Florence

I got to Florence today. Everything worked out this time. No delays, no missed connections. It's a really nice town. Tomorrow I plan on seeing all of the landmarks and such, which are all packed into an easily walkable distance. The days following that I will use to see Pisa, and another small town, "The city of Towers," in the hills of Tuscany.

My hostel is pretty cool. It is located in a campground about 20 minutes by bus from the city center. While it sucks that I am far away from everything, and the doors lock at 12PM, it is a really nice place. It is amazing that one second I can be standing in the city, then a 5 minute walk up a driveway, and I am in a hilly campground. It's so beautiful up there. All the city noise completely disappears, and it is surrounded by stereotypical vinyard hills and little farm houses. I have seen surprisingly few English speaking travellers. I hope I don't get bored here. It's OK though. Tomorrow two Canadian girls I met in Venice are coming here, so they can keep me company. And for tonight, I am more than happy to get to bed early. I am dead on my feet. I went to bed at 9:00AM this morning and got up at 9:45 to catch the train. I got a few hours on the train, but still. Why did I not sleep? Well, I met another girl...

Later

Venice for some reason

Well,

I should be in Florence today, but the Italian train system sucks. I got delayed and missed my connection. The guy at the ticket booth in Milan said to go to Venice and catch a train to Florence from there, so I did. When I got there, there was no train. So I am accidentally in Venice. I love Europe. Oops, I went to venice. Haha.

Anyways. I changed my travel plans. I am doing Venice first now, and then my entire Italian section of the trip in one run. Then I will go to Greece, and back to Germany by traveling through eastern Europe for two weeks.

Internet is expensive here, but everything else is cheap. We must be way before tourist season, since it is empty, quiet, beautiful, and cheap here. If you go to Venice, ever, go at the end of May.

Maybe I will post more in Florence, but for now...

Later.

Photos!

OK,

Nice is actaully pretty cool. Not much to do or see, but a nice (though rocky) beach. I think it was just the first impression of the main street under construction from top to bottom that I was posting about earlier. Here are some pics from Barcelona and Nice:

This is the "Atocha" train station in Mardid. Pretty fancy. They keep the climate tropical with misters in the ceiling. Very humid there.


The Arc de Triumph. If Paris can have one, then so can Barcelona!


That elephant is so stoned (they just keep getting better!)


One of Barcelona's many beaches. Lots of topless women here. However, with the good comes the bad; Grandmothers, anyone?


The view from the top of the hill in the upper right corner of the picture above:


Walking further along this hill you get to the Palace. This is looking down from the palace over it's yard, if you can call it that.


This is taken at the Traveler's Bar. On the far left is Joe, and Australian I've been hanging out with. To my right is Carrie, another Australian with whom I will be staying when I get to London. On the far right is someone I just met that night. I don't remember his name.


OK, so this is us sitting ON the mattress. There is no picture OF the mattress. What is the obsession with the mattress? It was just a stupid dirty old mattress. I saw two more just like it today. And no, I didn't photograph them, either. And mother, to answer your question about what this mattress is, re-read two posts back.


A really famous building in Barcelona. The something de familia. Still being built. It's approaching 150 years under construction. Awsome entry way, though.


I don't know why, but whoever organised the pub crawl though we should all go to this little tiny bar. It sucked. You couldn't move.


This is me and Breege. Please ignore how drunk I look. I hate pictures of myself drunk. Also, keep in mind my face is a little sunburned, so it's not that red becasue of alcohol.


This is the beach area in Nice. Same as barcelona, but rocks rather than sand. That is both a good and bad thing. I'm not sure which I prefer. The water is warmer here.


More Nice. As always, I climbed the first hill I could find to take these shots.

Sundial! And it works! Sorry, for some reason my camera didn't feel like defying the laws of optics today, and focusing on two things at once...


I like cliffy areas.


Hope you enjoyed this pics.

Later.

Whole lot going on...

Wow,

Thanks for all the comments on the last postm and sorry it's been so long since my I've posted again. Yeah, Geraldo, that was pretty funny how your whole famuily kind of posted in a row. I noticed it too. Umm, this comment confused me:

Ryan said...
Bow chicka wow wow.

Why the porno music?

Anyways, I've got tons to tell, so I'll start from the top.

The next day in Barcelona was pretty cool. I spent the day sleeping in late, booking my tickets, seeing a few things I hadn't seen yet. Overall, it seemed like a pretty relaxed day. Knowing I had to get up at 7:00 AM the next day, I decided I wouldn't go on the pub crawl and just have a beer at the Traveler's Bar. But then, when I got there, I ran into people from Madrid again. If you ever travel in the "hostel circuit" do NOT expect to get away from people. I have lost count by now on how many people I have re-met. So they insisted that I go on the pub crawl. I didn't want to shell out 15€ for it, so we did the stamp transfer thing (they lick their stamp and press it against my hand. Worked like a charm.), and off we went. That's when things got interesting. After about the third pub, I met a wonderful Irish girl named Breege. We got along quite well. We kind of dropped out of the crawl at that point and just went on drinking tequilas and sangrias on our own, just talking. End result... I got "upgraded" from a 20€-a-night hostel to a 100€-a-night hotel. Pretty sweet deal. I blew off my train ticket the next day, e-mailed the hostel in Nice and told them I'd be a day late, and spent the next day in Barcelona with Breege.

Since Breege was heading back to Ireland the next day anyways, we did the tourist thing and bought a spot on the top deck of a tourist bus. We just sat in the sun all day, seeing the sight of Barcelona from our comforable open roof seats. I've got a pretty wicked T-Shirt tan going on right about now. We were completely exhausted that day, since we had been up so late the last night, and I had to get up early and head to my hostel to check out. By the time the tour ended, we went and had ourselves a delicious and long Tapas dinner in a cool littel below-ground red-lit restaurant. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were both just dead. We just laid there and argued about various medical things (she's a doctor, by the way!). I was surprised that with my Bio12 education, I was actually able to keep up with and participate in a discussion.

Anyways, I've been partying for a week straight. Barcelona rocks, the Irish rock, and Europe rocks. It's the funnest city i've been to so far, and really makes Nice look like a dump. That's an unfair judgement thougg, as I haven't explored it yet, and the area of the hostel is probably not the nicest. Lots of construction here. I'll post again tonight with my impressions of Nice and lots of photos, since this computer that I am on has all the ports necessary, but I don't have a cable on me at the moment.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all again when I get home, but I'm not really in a rush 'cus this is just too much fun.

Later.

Well, I've had a dfew days to explore Barcelona, and I've added another day. The first day here I put in about 10km of walking, covering half of the huge beach, the entire marina, then up a mountain to the Olympic stadium, across the top of the mountain to the palace, back down the front, and then across the whole city back to my hostel. I was dead tired by the end, but I got a great view and some awsome shots of the city from up there.

That evening (and every one since) I've been going to the "Travel Bar." There is always tons going on there, and as the name implies, there are lots of English speaking people. And like in every other town, I've been meeting tons of Aussies. I think they are spreading out and gearing up for a world invasion. Tonight there is a "Pub Crawl" at the bar. 15€, 4 bars, 2 clubs, food included. Should be fun.

Yesterday I spent the day at the beach with Joe (Aussie - met him in Madrid) and his friend Carie. I tried to make my T-Shirt tan less obvious, but I think that will take more than 1 trip to the beach. Oh well, the Mediteranean ocean is a tad cold, but you can get used to it pretty quick. When we weren't swimming, we were drinking vodka and apple juice. Then this morning, the Hungarians in my room checked out, and donated their bottle of Scotch Whisky to me. I'm becoming a travelling bar.

Last nigh after the bar closed, a group of people I met here and I went to find a party on the beach that we had heared was going on. When we finally got the the start of the beach (30 minute walk from the bar), we found out that the party was about 3 bays over. With another hald-hour walk ahead of us, and knowing we had to walk back again, and that is was already 3:30 AM, we decided not to go. We sat on an old mattress next to a crooked monument/building full of electrical tubes that had sparks travelling up them. We hund out there and drank for a while, just looking at the beach and the city lights, and how they reflected off of and illuminated the clouds above. Then in an act of masterful navigation, I managed to lead everyone back to the hostel through the gothic sector (tons of tiny, winding allys), saving us all quite a walk.

Well, Im off to the train station to book my ticket to Nice. I hear it's nice. (Thank you!)

Later.

Barcelona!

Well, I got to Barcelona today. The 5 hour train ride just flew by as I met 2 American students who had been studying in Madrid for a semester. When I got to Barcelona I made a very minor mistake reading the map, which resulted in me wandering around the city for over an hour with my backpack on looking for the hostel. When the night time temperature is 20c and the humidity is high, you can get some sweat issues going on!

Anyways, I finally did find the hostel. It's in a dirty, dark little back alley but the hostel is actually pretty decent. Not as good as Cat's, as there is no bar or meeting room. I think the reason the streets or so small here (it's actually a street not an ally) is because I am very close to the gothic sector. That's where I´m headed when I finish this post. Then off to see some parks, the olympic stadium, and then to ride and elevator to the head of a tall statue. This city is absolutely beautiful. It sucks that I wont be here for one of the bar crawls, though.

Oh well. Still having a ton of fun. Tomorrow I´m headed to the beach. Hopefully with some of the people I met in Madrid (everyone went to Barcelona). We'll fill some watermelons with vodka if we go. Should be great.

Maybe I'll post again tonight. Internet is free here. Woohoo!

Later.

Some thoughts on Star Wars

Well,

I blew a ton of money drinking last night. I went out with a bunch of Canadians, and we didn´t get back to the hostel untill 6 AM. That totally screwed my day over today. I had planned to go to Tolido with some girls from the hostel, but I didn´t wake up till 2AM, at which point I was still a little drunk, quite hung over, and starving as I hadn´t eaten in over 24 hours.

So I relaxed today. I booked all my stuff, found a place to empty my digital camera, and saw Star Wars Episode III. I recommend anyone who is interested in star wars go see this movie. Don´t let the first two prequels turn you off. It is really a good movie. I was a little sceptical at first, because the movie starts off with our heros in a rescue mission. The acting seemed really bad here. All the standard Star Wars cliches and whitty comments thrown into the action sounded awful. However, after this first scene, it got better. Anakin and Padme managed to pull off their act together alright. It didn´t seem as cheesy as the "lovey-dovey" scenes from episode 2. And Anakin pulls off a decent evil act. Some of the key points that the last 2 movies have built up to (and were the reason people were interested in prequels in the first place) were pulled off amazingly. All in all, this is a great star wars movie. If only George Lucas had a little better accuracy with getting it right. 4.5 out of 6 is just not good enough...

well, the bar just opened...

PS: oh yeah. Post comments if you read. I want to see who´s all checking out the blog.

We´re not here to fuck spiders...

That´s right. A great Australian phrase I picked up here in Madrid. We´re not here to fuck spiders. It is said when you are standing around doing nothing. It´s eqivelant of saying "let´s go do something"

Anyways, I am having an absolute blast here in Madrid. The hostel is amazing. For a mere 16€ you get keycard access to your room and locker 24 hours per day, a great local, in hostel bar that server beer at 2.50€ per litre (and plays excellent instrumental jazz in a low-light red painted environment - moody) and more beautiful girls than you could talk to in a week! I have more names to remember with all the people I´ve met than I have ever had before. The whole place is full of people between 18 and 25 looking to get wasted and enjoy Europe.

I´m going museum browsing today with Angee and Alex (WOW). We went to a bull fight yesterday, as spain is the last remaining country where it is not outlawed. I´m not really sure if I would go again. It was cheap, but seeing a bull get tortured and bled to death is really not that fun.

Oh well, Madrid rocks. Here is one picture from the bull fight. It´s me, two Texans, two Australians, and the two American girls (Angess and Alex mentioned above):

well, sorry, nevermind, no pictures. This stupid computer won´t pick up my camera. Anoter time.

Later.

Image Gallery

Bordeaux is a little little dull. I am looking forward to Madrid where I am staying in a hostel. Hostel = people, hotel = boring. Had some time, so here are some more pictures. I'm going to up the quality a little; sorry to the dial up users.

These are the gardens we explored with the golf cart. Yeah, it was a little windy... and dusty.


I thought the French hated the Americans...


A nice shot from inside a cathedral (They are all the same, even Notre Dame. They all folow an identical design)


If God ate fast food... Seriously, I will probably miss these in Canada more than anything else. They are slow roasted then pan fried beef in a pit bread with mayo, lettuce, and tomato, and of course fries. Drool.....


A cool tower


Notre Dame (see what I mean by all the same?)


This is what I look like, 300M above ground (Eiffel)


This is where dead Egyptians go:


Intermission, enjoy some sausage:


African art:


More


Efficiant...


A very sterotypical but common style of train station


Anti Bush (This time I got it right!)

Trip goes on

Hey everyone,

I am in Bordeaux now, and will be here for about 3 days. I came in this morning. I had to get up at 6:20 AM to catch my train from Paris to here, and that was not an easy task, considering how much cheap beer and wine I drank last night with all of the fun people I met at Friend's Hostel in Paris.

During my last day in Paris I went to the palace of Versailles with two Americans from the hostel (one of them - John - is a Iraq war vet). We were told it was closed due to a strike, but we didn't care. With the EurRail ticket the trip is free and we had nothing else planned. When we got there, it was indeed closed, which I think was really a good thing. They wanted 20€ to get in, just to see more of the same, fancy, gold-encrusted china and other crap that I had already seen enough of in museums. Old rich people were dull. Instead, we went around back of the palace to the HUGE gardens (with built in canals - the King wanted boats and there was no river near by) where there were golf carts to rent. Split through 3 people, this is very cheap. We had a blast driving all over, cutting off other tourists in their own carts, and racing other young guys who had rented carts. It definitely beat a museum.

Bordeaux is pretty nice. Less touristy, so the price is lower. I actually have a private room here, and can afford to go to a restaurant for dinner. I did a little wandering today and happened across a great cathedral. It reminded me of Notre Dame quite a bit. There are a few sites to see so I'll probably do that tomorrow. The day after I will try to find a beach (which is not as close as the map lead me to believe).

After the cathedral today, it started raining so I cane to this internet cafe. It's very cheap at only 1€ per hour, and they have video games! I've been playing Counterstrike (1.6 - weird) for a couple of hours now, which I have really missed!

Anyways, till next time...

Paris

OK

I had lots to say, but this is going to be shortbecause French keyboards are CRAZY and im going nuts trying to type here. Please forgive any leftout punctuation, etc.

So, Paris is awsome. m not just talking about the monuments (which are cool too), but the city is just fun. Im not sure whqt it is but its just fun to be here. Ive done all the touristy things. Last night I went to the top of the Eifel Tower (worth the 10€) and spent half my memory card and an entire battery experimenting with and taking night shots.

I also hung out with two (on seperate occasions) very nice American guys. I've also seen the Mona Lisa in person (meh). I think museums are just not my thing. Anyways, im sick of typing on this keyboard. Till next time enjoy (few - running out of time) pics:

edit: I forgot, here the heineken videos

SWIM
THIEF
MESSAGE

Annoying guy

Hello,

OK, so there has been a really frustrating guy in my hotel since the first day here. He is a fat, short, sweaty man who looks a lot like that film critic that had a guest role on the Simpsons once. What is so bad about him? Well, every breath he takes sound like someone who just held their breath for a minute, and is breathing for the first time. Loud burst exhale, deep inhale. When he falls asleep he moans and snores all night long. You can't get used to it, because the pattern and sound change every 20 seconds. Oh, he also can't sleep with the lights off, so he will continue to turn them on.

Last night he kept me up until 4:30 AM, then the funniest thing ever happened. In one of his endless fits of tossing, turning, and moaning, I saw a quick flash of movement in the dark (I had turned the lights out after he fell asleep), and then a loud THUD followed by cursing. He fell of the top bunk! It was everything I could do to hide my face under my blanket and not burst out laughing. He then proceed to stalk around the room, going through his bags for God knows what reason, and then actually turning the lights on! At 4:30 AM!!! There are 5 other people sleeping in the room, and he thinks his weird habit of sleeping in the light supersedes that habits of five others who sleep in the dark. I got up, punched out the light, and went back to bed. He then said something like "Please to be turning on the light. I can't sleep". I told him to get fucked, and that put and end to that.

Anyways, just killing time now, since I get on a train in a couple of hours, and I can't think of anything else to do. I wandered through a public park earlier on, and it was pretty nice. Yesterday, at the Heineken plant, I ran into some Austrian computer programmers, and we hung out at a cafe and argued about programming languages. Yes, I can see all of your eyes rolling right now. Well, shut up. I'll have fun my way.

Well, my next post will be from Paris. I'm off to find a grocery store (I actually haven't seen one yet) to make some sandwiches for the train.
Later

Heineken!

Yay,

I went to the Heineken brewery today and took the tour. Now THAT was worht 10 euro (stupid Reijchsmuseum). 4 free beers, a free Heineken glass, and a fun tour with VR rides. I will also be forwarding some videos of me at the Heineken place. Somebody (Marcel???) please save these, as the videos expire after two months.

That's about all that has happened today.

However, I now have pictures!! Enjoy:

A church in London (I forgot the name for now):
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The Bar area on the ferry (low light, sorry for blurryness):
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Some pics from Amsterdam. Various nice architechture (it's all like this), and other self-explanatory things:
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Mmmm, dutch bakery.
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One of the nicer landscape pics from the Rijksmuseum
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Another
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The model ship
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The underwheling Nightwatch
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Town Hall
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Heineken:
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Anit-Bush
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Cafe
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