With travel time and all, the tour took about 6.5 hours, so we were ready for a big barvarian dinner and an evening walk around the town and the near by river banks. We had some of the best pork ever with some of the worst service ever...I guess you cant win them all.
We woke up the next day for another day long tour. This time we went up to the Castle (with a name that starts with an N that i cannot spell) built by King Ludwig II of Barvaria. It was a beautiful sight to see up in the Alps. The castle was actually the insperation for sleeping beauty...kinda cool. Our night looked very similar to the one before, walk around city center, great food, bad service, but then we went to the chinese beer gardens. It was this huge area in the middle of a park with tons of picnic tables were people wre just hanging out. As fate would have it we sat at a table next to an ag who was the class of 87...whoop for the Aggie Network.
From Munich we headed over to Prague, Czech Republic where we would go to three different countries in three days.
Till then!
Michael
After the internet cafe we went to meet up with a group for a tour of a concentration camp. The specific camp we were going to just outside of Munich was called Duchau. It was not something we had fun doing, but we felt it was good for us to see. It was very sad for me to see how similar so much of it was to what I have seen at the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Enough sad stuff. With travel time and all, the tour took about 6.5 hours, so we were ready for a big barvarian dinner and an evening walk around the town and the near by river banks. We had some of the best pork ever with some of the worst service ever...I guess you cant win them all.
We woke up the next day for another day long tour. This time we went up to the Castle (with a name that starts with an N that i cannot spell) built by King Ludwig II of Barvaria. It was a beautiful sight to see up in the Alps. The castle was actually the insperation for sleeping beauty...kinda cool. Our night looked very similar to the one before, walk around city center, great food, bad service, but then we went to the chinese beer gardens. It was this huge area in the middle of a park with tons of picnic tables were people wre just hanging out. As fate would have it we sat at a table next to an ag who was the class of 87...whoop for the Aggie Network.
From Munich we headed over to Prague, Czech Republic where we would go to three different countries in three days.
Till then!
Michael
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Paris (part 2)
Well I am going to try and pick up where i left off and I think that was at the Louvre...
After the Lovre we saw that we still had plenty of time before our night bike tour started so we went to a beautiful church called Sacre Ceour. This church was yet again another beautiful building that was now nothing but a musem. Our hearts break for all of the people that are walking in and out of these churches daily and are living in the area who have no clue about what the church was created for because we as humans have made it into an idol itself. Our eyes have been opened to see the lost of this continent in a whole new way. Thousands of people here are just going through the motions of life with no true purpouse because they have not had an encounter with Jesus himself.
One of the highlights of my trip happened as we were leaving the church. I saw a few buhdist monks that looked very Khmer (Cambodian), so I stepped out on a limb and said Neack Khmer (are you Cambodian), and they were! I got a chance to talk to them in Khmer for a little bit and once I ran out of all the Khmer phrases I knew we switched to english and talked about Cambodia for a little while longer. It was not at all what I expected to do in Paris.
The night bike tour with Fat Tire proved to be just as amaying as that day one was. Out tour guide was a guy named Ned who was a free lance photo and film editor who took some time off to go give tours is paris. He was one of the best tour guides I have ever had. He was so energetic and was great at telling stories and had amazing timing with his jokes. Pretty much the complete opposite of Randy Dane...On the tour we got to see several new churches in the city including Notre Dame along with various other sights. The tour ended with a boat tour down the Seinne river starting at the base of the Eiffel tower. It was so cool to see all of the locals along the river haveing picnics and just enjoying each others company.
On our final day in Paris we all got to go out to Versailles...Wow! First thing zou see is a large beautiful Palace atop a slight hill, then when you walk around the back of the Palace it is nothing but Vast Gardens surrounded by the rolling hills of the French Country side as far as one can see.
After Versaille we went back to the area around the Louvre and did some girlfriend shopping and went back over to Notre Dame to actually go inside. The stained glass inside was Dame pretty. It was amazing how much stained glass there was.
After Notre Dame we headed over to our hotel to get our luggage and head out for the train station to get on the Night Train to Munich. It ended up being quite the experience. I will spare you the details (or just tell you later in person), but because out room was not able to sleep in due to a broken window, the three of us got split up and I ended up in a room with 3 Austrian women...what a night.
Well that about sums up Paris. I am going to try and write about Munich in the morning before we leave for Prage, but no promises.
Till Next time, chow
Michael
again, i am sorry for all the typos, but editing would take away from my phone time with Noelle and mom, so please bare with them....thanks, mgmt
After the Lovre we saw that we still had plenty of time before our night bike tour started so we went to a beautiful church called Sacre Ceour. This church was yet again another beautiful building that was now nothing but a musem. Our hearts break for all of the people that are walking in and out of these churches daily and are living in the area who have no clue about what the church was created for because we as humans have made it into an idol itself. Our eyes have been opened to see the lost of this continent in a whole new way. Thousands of people here are just going through the motions of life with no true purpouse because they have not had an encounter with Jesus himself.
One of the highlights of my trip happened as we were leaving the church. I saw a few buhdist monks that looked very Khmer (Cambodian), so I stepped out on a limb and said Neack Khmer (are you Cambodian), and they were! I got a chance to talk to them in Khmer for a little bit and once I ran out of all the Khmer phrases I knew we switched to english and talked about Cambodia for a little while longer. It was not at all what I expected to do in Paris.
The night bike tour with Fat Tire proved to be just as amaying as that day one was. Out tour guide was a guy named Ned who was a free lance photo and film editor who took some time off to go give tours is paris. He was one of the best tour guides I have ever had. He was so energetic and was great at telling stories and had amazing timing with his jokes. Pretty much the complete opposite of Randy Dane...On the tour we got to see several new churches in the city including Notre Dame along with various other sights. The tour ended with a boat tour down the Seinne river starting at the base of the Eiffel tower. It was so cool to see all of the locals along the river haveing picnics and just enjoying each others company.
On our final day in Paris we all got to go out to Versailles...Wow! First thing zou see is a large beautiful Palace atop a slight hill, then when you walk around the back of the Palace it is nothing but Vast Gardens surrounded by the rolling hills of the French Country side as far as one can see.
After Versaille we went back to the area around the Louvre and did some girlfriend shopping and went back over to Notre Dame to actually go inside. The stained glass inside was Dame pretty. It was amazing how much stained glass there was.
After Notre Dame we headed over to our hotel to get our luggage and head out for the train station to get on the Night Train to Munich. It ended up being quite the experience. I will spare you the details (or just tell you later in person), but because out room was not able to sleep in due to a broken window, the three of us got split up and I ended up in a room with 3 Austrian women...what a night.
Well that about sums up Paris. I am going to try and write about Munich in the morning before we leave for Prage, but no promises.
Till Next time, chow
Michael
again, i am sorry for all the typos, but editing would take away from my phone time with Noelle and mom, so please bare with them....thanks, mgmt
So we thought there were alot of stairs at St Pauls
Paris:
What a fantastic trip thus far. (I couldnt think of a better opening sentance, so here goes Paris.)
We started paris on Thursday afternoon. We got to our hotel around 2 PM, checked in and headed strait for the Fat Tire Bike Tour. When getting off the train we ran into two fellow ag's who had just graduated as well. They had both been on the night tour the day before so they hepled us find the bike shop. This tour was amaying. It was pretty much a 4 hour tour of the highlights of the city. I highly recomend it. After the tour we wondered over the the eiffel tower and walked around the park untill about 8:30. The craiest part of this trip is that it hasnt gotten dark untill about 10PM everz night. We finished the night out by walking around the city, finding a place to eat and then sharing a bottle of wine at a roadside cafe. Every thing felt very french about the place till we asked our waiter what his name was and he said Fred...how french...
Friday started off with a bang! We started by going to a very popular street market to get some bread and such for a nice lunch later that day. It was so cool to truly exdperience france that way. After the market we headed over to the Eiffel tower to actually go in. Due to the lenght of the line to go to the top, we only went to the second level which was about 500,000 stairs. We were by far in the shortest line and now i know why, but we felt it would be much better to say we climbed up the eiffel tower than to say we road an elevator up it. After the tower we went and hung out in the park behind the tower which was alot of fun. Drew and I walked up to the top of a little square to get some cool pics of the tower with a fountian in the view. While there we find a free show to watch. This show was called watch the african trinket salesmen run from the french cops. It was really funny. The cops would start running after them and they would just jog a little waya away and then go right back to where they were. The cops never got close. After this we went to the Louvre. I dont know if this is bad, but the only this i even knew that was in the louvre was the monalisa. I knew there was alot of other things but I didnt know what. It was pretty cool to walk around and see all the neat art and all from ancient Roman and Egyption civilizations. Now for the mona lisa...why the heck did that tiny picture get so popular? It was this tiny pic on a huge wall...but i guess i have seen the Mona Lisa.
Alright I got to go to a tour, i will write part 2 tonight when we come back to the Internet cafe.
Michael
(sorry for all the typos, ran out of time to edit :)
What a fantastic trip thus far. (I couldnt think of a better opening sentance, so here goes Paris.)
We started paris on Thursday afternoon. We got to our hotel around 2 PM, checked in and headed strait for the Fat Tire Bike Tour. When getting off the train we ran into two fellow ag's who had just graduated as well. They had both been on the night tour the day before so they hepled us find the bike shop. This tour was amaying. It was pretty much a 4 hour tour of the highlights of the city. I highly recomend it. After the tour we wondered over the the eiffel tower and walked around the park untill about 8:30. The craiest part of this trip is that it hasnt gotten dark untill about 10PM everz night. We finished the night out by walking around the city, finding a place to eat and then sharing a bottle of wine at a roadside cafe. Every thing felt very french about the place till we asked our waiter what his name was and he said Fred...how french...
Friday started off with a bang! We started by going to a very popular street market to get some bread and such for a nice lunch later that day. It was so cool to truly exdperience france that way. After the market we headed over to the Eiffel tower to actually go in. Due to the lenght of the line to go to the top, we only went to the second level which was about 500,000 stairs. We were by far in the shortest line and now i know why, but we felt it would be much better to say we climbed up the eiffel tower than to say we road an elevator up it. After the tower we went and hung out in the park behind the tower which was alot of fun. Drew and I walked up to the top of a little square to get some cool pics of the tower with a fountian in the view. While there we find a free show to watch. This show was called watch the african trinket salesmen run from the french cops. It was really funny. The cops would start running after them and they would just jog a little waya away and then go right back to where they were. The cops never got close. After this we went to the Louvre. I dont know if this is bad, but the only this i even knew that was in the louvre was the monalisa. I knew there was alot of other things but I didnt know what. It was pretty cool to walk around and see all the neat art and all from ancient Roman and Egyption civilizations. Now for the mona lisa...why the heck did that tiny picture get so popular? It was this tiny pic on a huge wall...but i guess i have seen the Mona Lisa.
Alright I got to go to a tour, i will write part 2 tonight when we come back to the Internet cafe.
Michael
(sorry for all the typos, ran out of time to edit :)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Next stop...Paris
Day 4 - Well today is the start of what we consider the true journey, traveling to places where people don't speak the same language as us. We arived in Paris today and had a pretty good first day with a bike tour that showed us alot of paris.
This is all I am going to write today because I am going to start writing one big blog at the end of every city because I do not have fee internet any more. Noelle and Mom are dominating all time I have in the internet cafes.
See ya in two days!
Michael
This is all I am going to write today because I am going to start writing one big blog at the end of every city because I do not have fee internet any more. Noelle and Mom are dominating all time I have in the internet cafes.
See ya in two days!
Michael
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred steps
Day 3 - So today was another great day in the city of London. We started the day by heading over to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was an absolutely beautiful church. We actually stumbled upon a service while there which was pretty cool for this good ole southern baptist boy. The ceiling was full of mosaics made of colored glass...it was beautiful! We had heard nothing but great things about climbing up to the very top and taking a look out over London, but much to our dismay, the very top was closed. The good news is that we did get to go to the grand rim just about 20 meters from the very top. I didn't count, but I am sure we climbed thousands of stairs to get to the top. they were all about 4 inch tall stairs spiraling to the top. We must have gone around that column at least 25 times.
Next on the list for the day was to head over to Borough Market were we ate an authentic English lunch. I had a grilled duck baggette and it was really good. After this we headed back over to Trafalgar's Square and went to the National Gallery where many of Picasso's paintings are on display. This was a very neat place to see art that we only see pictures of in our history books.
Just outside the square was non other than the Texas Embassy. That's right, The Republic still has an embassy here. (Technically it is just a restaurant now, but still cool to see a TX flag flying in London) While there we went to the bar and all had a nice Dr. Pepper for just £2.20 ($3.30). I guess that is the price you pay to have it imported form the Republic...
Dinner tonight was some amazing Lamb. It was cooked over a bed of onions, potatoes and beans. We have really gotten used to these great meals in London at the Bradley's for free, tomorrow in Paris is going to be a rude awakening... After dinner we got a chance to go out to hallowed ground; Wimbledon! We did not get to go onto the grounds, but we were able to get just inside the gates and take a picture of the outside of Center Court. I found it really neat that it is completely surrounded by houses on every side.
Well I am going to have to call it quits on this one because we are having to get up early to catch the eurostar to Paris. And for all those worried about us having a place to stay in Paris don't worry, we finally booked a place tonight. Well I don't know if I am going to be able to blog every day from this point, but I will as much as I can.
Well this is goodbye from London till we return on June 14th on our way home.
Michael
P.S. Noelle, I passed a girl today in the metro with your perfume on today...I followed her for 15 min...jk but really
Next on the list for the day was to head over to Borough Market were we ate an authentic English lunch. I had a grilled duck baggette and it was really good. After this we headed back over to Trafalgar's Square and went to the National Gallery where many of Picasso's paintings are on display. This was a very neat place to see art that we only see pictures of in our history books.
Just outside the square was non other than the Texas Embassy. That's right, The Republic still has an embassy here. (Technically it is just a restaurant now, but still cool to see a TX flag flying in London) While there we went to the bar and all had a nice Dr. Pepper for just £2.20 ($3.30). I guess that is the price you pay to have it imported form the Republic...
Dinner tonight was some amazing Lamb. It was cooked over a bed of onions, potatoes and beans. We have really gotten used to these great meals in London at the Bradley's for free, tomorrow in Paris is going to be a rude awakening... After dinner we got a chance to go out to hallowed ground; Wimbledon! We did not get to go onto the grounds, but we were able to get just inside the gates and take a picture of the outside of Center Court. I found it really neat that it is completely surrounded by houses on every side.
Well I am going to have to call it quits on this one because we are having to get up early to catch the eurostar to Paris. And for all those worried about us having a place to stay in Paris don't worry, we finally booked a place tonight. Well I don't know if I am going to be able to blog every day from this point, but I will as much as I can.
Well this is goodbye from London till we return on June 14th on our way home.
Michael
P.S. Noelle, I passed a girl today in the metro with your perfume on today...I followed her for 15 min...jk but really
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Location: Eastwest hemisphere
Day 2 - Today started our first full day in Europe. we got up and hit the ground running (well walking actually, don't really know why the phrase has become so popular...) Our first stop of the morning was Buckingham Palace. This Palace was much like what I expected it to look like from the picture I have seen, and it was the England I expected to see. We made it there just in time for the changing of the guards, so we got to see the band come marching in wearing their red coats and big fir hats. As any good patriot would say, I don't the actual changing of the guards was quite as neat as that as Arlington National in DC, but it was still a really cool experience. While there the band played some very interesting tunes with the likes of; the Star trek theme, The Imperial March, the Indiana Jones theme, and a few others.
After we had been at the palace for about thirty min. we decided it was about time to head over to Greenwich where the Prime Meridian is located. I had no clue this was even in London until we arrived here. (sorry Mr. Webb, 9th grade world geography) We took a boat down the Thames River which gave us a great new view of London. The town was a very pretty English town with smaller streets than that of main part of London. We found a nice pub in the city to get fish and chips for lunch. After lunch we managed to make it over to the maritime museum where the Prime Meridian is located atop a hill.
Our next stop of the day was Tower Bridge. This is what I have always thought was London bridge, but London bridge is just a normal bridge about 50 Km from the Tower bridge. This was an amazing structure and quite fun to walk over. (I am trying to think in a British accent while typing this to try and give you the best experience I can.) After the bridge we headed over to Piccadilly Circus again to take care of some traveling stuff at the EuroRail location before we leave for Paris in 2 days.
Tonight we ate Fish Pie made by non other than Mr. Bradley himself. It was soo good! I am loving all the new foods I am experiencing. After dinner he asked if we would like to go to a good pub with him. This was a really cool experience because it was something not just any tourist would know to do. He took us to a really cool part of town called, Strand on the Green in Chsique(sp?). While there he introduced us to some English beers. we each only got a half pint due to the dark bitterness of English beer. I got one called London's Pride which wasn't too bad. It wasn't quite as dark as some of the others.
Well that is about all I have for today's blog, but there will be much more to come in the future! We are currently looking for a place to stay in Paris, so if you have any suggestions please let us know.
Cheers!
Michael
After we had been at the palace for about thirty min. we decided it was about time to head over to Greenwich where the Prime Meridian is located. I had no clue this was even in London until we arrived here. (sorry Mr. Webb, 9th grade world geography) We took a boat down the Thames River which gave us a great new view of London. The town was a very pretty English town with smaller streets than that of main part of London. We found a nice pub in the city to get fish and chips for lunch. After lunch we managed to make it over to the maritime museum where the Prime Meridian is located atop a hill.
Our next stop of the day was Tower Bridge. This is what I have always thought was London bridge, but London bridge is just a normal bridge about 50 Km from the Tower bridge. This was an amazing structure and quite fun to walk over. (I am trying to think in a British accent while typing this to try and give you the best experience I can.) After the bridge we headed over to Piccadilly Circus again to take care of some traveling stuff at the EuroRail location before we leave for Paris in 2 days.
Tonight we ate Fish Pie made by non other than Mr. Bradley himself. It was soo good! I am loving all the new foods I am experiencing. After dinner he asked if we would like to go to a good pub with him. This was a really cool experience because it was something not just any tourist would know to do. He took us to a really cool part of town called, Strand on the Green in Chsique(sp?). While there he introduced us to some English beers. we each only got a half pint due to the dark bitterness of English beer. I got one called London's Pride which wasn't too bad. It wasn't quite as dark as some of the others.
Well that is about all I have for today's blog, but there will be much more to come in the future! We are currently looking for a place to stay in Paris, so if you have any suggestions please let us know.
Cheers!
Michael
Monday, May 18, 2009
"This has to be famous"
Day 1 - Well today was a very long but exciting day. We landed in London at 7:30 AM and hit the ground running. We ran into our first problem when trying to buy tickets to take the underground to the house we are staying at in kensington and the machine would not accept Josh's debit card, but we soon found out the problem was with the machine and not his card when the next one over worked perfectly. We proceeded on the tube to what we thought was the stop we needed to get off at only to find out we were nowhere near where we needed to be, so we got back on and went to the next stop suggested by a local. At this stop we got out and started walking towards the street we thought the house was on, but found out that we were on holland street and not holland park avenue. We finally made it to the house at around 10:30 AM.
When we got to the house the Bradley's had a wonderful breakfast cooked up for us. (A nice changed from the airline food) We sat and talked and ate for a bit then went up stairs for a quick power nap before hitting the town.
After our nap we hopped on a double decker bus and and headed for downtown London. This is an absolultely beautiful city full of amazing old building, churchs, and a diverse group of people. After ariving at Picadilly Circus, we strated walking out towards the eye, big bend, and all that is in that area. When we got to Westminster Abby and Big bend, we heard alot of comotion and noticed alot of police gathering in the area. After asking one of the local business men standing outside in the area, we found out they were peaceful protesters from sir lanka unhappy with the death and violence in sir lanka. Dont worry moms, we didnt get in the middle of them and it was all peaceful, just a lot of yelling.
As the day went on, we managed to make our way around a little more of downtown and kinda got a feel for what we want to do tomorrow and the next day. after coming back to the house to eat a wonderful meal prepared by Mrs. Bradley, Mr. Bradley took us out for a car ride in the town to see a few things such as the Abbey road studio and a hill in a park over looking London.
Well it is 10:15 PM here now and we have only slept 4 hours in the past 48, so i think i will hit the sack and get rested for a full day tomorrow.
I Love you all!
Michael
(P.S. before you correct my "typo", i ment to make the title of the say me instead of my"
When we got to the house the Bradley's had a wonderful breakfast cooked up for us. (A nice changed from the airline food) We sat and talked and ate for a bit then went up stairs for a quick power nap before hitting the town.
After our nap we hopped on a double decker bus and and headed for downtown London. This is an absolultely beautiful city full of amazing old building, churchs, and a diverse group of people. After ariving at Picadilly Circus, we strated walking out towards the eye, big bend, and all that is in that area. When we got to Westminster Abby and Big bend, we heard alot of comotion and noticed alot of police gathering in the area. After asking one of the local business men standing outside in the area, we found out they were peaceful protesters from sir lanka unhappy with the death and violence in sir lanka. Dont worry moms, we didnt get in the middle of them and it was all peaceful, just a lot of yelling.
As the day went on, we managed to make our way around a little more of downtown and kinda got a feel for what we want to do tomorrow and the next day. after coming back to the house to eat a wonderful meal prepared by Mrs. Bradley, Mr. Bradley took us out for a car ride in the town to see a few things such as the Abbey road studio and a hill in a park over looking London.
Well it is 10:15 PM here now and we have only slept 4 hours in the past 48, so i think i will hit the sack and get rested for a full day tomorrow.
I Love you all!
Michael
(P.S. before you correct my "typo", i ment to make the title of the say me instead of my"
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