Best /Worst of Eurotrip 2008

Jeffrey has pressured me into making this list...

1. Best/Worst Pub Crawl - Dublin Backpacker's Pubcrawl (1st)/Paris (last)
- met some awesome icelandic guys and didn't make it home until 5 am!!!/mostly didn't like this one because of one stupid guy...

2. Best/Worst Day - Biking the Austrian Wine Country/Day trip to Capri
- wine, schnaps, chocolate, easy biking in the rain, cool climb, amazing lunch, swimming in the Danube / hot, touristy (mega lines), too expensive, cancelled boat tours... grr!

3. Best/Worst City - Vienna/Naples
- Beautiful (disregard blue mouthed drug addicts/dirty, icky, yucky

4. Best/Worst Meal - Ricotta stuffed pasta with truffle sauce (Tallinn)/meat on a stick, beets and other assorted yuckies
- oh baby, ate it twice!/the German man may be right, there is no good place to eat in Riga... my meal looked amazing but it was not.

5. Best/Worst Drink - Cappucino/Black Balsam
- anywhere, cappucinos are where it's at/Deanna couldn't finish hers, enough said.... drink with mix!!!

6. Best/Worst Boy - Douglas/Estonian Creeps on the Cruise
Said the most romantic thing ever and made me laugh, sadly I have not seen or heard from him since/married, old, stalkers.

7. Best/Worst Line - St. Mark's Cathedral/Eiffel Tower

8. Best/Worst Walking Tour - London Royal Tour/Self-guided Riga walking tour?

9. Best/Worst Hostel - Alessandro's Palace (Rome)/Blue Corridor Hostel (Vienna)

10. Best/Worst Lapdance - Amsterdam/Regina (though I never got one in Regina, but I can imagine)

11. Best/Worst Castle - Versailles/King Richard III prison in Vienna Wine Country
My grown up doll house/why so far up on hill????

To be continued...

Last Post From This Side Of The Pond

Well its that time. Time for me to go home.... oh wait, I have no flight home.

Yes, Zoom airlines declared bankruptcy and I found this out last night at 3 am after the pub crawl. This morning I got up and started searching for a new way home. So first I tried Expedia... it found an Air Canada flight for $800.... only 50 more than my Zoom flight so I was pumped.... until I clicked on it and it said 'I'm sorry, the flight price has changed to $5000'. WHAT?!?!?!

So after much searching I used http://www.cheapflights.com and got an Air Canada flight for $1600. Wasn't anticipating the extra cost but I have to get home! The flight leaves at 1030am here and I get to Montreal at noon and flight out at 230 (time to get through customs I hope) and I get into Calgary at 5pm and must drive to the cabin from there. I am also packing a lot of stuff of Deanna's in my pack. I am going to hate my life tomorrow but at least there is my own bed at the end of the tunnel to look forward to!

So now that is settled.... yesterday we decided to go and shop!!! We went to the Forum Des Halles again and I got some back to school clothes :) So many cute things, each store got better and better! I was standing outside of one store waiting for Deanna and this guy approached me and told me he wanted to be my friend. I told him I didn't even live here and he was like that's ok, I can come visit you, can I give you my e-mail etc. so I just called him on it... I was like you don't even know me, what do you want from me and he throws out some line about sensing that I was a nice person.... gah.... Au revoir buddy! I still cannot figure out these imports... are you trying to steal my wallet or do you want Canadian citizenship or what!?!? I am excited to be home and not cling to my purse for dear life and dread people talking to me.

So after shopping we came back and got ready for our last pub crawl together. It started infront of the fountain in Place St. Michel in the latin district. Pretty neat place to hang out. This guy starts blasting music and doing a crazy dance, then another import starts circling us like a shark so we bolted to the first bar. We met 2 Americans from Seattle, Brian and Kaley. We were worried there was going to be no one on the pub crawl. There turns out to be about 40 and more guys than girls. We went to Rive Gauche first, then an Irish pub where we ate supper that night (wonderful stew). Two locals in there, one tries to follow Deanna out of the bar when we leave. Next few bars I don't remember the names but we ended at a club that stays open till 5 am. Took a cab at 3am to the hostel, only like 7 euro, score! We also met 3 other Canadians, one girl from the peg, 2 from Ottawa, Jamie and Sarah. They were actually on our Montmatre tour and Sarah got lost when we visited Sacre Coeur.

So needless to say at 1030am I get kicked out of bed by the cleaning lady, I stumble to the shower and then down to find a flight. We ate lunch here at the hostel and then went back to my room to do some creative packing to fit all Deanna's stuff in my bag. Then we had naps and went to McD's for supper cause we didn't want to deal with the subway. There are no other places to eat around here that aren't creepy.

So that is the fantabulous ending to my trip ;)

Harvest Sunset

I really missed Saskatchewan on the train ride home tonight. There was a big red sunset and before sunset the sun had sun dogs. I've only seen them in the super cold winter so I don't know what that means.

Normandy is such a great area of France... lots of farming, reminds me of N. Sask. Turns out we were on an American tour. 2 people from Illinoin, 2 from Iowa and 2 from Mach (I can't spell it or say it). We therefore went to Omaha beach which was fine cause what do I know about WWII... sadly, not very much.

So we started off by going to a German cemetary. They are buried differently than the Americans so it was neat to see and to realize that most of these dead were 19 years old or younger. Pretty sad.

Next we went to Point du Hoc and saw all the craters from the bombings. They closed the area down in 1945 to preserve it. There are still bunkers, wire sticking out of the ground and gun towers. Took a tumble and hurt my little camera but he snapped back with a few scratches only.

We then sped off to Omaha beach (litterally the lady drove 140 all day and ranted about the police hiding in bushes with radar). It used to be a pebble beach but every person took a pebble and now it is sand. This is a 4.5km long beach!! That is insane... I took a couple sea shells.

We hopped back in the bus and went to a Museum which was very well put together. It was some guy's personal collection as people came and took things from the beach after D-day. We watched a very good movie and I wanted more time in the gift shop but there wasn't any.

We finished the day at the American cemetary where only 10% of the dead are buried. The rest were shipped back to the states. I wish I could put pictures on here now but you will all have to wait. It was a great day and I wish students could come here and I wish I could have gone to Juno beach as well.

Tomorrow will be sleeping in, last laundry trip and walking tour and pub crawl. Whew.

As a side note, our fellow travellers Ben and Derek rented a car in Spain and had everything stolen from their car and they are stuck with only 25 euros and the clothes on their backs and we have no idea how to help them but give them the number to the Canadian consulate. I hope everything turns out for them, I still can't believe the situation myself!

The most scared I've been on this trip

Well lots to say... lets start with the crazy situation we just left on the subway where this black dude was yelling crazy stuff and banging stuff around and when people tried to intervene he backhanded them. So we run past him and we have people telling us not to run or be scared.... um no. I'm from Canada eh.

Anyways... pretty much the most scared I've been all trip.

So what have I been up to.... last night we didn't know where to go eat, we decided to jump on the subway after not finding much around here but ghetto drinking places. We went to Les Halles again where we went to shop the first day and found a great little place called 'L'imprimerie' or the print shop in English. Had an excellent wine (côte du Rhone) and a nice pasta dish and cappucino. I am addicted to cappucino's... mom dust off the machine! By the time we went there, ate and came back it was like 11.... subways take forever.

Anyways, this morning got up early, left the hostel a little after 8 and again caught the train to Versailles. Got to see the palace and it was definetly worth it but with tons of people. Ate at McD's and went back to the hostel. Back around 330.... had an hour and a half to nap/relax etc. and then we went to the Moulin Rouge for the start of our Montmartre tour. Our tour guide, George was from Texas and he was hilarious. Lots of famous people lived in the area such as Van Gogh and Picasso. After the tour we found a restaurant in the area and again had wine, pasta, cappucino and Tiramisu. How I have not gained a billion pounds, I dunno but my jeans still fit so I figure I'm good.

I also bought a purse tonight, found a cute little shop with a purse I had wanted in Italy but cheaped out on so I went ahead and bought it. May go back and get another one there too...... Gah.

Tomorrow we are off to Normandy!!! D-day beaches tour. Costs a pretty penny but again it will be nice to be out of the city and learn at the same time. We leaver at 1043 but had to get to the train station and we back back at like 10 so it is a full day. I think Thurs we will do another walking tour to tie up loose ends and a pub crawl and Friday will be shopping/hanging out with Deanna one last time before I leave on Saturday!!!

Louvre, Notre Dame, and Versailles

Yesterday we went to the Louvre and did the super condensed version of it. I showed Deanna La Jaconde (Mona Lisa), The Victory... (Nike) and the Venus de Milo then we ate lunch in the cafeteria. I had Mexican food (mmm guacamole) and Deanna had Chinese. When we left the Louvre it was raining and we bought umbrellas from a street vendor... 2 for 15 euro. It was the cheapest we saw so far but like 10 min later we saw them for 5 euro and at Notre Dame the guy was selling them for 5 euro too. Boo. 50 days in Europe and 6 left and I get an umbrella. Oh well...

We tried to find this outlet mall that we found out about from a street flyer handed to us but it was Sunday and it was closed. We decided to head to Notre Dame. We waited in line to get in and it went fast (yay) and we took the opportunity to sit and rest. My foot is still killing me :(

We then went to Père Lachaise cemetary to find Jim Morrison's grave and we also found Chopin's. On the train there we met 2 other girls from Ontario who had been working in Dublin for the summer as cocktail waitresses and then were taking 2 weeks holidays before they went home. We started talking to them cause they were exactly like us.... talking about the next place to get chocolate :)

Anyways, we didn't get a map of the cemetary which made for lots of unnessesary walking as per usual ;) We stumbled upon Chopin's and then finally found Jim's. He is way out of the way and it isn't that great a resting place, I expected something fancier. Really nice place to stroll though and we saw all sorts of cool graves. My goal when I die is to have a really creepy tomb like the one I saw with arms sticking out of it or something ;)

Anyways, back to the hostel to rest and at 8 we went to the hostel bar and had Nachos and fries with a girl we met in Florence whom we keep running into and this girl who is staying in her room from Ontario. She was so annoying I am not even going to talk about it. Ditched and went to bed...

So I enter my room at 1130 and expect it to be dark and hop into bed.... nope there are 5 police officers from Singapore in my room who just arrived and they proceed to cook dinner on hot plates. They finally went to bed at 130. They are here till Friday, YAHOO! They are also all sick like me cause they were in Scotland for a military tattoo and it is too cold there. So stayed up late and coughed all night together. They were up at 4 am and 630 am. I got up at 830 and beat the shower line-up and actually had breakfast today.

After breakfast we hopped on a train to Versailles.... 2.90 euro each way not too bad. We get there and the palace is closed on Mondays.... WHAT!? We decide to tour the gardens and the grand and petit Trianon as well as the Hamlet of Marie-Antoinette. It was sooooo beautiful. It was like a fairy-tale place... ducks, herrings, fish, goats, donkeys, cows and vineyards and gardens. It smelt of flowers and vegetables. The most beautiful part I thought was the Queen's theatre which I couldn't take a picture of. I could not imagine being Marie-Antoinette and having all this at your disposal.... 7800 hectares of land (today 800), the size of the current city of Paris!!! I took so many pictures. By the time we got back today it was 5pm and we didn't even do the castel. We are going out tomorrow morning to do it, we have to. We were going to take the waking tour of Monmartre at 6 but we're pooped. Rest time then out for supper!!!

First day in Paris

Due to going to bed at 3 am we got off to a slow start. I skipped breakfast at 930, showered and then went on the net. Remember how I said my throat hurt that last few days, well singing butchered my voice for the day and we did so much walking that my foot isn't doing so well either. I don't know what I've done but it is all swollen and stuff most of the time. Just gotta make it through 6 more days.

So what did we do. Well we went to a stop called Les Halles and got off to do some shopping. Managed to wander over all the way to the Louvre and we went into Lafayette's which is a 7 floor designer department store. You can get a personal shopper there, we are talking Gucchi, Prada, Jimmy Choo the works. So did I buy anything... what do you think? Ouch.... later stumbled upon a purse store and almost bought a $300 one then gave my head a shake.

Stopped for lunch in a little area called St. Honoré. Ate Italian food that was amazing just by chance. Went to Starbucks later to rest my foot then decided to get cheese, wine and crackers and sit by the Eiffel tower. After being bothered by about 6 gypsies and 2 imports (immigrants of Algerian decent?) we decided to leave and get in line. Might as well go up since we are there. So at 7:45 we are in line... we were at the top for the 10 o'clock light show. Yah I am so sick of lines. 12 euro to get to the top and by the time you are there you just wanna kill yourself. While we were on the second floor all these papers flew off the top in protest for the stuff going on in Georgia. Then we get to the top and there is a backpack with the same size stack of papers sitting on it but it is like a love letter or something. So when we got down we tried to grab a paper but the park was all blocked off and we found out they were protest papers..... so I dunno.

So we got home at midnight after a long subway ride and stopped at McD's for food since we missed supper.

Today we are going to tackle the Louvre and a few places around it like the Pantheon and perhaps Notre Dame.

Safe and sound in Paris

Just a quick note to let everyone know I made it through the last leg of my trip and am currently in Paris. Had one last meal in Napoli, a local specialty - gnocchi a la sorentina (tomatoes). It was very good and the restaurant we ate at was called 'Sofi' (after Sophia Lauren I think). I took a picture of the menu anyways. The bad thing was they held us hostage. I am not kidding. They would not give us our bill until we had coffee, dessert or fruit. We denied and sat and watched the olympics. Finally I made a stink and got out of there. It was insane.

We got up the next day and got out of there as soon as possible. Of course that meant sitting in the airport forever. Checking in took forever and again the Italians were loud, annoying and pushy and butted infront of everyone.

Made it here, jumped on a train and then a metro. Very easy to find out hostel. It is right on a canal and looks like a house boat. Very cool design, brand new hostel.

We ate at Belushi's, the restaurant chain that is a part of it, got the wrong drink and meal... got the meal replaced. Met a French guy who lives next door... bought us wine, ditched him to do the Jager train (113 shots of Jager lined up on the bar and dunked dominos style). I only had one, don't worry. Went downstairs and sang kareoke the rest of the night. Not too bad.

Not sure what the plan is today.... the temp is nice, probably around 20. It rained yesterday, I love it!!!

Pompei

This is another story of 'if I wasn't so hot I would care'. Blech I feel so gross.

Got up at 830 this morning with a sore throat but it cleared up by the end of the day whoop whoop!
Had breakfast and out the door. Caught the bus to the train station and got a train to pompeii.

The train was hot and smelly and took like 50 min. When we got there we decided to have lunch before tackling the ruins. I had a panini ala caprese (tomato and mozzarella with basil). I love their mozza here in italy, so fresh!

Anyways, went into the ruins.... no audio guide, no guide, no map. What a mistake. Didn't get to see everything before we died of heat exhaustion... boo. Good thing was it was nice and quiet and it is so big there aren't a lot of people.

Olive Press.... mmm

The big bad Viseuvius (spelling) volcano

On our way to teatro piccolo

Finished our visit with another lemon slushie
and it was straight back to Napoli and the hostel to shower.

Tomorrow we fly to Paris and I am so happy to be back in a normal climate. May even get to use a sweater again. I suppose I could be like the crazy people here and wear black sweaters and pants but then I would surely die. I don't know how they can do it.... and don't tell me they are used to it cause I saw Italians sweating in Capri!!

Anyways, our flight is at 2pm so it will be check out and hang out at the airport which is a ok with me!!! T-9 sleeps till I am home!!!

One last picture... guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time!

Capri

So last night we ate at Burger King. It was air conditionned and they were showing the olympics, lay off! Anywho, came back to the hostel and used much internet time as you can see and showered and went to bed early... or so I thought. I had turned on the air conditionning in my room which is above my bed and there is this bucket it drips into and there is a sign saying to watch out for it and to empty it. Well ok... so I fall asleep and I wake up and this lady has the remote and is pushing all the buttons and making this beeping sound and then I realize it is dripping on my head so I jump up on my bed and shut it off manually. Then I fall back asleep... next thing I know she is beside my bed again saying 'Excuse me, excuse me' so she can get to the plug in beside me and plug in her phone. Fall back asleep again.... then the phone begins to make beeping sounds and she's up dealing with that again. And it got progressively hotter on the 7th floor room so I had a crap sleep.

Up at 730 to eat breakfast and catch 910 boat to Capri. Took our time cause the guy at the hostel made it seem like you walked over there at 10 to 9 and get on the boat... but we get there at 830 and the boat is full.... and we have to wait until it leaves to get a ticket for the next boat at 1010. One hour wasted.

Our boat to Capri docking

So we are waiting for the boat and a vendor comes along to sell paper fans.... 1 euro, no contest I am taking one. We get on the boat and it is pretty tiny and it even made me a little sick. The line up to get on the boat was also gross, people always push and shove and stand right up against you like they will never get on the boat. The boat took 50 minutes and right away we get in line for boat tours of the island and the blue grotto.

We wait 30 min at least and get up to the counter and the tour that goes around the island is not stopping at the blue grotto so we gave up and decided to get on a boat later that day and just see the blue grotto so we didn't get to see Fraggle Rock.... I mean the fragalioni rocks or whatever they are called. Ah well.

So on to the next line... 30 min to get furniculaire tickets and an hour to wait for it and get up it. We get up top and by then it is noon.

Me finally at the top

We try to find the lunch place that is included in our ticket. We have to walk half-way back down the cliff to get to it. Luckily the meal was pretty good... 2 courses (awesome calamari) a drink and dessert (which was a capri specialty of chocolate almond cake). Climbed back up hill and got real lemon slush (lots of lemon groves here and they are famous for their lemon liqueur called 'limoncello'.... didn't buy any though.

Walked around a bit, did some shopping. At 3 we decide to go back down, 4 we get back down and right onto a blue grotto boat for 11 euro.... whew. 20 min ride there and back and 3 min inside the grotto for 10 euro... ouch... but pretty... have a look and a listen to the video and pics below.

On the boat to the grotto

Deanna and I snuggled in the canoe

Going into grotto, must lay down and get chain in face!

In the blue grotto

Inside the grotto

Inside the grotto

The boat back was a big one with one big brat on it.... whoa could that kid scream. Slept when she was not screaming. Also bought pumpkin seeds from a stand on the dock for 1 euro... delish. Back in only 25 min and straight to hostel to shower and out for pizza, after all pizza was invented here. It was excellent I must say and the waiters were really cool and at the end of our meal these 2 stray dogs came around and they were so cute... this is a town for random stray dogs and I am surprised they do not die of heat!

My throat is really starting to hurt today, felt funny last night, did not have much of a voice this morning and now it hurts. Boo... not fun with heat and cigarette smoke everywhere.

Try to go to Pompeii tomorrow.... think I may avoid climbing Mt. Vesuvius (volcano). Have to talk to British girl who went today to see how it was.

Naples... pictures are better than words

Got up early this morning to mail a parcel home. Had to buy another metro ticket to go to a far away post because not all post offices offer the same services in Rome. 29 Euro later and it was on its way.

Deanna went to the Vatican to mail another postcard and I went back to the hostel and played around on the net. We checked out at 10, went to the station and avoided missing our train when they changed the track number. Train ride went well, ate lunch just before getting off.

I was worried about getting to our hostel here and it was kinda tricky but not bad. We had to find the bus station in the middle of construction and it is just a big parking lot full of buses. We bought a ticket and the guy did not tell us where to go so we wandered around with our packs and found the R2 bus. It was easy to tell which stop to get off at and it was really close to the hostel.

We are staying at the Bella Capri Hostel. So far free internet and a decent looking breakfast it sounds like. Our room is nice and clean and it is right on the coastline steps away from our ferry to Capri tomorrow at 910. Cost 45 euro return plus a free huge lunch. Lots to see there, hope we get it all done before last ferry leaves at 710 and I hope we dont die of heat exhaustion.

We lazed around the hostel for about 2 hours and then went out at 3 to walk along the coast. So hot and no beach to speak of. Here is the beach:


Naples is everything people said it would be. It is the ghetto. The first thing we see walking out of the train station is a guy selling cartons of cigarettes out of a backpack. And the place is filthy, stinky and everything is covered in graffiti. They also dont water so everything is dead cause it is so hot. Here are a few examples of what I am talking about:

Random graffiti... there is even some on the sidewalks in places.

Every monument has graffiti... if you do not see any, you are not looking hard enough.

Playing...

Finally some pictures!!! Here is a taste...

Deanna and I in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy

Biking in Austrian wine country after downpour

Me at Schonbrunn Castle in Vienna, Austria

Eating in Riga, Latvia

Cruise from Stockholm, Sweden to Tallinn, Estonia

On the side of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy near the Rialto Bridge

Quick post while doing laundry

I am doing laundry again so soon cause it is right around the corner from our hostel and you give them 7 euro and they do it for you and you come back and get it! Nice!

Last night ate supper across the street and had some of the best fettucine alfredo I have ever had and a nice cappucino to cap it all off, it was awesome.

We met up with Brad, Nicolas and Douglas and went on the Spanish steps pub crawl. It was probably the worst one I have been on cause there were at least 100 people involved and the first bar was cramped and hot. The second and third bar (on a boat) were good for dancing so we did that and only had 2 drinks and 2 shots on a pub crawl. Was not really in the mood but wanted to hang out with the guys. Lots of creepos on the tour we had to avoid too which is exhausting. Home at 3 am and slept in the am.... went to Vatican to mail postcard and go to give shop, had lunch, wandered around train station to shop and then went to the post office to get a box to mail stuff home. Going to send it tomorrow so hopefully I get it when I am home in 2 weeks. Mom has my other package (envelope) come?

Off to Naples in the am, get there around noon and sounds like an ordeal to get to the hostel but supposedly it is on the beach so that is cool. Tonight will probably lay low around here. Have 4 new room mates, hope they are as cool as the ones who left!

I love my roomates!

I am having so much fun with my dorm mates!!! There is Kim from N.Z. who is an au pair in london and Douglas from South Africa and Nick from Australia and another Aussie, crazy girl Jess. Then there are 2 Americans who are typical Americans but we balance them out.

Kim and Deanna

Deanna and Douglas


Nick and I

I love my roomates!!! Haha

Last night we all showered up and Deanna, Kim, Nick, Doug and I went for supper around the corner. We got a free glass of champagne but the cheap bread and our meal took forever but we had so much fun talking with each other.

Then we came back to the hostel and played some drinking games. I am still the queen of the guessing game but can't bounce a quarter to save my life and I need to watch more movies and not think outside the box so much on word association. Anyways, no I didn't get plastered but it was fun. I think we went upstairs around one (Nick, Kim, Doug and I). Nick is out cold right away as he had like 7 hours of sleep in 72 hours and Doug proceeds to kill us with laughter running all around the room, testing beds, bugging Nick. Then the Americans come in and act stupid and I think I fell asleep just after 2.

At 830 we all got up and Kim, Deanna and I went to the Vatican for Mass. It was pretty cool actually. Beautiful singing and organ music. We even got a seat inside of St. Peter's. They had the huge jumbo trons outside just incase the crowd was too big.

We had lunch just outside the vatican and for 12 euro got salad, pizza, coke and gelato. Sounds like a good deal to me!

We went to the collesium and again skipped the queue by paying the 11 euro to get in as well as 10 for a tour of the collesium and forum. The collesium was only like a 20 to 30 min tour, the forum was 45. The forum tour was by a girl from New York and boy could you tell. There must have been about 100 people on the tour (I'm not exaggerating) so she yelled at us the entire time! Got to see new things I didn't see 2 years ago... the forum from above, the escape tunnels for the emperor and gardens.

It is 4pm and we're back at the hostel early. Time to shower and meet up with Brad from Florence at 7 to go for supper. Nick, Kim and Doug leave tomorrow for Florence so I hope we go out with them as well and give them a good send off. Planning to meet up with the boys in Paris when we're there as well... they are so fun to be with! There is a toga pub crawl that is supposed to be fun or some sort of water party. We shall see!

Roma

Well it was a long sweaty walk to the train but a good ride and then a short sweaty walk to our AWESOME hostel. What makes a hostel awesome you say? AIR CONDITIONNING!

Our hostel also has a little bar as well as internet and sweet rooms with ensuite bathroom for 8 people. We also have really cool people staying in our room too!

We dropped our stuff and went out right away.... why shower, we would just get sweaty again. We went first to the Trevi fountain and made our wish then tried to get to the Spanish steps from there and ended up at the Forum and Collesium which was cool. We were famished and could not find a place to eat around there so we came home and ate just down the street from our hostel. Good wine and when we asked for the bill we were told it was too early.... well it started to rain so they rushed the bill over and we went back to the hostel to shower. We got dolled up and went downstairs for a glass of gross wine and then called it a night.

Today was crazy. We got up before 7 to go to the Vatican and there was still a crazy line so we paid 39 euros to go on a tour (25 plus entrance of 14) and skip the lines. Well worth the money. We finished the vatican at noon. Our tour guide was awesome by the way, saw and learned some things I did not know of last time I came. We went for lunch down the road, nothing too great. Then we proceeded to hit a number of tourist spots on the map. We saw the Pantheon and sat outside and looked at the pics of our trip on Deanna's camera which reminded me of how awesome this trip really was.

We also saw a number of fountains and piazza's, Castel Sant' Angelo and its bridge, Piazza Tribunali (a little flea market by there), Adriano's Temple, the Palazzo Montecitorio and the Quirinale. Tonight we are going to go and take the metro to the Spanish steps and hopefully meet up with the guys we met in Florence... if they get our message.

We ran into Derek and Ben leaving the vatican. They are off to Naples tomorrow for 4 nights so we may run into them again there.

Tomorrow we will do the forum and the Collesium and then we should have Monday to tie up loose ends and shop!

P.S. my foot is killing me.... hopefully someone back home is arranging a foot replacement?

It did rain!

Slightly. This morning.... it is a bit cooler and apparently it is a holiday and most of the stores are closed so that means less people... slightly.

So our meal last night was Spaghetti Bolognaise which I avoid like the plague around here cause it is the easiest thing for them to make and screw up but Franco is an amazing cook (Jeff you have competition!). So full once again!

New people in the hostel, chatted with a really nice guy from Holland, Steven, and a girl from Vancouver named Zophia (cool!) over dinner. Afterwards everyone went to Piazza de Michaelangelo to get a view of the city (been there) but Deanna and I weren't feeling so hot from the sun and the debauchery of last night. We took much needed showers and went to bed early.

The other reason I didn't go is I need a foot transplant. My right foot is totally messed up by backpacking Europe in flip flops but I can't wear my runners because it is so hot. Meh, 2 more weeks to go.

So this morning we went out and ran some errands on Ponte Vecchio... bought myself another huge bottle of the good olive oil. Very close to buying a purse... but I have too many of those already.

We had lunch at this self-service place where we walk by everyday and the guy begs us to eat there. It was good and he was really nice but when we were getting our trays, we were trying to set down our trays and move through the line and these people cut in on us to get their trays. I didn't even try to move out of the way and made it as difficult for these 3 "ladies" as possible. I just can't believe some people.

Oh yah and gypsies are totally annoying. I forgot about the gypsies here. They whine and cry and won't leave you alone... as you're waiting in line, as you're eating.

So we're off to Rome in an hour and a half. Probably won't do much because of this holiday... I must look it up. The guy at the wine/olive oil store wasn't too helpful!

Why do I do this to myself?

Laundry = a bit of a hike, 1 hour wash and dry for 7 euro. Mission accomplished!

When we got back to the hostel we were told that they were serving supper in an hour and to go and get a drink and some bread. We headed out and bought some 5 euro red wine and a 2 euro lof of bread and we were just in time for supper (and a premium seat at a table!).

This is first hostel to serve breakfast AND supper. Completely unheard of! OMG was it amazing and real italian and the guy gives you a heaping plate and there were 2 courses and then he did all the dishes. Am I in heaven? Did I die of heat exhaustion like I predicted? The first course was pasta with pesto... the most flavorful pesto ever... probably not from a jar right? The second course was meatballs and potato and it was AMAZING!

After supper we headed out to get more wine at a dodgy (see ghetto) store and we got a 6 euro bottle of red South African wine and a 65 cent 2 litre bottle of water. We could have got 2 euro wine, that place was crazy. Anyways, we got back and hung out in our room and drank and talked with everyone. We met 2 more Canadians = Marc-Andre (QC) and Brad (ON) as well as a kiwi and a brazillian and a brit (Ben). There were lots of Americans there too.

At 10 Tommy (hostel dude) came to get us and we went to a little bar and had 5 shots for 5 euro and shared them with Brad and the 2 American Kyles. Marc-Andre bought us a beer and well you can tell how the night went.

We moved on to a disco and found out what Italian guys are all about.... AHH! Many runs to the bathroom to hide. I left by myself and walked back and passed out and this morning woke up drenched in sweat cause it was so hot in our room and I had a pounding headache to boot. Got up and showered and took Motrin and I was good to go.

Deanna and I went to see David with Marc and we waited in line for a good hour and I chugged a gatorade. When we finally got in I was not feeling so hot. I had to go to the bathroom and chill out for a bit and then I was good. We grabbed a quick sandwich and waited in line at the Duomo which went really fast.

Marc and Deanna went up into the duomo and I ran back to the hostel to ge my wallet which I had forgotten. I met them back at the duomo and I made friends with a cariacaturist and so Marc got a picture of him done when he got out. Then we promptly grabbed gelato!!

We made our was to the uffizi gallery and waited 1.5 hours to get in and there was only 1.5 hours left to see it and it is the hugest museum ever. Tommy told us like 75 percent of the world's art is in there and I believe him.... NOW! Got a cool roof top terrace and a room that is all in gold. So ya I rocketed through it and didn't get to look at anything too closely.

Can't wait for supper in half and hour :)

Tomorrow we're off to Rome in the afternoon... please rain.

Florence

I found a sundress.... a $50 one... but it fit and I took it and I am still hot but there is nothing you can do besides go naked and even then it still would not help.

So we showered and put on our new dresses and went to a very nice cafe near our hostel with excellent service and amazing tiramisu. Good decision there!

Then we walked around and tried to find a good looking gondaleer.... well we found some but the prices were not as good.... 100 euro... like 160 dollars Canadian... OUCH. One gondaleer told us he came free... ya so no Gondola ride for me and no horse carriage ride in Vienna for my b'day... could do it here I suppose.... or Paris. Hmm...

Anyways, we retired back to the hostel for the last night of privacy and packed up. We were up at 630 am after an awful sleep.... soooo hot! The air conditionner did not work.

Also after 3 days in Venice Deanna and I have bug bites galore... bed bugs? Jeff said Venice is bad for them... they are just red spots, maybe I have chicken pocs? Meh...

Getting to the water bus was a breeze and we had these frozen mochacinos at the train station to go with our toast (ham and cheese sandwhich). The train ride was an easy 2.5 hours, very nice train and we found our hostel on the first try.

Bad thing about the hostel... it is 6 floors up... good thing... nice man gave us cold juice when we got there as we were dripping sweat. He was so awesome, he told us about a nice sandwich shop for really cheap and to try this meat you can only get in Florence... a really spicy salami. It was divine with mozza and tomato. There was a little old man working there who was so cute..... so happy to be there and serving us! I like this much better than Venice!

After lunch Deanna tried to get money and all of a sudden her debit card is not working so now we are trying to find a phone to use.... which is very hard. We went to Ponte Vecchio and drooled over the jewellery and we saw the outdoor sculptures and the bronze boar you are supposed to rub for good luck. We went into the book shop of the Uffizi gallery but did not find anything interesting.

Have to go see the statue of David at acadameia tomorrow and of course the duomo and whatever else we can fit in. Must do laundry today!

Still hot and bright

I am still alive but still very hot!! I can't believe this. This morning we got tricked since it was overcast but then it cleared up and the insane heat and brightness of the sun came out and we were sad.

But anyways, last night we decided to go for supper by the canal. Boy was that a mistake. For one it stinks.... and you can get splashed with water. But it was cool cause we saw some Venetian fire fighters... they were in a boat putting on their gear on the way to a fire. Neat!

Anyways, we chose a restaurant and sit down and the host comes and says it is reserved even though there is no sign.... BULL! It was a table of 4 so we moved to a table of 2. So the meal was alright but a tad expensive and then we wanted another glass of wine but we were told no, the table is reserved. GRRRR!!!! We waited 25 minutes for our bill, we could have had another glass. I didn't want to tip but Deanna did.... I wanted to paste a sign over their menu and say how bad the restaurant was and stand there and tell people as well. GRRR!

Anyways, we went back to the hostel and were asleep by 10.

This morning we were out the door by 8am to line up for St. Mark's Basilica. We grabbed toast to go and got on the water bus with very few people and were like the 10th people in line. Score! The basilica is amazing, completely all in mosaics and we got a good view of the square. Then we went to the Ducal (Doge's) Palace and toured that and got to go in the Bridge of Sighs.

We went for lunch at the same air-conditionned place as yesterday and it was excellent as before and then we went to get a purse Deanna had seen the day before. Tres expensive but really nice. We fought the heat and crowds and then got back on the water bus back to Rialto and here I am. We are going to try and find some sun dresses as the rest of Italy is probably going to be just as bad, then we'll try to hit up the beach at Lido. Can't wait to get to Florence tomorrow!

Over-rated and the hottest place on the planet

So if I don't have any more posts from now on, you can all assume I died over here of heat stroke!!

Today we were out the door at 9 am and caught a water bus to the train station to get a ticket to Florence on the 13th. We managed to avoid the lines and use a machine to get a ticket for 34 euros. We also bought a 48 hour water bus pass that cost us 26 euro... too expensive. We waited in line at the tourist info booth to pay 2.50 euros for a tourist map and that's about it.

We got on the boat and went to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) and saw this icky line to get into the basilica so we will wake up early tomorrow and get in line. Holy too many people batman! If Derek (Elliot) does come to Venice he will probably jump in the canals! We walked over to the Guggenheim but sorry Jeff, had no flower to lay on her grave but we saw your special little man statue :)

And seriously... that is all we have accomplished. It is so hot here I have such a headache and nothing I am seeing here really awes me. I think I got my hopes up too much or I am just too hot to care.

Our train leave on Wed morning at 8:45 am and takes about 2 hours. Florence should be better.

Jeff, also had gelato last night - tiramisu and chocolate :) So now we just have to go to that beach and into the basilica and we will have accomplished your list.

Had a great sleep last night without any interruptions. This hostel makes me feel human again!

Venice

I have finally arrived in the one European city I've always wanted to visit.

We got up at 4am to catch out 630 train. We were in 6 person cabins so for the first 2 hours I got to lay down and sleep as I was alone. Then an English couple came in and made out and groped each other the whole time so I went for coffee with Deanna at the dining car. Then I tried to sleep and listen to my ipod but we stopped again and an Italian family got on and yelled, I mean had a conversation, for 4 hours. Fun times, 6 people in a box. Otherwise there were breathtaking views of the mountains and countryside so that was cool!

We arrived at 130, caught a very expensive water bus to the hostel (lucky for me a random guy gave me his ticket as he was leaving today) and did another long journey of getting lost trying to find the hostel in 30 degree heat...

We finally found it and it was worth the wait. We are staying at the B and B Rota in a double bed private bathroom.... YAY PRIVACY! Yay towel, yay clean, yay being able to leave my stuff all over the place. It is going to be a nice 3 nights!!!

We went for supper just around the corner... nothing too special. Hopefully go for the first gelato after this and fix that. We then wandered around and found a bank, pharmacy, phone (finally got to call mom and dad) and internet. The only thing else we need is food and there is a fresh fruit market by our hostel so I think it is covered.

Oh, also need tourist info... we didn't want to wait in line at the train station today. We have to go back tomorrow anyways to book our train to Florence on the 13th.

First impressions of Venice... ya it is stinky but no more so than Europe as a whole. It looks a little run down... but we haven't seen anything yet. Scared to ask how much a gondola ride is....

Hit up St. Marks and Doge's palace for sure, after that I dunno!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well 08/08/08 = my b-day and the olympics starting... how are we doing by the way? I only managed to see a bit of the opening ceremonies while I was drinking at a little sidewalk cafe.

Anyways, to pick up from where I left off...

So Thursday morning Deanna and I took advantage of the 3 euro breakfast offered by the place around the corner from out hostel to hostel guests. It was the best hostel breakfast so far.... one ham and cheese bun, one with orange marmalade jam and a cappucino and orange juice. Perfect.

Then, on Jeff's recommendation we made our way to the Kunst house. We hopped from the subway to the tram with ease and then walked the 2 blocks, so easy. The kunst house is a crazy place designed with uneven floors and trees going out the top and sides of the building and just an insane motif overall. It was designed by a famous architect here in Vienna and he has done many buildings here in Wien (Vienna). Our ticket was a puzzle piece, definetly saved that! We toured his works of art and later when we went to the Albertina museum I bought a postcard of my favourite work called "The way to you". Check out their website!

http://www.kunsthauswien.com/

We sat in the outdoor cafe there and had a cappucino after that to just take it all in. So cool!

After this we took the U-bahn back to the city centre and went for lunch at this crazy cafeteria.
There was a little sign outside and I just suggested we go check it out. We walk down the stairs and it was this huge place that seats 560 people and it was comeplete chaos and super stressful. Deanna and I shared pasta and salad and then got the heck out of there.

We shot over to the Albertina and saw a Picasso and Monet exhibition as well as the state appartments (WOW) and then to the Sacher Hotel for the world famous Sacher Torte (Early b-day cake?). It was pretty good but I've had better cake.

http://www.sacher.com

After sacher torte we wandered around shopping a bit and saw some crazy blue-lipped druggies in one store. I was not getting on the escalator with that guy!

We were super heat-exhausted so we went back to the hostel to chill and get ready for a pub crawl. On the way to the pub crawl we stopped at Mc D's for a quick bite so we would not be drinking on an empty stomach. The pub crawl started at 9pm with power hour = free beer or wine for the hour and vodka/redbull shots. I had one beer and 1 wine and 1 shot while talking to fellow Canadians and a few Australians.

At 10 we went to a second bar that was super smokey and gross and I just had one drink there where I talked to this French guy Cedric. At the next bar, the beach bar along the Danube he was done for the evening.

Speaking of done for the evening.... at midnight Deanna came to wish me a happy b-day and tripped and scraped her arm really badly and bruised her knee so we got her all cleaned up (after kindly being asked to get her literally bloody arm off the bar) :) After this Deanna went off with her new friend Chris and I went to the last bar called the excess bar... started talking to an Australian guy named Sam and after attempting to walk home and wandering into an area where we got asked for cocaine 5 times we called a taxi!!!

The next morning (My b-day) we slept in till about 1030 and then got up to have brunch at an italian place downtown. I had super sub-par pizza,... I was so sad. Then we got a cappucino at McD's and settled in infront of Stephensplatz to wait for Jeff to arrive. He was about a half-hour late but oh well. We went to a cafe where we drank some beer and watched the opening ceremonies of the olympics and then went for supper again at the Chinese buffet. We all totally gorged and felt so gross. It started to rain and get cold so I went back to the hostel to change and then I went for a b-day sundae and called it a night. Sounds like a lame b-day but it really wasn't.... it was nice and relaxed with good food and good friends.

Besides, we had to be up early today to go on a bike winery tour in the Austrian wine valley.
We met at 9am and took the train out there for about 1.5 hours. When we got there we tasted 4 different white wines and the hopped on our bikes. We came to another town and tried chocolate, jam, chutney, schnapps and liquors. Awesome! While biking to the next stop it poured rain on us but ponchos were provided and it was actually fun, I laughed the whole time!

We came to another more family oriented winery and had lunch.... oh my god. We got a pork chop, a bratwurst and a bacon wrapped hot dog plus bread, salad and veggies and WINE. Oddly enough I wasn't full (silly Chinese buffet stretching my stomach). The sun came out again and it shaped up to be pretty amazing. After lunch we played beach volley-ball and took a swim in the Danube. Our last stop was back to the chocolate town to climb up to the ruins of an old castle in which King Richard the lionheart was imprisoned. I almost died but the view was incredible! We biked back to the original winery and walked to the train where our group leader gave us more wine to drink on the train. Best 49 euros I've spent this whole trip I bet! I can't wait till I can put up the pictures!

We leave tomorrow at 630 am on a train to Venice, arriving at 330pm so it is supper then packing then sleep!

Before I go I would just like to thanks everyone again for all their birthday greetings, I am so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends I love you all! I will be home soon to celebrate with you!

Vienna

Hello again!!! So much to tell you all since last I wrote!

First of all, I did attempt to get to bed early on Sunday as I had to be up at 5am but... ya.

I had a nice shower, packed up my bag and climbed onto my top bunk and put my ipod in. The whole Spanish family was in the room reading, singing and whatever else. At 11:30 after I finally dozed off they woke me up to ask if I wanted the light off. DUH.

Anyways, I woke up at 4am to hear Ben outside our hostel - super drunk. I was not impressed. Before my alarm goes off at 5am Derek is in our room waking up me and Roy telling us they are all ready and downstairs and to hurry up. Um Derek, first bus to airport doesn't leave till 5:45. But he doesn't know this cause Ben woke them up at 4:30 by being annoying in his drunkeness and getting everyone up. So anyways I get my stuff together and turn in my sheets and get my key deposit and walk down to the bus stop where we wait. And wait.

We got to the airport and there was a long check-in line but it went fast. Got upstairs and went through security without any problems and even had time to buy a giant bag of MandM's and the best cappucino I've ever had out of a machine. Hopped right on the plane and had the best 2 hour sitting up nap of my life, sitting in between 2 big guy strangers.

We bought a CAT pass into Vienna city centre for 9 euros and then bought a week U-bahn pass for 14 euros and walked to our hostel.

Our hostel is called the Blue Corridor Hostel and literally that's what it is. I am in room C and Deanna and Roy are in Room B but it is just a hallway separated by curtains.... and 1 shower per 10 people. But it is clean so that is good.

The lady who runs the hostel is really wierd. She sleeps in reception. We arrived at 10 am and check-in wasn't until 2. Ben was super hung over and as soon as he sat down in the lobby and closed his eyes she was up telling us to go to a cafe and see museums and to get out. Whenever we walk in to meet up with everyone she is at us "What do you want?". Anyways, Ben went to lay in a park and Derek, Roy, Deanna and I had lunch around the corner. I had this huge pan of spinach gnocchi and could only eat half of it.

After lunch Deanna and I went to do our laundry. Supposedly it was close. We went to get our clothes at the reception desk and the lady started hounding us about that. We told her we were doing laundry so she told us the laundry mat is closed but there is one 5 stops up on the tram.

Well naturally I don't believe the crazy lady so we decide to walk there and if it is closed, hop on the tram. Well we didn't see a laundry mat and then we weren't sure how many stops we had gone so we just walked all the way in 30 degree heat. She also told us the new laundry mat was around a corner. It was not.

So after asking around we find it. Hooray. Then I have no change. Then no stores around would give me change. Then I buy a Coke to get change and they won't give me change. Then luckily a girl tells us we can use bills. Well then I don't have a small enough bill. So this lovely man makes change for me and finally I am doing laundry. 2.5 hours later and a dryer that did not dry, we go back to the hostel and check in and lay out all our clothes to dry and have a much much much needed shower. Kinda like the shower I need right now.... but I'll come back to that.

At 6pm we meet Donny and Edith at the church at Stephensplatz. Very hard to miss... but they were late. In the meantime Clara (a new Danish friend) and I go into the church and look around. Amazing! We also got hounded by a guy to buy a 29 euro ticket to see the opera, orchestra and ballet all in one. Roy told me that we can stand in line and get a 3 euro standing ticket to the opera so we declined.

Roy lived in Vienna for 6 months so he knows the place really well. He took us to this amazing chinese buffet where you pile food onto your plate and they stir-fry it up for you. It was so delicious and much needed!

After supper we went into this sketchy U-bahn station where all the drug users hang out... just to see it. They are the ones with the blue lips because one of the drug makers around here put a dye in the drug so that the police know who is using drugs and now I know who not to give my money to... not that I've given money to anyone begging except for a little boy in Stockholm outside the mall who only knew one song on the accordion :)

We bought some beer and walked around into Stadspark and saw the Johann Strauss monument. Such a pretty park. It was at that time we also lost our new friend Darryl from England as he didn't have a U-bahn pass and just walked there. Oops. We went back to Karlsplatz and hit up a few pubs and clubs but I took the last U-bahn train at midnight with Ben and Clara and the rest stayed out pretty late.

The next morning a hung over Deanna :) and the group hopped on a tram to Baden, a small town outside of Vienna whose name is German for "bath". It took about an hour and after a short walk we had arrived at the spa :)

What a great idea, kudos Roy! This place was crazy!!! You get a wrist band and you swipe it to get into things and pay at the end of the day. It cost 5.30 euros to get in cause we are "students" and then I booked a massage for 25 euros. A little pricey but hey, it is my b-day on Friday! After my massage I went in the pool which has a number of water features like a bubbler and fountain etc. Then I went in the outdoor hot tub, then the indoor whirlpool then we had lunch. After lunch Deanna and I tackled the sauna.

The first saunas we went in were wet saunas... nothing like what I've experienced in Canada. Those, I found out, are finnish dry saunas. Anyways, the first sauna we could keep our bathing suits on and it was scented with Eucalyptus and way too hot. We were the only ones in there until a naked old couple came in. Awkward!

Well then we found out the rest of the saunas you have to take your bathing suit off. So we went in with our towels on.... and then since it was just me and Deanna, we took the towel off. SO WIERD. We are now bonded for life. Anyways, we are sitting there (hoping the others from the group don't come in) and the old couple from the last sauna come in. Just act natural...

So we came out of that sauna in our towel just as Ben and Donny were about to drop trowsers and come in. So they went to the Finnish saunas and we stayed on our side and finished the last 2 saunas... still wierd.

Anyways, we kept moving around the spa like that. We never went nude in the finnish saunas, we just used the bathing suits allowed one to dry out our suits at the end of the day. We had arrived at 1130am and we left at 7pm!!! SO RELAXED :) So totally worth it.

When we went back to Vienna we went to a Greek restaurant Roy recommended and I had some amazing chicken souvlaki. We were trying to make it to a international movie house but Roy forgot where it was and we were too late anyways. We stopped at an Irish pub and had a beer then called it a night.

This morning we met Donny and Edith and went to Nash market. Mom, you would have loved it. So much fresh produce!!!! Mouth watering. I think we are going to go there tonight to have supper at one of the restaurants and then back to the Castle to see it at night all lit up. I wish I lived here and could have bought fresh herbs and produce and pasta and meat and cooked a meal!

We lost the group and went to Schonbrunn Castle. If you ever go to Vienna I recommend this highly, just allocate yourself half a day! We lined up and took an audio guided tour of the state and royal apartments. Afterwards we went for lunch at the over-priced cafe there and tried to make it to the apple strudel show. We were too late but still got a slice of it to try :) Then we wandered out into the garden and took dozens of photos of water features and plants. As part of the ticket we bought we got to go into a hedge maze and labyrinth. Fun times when it is 30 degrees! We also climbed to the top of this hill to see this huge monument. 5 pounds of sweat later we made it! The last thing we did before leaving was visit the privy garden with its orange trees and floral arrangements it was really pretty. We got there at noon and left at 5.... it took that long and we still didn't see everything on the grounds. I can't wait to get to Versaille and compare the two since Schonbrunn was modelled after it.

Currently I am at a traveller's information centre. We were going to book a bicycle winery tour (9 hours) for tomorrow but there are none running. We either have to book for Friday or Saturday. Friday is my b-day and Saturday is my hung-over day. What to do.... just kidding. I think we will book for Saturday since Jeff is coming in on Friday. I think he'd like to do the tour as well so that will be fun.

Sounds like tomorrow will be museums (air conditionned?)... this is another place, like London, that will require more time. A truly beautiful city. I bought a picture book of it at the gift shop, so much to show everyone!

Another thing we bought were mozart chocolates. Supposed to be good, recommended by Roy, but I guess I'm just not a fan of marzipan. They were ok.

I am just going to throw in a blurb about Riga that I forgot to add. Deanna and I went to a little place called Black Magic and tried Riga's drink, the Black Balsam. Well we tried a straight shot of it and it was disgusting. Deanna didn't finish hers and I sure stumbled out of there... it packs a punch! Thankfully we had it with desserts so once sip with one bite.. it was bareable. We also had the cutest waiter. When we came in he gave up a schpiel about buying a box and filling it with the chocolates that you want as a gift and he did a little magic trick for us. Then midway through our meal he brought us 2 envelopes and told us he had a gift for us. I just thought it was the bill so I kept eating my delicious coffee cake thing. Deanna opened it and it made this noise and something moved around inside and she jumped a mile. It was this thing you wind up and when you open the package it unwinds. The envelope says "pure adrenaline" which is pretty much right on the money. We had fun tricking all our friends with it afterwards :)

Final Plans

Last night we went to a film festival in the ghetto area of Riga. It is called "Moving Baltic Sea" and it has been travelling around. Our tour guide from the afternoon, James, took us. There were 2 venues. The first venue was an underground walk-way where they showed the films and the second venue was at the Dirty Deal cafe and there was live music. All in all it was something different to do but I wouldn't say it was a spectacular time. Got home around 1230am to find that a spanish family had moved in to Roy and I's room.

At 8am my alarm went off as I was planning to go to a church service with Deanna. She has been hoping to go to Mass over here and today she went to a lutheran service in the oldest wooden church in Riga. I however didn't make it. When my alarm went off the Spanish family started the shower parade and I didn't get in until 9am and I was too late to make the trek to the church. I am slightly annoyed by these people, they have no sense of respect for space and silence. When I got home last night they put all their unwanted covers on my bed cause it was hot. I can't wait to get in tonight and shower and get up at 5 am and sing and be as loud as I can as they do. Grr.... hostel life eh?

Anyways, enough beefs. So while Deanna was at church I went to the Galleria shopping centre and looked around. Bought a foot file as my feet are taking a beating. Definitely need a pediacure when I get home!

We went for lunch and had a really cute waitress, she was so nice. She wasn't great at English and she started every sentence with "Maybe..." Excellent Gnocchi by the way. She even saved us from a crazy Latvian man selling perfum by yelling at us angrily (at least that is how it came across).

After lunch we did the self-guided walking tour. The Riga castle is pretty unimpressive but we went into the dome church and to St. Peter's and went up the tower for an awesome view. I have spent only 9 LATS on tourist stuff if you can believe it.

We tried to go see a movie before dinner but it was only showing in Latvian and Russian cause it was an older movie. Instead I went back to the hostel and planned on showering but the Spanish family were showering instead so I tried to nap for an hour. The whole groups sauf Donny and Edith went to a place called John Lemmon's for supper. Pretty cheap but it took us an hour to get our meal.

Early to bed tonight, up at 5 am to catch a bus to the airport and to fly to Vienna. 2 hour flight and as soon as I get there I am doing laundry!!!

It rained today which was a nice relief after the hot weather the day before but tomorrow it is supposed to be back up to 30 and it probably won't stop!

We have also booked the rest of our trip. We will spend 2 nights in Florence, 4 nights in Rome and 3 nights in Naples (to see Capri and Pompei) and then we will fly to Paris and stay there a week before I go home. Deanna gets to stay until Sept 14 and will get to see Spain and Switzerland as well! All we need to book are the trains in Italy when we get to Venice. It feels good to know it is all planned out now!

Happy Birthday Derek!

Well Derek, here in Riga your birthday is almost over! Time is relative hey?

Last night I went out and celebrated your birthday :) Had a few drinks at the pub attached to our hostel then went down the street to a place called the Opium Cafe. I saw no drugs there so disregard the name. We mainly went there because it was free to get in. When we got there, there weren't a lot of people there but we started the trend by dancing and by the end of the night the DJ was playing classics like Ice Ice Baby, Jump Around, Spice Girls etc. I haven't sweat that much in a long time.

Speaking of which it is really hot here. At 2 am when we walked home it was just nice out. The hostel room on the 2nd floor however wasn't and I had a fitfull sleep. It didn't help matters that 2 guys came in at 6 am, had to make their bed and pack their bags, only to sleep for an hour and then get up and make more noise to leave. I love when people go through their phonebooks on their cell right by my head.

Up at 930 am and into the shower. Took a cold one but it wasn't enough to prepare me for today. Deanna and I walked to the Galleria mall and bought some fruit for breakfast then went back to the hostel for a free orange juice and to wait for our guide to take us on a 3 hour walking tour called "Eat Riga". Our tour guide, James, was an architect fanatic but who can blame him. There are so many interesting buildings in the heart of Riga. So 6 km later we were pretty sweaty and I popped into McD's for a greek salad (cheap!) for lunch.

We wandered around old town a bit, coming upon many weddings in progress. They do the same thing as they do in Florence with the locks. A couple who gets married will write their name on a lock and attach it to an iron bridge in the park. We came across a couple doing just that on our tour.

Anyways, we found the tourist information booth and right beside it is the museum of occupation so we decided to tackle that. Not the best thing to do when you've just walked so much in the heat and they place has no air conditionning. I didn't do as thorough a job as I would have liked but it was a great museum. May have to go back tomorrow and re-do the last bit when I have better concentration.

By this time it was basically supper time so we sat down to eat at what we thought was a decent restaurant but Deanna and I both had crappy meals. An old German man sad next to us and started up a conversation after seeing Deanna's rock hard rice. He told us the food in Riga was terrible. He comes to Riga every month for one day for business and he hates it. He was a nice man but hard to understand.

It is Saturday night and the stag and staguettes are in full force. I can't believe how hard core Europeans are about those things. Latvians especially hate the Brits for their stags as they all get out of control. We'll probably go out again tonight but we don't have plans yet.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to tour the old town on a self-guided tour and try a Black Balsam as Jeff says I should. It is a warm concoction of grasses picked on 24 different days in the year and over 100 herbs. It is rumoured to have cured Catherine the Great. We shall see. Things were a lot different back then, haha.

Anyways, that is all for now. Once again have a happy b-day Derek! If I could find a pay phone I would phone ya but I have not seen one yet :(

August already?

Wow, I can't believe August is here. That means I am half-way through my trip and I will home sooner rather than later.

So I have some catching up to do here. Well nothing really to tell you about, been taking it easy. We were all souvenir and sight-seed out after our first day in Tallin. We took the luxury of sleeping in lots in Tallin because nothing opens before noon and our hostel never got cleaned I'm sure so we never had to get out of the cleaning man/woman's way. One morning we got up and went to a Greek restaurant and had banana and chocolate crepes. Yum!

After last I posted, Deanna and I went back to the hostel and got ready to go out on the town. Night clubs are from Wed-Sun so we started at the Beer House for a few beers and live music. Then we went to a pub called Hell Hunt. Really popular place with all sorts of people. An American man named Andrew sat down with us. He's been living in Belgium for 6 years and makes frequent visits to Tallin. He invited us out with some of his friends and it was really cool to meet actual Estonians our age.

No one else came out as they made a day trip to Helsinki. I didn't really feel the need to go to Helsinki after reading about it in the travel books and I didn't want to go on the boat for 4 hours again. So we rolled in at 3 am and the rest of the group got up at 7am to go to a far away beach.

Deanna and I slept in and then took a bus to a near-by beach called Pirita. Four nastly bus drivers who refused to help us later, we finally got on a bus where a nice lady from New York helped us navigate... who says New Yorkers are mean? Anyways, it was awesome, amazing sand! It was the perfect day for the beach too because there was a cool breeze so you didn't feel disgustinly hot. Took a dip in the ocean, much warmer than the watering hole in Stockholm! The beach the rest of the group went to had mud baths and a water park but the baths were closed and the water park was indoors so they didn't even do those so I'm happy with the choice of beach we went to.

We only spent about 3 hours on the beach and then came back, showered and went out for Truffle Cream pasta part deux. I am very sad that I will never have that meal again!

We borrowed a movie from the front desk, Maid in Manhatten and watched it and went to bed. The rest of the group was majorly sunburnt but went out for a beer, I chose my bed, mp3 player and book :)

Today we caught a bus to Riga. 4 hours on a luxury bus with a nice driver and a bathroom we were allowed to use. Sounds good to me!

Our hostel is just steps from the bus station so that was nice. We went out for supper as soon as we got here. $13 Canadian got me a tiny bottle of coke and a tiny pasta salad. So we hit the McDonalds for some fries to fill the void. Oh the LATS will kill us, I can't believe how much they are worth!

Since it is Friday I am going to go back to the hostel and shower and go out.... to where, I don't know. But this place is pretty scary so I dunno what will happen.... stay tuned!

Also, if I don't get onto the internet tomorrow, Happy EARLY Birthday to my bro Derek!!!

Pictures!!

Hey all,

I have added a few pictures on facebook for you to see. If you're not on facebook you can check them out at this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141301&l=54cfe&id=537315513

There are just a few up there, I already have 2 cd's full so I hope to add pictures to this blog when I get home!

Here are my pics from Scotland

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141345&l=d75d4&id=537315513

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141340&l=476c4&id=537315513

And my pics from Ireland

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3755716&l=bd402&id=537315513

Yummy in my tummy

Wow what a busy day! I think I need to live here as everyone is on my schedule. Sleep in and stores don't open until 10 or 11. Nice.

So last night we hit the grocery store and got some fruit and water then went for supper at an Italian restaurant. Deanna and I love our pasta! Had this Gorgonzola stuffed ravioli in a nut and truffle cream sauce and a nice glass of red. We went back to the hostel after that and just chilled out, read a book and listened to music and chatted.

So this morning we slept in till about 930 and went and had coffee next door at 1030. Did I mention there is a strip bar above our hostel? Too funny. Every night at 6 they bring out the sign. Vana Tom Hostel floor 2, strip club floor 3!

After that we re-did the walking tour from yesterday but took our time and looked in every shop and went to a few museums. We went to the oldest building in Tallin, an old monastery and we are members for life. We made a coin that gets us back in! Then we went up one of the defense towers and a church tower. I almost died but got a great view of the city.

We had a great lunch at Cafe Mademoiselle. Nice looking place but cheap. I had cream of mushroom soup. I'd been craving soup for some reason and it lived up to my dreams :) We did some more shopping and I found an awesome painting of the church tower we climbed so mom be expecting that in the mail. We also saw an old palace which is now parliamentary buildings and it is pink, how cool! We also saw a Russian looking church that was amazing.

A funny part of our day included a stop at a medical museum where I would probably take my health students to learn everything about how the body works, the effects drugs have on it and even sex ed topics. We saw a mummified man and other real body parts. Pretty cool but very little was labelled in English.

We hit the post office to mail some of our stuff and then Deanna bought some hot nuts. Haha, they are peanuts roasted in cinnamon or something but man are they good. We plan to go to a garlic restaurant tonight where the menu's have each item labelled with how many garlic cloves they used and they even have garlic ice cream but I think I will pass on that! At 8 we are going to meet up with Hanne and Edith to go to yet another chocolate place. Haven't gotten my fill of chocolate yet today!

Much better

Tere everyone! (Hi). Well things are much better now. After I last wrote, Deanna and I got breakfast at the grocery store and paid the kid outside playing the accordion 20 SEK and listened to the one and only song he knows while we ate.

We hopped on the subway and went back to old town where I bought a beautiful pair of earrings made of bloodstone and a really cool ring. We also went to a chocolate shop and had a chocopreso (pure concentrated hot chocolate) and an assortment of chocolates. That always makes things better.

We met back at the hostel at 4pm and made a long walk in the heat with our packs to the harbour to get on our giant cruise ship. I was not expecting such a big and fancy boat for 70 dollars canadian. What a great night we had!

We got on a 6pm and had a beer on the sun deck as we sailed through the 24,000 islands of Sweden. It was perfect weather. An awesome 2-man band played terrific music. We tried to go for supper but we were supposed to make reservations and so we were forced to eat microwaved pizza. Probably the only bad part of the cruise.

After supper we showered and got dressed up and hit the show lounge and the other bars and pubs on the boat. We sat down with some Estonian guys who turned out to be 30-somethings with wives and kids. Creepy. Anyways, we ended the night dancing and fell into bed around 3 am. The shipped docked at 10 am and we had a fairly lengthy walk to the hostel.

The hostel is right in old town and has free internet and sheets - score! We are all together in a room plus two Australian guys :) We spent the afternoon wandering around and I bought some hand-made wood things. Mom there are tons of linen shops and needle work. We also walked into a stained-glass workshop.

Tallin is a city of 400,000 so it is very quaint. So far I really like it. AND most everything is the same price as Canada. Whew!

We went to the House of Beer when we first got here as well. Most restaurants have waiters and waitresses dressed in period costumes from the middle ages and this place was no exception. I had some buffalo wings and a coke but the boys had a giant beer of course. Donny had wild boar and potato dumpling which looked amazing!

Not really sure what the plan is for tonight. Everyone is back in the room resting a bit. The weather is perfect, not too hot, not too cold. I am a happy camper again!

Boo

Yesterday was the worst day of my life. Ok I may be exaggerating but probably the worst day on my trip. We got up excited to go to the beach and got on the train, got off and started following people with beach gear. Well the thing is here in Stockholm they don't know what a beach is. A beach is anywhere you lay down a towel near water. So we ended up walking around for like 2 hours with all our gear and onto 2 different islands. When we finally get there it is nothing more than a swimming hole and it is packed packed packed. Did I mention it was also at least 29 degrees? So we layed on the 'beach' etc. till about 5 then made our way back to the hostel.

Well half-way through my shower a girl is yelling at me cause there is water all over the floor as everything is backed up. So I gather up my stuff and slink over in a towel to the other shower building. Luckily I was able to pick up where I left off.

After this we went and had a really nice dinner just down the street. Wierd Italian waiters who can't speak English and just took my word for it that I was 25 when I ordered a Carlsberg.

When we got back everyone was sitting around and just talking with this Australian guy and I get into this huge fight with Roy. So I left and went and read my book. You should all read this book, it is called 'The Last Lecture' by Randy Pausch. Anyways so later Ben, Deanna, Edith and I decide to go out and hit a club.

Well they don't take a driver's license as I.D. they wanted a passport (government issued)... well our driver's license is government issued. So we walked around pointlessly again for 2 hours. Oh and the place we finally decided to go into was TGI Fridays.... any other place everyone was very dressed up and we definetly didn't fit in.

So slept in this morning, didn't have a shower and have to get on the boat at 6pm. It is freaking hot again and I am drenched already at 11am. Going to find breakfast now that the stores are open then go to old town and possibly see the Royal Palace and a cool church that is there. Have to meet back at the hostel at 4pm and go to the boat. I have no idea what time the boat docks in Tallin.

Oh and did I mention I have a migraine?

Random odds and ends...

I didn't get to bed until after 11 the night before we left to Stolkholm. I was up at 430 am to walk to the bus stop and we were off at 545am. We didn't get in until 3pm and it was another crappy bus ride full of frequent stops and a bus bathroom that was locked because the bus driver is too lazy to empty the septic. Deanna almost peed her pants. That would have showed him!!!

The other thing was that we didn't stop at a decent place to eat. Our ferry crossing was only 20 min so I had just enough time to grab a croissant and coffee.

By the way, coffee has become one of the few pleasures on this trip. We have found that a 7-11 cappucino is the best way to go. The place we are staying at here has a mall nearby and that coffee shop has a pretty good moccacino and the New Zealand girl there is very nice.

So what have I been up to. When we got on we hopped on the metro and walked in the wrong directions with our packs for a few blocks and had to back track a bit which sucks when it is hot and you've spent 10 hours on a bus.

But what is ironic is that we are sleeping in a school. Just can't get away. We are in a classroom with 10 other people and there are portables brought in to shower. The breakfast is good but we went to do our laundry today and discovered the pit-fall of this hostel -- 1 washer and 1 dryer for hundreds of people! Not only that but you can only plug in one appliance at a time!! So today we tried to dry our stuff together Deanna and I cause we only had 3 hours in the laundry room (we had to book) and ya it didn't work. Our stuff is all laid out to dry now.

The good thing is that our room has awesome black-out curtains so we got to sleep in. Up here the sun is up at 3am and doesn't go down until midnight. The night before I showered by myself.... which is a luxury I cherish.... last hostel had see-thru showers and I got the full European experience. Other than that we just played cards.

For supper we discovered the mall and its enormous grocery store and we make frequent pilgrimmages to it.

Mostly read a book I bought today and did laundry then at 4 we went to old town and had an hour walking tour. We then ate in a cellar dating back to the 1200's. Nothing spectacular but cheap. Then Deanna and I got ice cream and walked up a billion stairs to get a pic of the Stockholm skyline.

We have to go on the internet here at 7-11 because at the hostel it is 1 kr per minute!!!!

Tomorrow we are going to the beach. We are really happy the sun has come out. Had to buy a towel today. Also got 2 cd's burnt of all my pictures so far. Wish I was on a computer where I could add photos. This totally sucks!

The waiter at the restaurant tonight told us about this cruise line to Finland and back (12 or 24 hr). It is basically a party boat where you go out to tax free and duty free water and party and then go to sleep and wake up and get off. If I ever come back here or if anyone comes here you should book it. I wish we had the time! It isn't that expensive..... 300 kr max.

We are really feeling the need to get out and meet people, aka boys but I dunno it just isn't happening.... we are too exhausted most of the time.

Oh it is gay pride week here in Stockholm too. All the buses are flying rainbow flags and we had an interesting gay man from L.A. on our tour. In Bakken there was a Santa Claus convention. We are really running into the wierdest things over here.

Speaking of which.... highlight of the afternoon was a guy from our hostel, wearing a pink touque among other wierd items and playing Eminem songs and singing on an accordion. Then we saw him like 3 times in old town and in the subway the police were shutting him down. He's actually very good but man was it funny to hear 'Dear Stan' on the accordion.