Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Denmark and Sweden...Börk Börk Börk!!!
Copenhagen
Our first city in Scandanavia. Not the most exciting city we have encountered. We rented bikes and scooted around the city for a little while until we realized we arent bike people and its a lot harder than it looks. Saw the Little Mermaid Statue that sits off a jeddi. The statue is the lamist tourist attraction in the world, its not impressive at all.
The most interesting thing happening in this place where the naked hookers walking around the town square.
This city kind of sucked worse than Berlin, there isnt much else to say about it.
Stockholm and the Archipelago´s
Totally incredible. Stockholm is a very relaxing town on the water and is actually made up of 14 small islands all conected by bridges. We went to the Vasa Museum which is a museum dedicated to a ship that was hauled out of the Stockholm Harbor 333 years after its maiden voyage. (it sunk after it went 1500 meters). Its the only ship from the 1600´s that has been preserved in the world.
Our Hostel is really cool, part of it is a ship that has been preserved from the 1800´s. Our room wasnt on the boat but its still cool anyway.
We got creative with cooking food becuase its so expensive to eat out here and made some really good stuff. Made a gumbo thing and other fancy stuff.
Went to the archipelago capital of Vaxholm which is one of the small islands. Sat on the rocks and watched boats and what not pass as we ate lunch. Saw an old fortress and snuck into a museum exibition about the island prison from the 1700-1800´s.
The craziest thing about this place is that it DOESNT GET DARK TILL SOOOO LATE! The sun isnt even fully set at about 1030pm and it will rise at 4am...we kid you not. Try waking up to go pee at 4am only to see that its super bright outside, its insane. We wished we were able to get up to the Arctic Circle to see the midnight sun which is the 24hrs of sun for about 100 days but we just missed it and its a little far. Still, the color of the sky here at 1030 is what it would look like at about 8pm back home.
Our first city in Scandanavia. Not the most exciting city we have encountered. We rented bikes and scooted around the city for a little while until we realized we arent bike people and its a lot harder than it looks. Saw the Little Mermaid Statue that sits off a jeddi. The statue is the lamist tourist attraction in the world, its not impressive at all.
The most interesting thing happening in this place where the naked hookers walking around the town square.
This city kind of sucked worse than Berlin, there isnt much else to say about it.
Stockholm and the Archipelago´s
Totally incredible. Stockholm is a very relaxing town on the water and is actually made up of 14 small islands all conected by bridges. We went to the Vasa Museum which is a museum dedicated to a ship that was hauled out of the Stockholm Harbor 333 years after its maiden voyage. (it sunk after it went 1500 meters). Its the only ship from the 1600´s that has been preserved in the world.
Our Hostel is really cool, part of it is a ship that has been preserved from the 1800´s. Our room wasnt on the boat but its still cool anyway.
We got creative with cooking food becuase its so expensive to eat out here and made some really good stuff. Made a gumbo thing and other fancy stuff.
Went to the archipelago capital of Vaxholm which is one of the small islands. Sat on the rocks and watched boats and what not pass as we ate lunch. Saw an old fortress and snuck into a museum exibition about the island prison from the 1700-1800´s.
The craziest thing about this place is that it DOESNT GET DARK TILL SOOOO LATE! The sun isnt even fully set at about 1030pm and it will rise at 4am...we kid you not. Try waking up to go pee at 4am only to see that its super bright outside, its insane. We wished we were able to get up to the Arctic Circle to see the midnight sun which is the 24hrs of sun for about 100 days but we just missed it and its a little far. Still, the color of the sky here at 1030 is what it would look like at about 8pm back home.
All in all, Stockholm helped redeem our initial thoughts of Scandinavia. There was a lot to see and a lot to do and it was absolutely beautiful. If we ever came back we would like to do a tour of the Archipelagos as well as the Arctic Circle. We would try to get a house somewhere for a week or two, rent a boat and just explore...that would be really cool.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
5 weeks in and a lot of random...
So its been about 5 weeks now and ive(jil) been keeping a little journal. It has some really random stuff in it, a lot of matts drawings of random things and notes from here and there...here is a little taste of whats inside....
-Matt nearly looses toe on second day (its totally healed now, fyi)
-Went to the train station in Portugal, it was the wrong one. Went to the another one, it was still the wrong one....were able to stay and cought our train!
-1245am on train to Madrid-Jil learns theres states in other countries, not just in the US...Matts reaction--stupid american.
-Matts favorite spanish term, dos gatos locos, actually comes in handy at the Prado Museum when there is a panting of, dos gatos locos.
-Jil-"oh look theres the Senate"
Matt-"how do you know thats the Senate?"
Jil- "Because it says Senate in English"
Matt-"...is that how you spell Senate?"
-3 rules for a bar crawl in Barcelona (as said by the bar crawl leader)
1.Dont talk to hookers-they dont like you, they just want to steal your money
2. Dont buy any beer from Pakistanis, unless you want to pay 165 euros
3. Shut the fuck up unless you want piss and poo thrown on you!
-Lady on train scared matt, he thought she was from transelvania and was afraid to sleep for fear of neck bites
-Matts new favorite song...to the tune of bob marleys we be jammin...."we be jamon, jamon like a thing of the past" (jamon is ham in spanish...this is from the vegan)
-Old man in barcelona wearing nothing but sandles walking to the beach...full body tattooed!
-The train line in italy is called trenitalia...haha get it? sounds like genitalia...theres an picture that goes to this one...
-We traveled all across Italy to Nice, from Nice to Monaco, from Monaco to Nice, from Nice to Ventemiglia, from Ventimiglia to Milan, from Milan to Venice, from Venice to Vienna...all becasue we couldnt get to Geneva
-Poop Chair...(there was a chair on one of the trains in italy that stunk of poop...of course because i didnt get enough poop issues in Rome, i got to sit in it)
-I told a waiter at the hofbrauhaus that i was a cheese head in german on a dare from matt....he continued to call matt a cheese head the rest of the night!
-Tour guide for Dachau-"Where are my Mexicans??"
-Canadian lady (who talked waaaaay to much) on the third reich tour. Theres actually a lot from her, to much to write but lets just say she claims to be a decendant of royalty and apparently broke her back right before her trip but still is able to take a 3 hour WALKING TOUR!
-Matt was drunk in Prague on the bar crawl...he then proceeded to yell CANADA SUCKS at the top of his lungs outside at one point. Our french canadian roomate happened to be right next to him...matt then tells the kid...canada sucks EXCEPT for French Canada, thats the best place ever! Even though he really doesnt believe that, still hates canada and doesnt understand why they arent american.
-Matt-"its kinda like that kill two birds with one egg thing right?" no...its not, hes just matt!
-Matt nearly looses toe on second day (its totally healed now, fyi)
-Went to the train station in Portugal, it was the wrong one. Went to the another one, it was still the wrong one....were able to stay and cought our train!
-1245am on train to Madrid-Jil learns theres states in other countries, not just in the US...Matts reaction--stupid american.
-Matts favorite spanish term, dos gatos locos, actually comes in handy at the Prado Museum when there is a panting of, dos gatos locos.
-Jil-"oh look theres the Senate"
Matt-"how do you know thats the Senate?"
Jil- "Because it says Senate in English"
Matt-"...is that how you spell Senate?"
-3 rules for a bar crawl in Barcelona (as said by the bar crawl leader)
1.Dont talk to hookers-they dont like you, they just want to steal your money
2. Dont buy any beer from Pakistanis, unless you want to pay 165 euros
3. Shut the fuck up unless you want piss and poo thrown on you!
-Lady on train scared matt, he thought she was from transelvania and was afraid to sleep for fear of neck bites
-Matts new favorite song...to the tune of bob marleys we be jammin...."we be jamon, jamon like a thing of the past" (jamon is ham in spanish...this is from the vegan)
-Old man in barcelona wearing nothing but sandles walking to the beach...full body tattooed!
-The train line in italy is called trenitalia...haha get it? sounds like genitalia...theres an picture that goes to this one...
-We traveled all across Italy to Nice, from Nice to Monaco, from Monaco to Nice, from Nice to Ventemiglia, from Ventimiglia to Milan, from Milan to Venice, from Venice to Vienna...all becasue we couldnt get to Geneva
-Poop Chair...(there was a chair on one of the trains in italy that stunk of poop...of course because i didnt get enough poop issues in Rome, i got to sit in it)
-I told a waiter at the hofbrauhaus that i was a cheese head in german on a dare from matt....he continued to call matt a cheese head the rest of the night!
-Tour guide for Dachau-"Where are my Mexicans??"
-Canadian lady (who talked waaaaay to much) on the third reich tour. Theres actually a lot from her, to much to write but lets just say she claims to be a decendant of royalty and apparently broke her back right before her trip but still is able to take a 3 hour WALKING TOUR!
-Matt was drunk in Prague on the bar crawl...he then proceeded to yell CANADA SUCKS at the top of his lungs outside at one point. Our french canadian roomate happened to be right next to him...matt then tells the kid...canada sucks EXCEPT for French Canada, thats the best place ever! Even though he really doesnt believe that, still hates canada and doesnt understand why they arent american.
-Matt-"its kinda like that kill two birds with one egg thing right?" no...its not, hes just matt!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Prague & Berlin
Prague, aka Praha, aka Prahahahaha, aka the largest and only country in central europe.
Everyone, except for one person, told us we were going to love Prague and we did. It was absolutely beautiful. Really old, very gothic looking and just all around great. While we were walking around in the Old Town it was a little wierd mainly becasue it felt like we were in a very small town, it was that quiet. The New Town is a lot more modern and commercial, and other than our free tour (which was fantastic by the way...tip, Sandemans New Europe great free tours just tip your guide) we spent no time in New Town.
Prague has a lot to offer, after all it is the largest and ONLY country in Central Europe. The astrological clock is pretty neat to look at but its hilarious to watch people wait for an hour to see the thing go off at the top of the hour. This clock was state of the art back in the 1800s or something so at the top of the hour two little doors open up at little men holding tiny little objects come out of their home to show you their tresures...also some decorations on the sides of the clock move their heads....like we said, people wait for an hour to see this-they congregate at the clock and then with cameras poised all have the same wtf look on their faces in the end. It was amusing to say the least.
The rest of Prague architecture was pretty cool. Some of it was kinda modern but then you have these insane Gothic churches and they just loom off behind another building, or up on a hill in a palace and they are kind of spooky but really cool to look at. We seem to be following a storm system, or the storm keeps following us because its rained everywhere since Vienna, so try to imagine these monstorous gothic buildings with a dark cloud behind it at 3pm...its a nice effect!
Like previously mentioned we liked Praugue a lot....we went on a bar crawl-that ended poorly for Jil....that same night (on the crawl) Matt offended our Canadian roommate (by yelling at the top of his lungs CANADA SUCKS!!) all though the roommate said he didnt even remember it and it was no big deal, and we got really into Franz Kafka. Since Prague is his home, we went to the Kafka museum and bought some of his books which are really interesting. We also saw the statue they made in honor of him...its the one with the giant headless, handless man with a smaller man sitting on his shoulders...its pretty cool.
We honestly did everything, from the castle to the bridge, to the lennon wall and so on...yay prague!
Berlin
Was the most boring city we have been in so far. Its huge and we were told that it is 9.5 times the size of Paris in square Kilometers, but it really sucks. We went on the free tour and where show a lot of old building that where uniteresting. The Holocaust Memorial was interesting but kind of odd because its one sqaure block of giant granite blocks. We went on a Communist tour and leaned all about east and west berlin and east and west germany. The inner city is really very modern becuase it was all blown apart during the World War 2.
The best part of the city was the Autobahn. Matt lived a life dream and drove really fast in a manual Audi A4. The best part about getting a stick shift car was that he really didnt remember how to drive it to well. He just had trouble getting it in reverse and starting the car. So after starting the car we had to push it around in the garage until a angry bald german helped showed him how to reverse. We also had to get 2 tickets to open up the gate because it was on a hill and we rolled backwards and the gate closed before he was able to get out. Once on the highway it was a great drive, he only stalled out twice and Jil didnt even get carsick which is impressive. He was only able to get it up to 140mph.....but average 110 for about 400 miles. We drove to hamburg and back.
Basically, not such an interesting city.
Were in Copenhagen right now..............its expensive. The train from Berlin to Copenhagen started out normal...........then the entire train went on a boat and we floated to Denmark. The the train got of the boat and back on rails. Your probably wondering how are minds where?..they where blown. True story people.
We promise, more positive posts later
see ya!!
Everyone, except for one person, told us we were going to love Prague and we did. It was absolutely beautiful. Really old, very gothic looking and just all around great. While we were walking around in the Old Town it was a little wierd mainly becasue it felt like we were in a very small town, it was that quiet. The New Town is a lot more modern and commercial, and other than our free tour (which was fantastic by the way...tip, Sandemans New Europe great free tours just tip your guide) we spent no time in New Town.
Prague has a lot to offer, after all it is the largest and ONLY country in Central Europe. The astrological clock is pretty neat to look at but its hilarious to watch people wait for an hour to see the thing go off at the top of the hour. This clock was state of the art back in the 1800s or something so at the top of the hour two little doors open up at little men holding tiny little objects come out of their home to show you their tresures...also some decorations on the sides of the clock move their heads....like we said, people wait for an hour to see this-they congregate at the clock and then with cameras poised all have the same wtf look on their faces in the end. It was amusing to say the least.
The rest of Prague architecture was pretty cool. Some of it was kinda modern but then you have these insane Gothic churches and they just loom off behind another building, or up on a hill in a palace and they are kind of spooky but really cool to look at. We seem to be following a storm system, or the storm keeps following us because its rained everywhere since Vienna, so try to imagine these monstorous gothic buildings with a dark cloud behind it at 3pm...its a nice effect!
Like previously mentioned we liked Praugue a lot....we went on a bar crawl-that ended poorly for Jil....that same night (on the crawl) Matt offended our Canadian roommate (by yelling at the top of his lungs CANADA SUCKS!!) all though the roommate said he didnt even remember it and it was no big deal, and we got really into Franz Kafka. Since Prague is his home, we went to the Kafka museum and bought some of his books which are really interesting. We also saw the statue they made in honor of him...its the one with the giant headless, handless man with a smaller man sitting on his shoulders...its pretty cool.
We honestly did everything, from the castle to the bridge, to the lennon wall and so on...yay prague!
Berlin
Was the most boring city we have been in so far. Its huge and we were told that it is 9.5 times the size of Paris in square Kilometers, but it really sucks. We went on the free tour and where show a lot of old building that where uniteresting. The Holocaust Memorial was interesting but kind of odd because its one sqaure block of giant granite blocks. We went on a Communist tour and leaned all about east and west berlin and east and west germany. The inner city is really very modern becuase it was all blown apart during the World War 2.
The best part of the city was the Autobahn. Matt lived a life dream and drove really fast in a manual Audi A4. The best part about getting a stick shift car was that he really didnt remember how to drive it to well. He just had trouble getting it in reverse and starting the car. So after starting the car we had to push it around in the garage until a angry bald german helped showed him how to reverse. We also had to get 2 tickets to open up the gate because it was on a hill and we rolled backwards and the gate closed before he was able to get out. Once on the highway it was a great drive, he only stalled out twice and Jil didnt even get carsick which is impressive. He was only able to get it up to 140mph.....but average 110 for about 400 miles. We drove to hamburg and back.
Basically, not such an interesting city.
Were in Copenhagen right now..............its expensive. The train from Berlin to Copenhagen started out normal...........then the entire train went on a boat and we floated to Denmark. The the train got of the boat and back on rails. Your probably wondering how are minds where?..they where blown. True story people.
We promise, more positive posts later
see ya!!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Halloooo München!!!!
Munich, what an interesting time to say the least. First of all we stayed in a hotel, but not just any hotel, one that was pretty, had a kitchenette in the unit and was COMPLETELY PRIVATE! Its funny how much you come to appreciate your privacy when you for the first time really dont have any. It was a really nice change of pace.
So, Munich...the first night there we went to the Haufbrauhous a.k.a. the most famous beerhall in the world. The place is absolutely huge. It had three floors, outside seating and live bavarian music is the most fantastic outfits in the world, laderhosen! We sat down at a random table, ordered some food and beers and just enjoyed the atmosphere. We then became table america when the waiter sat down 4 other americans with us (its communal eating which is actually kind of nice)....clearly, as americans, we can only speak to other americans, so we have to all sit together! Either way it was a good time!
We did a lot of tours in Munich. The first one we did was the Third Reich Tour which chronicaled Hitlers rise to power in Munich. It was kind of neat to see where he left his mark and how so many things are still standing. There are also little reminders of his presence all around Munich but most things were either bombed out or torn down during the war.
We also went on a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp. We Learned that it was used as the model for all the other camps that where built during the Holocaust. It was the most interesting, bone chilling, depressing place we have ever visited. All of the baracks were torn down in the 1960s so all they had were 2 recreations of what they were like but you still get the picture and all down a dirt path were rows and rows where all of these places stood. The most disturbing place was the crematoriam, mainly because it was the origional one and you could walk into it and see everything so clearly. It literally made us sick to be standing in there and when we were in the room that had the gas chambers we left as quickly as we entered. The one thing that was really annoying about the place was that the catholic church had a giant building put up inside the camp which over shadowed the Jewish one..............just goes to show you they are morons.
We saw the BMW museum which was cool but creepy as well but on a whole different level. The building looms over you like some giant mega-corp which has robot employees. The exhibits where interesting, but became depressing when we got to the part of the tour which showed how they used jews as forced labor during Hitlers riegn. Still the BMW museum was really cool, the only wish was that we would of been able to do a plant tour but we were to late in the day and they didnt run them on weekends. At the same time we were at the BMW museum we went to the Olympic park which was the most bizzare design concept we have ever seen. It literally looked like spiderman created the entire thing because there were these wierd nets over everything.
The really creepy part was that it had to be the international convention for Jahovas Witnesses and no lie, at least 50,000 Jahovas Witnesses took over. It was freightening to be surrounded by the same people that annoyingly knock on your door at home. And they were EVERYWHERE. It didnt matter where you went but there was a Jahova wearing their nametag like a badge of honor...it was freightening!
Still, you couldnt go to Munich or think about it without thinking about the gays...yes, it was gay pride weekend in Munich. So in the middle of the town square right under the famous Glockenspiel clock there was the center of this weekend party filled with people from butch women to fabulous drag queens. Its just slightly ironic becuase where they were celebrating, Hitler stood only some 60 years prior trying to exterminate them. Also, they seem to love John Denver in Germany. During the talent portion of the weekend one young feller sang Country Road and if your not familiar with this song its all about West Virginia or something like that but as if someone turned the switch to on, an entire croud of gay people starting singing and cheering along with this song....who knew John Denver had such a following. It was amusing to say the least!
For the time we where there Munich was entertaining, but we wouldnt go back until Oktoberfest. Were in Prague right now which is very different from Munich but more on that another time!
So, Munich...the first night there we went to the Haufbrauhous a.k.a. the most famous beerhall in the world. The place is absolutely huge. It had three floors, outside seating and live bavarian music is the most fantastic outfits in the world, laderhosen! We sat down at a random table, ordered some food and beers and just enjoyed the atmosphere. We then became table america when the waiter sat down 4 other americans with us (its communal eating which is actually kind of nice)....clearly, as americans, we can only speak to other americans, so we have to all sit together! Either way it was a good time!
We did a lot of tours in Munich. The first one we did was the Third Reich Tour which chronicaled Hitlers rise to power in Munich. It was kind of neat to see where he left his mark and how so many things are still standing. There are also little reminders of his presence all around Munich but most things were either bombed out or torn down during the war.
We also went on a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp. We Learned that it was used as the model for all the other camps that where built during the Holocaust. It was the most interesting, bone chilling, depressing place we have ever visited. All of the baracks were torn down in the 1960s so all they had were 2 recreations of what they were like but you still get the picture and all down a dirt path were rows and rows where all of these places stood. The most disturbing place was the crematoriam, mainly because it was the origional one and you could walk into it and see everything so clearly. It literally made us sick to be standing in there and when we were in the room that had the gas chambers we left as quickly as we entered. The one thing that was really annoying about the place was that the catholic church had a giant building put up inside the camp which over shadowed the Jewish one..............just goes to show you they are morons.
We saw the BMW museum which was cool but creepy as well but on a whole different level. The building looms over you like some giant mega-corp which has robot employees. The exhibits where interesting, but became depressing when we got to the part of the tour which showed how they used jews as forced labor during Hitlers riegn. Still the BMW museum was really cool, the only wish was that we would of been able to do a plant tour but we were to late in the day and they didnt run them on weekends. At the same time we were at the BMW museum we went to the Olympic park which was the most bizzare design concept we have ever seen. It literally looked like spiderman created the entire thing because there were these wierd nets over everything.
The really creepy part was that it had to be the international convention for Jahovas Witnesses and no lie, at least 50,000 Jahovas Witnesses took over. It was freightening to be surrounded by the same people that annoyingly knock on your door at home. And they were EVERYWHERE. It didnt matter where you went but there was a Jahova wearing their nametag like a badge of honor...it was freightening!
Still, you couldnt go to Munich or think about it without thinking about the gays...yes, it was gay pride weekend in Munich. So in the middle of the town square right under the famous Glockenspiel clock there was the center of this weekend party filled with people from butch women to fabulous drag queens. Its just slightly ironic becuase where they were celebrating, Hitler stood only some 60 years prior trying to exterminate them. Also, they seem to love John Denver in Germany. During the talent portion of the weekend one young feller sang Country Road and if your not familiar with this song its all about West Virginia or something like that but as if someone turned the switch to on, an entire croud of gay people starting singing and cheering along with this song....who knew John Denver had such a following. It was amusing to say the least!
For the time we where there Munich was entertaining, but we wouldnt go back until Oktoberfest. Were in Prague right now which is very different from Munich but more on that another time!
Vienna
Its been a little while since our last post because the hotel in Munich charged so much for internet that we figured we'd wait and use free internet in Prague to ramble on about our trip.
Vienna feels a lot like Germany mainly becuase they speak German and we kept getting confused about where we were. It was our first country outside of southern europe so it was a huge change. The people and culture are much more similar to the United States than any of the southern european countries so we actually seemed to fit in. We kept getting approced by people from the area asking us questions and what not...we had no idea what they said, apologized in english and got pretty much the same, ughhh of course face, from every single person.
The pastries in Vienna are pretty incredible, much better than the processed junk at home. Actually every pastry we have had on this trip so far has been really good. Not as sugary sweet as the ones at home tend to be, but more natural tasting. Theyre addicting.
Went to the palace (called Shoenbruenn) which was home to the many emporers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire/Austrian Empire. It was much different than the spanish palace that we toured, much less gaudy and a lot more elegant. It seemed to show the difference in culture between southern europe and northern in that the northerners are much more conservative. The Palace itself was really modest, if you can try and imagine a modest Palace, but the grounds were absoultely massive. We cant even describe how big these grounds were but lets put it this way, we spend about 4 or 5 hours there seeing everything.
Also, we found the Globe Museum which was the most random museum we have ever been in but still is was interesting. It had in it the private collections of antique globes dating back to around 1200 a.d. and had lots of different types of globes like terestial, celestial, topographical and explained "globology" in great detail.
For the most part Vienna was quiet, clean, a little cold and really pretty. There was a film and jazz festival going on at the time which we visited at night and watched a cure concert on a jumbo screen in the rain (it rained for the first time our entire trip here). Even though we were getting poured on it was still a lot of fun. There were food stands set up everywhere from all over the world which offered big food portions for a little price which is right up our alley.
Vienna feels a lot like Germany mainly becuase they speak German and we kept getting confused about where we were. It was our first country outside of southern europe so it was a huge change. The people and culture are much more similar to the United States than any of the southern european countries so we actually seemed to fit in. We kept getting approced by people from the area asking us questions and what not...we had no idea what they said, apologized in english and got pretty much the same, ughhh of course face, from every single person.
The pastries in Vienna are pretty incredible, much better than the processed junk at home. Actually every pastry we have had on this trip so far has been really good. Not as sugary sweet as the ones at home tend to be, but more natural tasting. Theyre addicting.
Went to the palace (called Shoenbruenn) which was home to the many emporers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire/Austrian Empire. It was much different than the spanish palace that we toured, much less gaudy and a lot more elegant. It seemed to show the difference in culture between southern europe and northern in that the northerners are much more conservative. The Palace itself was really modest, if you can try and imagine a modest Palace, but the grounds were absoultely massive. We cant even describe how big these grounds were but lets put it this way, we spend about 4 or 5 hours there seeing everything.
Also, we found the Globe Museum which was the most random museum we have ever been in but still is was interesting. It had in it the private collections of antique globes dating back to around 1200 a.d. and had lots of different types of globes like terestial, celestial, topographical and explained "globology" in great detail.
For the most part Vienna was quiet, clean, a little cold and really pretty. There was a film and jazz festival going on at the time which we visited at night and watched a cure concert on a jumbo screen in the rain (it rained for the first time our entire trip here). Even though we were getting poured on it was still a lot of fun. There were food stands set up everywhere from all over the world which offered big food portions for a little price which is right up our alley.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Venice, Le Tour de France and The French Riviera
Havent had enough time to write much because these Europeans make you pay to use their computers and make you pay for everything else as well. We now have some down time and are just going to hash out what weve been up to.
Venice:
Really the best place in Italy we have been to, the canals are incredible up close (and arent smelly like all the books say). The city has only had two new buildings put up in the past 500 years or so, so it has a feel unlike anyother place that we have seen. There are all of these cool alleyways and sidestreets that you would never go down in Philly but here they are home to a lot of really cool storefronts,restaurants, bakerys and bars. Although its really expesive on this group of islands there is a kind of mystery about them that draws you in. Venecian masks everywhere (some priced over a few hundred euro, and mascarade clothing in the thousands), glass artwork is also big here. Our hostel overlooked the water and at night it was beautiful. To get everywhere we had to take a boat/water taxi (we figured out how to not pay and saved a bundle of money). There were no cars no buses no trains becuase the city is so dense and old there is no room. Its all water here people!!
On our last night in Venice we saw this free concert/art performance. It was hosted by Swatch in Piazza San Marco. It was to launch their new line but it was still really neat to see. This American artist created an entire canvas (it was as long as the stage and maybe 8 feet tall) in a 50 minute period while a band played. Apparently the artist was inspired by the band so they worked in harmony. It was really cool to see and the entire Piazza lit up with a whole laser and light show during the performance. It was a great way to end Venice
Nice and the French Riviera:
Nice was niiiiiiice! First off, it is beautiful and completely relaxed which is exactly what we were hoping for. When we changed our plans to to go Nice instead of Lyon we booked a Hostel through a different website than what we had previously used. This "hostel" we booked was actually a Hotel 2 blocks from the beach at an incredible rate! It was such a nice change of pace and so very welcome! We spent the first day just laying on the beach (its a rock beach but still pretty comfortable and less messy than sand) and swimming in the Mediteranian which was so clear, warm, and calm, the best ocean/beach we have ever been to. At night it didnt get dark out until around 10pm (which is actually a norm for southern europe so far were noticing) and we would just get dinner and relax. The perfect vacation from our vacation.
The next day we went to go get our train tickets to Geneva because we would be leaving the following day. Turns out, everyone and there mother wanted to go there from Nice and we couldnt get out for another couple of days. In the end we decided to cut out Geneva all together, spend more time in Nice and go directly to Vienna...(well go from Nice to Milan, Milan back to Venice, then take an overnight train from Venice to Vienna).
The additional day payed off becasue we were able to go to Monaco. We wanted to see everything, the palaces and the museums but got no chance due to a small not so well known bike competition that was happening called Le Tour de France...ever heard of it? :) We spent the day in the stands (front row) watching the Grand Depart, which is the first official day of competition. We saw Lance Armstrong, who came out of reitrement this year, fly past us as well as all of the other competetors. It was really incredable to see!
Off to the north (or as far north as we have gotten thus far) to see Vienna, Austria!
Venice:
Really the best place in Italy we have been to, the canals are incredible up close (and arent smelly like all the books say). The city has only had two new buildings put up in the past 500 years or so, so it has a feel unlike anyother place that we have seen. There are all of these cool alleyways and sidestreets that you would never go down in Philly but here they are home to a lot of really cool storefronts,restaurants, bakerys and bars. Although its really expesive on this group of islands there is a kind of mystery about them that draws you in. Venecian masks everywhere (some priced over a few hundred euro, and mascarade clothing in the thousands), glass artwork is also big here. Our hostel overlooked the water and at night it was beautiful. To get everywhere we had to take a boat/water taxi (we figured out how to not pay and saved a bundle of money). There were no cars no buses no trains becuase the city is so dense and old there is no room. Its all water here people!!
On our last night in Venice we saw this free concert/art performance. It was hosted by Swatch in Piazza San Marco. It was to launch their new line but it was still really neat to see. This American artist created an entire canvas (it was as long as the stage and maybe 8 feet tall) in a 50 minute period while a band played. Apparently the artist was inspired by the band so they worked in harmony. It was really cool to see and the entire Piazza lit up with a whole laser and light show during the performance. It was a great way to end Venice
Nice and the French Riviera:
Nice was niiiiiiice! First off, it is beautiful and completely relaxed which is exactly what we were hoping for. When we changed our plans to to go Nice instead of Lyon we booked a Hostel through a different website than what we had previously used. This "hostel" we booked was actually a Hotel 2 blocks from the beach at an incredible rate! It was such a nice change of pace and so very welcome! We spent the first day just laying on the beach (its a rock beach but still pretty comfortable and less messy than sand) and swimming in the Mediteranian which was so clear, warm, and calm, the best ocean/beach we have ever been to. At night it didnt get dark out until around 10pm (which is actually a norm for southern europe so far were noticing) and we would just get dinner and relax. The perfect vacation from our vacation.
The next day we went to go get our train tickets to Geneva because we would be leaving the following day. Turns out, everyone and there mother wanted to go there from Nice and we couldnt get out for another couple of days. In the end we decided to cut out Geneva all together, spend more time in Nice and go directly to Vienna...(well go from Nice to Milan, Milan back to Venice, then take an overnight train from Venice to Vienna).
The additional day payed off becasue we were able to go to Monaco. We wanted to see everything, the palaces and the museums but got no chance due to a small not so well known bike competition that was happening called Le Tour de France...ever heard of it? :) We spent the day in the stands (front row) watching the Grand Depart, which is the first official day of competition. We saw Lance Armstrong, who came out of reitrement this year, fly past us as well as all of the other competetors. It was really incredable to see!
Off to the north (or as far north as we have gotten thus far) to see Vienna, Austria!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Stuck on the French Riviera
We are in Nice right now and its awesome, but we cant catch a train to Geneva and had to cancel our hotel. So we going on a long long train ride back through Venice [ which was amazing but we will talk about that in a later post] and then to Vienna, home of the pastry. We are going to Monte Carlo tomorrow to see the Tour de France. We will upddate you all further when we dont have to type on these rediculous French keyboards.
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