Sunday, July 24, 2005

Back in the Bay for the last few days. But, now it's time to be off to Hawaii. Probably won't be updating too much from there.

Thanks to the readers and commenters of late. To the person who was defending the French: I in no way have any hatred towards the French. I was just really annoyed that day at the SNCF folks. But, I think that's much more a service sector employee issue. (Now I'm going to get people defending service sector employees...) But all in all, France was pretty cool. Although Germany was cleaner and more modern...

Anyways, updates when I get back. Aloha!

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Didn't know where to put these, but I guess I'll just plop some here. Some pictures of folks in Montpellier. I have many more, but these were the coolest. I'm going to try to find some place to put them all up.




Wait, who said texting during a pub quiz isn't legal?












Doesn't Callie look like someone who SHOULDN'T be playing with fireworks?










After July 4th "fireworks", we're all still in one piece. And not arrested.















I think this was trial #3. We just couldn't do a picture well that day.









Kristina is really loving those shots.













More beach related activity.















The difficultly of using a tripod from the other side of a busy street. And why do I look like a Sim with a emotion meter over my head?












My Class:




























Lots of goodbye pictures.... :(








































Hi again -
Just got back in last night, and starting to unwind. Will be going through my journal as promised to put up all the backlog of entries. Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Now I´m in Frankfurt, going to visit a small town outside the city before heading off to the airport and then back home. Journey begins at 2PM local time and ends at 630PM SFO time. So that should be about a 9 + 4.5 = 13.5 hour journey. Aren´t you jealous?

Munchen -> Frankfurt

Last train ride in Europe. Well, unless I need to take a train to the airport tomorrow.

So Munich, what happened there. Didn't update yesterday. Well first morning (yesterday) I got in, dropped off my stuff, took a shower, and headed back to the train, this time, bound for Fuseen and the castles of the King Ludwig of Bavaria - Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. 2 Hour train ride and great views of the landscape and of the schlossen. I feel like it was Yosemite if they built in casteles in the valleys and along the mountainsides. Took the guided indoor tours of both. The insides were nice too, although they were no Versailles.

I really wanted to hit a beergarden at night, but it's a bit weird when you're on your own. So I set out to meeting people in the hostel bar. (BTW - the hostel's very nice. I regret I had but one night there. Wombats in Munich) I meet two English guys (amit and will) but they were taking a night train to Berlin. I talked to them for awhile though, they were pretty cool. Then I saw a girl (the Canadian one when heading to Monterosa al Mare) I had met briefly while hiking in Cinque Terre and it turns out she was going to the Hofbrauhaus later with some other solo travellers. So later, we all went out. At that point, I'd already had 2/3 L of beer (Happy hour: 1E for 0.3L). We got there and each got a litre of beer (6E20). Afterwards we tried to find a club, but settled for a McDo. Mmm, their chickenburgers in Europe (or at least Germany) have this great chilisauce, red and kind of sweet. Maybe like some Thai chili sauce or something. Yum. Then, back to the hostel to grabe another beer (that's a total of 2L now, for those keeping count) before calling it a night.

Today, I went on a free 5H walking tour of Munchen. Got to see everything, Glockenspiel, churches, palaces. Good stuff. At the end I went with 4 girls and the guide for a stroll through the English garden before I ran for the train. A nice Aussie girl showed me the way for almost the whole walk (I would have been lost) and now I'm on the train. I feel like I've forgotten something, but hopefully I only have that feeling because I was in a rush and thought I'd need reservations but it turns out to be ok. Hopoefully I'll get time for a very early trip out to Zeppelinheim tomorrow before my 2pm flight back home.

Over already? :(




Hohenschwangau















Neuschwanstein












Ein Brat!















Beer with random people

Hi folks Internets still been hard to come by as Ive been pretty busy. In Munich now, after a quick tour its off to frankfurt and then i fly home. ive been writing in a journal so when i get home ill finish putting those up. i nkow itll be after the fact, but hopefullz still entertaining...

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Amsterdam -> Munich (night train)

Missing a day of update. So time for a super-update.

Yesterday - went to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh. The museums were actually worth it. Oh wait, before the museums, I had lunch. Some Indian pocket type food. I forget the name. Didn't realize til afterwards that it was vegetarian. Then I was sad. During the meal, I tried to find out what traditional Dutch food was. The two Indiand lades working there said they didn't think the Dutch had traditional food. I then asked a Dutch lady who was eating there, and after thinking for awhile, she said that it's very boring: basically potatoes and meat and so most people just eat it at home and there aren't really any restaurants that serve it.

On my way back to Jesus hostel, I started talking to this American guy from Texas and we wandered around the Red Light District for awhile. We decided to try to meet up at a bar later, but I decided it was just too far and flaked. I had dinner at an all you can eat in one hour Chinese "dim sum" place. It was pretty good. One of the few times I've been full on this trip. I went to wander the streets afterward and met up with a guy from my room in the hostel and walked around for awhile before caling it a night.

16 guys in one room is just WAY too many. Smelled really bad in there.

Today, I got up, found out that museli + milk = gross and walked around the city before going to the Anne Frank Huis. Good exhibit, but the line for it made me late in meeting up with Ben (guy from hostel previous night) and his friend Eli for Dutch panckaes. Apparently that is something particularly Dutch, and it was good. Big, like a crepe, but a bit thicker. I had bacon and pineapple and it was good. Afterwards we wandered the town again and ended up at the Tropicmuseum. Spent too much time on the Man & Environment and Evil exhibits and had to run through the main exhibits of former Dutch colonies. After dinner at Jesus land, I boarded the train. And that's where I am now.

Next, Deutschland...





Some Amsterdam...












Rijksmuseum

















The Night Watch painting












Many many bikes













Look, vending machines with burgers!

Friday, July 15, 2005

Amsterdam

Last food I had in Italy was a hamburger, and the first food I'm having in Amsterdam is Pad Thai. I'm really starting to break down here and resort to "normal" food.

So apparentlyI'm staying in a Christian hostel here. Should be interesting... probably wouldn't have done it if I knew, but oh well, it'll be an experience.

In this Thai restaurant there's this pair of people, a Dutch woman, and the Mexican version of Brian Fellow (Safari Planet from SNL). He seems really weird.

So, headaches at the train station today. I rushed to the Gare du Nord to catch the 955AM train to Amsterdam and was told I needed to buy a reservation, for which I did not have enough time. I met a guy from Kentucky named Josh who was trying to get to Amsterdam to catch a flight. We considered hitching a ride for awhile, but eventually we decided to just grab a bite to eat and return to the statoin. Oh, and all the direct trains to Amsterdam were all booked for the day for Eurail Pass holders. So I begged my case to the conductor of the 12:55 train, to no avail. Eventually I decided to see if there were other options or to just book one for tomorrow. I met some girl in line and we ended up booking the same Paris-Lille-Buchem-Amsterdam ticket set. We talked with a bunch of difference people, and now I'm here. Too much Jesus talk in the cafe/hangout room. Must... leave.... for ... room...







Hi Belgium, Bye Belgium










I think we're in the Netherlands now....

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Hi from Paris, again. Here for Bastille day, which just ended. I got in in time to see the parade on TV and was late tonight in catching the fireworks. Oh well, I walked on the Champs Elysees and the Rue de la Grande Armee while it was all decked out with the tricouleurs.

Last night on the night train in from Florence, one of the people in my couchette room was a girl from California so we talked. We met up today, along with some distant friends of the people I'm staying with and lunched on Montmartre and explored the Musee de Picasso. Afterwards I went off to to Tuileries Gardens and walked all the way from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe, went up, saw the Napoleon exhibit they have up there temporarily and took about a billion pictures before returning back to where I'm staying for a nice home cooked Chinese dinner. Then back out to fight the crowds to watch the fireworks, but was too late so had to fight the crowds to return. Fun fun. Oh well. Tomorrow it's off to the train station again and off to Amsterdam for 2 nights. I'll have left and arrived in Paris a combined 3 times by train these past weeks and will have managed to use 3 different train stations. I think there's 2 or 3 more til I finish the Grand Slam.

Since I havent had internet the past few days, Ive been writing down my journals/would-be blogs. I'm now going to add them, and backdate them appropriately until I get tired of doing it, or just plain tired.So, if you want to see new entries you're going to have to scroll down...







Cathedral de la Sacre Coeur













The Champs Elysees decked out in the Tricolor














An artsy picture of the French colors under the Arc de Triomphe

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Florence -> Paris (train)

And afterwards, I went to the Academia, which is basically Michelangelo's David. 11E! 8E if I didn't make a reservation. Afterwards I hung out with Alessandro, one of the two brothers I met on the train. He showed me around town a bit, and I bought a round of beers at a local bar. Then I had my last dinner in Italy - a burger, named Messicano because of the jalapenos, I think. Alessandro says he and his brother eat here all the time and love the burgers, so I figure why not go out eating like a local? I followed that up with a gelati, of course. And then, off to the train station. I failed to find an Italian flag to buy. Probably will have to wait til I'm in the states. Alright, time to start reading my Napeleon book, and then sleeping in the bed thing on the night train.






The Duomo











Interior of the Dome part of the Duomo

Florence

Yes, long day again today. And, again tough on the legs and feet, albeit in a different way. I went to the Uffizzi musuem and waited for 4 (FOUR!) hours in line. Once I got in, I was done in about an hour and a half (I had to rush off for an appointment time at another museum).

Famous paintings: Botticelli's Birth of Venus & something Primavera. Waiting in line, I got to practice my French because the girl behind me was French and there was an Italian woman in her 30s with her mom and the woman spoke better French than English. So we all spoke in French. We took turns in lineand on my 1/2 hour off, I went to the Ponte Vecchio (which is just a bunch of jewelry stores sitting haphazardly on a bridge) and the front of Pitti Palace (Piazzi Pitti). The gardens would have cost me 6E (and not the 3E reserved for EU students), and since I had about 10 minutes left in my 1/2 hour, I said screw it. The palace is pretty ugly anyway. Not just sour grapes. Who builds a palace and makes it look like that?

So then the Uffizzi. It was alright. Aside from the Botticellis and some da Vincis, there was that famous shield of Medusa's decapitated head. It was alright.






Ponte Vecchio














And on the bridge, jewelry shops. Apparently they used to have butcher shops up and down the bridge, until the blood on the streets and dripping into the river got too gross.















Doesn't it look a little haphazard?










Piazzi Pitti
I told you, ugly.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Florence

I am going to sleep well tonight. To hell with the million bugs that made dinner of me last night. It's now midnight and I just back back from a LONG day trip to Cinque Terre. I got up at 6 30 AM to catch a bus to make a train leaving Firenze Santa Maria Novella just before 8AM. I met some folks on teh trains. First, a pair of Italian brothers who were going to Genoa because one of them wants to visit a uni there. Their family owns a hotel near the Florence train station, and I think I'm supposed to go visit tomorrow before my night train to Paris. On the second ride, a very short one, I met an older English couple who vacations in Italy all the time.

From Rio Maggiore (after a good long stop for pictures), I headed off to Manarola along the Via del Amore, a really easy walk with nice photo ops. After a brief stop, I went onto the slightly harder walk to Corniglia which is capped by a huge (350) set of steps that take you into town. Moving on again, the next path was pretty tough. Along the way I met a mom of 2 traveling solo. She went to UCSC and is now at MS in Redmond. We had some talks while walking. I was aiming to eat a late lunch there in Vernazza (town #3), but it was after 3pm and nothing was open. So, I had to move on to Monterosa.

Now, that was a hard hike. The first series is just a painful set of steps that seem to go on forever. But I'm pretty sure it's worse the other way, as I had a hugeR set of steps to descend into Monterosa al Mare. Along the way, I spoke with a RSA/London couple and a Canadian girl. Again, I intended to eat upon arriving in Monterosa, but no place was open for dinner at 5-530PM. So I decided to catch the train back to Rio Maggiore. Unfortunately, between cancelled trains and late trains, I had only 30 minutes to buy food-related souvenirs and food. I god some food and convinced them to let me have it to go. Pesta pasta, and fried calamari for 19E. Sadly I don't know how to eat fried whole shrimp and crawdads, so these will have to go to waste.

So this is night 2 in the hostel. So far, it's ok. I've been talking with my roommates but otherwise, I'm not really here. On the bus ride from SMN (train station) tonight, I met this SPanish guy and French guy coming to the same hostel. Along the way, a fRench couple next to me decided to talk about me in French. They were wondering if I was American and thought it was lamentable that Americans can only speak one language. I wanted to tell them "Oui, je suis Americain"when I got off the bus, but they moved down the bus before I could say anything.

Alright, time to wash up and finally call it a night. Long day again tomorrow.

Pictures: (a few from a selection of MANY)



Rio Maggiore



















Between Rio Maggiore and Manarola

















Manarola








Between Manarola and Corniglia, Looking back at Manarola














Between Manarola and Corniglia, looking forward to where I have to go
















The steps of Corniglia



















Corniglia










Corniglia, looking back at Manarola
















Vineyards Between Corniglia and Vernazza













Between Corniglia and Vernazza, looking back at Corniglia with Manarola in the background













Vernazza














Vernazza














Between Vernazza and Monterosa Al Mare (Looking back at Vernazza - look how much uphill walking it took to get there!)










And how much further to go...














(Part of) The descent into Monterosa














Monterosa al Mare














Oh look. I think there's some sort of Tower in this town. But I heard it's pretty whatever, so I skipped it, as you can see by the blurriness of this lovely picture.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Venice -> Florence (Train, part duo)

I think it was something I read in Rick Steve's that said the bathrooms on trains in Europe are nice and travellers should take advantage of them. WRONG! They're free, yes, which is something because you have to pay to piss in a toilet at train stations. But clean? No. I just switched onto the Bologna - Florence train and went to the bathroom and it's at least the 2nd or 3rd one with a shit-smeared toilet. Add that shit to the pigeon shit from earlier, and I've definitely had my fair share. Now all I need is to step into a pile of dogcrap when I step out of the train station in Florence.

Venezia -> Firenze (train)

Arrevederci, Venezia!

My watch just beeped 3 o'clock so my train should be rolling any minute now for Bologna, where I switch to a train bound for Florence.



Venice was nice. Yesterday, after the aforementioned pizza, I went back to the hostel to pass out for a nap. I slept through my alarm and didn't wake up until one of my roommates came in. A girl named Helen from the Gold Coast of Australia, who owns a gym, but was taking some time off to enjoy herself. We went to explore the city together, getting lost, half-purposely, and half not, in order to discover the city. Really a very nice city, with canals and alleys everywhere. Had myself more gelati (2nd time of the day) before making our way back to the hostel to have dinner nearby. Dinner was, of course, pasta, which was alright.

(Cathedral San Marco & the Campanile - the one the one at Cal is modeled on...)

Met others in the hostel that night, a guy from Canada, and girls from England, Ireland, and Australia. Played some stupid card games; shithead, a weird version of mafia introduced by one of the Italian guys who manages the hostel, and then I introduced the version of Mafia I know. After a good night's sleep, it was off to San Marco, where we took a trip inside the cathedral. Quite nice, big scale, and really shows how much $$ the Catholic church had/has. After another helping of gelati, we got pooed on by a pigeon and had to to back to wash it off.

I got take out from a place right across the street and it turned out to be really good. After that, I took a water bus along the Grand Canal. I got some nice pictures and videos. After I got to the train station, I wandered around a bit and now I'm here on the train.