Sunday, August 1, 2010

Paris From the Underground and Beyond


Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Today was our first day out exploring the center of Paris. We decided to head first for the Catacombs. Upon our arrival at the Catacombs there was of course a cue around the block. It was about then that we decided that lines were something we would probably have to get accustomed to in Paris, as we have not had to wait in line for anything really up until our arrival in Paris. Luckily we were able to strike up conversations with some people adjacent to us in line which really helped to pass the time. Before we knew it we were making our way down into the Catacombs. The Catacombs are one of three of Paris's underground cemeteries, and consists of 1.6 kilometers of winding tunnels which are stacked floor to ceiling with the bones and skulls of millions of Parisians. While a bit bizarre, the site was definitely worth the weight.

After finishing our tour of the catacombs, we decided to walk to the Pantheon/Luxembourg Gardens. Unfortunately the weather was less than desirable and began to spit on us, but the skies cleared up just in time for us to arrive at the Pantheon, for a few photos. We decided not to go into the Pantheon, so we continued on from there to the Luxembourg Gardens/Palace which we strolled through on our way to the St-Germain Des Pres Church, Paris's oldest church, built in the 11th century. After touring the Church we made our way back to the hotel before heading out for dinner near our hotel. Tomorrow we head to the Loire Valley!

A Day in the Life of Royalty


Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

We woke up this morning and left our hotel with the plan to take the 9:21 a.m. train to Blois in the Loire Valley. We had allowed ourselves approximately one hour to find our way from the hotel to the Austerlitz train station where there are frequent trains to Blois. We had planned a route via metro to the train station and ran into some unexpected troubles when switching trains, the line we had planned to take to the station was closed for construction. We were instructed to take a bus to the train station, which obviously took longer than the time we had alotted. We arrived at the train station just a few minutes before the train left, but but the time we figured out where we needed to go at the train station it was too late. We decided not to take the next train to Blois as if we had we wouldn't have arrived in Blois until nearly 1:00 in the afternoon, so instead we pre-purchased tickets to/from Blois for this Saturday and decided we would head to Versailles today.

Oddly enough to get to Versailles we had to take the exact same bus back the the metro station we had come from and catch a train to Versailles from there. Luckily Tim thought to ask if there was any discount for Eurail pass holders, and sure enough, they told us that the train to Versailles was free for Eurail pass holders. The train to Versailles took just under an hour, so we arrived some time around 11:00 in the morning and made the short walk from the train station to the Chateau.

Once at the Chateau we had to cue up on line to purchase tickets, then we had to cue up again to get into the Palace, then to use the restroom, and finally to get our audio guides. Versailles was pretty amazing, a kind of luxury that cannot be compared to any modern day luxury, but it was ruined a bit by the crowds. One could hardly move through the rooms and had to push your way up to the front to get any photographs. We pushed our way through the elaborate rooms, the Hall of Mirrors by far being my favorite, before we made our way to the take away cafe to pick up some sandwiches to share for lunch.

After lunch we made our way through just a small footprint of the expansive gardens surrounding the Chateau of Versailles, before walking back to the train station.

Once back in Montmartre we went back to the hotel for a rest before we headed out in the direction of the Place du Tertre, a square lined with restaurants/cafes and artists to grab a bite to eat. We loved the Place du Tertre and Montmartre in general. It had a small quaint feel even though it is in one of the larger cities in Europe.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel, tomorrow we switch hotels, as we could not get a discounted rate at the Montmartre hotel for the entire duration of our stay in Paris and plan to spend the day exploring more of Paris.

A Lazy Day in Paris


Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

We had an early start this morning as our flight to Paris departed Madrid at about twenty past seven. Although we have really enjoyed Spain and are sad to be leaving it behind us, we are looking forward to Paris and the last few days of our trip. It is hard to believe that we are headed to Paris and nearing the end of our trip, it has been an amazing couple of months!

We arrived in Paris around half past 9:00 this morning. I had written down instructions for how to get from the airport to the area we are staying before we left so we arrived with some idea of where we needed to go, which is always helpful. After locating the correct train we got in line to purchase tickets, after seeing the people in front of us pay 16 Euro for two tickets to Paris I decided to double check our Eurail discounts to make sure we didn't have one on any public transportation in Paris, and sure enough our pass allowed for us to have free travel from the Airport to the Gare du Nord, one of Paris's main train stations. So we got a pass and hopped on the train. It was about a 30-40 minute train ride to the Gare du Nord where we switched trains and hopped on a metro line that took us to Montmartre. Once off the metro in Montmartre we had to find our way to the hotel from there, as that was where my instructions ended. I had the address and went into a restaurant to inquire if they could point us in the right direction, unfortunately the individual did not speak much English and was not familiar with the street. So we picked a direction and started walking. Shortly thereafter we came across a hotel and ducked in as I was certain they would know where our hotel was, and sure enough they did, and they even printed us off directions and a map. After getting directions we were at our hotel in just over 5 minutes. Luckily the hotel had a room ready so we didn't have to store our bags and we were able to go and have a much needed rest.

Perhaps because we have been traveling for nearly two months or perhaps because we had been up since five o'clock this morning, but neither Tim nor I felt like doing much, so we decided to rest for a while and maybe just explore the area around our hotel, and not go into the center of Paris today. This turned out to be a great use of our time, as I had not realized that where we were staying, Montmartre, was in fact a major tourist destination in Paris, so after a brief rest we headed out. We walked by cafes and restaurants before finally selecting a place for lunch. Our first lunch in Paris, and it was a major success, we shared the best baguette either of us have ever had! After lunch we continued through the darling streets of Montmartre towards the butte of Montmartre. Once we reached the butte of Montmartre, we climbed to the top to see the spectacular views of Paris and tour the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. After a quick peak inside the Basilica we made our way back down the Sacre Coeur and over to the Moulin Rouge before heading back to our hotel for another rest.

A little later we walked back towards the metro station where we had arrived and had dinner at a restaurant called Indiana Cafe, it's not at all obvious that we miss home! They unfortunately did not have an English menu, nor did our waitress speak much English. Tim was looking at the club sandwiches, of which they had several different types, one of which was called the "Indiana Club". Tim asked what was on the "Indiana Club" and our waitress described it as a red animal from the sea and I kid you not made "pinchers" with her hands. I'm not sure what was funnier, her impromptu game of charades or the fact that they put crab on a sandwich called the "Indiana Club".

After dinner we went back to the hotel and watched a movie before heading to bed.

The Spanish Capital


Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Today is our last day in Spain, and our only full day to explore Madrid, Spain's capital city. We set out mid-morning with the Royal Palace of Madrid the first item on our agenda. The Royal Palace of Madrid, or the Palacio Real, is the official residence of the King of Spain in Madrid, but is only used for State Ceremonies. We spent a couple of hours touring the Palace as well as its pharmacy and armory before making our way across the plaza to the Cathedral of Madrid. When the the capital of Spain was moved from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the seat of the Church remained in Toledo, so Madrid had no cathedral, which was quite unusual for a capital of a Catholic country. Plans for a cathedral were discussed as early as the 16th century, but construction of a Cathedral did not begin until 1879. Construction was then halted during the Spanish Civil War and did not resume until 1950 and wasn't completed until 1993. The Cathedral is very different from most of those we have seen throughout our trip, in that it is uniquely modern in its design and decor. After a brief stop at the Cathedral we made our way to the Basilica de San Francisco, which is located in one of the oldest districts of Madrid. The 18th century church is Madrid's largest and is still used today. Unfortunately the Church was closed when we stopped by, so we were unable to see its interior. Unable to tour the Church, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat from a nearby supermarket before continuing on.

After lunch we walked through the old center of Madrid known as Los Austrias, which is named such because this historical center was built during the reign of the Habsburg Dynasty. We eventually made our way to the Plaza Mayor. The Plaza Mayor is the most notable construction by the Habsburgs and is a large, rectangular plaza surrounded by arcades and accessible by nine entrances. During the time of the Habsburgs' reign the Plaza Mayor was used for bullfights, executions, and coronations. After strolling around the Plaza Mayor and the surrounding streets of Los Austrias, we headed back to the hotel for a rest before coming back into town for dinner.

After a rest we headed back for the area of Los Austrias to find a good Tapas restaurant to enjoy our last night in Spain. After some amazing Patatas Bravas, Pincho Moreno, and Croquettes we made our way to the Chocolateria San Ginés for some chocolate y churros, before heading back to the hotel to get some rest before our 7:00 a.m. flight tomorrow to Paris.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

A Taste of Toledo


Monday, July 19th, 2010

We got up this morning around 8 o’clock so that we could make our way to the train station by 9 o’clock or so for our 9:20 a.m. train to Toledo. We enjoyed a chat with an American family who was in Spain for their eldest daughter to attend a language course in Salamanca, and were staying in Madrid for a few days before heading home and were day tripping down to Toledo for the day just as we were. We arrived in Toledo at approximately 11 o’clock, and enjoyed some sandwiches we had brought with us at the beautiful Toledo train station for our morning snack before catching the public bus into town and to the main plaza.

After a brief stop in the plaza to make a plan of attack, we were off. Our first stop was the Alcazar, however it was unfortunately closed, as it Monday today, and many museums, etc. are often closed on Mondays in Europe, so we could only admire it from the exterior. After a quick photo opportunity at the Alcazar, we began to make our way through the narrow winding maze of streets in Toledo to the Cathedral of Toledo. We did have a detour however, when we spotted a Templar Exhibition, this of course was something Tm could not pass up, so we toured the exhibition and learned all about the Templar Knights and their significance in Spain, and presence in Toldeo. After the exhibition I bet we went in every sword shop we came across. From these experiences Tim deducted that he wants to one, be a Templar Knight for Halloween, and two, make a sword (since I wouldn’t let him buy one). Eventually, several souvenir shops later we arrived at the Cathedral of Toledo. We toured the inside of the massive cathedral, including an art gallery, containing numerous paintings by El Grecco, who was from Toledo. Inside the Cathedral we met a man and a woman from Dallas, one just starting their journey and one just finishing and had a chat about travels, etc. From the Cathedral of Toledo we made our way down to the Iglesia de Santo Tome, which is famous primarily for the painting in its entrance which contains one of El Grecco’s best pieces of work. From here we walked down to see one of several Synagoges in Toledo, again running into the pair from Dallas, but again it was unfortunately closed today, as was the Casa de Greco, a museum containing many works by El Greco, but this was okay by us as we had already seen numerous El Greco paintings today and had seen several in the museum in Madrid yesterday as well. So we continued on to the Synagoge de Santa Maria La Blanca. The interior structure of the building itself was beautiful, but it was a bit odd as it was simply filled with drawings, sketching, and paintings of a Christian nature, and there was a nun inside selling the works, there wasn’t any information in English on the Synagoge, so it is unclear to us if perhaps it had been converted to a church or was no longer in use and was owned by a church, or something to that effect perhaps. Next, we continued down the street to the San Juan de los Reyes monastery. This was one of our favorite stops in Toledo. The monastery’s exterior, as well as interior courtyard/cloister, was ridden with detailed carvings, its staircases lit with beautiful chandeliers, and it was obvious why its church is such a popular site for wedding ceremonies, as we learned listening in on a nearby English tour. After touring the monastery we simply walked the picturesque streets of Toledo, slowly making our way back to its main square where we enjoyed a leisurely, but overly expensive, meal on the main plaza.

After our lunch we caught the Toledo Tourist Bus, per Tim’s mom’s suggestion, to take us on a ring around the city. From the bus we could see the various bridges/gates to the once completely walled city. We also stopped for a moment at a fantastic viewing spot to take photos of the city in its entirety, before continuing on around and back into the heart of the city. The entire trip took just shy of an hour. Once off the bus we took a taxi from the main square back to the train station where we caught a 5:30 p.m. train back to Madrid, oddly enough we were seated on the train right in from of the pair we had met in the Cathedral from Dallas. It is funny how on these trips you often will see the same people throughout the day at different venues, particularly in these smaller towns.

Once back in Madrid we went back to our hotel to have a bit of a rest, as we were very tired from exploring Toledo for a full day. After our rest we set out to a pizza place near our hotel and enjoyed a late dinner (as usual in Spain) before heading back to the hotel and to bed. Tomorrow we will see more of the sights in Madrid, it will be our last day in Spain.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Taking in some art on a Sunday afternoon


Sunday, July 18th, 2010

We woke early this morning to take a taxi from our hotel in Seville to the train station to catch an 8:45 a.m. train to Madrid. The trip was about two and a half hours, much better than the eight our train ride it took us to get to Seville. Upon our arrival in the Madrid Atocha train station we got directions from a lady at the tourist information booth on how to get to our hotel by metro. I have to admit the first couple of times we arrived in a city without knowing EXACTLY where our hotel was and how to get to it, I was a bit stressed, but by now I’ve learned, that there is a tourist office in every train station/airport and if you can’t quite get to where you are going with their directions alone, that people are generally happy to help you find your way. We followed the lady’s directions, switching metro lines once and arrived at the metro station she said was closest to our hotel. The hotel was not in direct sight, so I asked a bystander if they knew where it was, and sure enough, they kindly pointed us in the right direction. Once at the hotel we checked in and dropped our bags before heading back in to the center of town on the Metro.

I had read in our travel guide that a couple of Madrid’s more famous museums were free on Sundays, so we decided to give a couple of them a go. First stop was the Museo de Arte de Reina Sofia, Madrid’s modern art museum and home to works by such famous Spanish artists as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, among others. After touring the areas of the museum where many of these artists’ works are featured, we left the museum to grab some lunch, as it was nearly after 2 o’clock at this point.

After lunch we walked down to the El Prado Museum, Spain’s most famous museum. When we reached the ticket booth however we realized that the free hours did not start until 5:00 p.m. So we decided to come back a little later so we could take advantage of the free admittance. Instead we went to the Caixa Forum and toured a moving photography exhibit that was featured there. After exploring the Caixa Forum we stopped for a snack and to relax for a bit before heading back to the Prado Museum.

Shortly after five o’clock we walked back in the direction of the Prado Museum, however, to our dismay we discovered that we weren’t the only ones looking to take advantage of the free admission, the line was a couple hundred yards long, and not being the biggest art museum people to begin with, we decided to give it a pass. So we made our way back towards the metro station, stopping first at the train station to book our tickets to Toledo for tomorrow before heading back to our hotel.

The remainder of the evening we spent in the area around our hotel. We went for a couple of drinks and a snack at a café nearby before returning to our hotel. A couple of hours later we inquired about restaurants in the area or markets, only to discover that not much was open in the area on a Sunday evening, so we ended up going back to the same café for dinner, I don’t think they recognized us, but we felt a bit silly.

Tomorrow we rise early to take a train to Toledo where we will spend the day.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

A Picture Perfect Town in the Southern Spanish Sun


I am pretty sure we could have slept all day today. Our hotel here in Seville is one of the few hotels where the air conditioning has worked without a hitch, that has had a comfortable bed, and where the way the buildings are so close together prevents the sun from shining in. We slept until after 10:00 this morning, and we enjoyed every minute of it.

When we finally made it out of the hotel into the hot Seville sun we meandered through the winding narrow streets of the Barrio de Santa Cruz to the city's Cathedral. The Cathedral was built on the site of the former Muslim Seville's main mosque between 1401 and 1507. We toured the Cathedral and walked up to the top of its adjoining tower, La Giralda, which was the former mosque's minaret dating to the 12th century.

After touring the Cathedral and tower we walked towards Alcazar, the former residence of Muslim and Christian royalty, and found an inexpensive place to grab sandwiches, cold drinks, and to get out of the sun, something one has to do frequently in the July Sevillan sun.

After lunch we toured Alcazar. Seville's Alcazar was founded in 913 as a Muslim fortress. The fortress has been expanded and rebuilt numerous times in it's 11 century existence. The Catholic Monarchs, Fernando and Isabel, set up court here in the 1480s as the prepared to conquer Granada. Its intricate architecture with its many courtyards, painted tiles, detailed carvings, wood panel ceilings, etc. as well as its ornate gardens were the highlight of Seville in my opinion.

By the time we finished our tour of Seville's Alcazar we were pretty tired and were in desperate need of an escape from the blazing heat, so we went back to the hotel with some cold beverages to relax and cool down.

Within a couple of hours we were ready to set back out. This time we headed outside of the historic center towards the Plaza de Espana and the Parque de Maria Luisa. The Plaza de Espana was unfortunately under construction, but we were still able to appreciate the grandeur of the plaza and could imagine how much better it will be when the renovations are complete. After wandering around the Plaza we walked through the Parque de Maria Luisa to the river. We then walked along the river, stopping after a while for another break from the heat for a cold refreshment and a snack. Revitalized, we finished our stroll down the waterfront at the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza in front of Seville's bullring, one of Spain's oldest. From here we headed back to the hotel through the narrow streets of the Barrio de Santa Cruz where we had a brief evening swim.

Refreshed by our swim and a bit of a rest in the hotel we set back out into the Barrio de Santa Cruz around half past nine to a restaurant we had scoped out earlier near the Cathedral. Here we enjoyed a variety of tapas: Croquettes, Pimientos Rellenos de Carne, Bruschettes de Pollo Morraqui, etc. and some drinks before heading back to the hotel. Tomorrow we take a morning train to Madrid. I am sad we don't have a bit more time to enjoy Seville, as it has been one of my favorite cities, but I am glad that our trip moves on and that the days continue to go by, as we are both in many ways, although we are still very much enjoying our trip, ready to go home.

A long but much better travel day

Friday, July 16th, 2010

David left early this morning, around 6:00, Tim and my train wasn't until 11:30 or so, so we slept for a bit longer before packing up and catching a cab to the train station. At the station we had an early snack and purchased our tickets back from Seville to Madrid for Sunday before heading out about 10 minutes late on the train. The train ride to Seville had quite a few stops and took in total about eight and a half hours. I tried to kill some time on the train catching up on typing up my blog entries, but unfortunately even though we had a first class seat, there were no power outlets on this train, so the computer battery didn't last long, although I did get a few done. Other than that we slept, looked at the dry arid scenery out the window, listened to music, and played games on our phones. In many ways it feels like a waste of a day when the majority of the day is spent on the train, but sometimes it is much needed downtime. We arrived in Seville right around 8:00 p.m. and took a taxi from the station to or hotel. The hotel was a very pleasant surprise, although a bit more expensive than the employee rates we have gotten in many cities, I had booked it on Priceline for a reasonable price and it was in an excellent location in the historical center of Seville and withing walking distance of all of the sites and numerous restaurants/cafes. And and added bonus, free internet, so I could finally get caught up on these blogs. After dropping our bags and relaxing for a bit we head out down the street and found a cafe to have dinner at. Unfortunately the dinner was not that good and not that cheap, tomorrow we will try to scope out a better place and a better value. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, picking up ice creams on the way and went to bed.

Parks, Plazas, and Paella


Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Today is David's last day in Spain as he leaves tomorrow morning for Madrid and then home to the States. Today is also our only day in Valencia as Tim and I leave tomorrow for a full day of travel to Seville, in the Southwest of Spain, so as exhausted as we all were from our travels and activities over the last week, we set out reasonably early to explore the town. We walked from our hotel along the Jardines del Turia, which are a series of gardens, parks, playgrounds, etc. that lie in the bed of what was once the city's river, which is evident by the myriad of bridges that cross over it into the historic center of town. From the Jardines del Turia we turned in towards the historic center and made our way to Valencia's Romanesque-Gothic-baroque-Renaissance (yes apparently it is all of those things) Cathedral. The Cathedral is home to the Capilla del Santo Caliz, a chapel containing what they say is the Holy Grail, we weren't sure we bought it. Another interesting highlight of the Cathedral is in the back where there is an alter to the Virgin Mary, adorned with flowers and thank-you cards. The ritual is that if a pregnant woman goes to the Cathedral a few weeks before their baby's birth and walks around the Cathedral 9 times to commemorate the 9 months that Mary carried Jesus and pray to the Virgin Mary for an easy delivery and a healthy baby that it will happen. This explained the pregnant women doing laps, I thought maybe they were trying to induce early labor and the Cathedral was the only cool place to go and do so.

After touring the Cathedral we ducked into an Irish pub oddly enough for an early lunch, we hadn't had breakfast this morning so come midday we were pretty famished, even though in Spain you don't usually eat lunch until 2 or 3.

After lunch we got a bit lost in the narrow winding streets of the Barrio del Carmen, a neighborhood in the historical center, before finding the central market. This market was nothing compared to the market in Barcelona, however, this could have been due to the fact that most of the stalls were closed or were closing up for afternoon siestas. We didn't see as much evidence of siestas in Barcelona or elsewhere in Europe, but here in Valencia all of the shops seemed to close up between 2:00 and 5:00 or so. From the market we made our way to the Placa de Ayuntamiento a beautiful plaza surrounded by historic buildings such as the Ayuntamienta de Valencia and the Correos. From this plaza we made our way to the Plaza de Toros de Valencia, home to Valencia's bull ring before heading back to the hotel for a rest.

We headed back out from the hotel around 5:30 or so in the evening to explore the Jardines del Turia in the other direction as we made our way to the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, a complex of amazing architectural buildings housing various museums surrounding by a series of enticing reflection pools. The afternoon sun however was barreling down on us so we made our way back to a cafe near the hotel for a refreshment and then went back to the hotel to cool off before dinner.

Tim's Dad had contacted a colleague of his, Robert Callahan, who lives in Valencia to let him know that we would be in the area and see if he might be able to meet up with us. Robert was kind enough to meet us at the hotel around 8 o'clock to take us down to the beach for some paella, although he informed us that true Valencians never have paella for dinner, they have it for lunch in the afternoon. Lunch or dinner, it was delicious. Although I must say both Tim and especially David looked relieved when he asked if we just wanted the traditional chicken paella, although true Valencian paella usually also has rabbit and snails. Before our paella we enjoyed a few tapas and some beer/wine. It was a gorgeous atmosphere, right on the boardwalk along the beach, and with the ocean breeze the temperature was perfect.

After dinner Robert dropped us back off at our hotel where we all worked on packing up for the morning and then went to bed. We will miss David when he leaves tomorrow and were extremely grateful for his company. It was nice to see someone from home as we have been traveling so long just the two of us.

Friday, July 16, 2010

So sad to leave Mallorca


Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

After we woke up this morning and got our things mostly packed and had breakfast we decided we would pay the additional fee to keep our hotel room until 4:00 in the afternoon so that we could come back to the hotel for lunch and could clean up before heading to the airport. We left for the beach shortly after 10:00 in the morning. The sun felt a little hotter today, perhaps because there was a little less of a breeze, but I spent a fair bit more time in the water. We decided to head back to the hotel for an earlier lunch around 12:30 or so, this way we would have at least an hour or so back at the beach after lunch. We made it back to the hotel after our afternoon at the beach a little before 3:00. We took turns cleaning up and finished packing up and left the hotel right around 4:00. Again we underestimated the travel time from the hotel to the airport and arrived at the airport only an hour or so before our flight again. But again, we had no problems, that is until our flight was delayed 30 minutes or so and we had to sit on the plane at the gate. We weren't that surprised however, the amount of planes at the airport in Mallorca is astonishing. Mallorca is obviously THE beach destination of Europe, in fact it was hard to find a Spaniard, most store owners, waiters, etc. were English. When we finally departed Mallorca it was again just a short 30 minute flight to Valencia. Upon our arrival in Valencia I was able to get directions from a lady at the airport on what metro station to get off at for our hotel. Unfortunately the metro station was much further than we thought from our hotel and we weren't entirely sure in what direction from the metro it was, luckily we guessed correctly and arrived at the hotel safely. After dropping our bags at the hotel we set back out to find something to eat. We found a Lebanese restaurant not far from the hotel and enjoyed a couple of drinks and some sandwiches before heading back to the hotel.

Spanish Paradise


Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

There is nothing better than waking up in paradise. This morning we woke up and had some breakfast at our hotel before packing our beach bag and heading out. Tim stopped in the town to get a haircut (since it has been over a month and a half since we left) while David and I picked up a towel for David, a soccer ball, and some water to take with us to the beach. After Tim was done with his haircut we walked the short distance to the beach. This beach was a refreshing change from the beaches of Barcelona. The sand was much finer and softer, the water clearer, and the beach much less crowded. We found a great spot on the beach and settled in. The weather was phenomenal as well, the heat in Barcelona had made it very hard to lay out without getting into the water every 15 minutes or so, but there was a beautiful breeze in Mallorca that made it pleasant to lay out for even an hour before you felt it necessary to dip into the ocean to cool off. We took a break early afternoon and went back to the hotel to make lunch. After an hour or so break from the sun though we were back at the beach. The boys enjoyed kicking the soccer ball around the beach and the scenery (anyone who has been to a European beach knows what I mean) while I soaked up the sun, listened to music, and cooled off in the Mediterranean. Early evening we headed back to the hotel and had a swim at the pool where the boys got involved in quite the competitive game of water soccer with a young group of Italian boys. After the game we went up to the hotel and cleaned up for dinner and had a couple of drinks before heading out to eat. We found a restaurant a little further into Magaluf and enjoyed some good food and drinks. We returned to the hotel late and went to bed. Tomorrow we check out of the hotel, but our flight isn't until late evening, so we hope to enjoy a little more time on the beaches of Mallorca before heading for Valencia.

We're going to Ibiza...well Mallorca....close enough


Monday, July 12th, 2010

After a late night celebrating the Spanish victory in the World Cup Final, we slept in a bit this morning, checking out of our hotel in Barcelona at around noon. We then took the 12:30 bus to the Montmelo train station and the 1:01 train to the airport. We may have slightly underestimated the travel time from hotel to airport and arrived at the airport less than one hour before our flight to Palma de Mallorca, but luckily we were able to successfully check our bags and board our flight with time to spare. The flight from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca is only 30 minutes in flight time, so it was a quick jump over the Mediterranean and we were there. Upon our arrival in Mallorca I inquired about transport to the Palmanova/Magaluf area of Mallorca, where our hotel the Playas Ca's Saboners Apartamentos was located. Transportation was fairly simple, we merely had to take the #1 bus from the airport to the main bus station near the Placa de Espana and one of several different busses from there to Palmanova/Magaluf. Based on the information I had read in reviews we got off at a Magaluf bus stop and had only a 5 minute walk to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel around 5:00 in the evening and were able to check in straight away. The hotel was very well located within walking distance of a grocery, restaurants, the beach, etc. The hotel also had a very nice pool on site as well. The room itself was nothing spectacular but had a separate bedroom, living room area, and kitchenette with a mini fridge, stove top, toaster, plates, silverware, etc. It was perfect for our needs and would be an excellent place to return with friends. After dropping our bags in the hotel we walked to a supermarket we had seen upon our arrival and picked up some items for breakfasts/lunches which we planned to eat in the room as well as some snacks/beverages. After returning to the hotel we set back out shortly to find a place to eat. We had dinner at a little place just right down the street. I was really surprised that for a resort town the grocery items as well as the prices at restaurants were quite cheap, often cheaper than what we have found in mainland Spain. After dinner we walked back to our hotel and hung out on the patio chatting over a couple of drinks before heading to bed.

Espana, los campeones!


Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Today we decided to try a non-city beach so we asked the front desk staff at our hotel for recommendations of places to go and she recommended a few different beaches and provided us with instructions to get there by train. So after breakfast we set out for the beach, and we definitely weren’t the only ones with the idea. It seemed every person on the train had a beach umbrella in hand. Two trains and an hour or so later we arrived at the beach and found a nice spot close to the water to set up camp. While still crowded, the beach was a little less packed that the city beach we visited previously in Barcelona. After only a few hours of the sun beating down on us we decided we had probably gotten enough sun and packed up to find something for a late lunch before heading back to the hotel to clean up before heading into Barcelona center to watch the World Cup Final in the evening.

After our rest, we caught the 6:30 p.m. bus from the hotel to Montmelo and then caught the 7:01 p.m. train into town. We got off at Passeig de Grácia and walked from there to the Placa de Catalunya where our waiter last night had told us people would be gathering. However, when we arrived at the Placa, there was no signs of this being a gather place for Spanish soccer fans. So again my Spanish came in handy as I asked someone on the street where to go, and they told us Placa de Espanol. So we hopped back on the metro and headed to Placa de Espanol with what seemed like the entire rest of the city. When we arrived at Placa de Espanol it was packed. We could barely see the screens at the front of the Plaza, but the atmosphere was electric. We stayed to watch the beginning of the game and through most of the first half before we decided to go find a restaurant where we might be able to better see the game, and hind-sight this was probably a very good idea, because after Spain won, things likely got very crazy there. It took us a while to find a restaurant that had a table available with a view of a television. It wasn’t the ideal atmosphere for watching a soccer game, but everyone there was there for the same reason, so it was still pretty intense. We enjoyed a meal while watching the rest of the game. And from the moment Spain won in the last minutes of overtime, the people of Spain were celebrating. The restaurant even gave every group in the restaurant a complimentary bottle of champagne to celebrate Spain’s victory which we promptly popped open when we arrived at the train station and enjoyed while waiting for our train back out to the suburbs. We caught one of the last trains back out to the suburbs and arrived in Granollers station at nearly 1 o’clock in the morning and walked out to absolute mayhem. Bottle rockets were being shot off in every direction, people were running through as the fireworks were exploding, people were up on top of statues, swimming in fountains, and blowing up what I can only describe as “bombs”. Growing up in a family where we were required to squat behind a picnic table turned sideways when my dad set off fireworks in our backyard, the whole situation made me feel quite unsafe, but was exhilarating at the same time. I was also concerned about getting a taxi home, we obviously could not get one from the train station because well police had blocked off the entire square in front of it for the fans' celebration. So we carefully crossed the plaza and walked away from the celebration to find somewhere to call a cab from. Luckily we were able to find a hotel and asked the gentleman at reception to call us a cab, and we safely made it home. Turns out I had no reason to worry at all.

That building is soooo Gaudi!!!


Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Today we missed the bus leaving the hotel, not realizing that it runs only every hour on the weekends, so we had to take a taxi from the hotel to the train station in Montmelo. After just one switch of trains in the city we arrived in L’Eixample and at La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia is Barcelona’s most famous building, and it is still a work in progress. Construction on the building began in 1882 and it is estimated that they could be completed by 2020, but judging by what I saw on the inside, I doubt this will actually happen. However, when it is complete, La Sagrada Familia will have 18 towers, all 100 meters or more high. The towers represent the 12 apostles, four evangelists and Mary, Mother of God, plus the tallest tower standing for Jesus Christ. The outside of the building is the most intricate, but the inside is pretty unbelievable as well. I really hope that they finish the building during my lifetime, as I would love to come back and see the finished product, as it is hard to imagine exactly how it will look when complete.

After leaving La Sagrada Familia we grabbed a quick lunch before heading back on the metro to Park Güell. Park Güell can be found up in the Grácia district. Park Güell was originally designed to be a self-contained community with houses, schools, shops, etc. The project did not succeed, but the city turned the “Dr. Seuss –style” plaza into a park filled with colorful mosaics and paths/plazas designed by Gaudi.

After walking through the expansive park we made our way back to the metro and to Passeig de Grácia. As soon as we got off the metro at Passeig de Grácia, we noticed a large number of people gathering with flags in what looked to be some sort of demonstration. Nevertheless we stopped in front of Casa Botlló and Casa Amatller to view their unique modernista facades, before continuing up Passeig de Grácia towards La Pedrera, Gaudi’s best-known secular creation. However, the closer we got the thicker the crowds of people with flags grew. Finally we stopped and asked someone what was going on. The gentleman informed us that it was an “Independence” demonstration. Apparently, Catalonia, the region of Spain of which Barcelona is the capital wishes to succeed from Spain. And just like that we all learned something new. We fought our way through the crowds to La Pedrera, and made our way up to its surreal rooftop terrace with its bizarre chimneys. La Pedrera was an amazing building, but I have to be honest, the hundreds of thousands of people who were gathered in the streets below us, kept drawing our eyes, and we probably spent more time watching them than looking at Gaudi’s work at la Pedrera. Walking out of La Pedrera we found ourselves right in the thick of things and had to fight our way through and walk several blocks to escape the crowds.

Once we did make our way out of the crowds we walked to the Placa de Catalunya and down La Ramblas looking for a place to eat. We finally made our way down near Port Vell before selecting a restaurant to watch the third place World Cup game between Germany and Uruguay. The boys were happy to find a place to watch the game and I was happy to finally sit down to have some Spanish tapas and sangria. We sampled Calamari Romano, Bombas, Croquettes, Patatas Bravas, and Pincho Morenos and we enjoyed them all. After the game was over we took the metro/train back to Granollers, where we were able to just pick up a taxi back to our hotel.

Soccer and the beach...two Spanish traditions in one day


Friday, July 9th, 2010

Having had our meals at traditional times for the Spanish culture yesterday, 2 or 3 in the afternoon for lunch and 9:30 or 10:00 in the evening for dinner, we did not go to bed too early last night, so we slept in until nearly 10:00 before quickly grabbing breakfast and setting out. Today’s plan was to go to Camp Nou in the morning, FC Barcelona’s Soccer Stadium, and to the beach in the afternoon.

We again had no troubles with the bus or train into the city and just had to switch trains in Barcelona in order to reach Camp Nou. Once we got off at the station near Camp Nou, we basically just followed the crowds to the entrance and purchased our tickets for the Camp Now Experience. The tour of the facilities was pretty good. In addition to the museum we got to see the pitch from various different levels (including the press boxes and the player’s seats), walk through the different press rooms, tour the visiting team’s changing room, and more. I am certain that the boys enjoyed this much more than I did, but it definitely helped me to better understand/appreciate the importance of soccer to the Spanish, which was even more important than usual given the upcoming World Cup Final game between Spain and the Netherlands.

After our tour of Camp Nou we made our way back to the metro station and after a switch of trains we arrived at the Barceloneta metro station. From here we found a place along the Port to grab a kebab before making our way to the beach. Here we spent the next several hours soaking up the Spanish sun amongst the mobs of other sun thirsty beach goers. Before we knew it, it was nearly 8:00. We packed up our stuff and made our way back to the metro to make our somewhat long journey back to the hotel. Once we arrived back at the hotel and got cleaned up we head back out for dinner. We had been told a previous night by a hotel employee about a restaurant just down the road, but the individual working at the hotel tonight advised against eating there, so we went back to our little sandwich place for another late dinner, with plans to try and eat in the city the next couple of nights, to hopefully get some Spanish cuisine since I have been craving it so.

An adventure in the Catalonian Capital


Thursday, July 8th, 2010

After a late dinner and a couple of drinks with David upon our arrival at our hotel in Barcelona late last night and a good night’s rest, we woke up in a much better mood today. I spoke with the hotel staff and found out more detailed information on transportation to and from Barcelona center and we left the hotel after breakfast feeling that the hotel might not be so bad after all.

We didn’t make it far out the door however before we had yet another detour, however, this time it was a good one. As soon as we stepped out of the hotel door we could hear the high pitched sound of something racing around a track. So upon Tim and David’s request I went back to the hotel and inquired about how to get to the track and whether or not we could get in to watch the practice or test or whatever it was that was going on. Little did we know, perhaps because we arrived at nearly midnight, that our hotel was literally adjacent to the Catalunya Circuit, Barcelona’s F-1 racing track. Once inside we watched the motorcycles race around the track for some time. This was definitely an unexpected bonus for the boys, again, maybe our hotel isn’t so bad after all.

After our detour to the F-1 track, we walked to the bus stop where we had been informed a bus stopped every 30 minutes and would take us to within a 5 minute walk of the train station in Montmelo. We weren’t exactly sure to get off, and Tim and I surely didn’t recognize anything since we walked the town in darkness the previous night, so my minimal Spanish came in handy and I asked a lady on the bus which stop we needed to get off at for the train station and she said “Aqui, Aqui!” or “Here, here!” So we quickly disembarked. Thank goodness I had asked! From the bus station it was as the hotel staff had said less than a 5 minute walk to the train station. From the train station we boarded our train and headed for Barcelona Sants, Barcelona’s main train station, to inquire about tickets to Pamplona before starting our day site-seeing in Barcelona.

When Tim and I had arrived in Barcelona yesterday we had asked a lady at the Barcelona Franca station about tickets to Pamplona, and she said there were none, well there weren’t any that would work for us at least, it seemed she could either get us there or get us back, but not in subsequent days. We thought we would check again one more time at the main station however, since she really didn’t seem to know what she was talking about. But when we reached the main station I picked a number, 79, and looked up to see that they were now serving number 599, and the numbers were going down from there. Needless to say, we simply decided that Pamplona was not meant to be. I’m sure our parents, or at least my mom, will be pleased to hear that we DIDN’T run with the bulls. We were disappointed, but there is always next time.

From the main train station we took a metro line to Placa de Catalunya where we strolled down La Rambla, Spain’s most famous boulevard, which stretches from the Placa de Catalunya to the waterfront. The part-pedestrianised street is filled with street performers, artists, newsstands, restaurants, cafes, and all sorts of other vendors. The street’s highlight, in my opinion, is the Mercat de la Boqueria, a colorful fresh food market. This was by far the best market we have been to thus far on our trip and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the variety of fruits, sweets, meats, fish, and more that filled the colorful and abundant stalls of this busy market. After perusing the market we continued down La Rambla to the waterfront where we visited the Monument a Colon, a tall pedestal, atop which stands a statue of Columbus. We took the lift up the Monument for panoramic views of Barcelona and the waterfront. We then made our way to the waterfront and found a place to stop for lunch at Port Vell, one of Barcelona’s two ports, before making our way to the other, Port Olympic. The walk from one to the other was quite spectacular as we saw some yachts that could easily compete in size with those we had seen in Cannes.

After a short rest at Port Olympic, we made our way to the nearest metro station and headed in the direction of the Barri Gotic. Once there, we made our way to Barcelona’s Gothic Cathedral. The Cathedral was built on top of the ruins of an 11th century Romanesque church and its neo-Gothic façade was added later, in the 19th century. I almost didn’t get to tour the Cathedral, as I had forgotten my scarf and did not have anything to cover my shoulders. Luckily some elderly peddler woman had realized the potential for profit in persons just like myself and was selling small scarves just outside the Cathedral for 1 Euro a piece. After viewing the inside of the Cathedral, we made our way to La Ribera, a trendy district of Barcelona which is home to the Museu Picasso, which is home to over 3000 Picasso pieces, most from early in the artist’s career. I found it fascinating to see Picasso's earlier works to see how much his style changed and progressed over the years. From the Museu Picasso we continued down the picturesque narrow streets to Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar, a beautiful example of Catalan Gothic architecture.

By this point we were all pretty tired having walked quite a bit in the blazing Spanish sun, so we found a metro station and made our way back to Montmelo where we were successfully able to catch the bus back out to the hotel (or very close to the hotel at least). We had a quick meal at a Sandwich place right by the bus stop before walking back to the hotel.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Sometimes things don't go as planned

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

We slept in a bit this morning, leaving the hotel around 9:30 a.m. for our 10:30 train to Barcelona (via Montpellier). We arrived in Montpellier around 2:30 p.m. or so. We had purchased baguettes in Cannes to eat for lunch on the train. Our train into Barcelona was approximately an hour late. We arrived at nearly 9:00 p.m. when we were supposed to arrive just before 8:00 p.m. We were a bit concerned about this first of all because the semi-final soccer game between Spain and Germany started at 8:30 p.m. and secondly because David, Tim’s brother, was supposed to have arrived in Barcelona earlier in the afternoon, and we had no way of communicating with him to let him know our train had arrived late. And not only was our train late, we had thought that we would be able to take a train directly from the station our train from Montpellier stopped at to Montmelo station, where our hotel was, but as it turned out we actually had to take a train to Barcelona Sants Station, the main Barcelona station, before heading to Montmelo. And sadly, that is not where our troubles ended. Once we arrived in Montmelo, we could not find a taxi, so I inquired about how to get our hotel with a local restaurateur and was told that it was a mere 5 minute walk and was given directions. Once we had fulfilled the directions given I stopped in another restaurant and asked again, and found that we had been misled, from that location it was still another 2-3 kilometers. So of course I inquired about a taxi, only to be told that there was no possibility of a taxi at this particular time of night. So we started our long walk to the hotel. I have to say that I am extremely glad that I was not traveling with other women, or by myself, because even as it was, I was terrified. We walked for what seemed like miles without seeing any signs of civilization down tree lined dark streets before reaching a factory laden area that did not seem likely to have hotels before we finally saw the familiar “Holiday Inn” sign, and I couldn’t have been more relieved. It was nearly midnight and we had been traveling for well over 12 hours and were more than 3 hours later than we had anticipated, but we had made it. Whether or not we will stay in this hotel for the duration of our time in Barcelona is yet to be determined.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Sometimes there's nothing better than doing nothing


Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Today was exactly what we both needed. We started the day off by sleeping in until 10:00, something I don’t think we have done yet the entire trip. We then took our time getting ready before boarding the bus to the port and arriving at the beach around noon. It was much hotter in the midday sun that it had been yesterday in the afternoon, so frequent dips were made into the cool Mediterranean water. We shared a baguette sandwich for lunch and pretty much did nothing but relax on the beach with the crowds for the next several hours. We finally had soaked up enough sun around 4:00 in the afternoon and decided to cool off back in the confines of our hotel room. We again made our way back to the center of town in the evening to have dinner. This time we decided on a pizza place that seemed to be very popular just across the street from the harbor. After dinner we walked back to the restaurant where we had dinner last night (as they had TVs playing the World Cup game) to have a few more drinks and watch the game, as it was already in progress. After watching Holland score their way to victory and to the World Cup Final we made our way back to the hotel. A perfectly relaxing day in the French Riviera.

Bonjour!


Monday, July 5th, 2010

This morning’s train is the first train that we have had to reserve in advance. Many of the trains in France and Spain require reservations, whereas thus far we have simply boarded the train and found any available seat and have had to pay no additional fees. The reservation fees for most trains as a pass holder are pretty nominal, with the exception of overnight trains, which we had planned to take from Madrid to Lisbon and back and from Madrid to Paris, however after looking into airfares, it will actually be cheaper for us to fly to Paris from Madrid, and we are just going to give Lisbon a pass. Our reservation this morning was on the 8:17 a.m. train out of Geneva, so we got up and had breakfast at the hotel (which was included, as it was a Holiday Inn Express, a rarity in Europe) at 6:30 and headed out shortly thereafter by the hotel shuttle to the Geneva Airport train station where we connected to the main station and boarded our train. We arrived in Marseille, France around noon and boarded our connecting train to Cannes, which departed Marseille at around quarter past noon. This train ride was very scenic, traveling along the “Côte de Azur” with it beautiful beaches and sailboats and yachts out at sea. We arrived in Cannes around 2:30 in the afternoon, and decided to take a taxi to the hotel, as we did not have clear instructions as to how to get to the hotel via public transportation and could not location an information office (this ended up costing us approximately 10 Euros).

After dropping our bags at the hotel we got public transportation information and a map from the front desk at the hotel, yet another Holiday Inn, and boarded the bus to the center. We arrived at the beach around 4:00 and it had cooled of considerably, but we still enjoyed a swim in the Mediterranean and some relaxation. After a couple of hours at the beach we went back to the hotel to clean up before dinner.

It was nearly 8:00 before we made it back to the center of town. We located a restaurant near the port and had a nice meal (something the costs in Switzerland had not allowed). I actually had a salad (another thing I hadn’t had in a while) which was quite an unusual combination of ingredients (including potatoes, yogurt, corn, bacon, brie, egg, tomatoes, etc.) but delicious. I again partook in the incredibly cheap but excellent wine offering, a 50cl carafe of wine for only 6 Euros. After dinner we walked through the harbor and looked at all the incredible yachts, and imagined what life must be like for their owners (luckily we weren’t the only dreamers doing so) before heading to an ice cream parlor we had spotted earlier to grab a couple of ice cream cones. With ice cream in hand we made our way back along the harbor to the bus station and then back to our hotel.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Reflecting Back

Monday, July 5th, 2010

As we leave our 5th country and head into our 6th I wanted to take a minute to reflect back on where we have been. I have been making a list for each country of the #1 thing I will miss, the #1 thing I won’t miss, and the one thing I would have liked to do that I didn’t get to do. So here we go!

Turkey:
What I’ll miss: apple tea served in funny Turkish tea cups (definitely going to see if I can buy these online back home!)
What I won’t miss: Turkish a.k.a. “squat” toilets (although I did run across another one or two in Greece)
What I would have liked to do that I didn’t get to: Cappadocia

Greece:
What I’ll miss: moussaka (specifically the moussaka at the restaurant in Samos)
What I won’t miss: how hard it was to catch at taxi in Athens (damn Metro strikes!)
What I would have liked to do that I didn’t get to: Crete

Budapest (Hungary):
What I’ll miss: Goulash (sorry Mom, the stuff you made growing up isn't close to the real thing!)
What I won’t miss: the pushy restaurateurs
What I would have liked to do that I didn’t get to: a river cruise on the Danube

Austria:
What I’ll miss: the choirs/ensembles singing in the streets of Salzburg
What I won’t miss: dodging horse piss/crap in the streets of Salzburg
What I would have liked to do that I didn’t get to: see an opera or classical music concert in Vienna

Switzerland:
What I’ll miss: the Alps
What I won’t miss: how expensive everything was
What I would have liked to do that I didn’t get to: go to the top of Jungfrau

Only two more countries to go, and almost exactly three weeks left.

One last day in Switzerland


Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Happy Fourth of July everyone! This is my first Fourth of July that I have spent out of the country, and it is a bit odd, I did see an American family with two little children holding little American flags, but other than that, the day just came and went like any other. I hope each and every one of you had a Happy Fourth though, full of barbeques, fireworks, and good company!

As for us, we slept in a bit this morning, even though we went to bed fairly early after watching the soccer game since Lausanne was a miss, so we didn’t board the train to Geneva until about quarter past 11:00. Our train from Lausanne took us all the way to the Geneva Airport station which is located adjacent to the airport which was serviced by a complimentary shuttle from the Express by Holiday Inn Geneva Airport hotel I had booked for the evening. We got into the station right around noon, located the hotel shuttle pick up area and were on a shuttle to our hotel shortly. At the hotel we merely checked in and dropped our bags in the room and were right back onto the shuttle to the train station to take the next available train back to the main Geneva station, located in town. We had a quick lunch at the station, a couple of pre-made deli sandwiches and two drinks which cost 23 Swiss Francs (I still can’t get over how expensive everything is!).

Once in town we made our way down to the banks of the Rhone River which feeds into Lake Geneva. It wasn’t long until over the buildings as we made our way to the river we could see Geneva’s best-known landmark, the 140m-tall Jet d’Eau, which shoots at any given time seven tons of water into the air at a force of 200km/h. The Jet d’Eau only became more impressive the closer we got. After walking right out to the fountain on the jetty we made our way further into the “old town” and towards the part-Romanesque, part-Gothic Cathédrale St. Pierre, where Protestant John Calvin preached from 1536 to 1564. From here we meandered back towards the train station to head back to the hotel for a couple hours rest, before venturing back out for dinner, we only hoped that we would have better luck in Geneva than we did in Lausanne.

We left the hotel around 7:00 or so to head back into town for dinner. We found a street with several restaurants with outdoor seating and after perusing the menus we selected Au Petit Chalet, which advertised that they offered Swiss and Italian specialties. I must admit that I never knew that fondue was Swiss, and I was very tempted to order fondue, as I really enjoy sampling local cuisine, but fondue seems to be something that is better shared and Tim was not interested, so we both had pasta, which I must say I was pretty pleased with. It was our last meal in Switzerland (well if you don’t count breakfast tomorrow morning) and our only sit-down meal at all in Switzerland, the majority of the time we either made our own meals, bought pre-packaged meals at the grocery, or purchased “inexpensive” fast-food such as kebabs. This meal wasn’t outrageous but for two pasta dishes, a glass of wine, and a glass of beer it cost us 60 Swiss Francs, which is only slightly less in US Dollars, whereas I feel that in the US we would have gotten the same quality meal with drinks for 40 US Dollars at most.

After dinner we walked down to the river and to the other jetty, home to Bains des Pâquis, a sort of man-made complex of “beaches” and “pools”, where Genevans have swam and sunned since 1872, and had an ice cream and just strolled along the river and out the jetty, like it seemed the whole of Geneva was doing. It was such a contrast to the previous night where we could hardly find a sole in Lausanne. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Geneva, and could see why people say it is one of the best places to live.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Switzerland as we head to France, our 6th country on this trip. I can’t believe how quickly the trip is going and how soon this journey will come to an end.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Trains, Castles, and Soccer


Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

We left our hotel in Zurich this morning at about half past eight and caught the 9:00 train to Lausanne. We arrived in Lausanne around quarter past 11:00. It's amazing how you get on the train in Zurich where everyone speaks German and off the train in Lausanne and suddenly everything is in French. We had a bit of trouble discerning how to get to our hotel, luckily I had written down walking directions as well as directions for metro/bus that I found somewhere on the internet. We couldn't really figure out the metro, so we started to walk, but Lausanne is actually quite hilly, so we quickly gave up and began looking for a taxi. But then luckily we came across a bus stop that happened to be for the bus that my directions said you could take after taking the metro a couple of stops, so we waited a few minutes for the bus, bought a day pass (which we would later regret because as it turned out our hotel gave us a free travel card), and hopped on. The bus took us probably about 100 meters or so from our hotel. Luckily our room was ready when we arrived a bit after noon and we were able to drop our bags and head back to the train station, to make our excursion down to Montreaux to see the Chateau de Chillon.

We took the 12:45 train to Montreaux which took a mere 25 minutes or so. When we arrived we grabbed a quick lunch and made our way to the bus stop to catch a bus out to the castle. The small rocky island on which the castle is built acted both as natural protection and a strategic location to control movement between the north and south of Europe. The castle's history was marked by three different important periods: The Savoy era (12th century to 1536), The Bernese era (1536-1798), and the Vaudois era (1798 until today). Excavations carried out in the 19th century indicate that the site of Chillon has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The oldest written mention of the castle dates from 1150 and establishes that the Savoy family already controlled the fortress at that time. The Swiss, or the Bernese, conquered the region and occupied Chillon in 1536. The castle was used as a fortress for more than 260 years. It took us a couple of hours to tour the large castle, we made our way back to the train station and caught the 2:30 train back to Lausanne.

Upon our return to Lausanne we headed back to the hotel to watch the afternoon soccer game and take a break before heading out to explore Lausanne. We headed out of the hotel again around six o'clock in the evening and went to see the Gothic Cathedrale de Notre Dame. We then made our way back down into town. Back in town we found the city to be dead. I will try not to judge the city by our one experience, but the only way I can describe it is that it looked and felt as if there had been some massive party the night before (which we saw evidence of up by the cathedral in the form of broken down festival tents/stages and beer cups strewn all over) and that everyone was hungover taking the day off. All the shops were closed, we couldn't even find a restaurant all the way up until we returned to the hotel around 8 o'clock that was open or if it was there wasn't a sole sitting down or eating. We finally just grabbed a quick dinner at a kebab stand and headed back to the hotel to watch the second soccer game. I have heard good things about Lausanne, but we didn't experience that sadly. The stopover in Lausanne however was still worthwhile if for nothing else for the excursion down to Montreaux.

A beautiful day in Luzern follwed by a surprising evening in Zurich


Friday, July 2nd, 2010

We left the hotel this morning around 9:30 and caught the 10:04 train to Luzern. Upon our arrival in Luzern around 11:00 we stopped in the tourist information office to get a proper map. The map showed a “city walk” which I believe you could actually pay for a guided tour that followed this path around the city, but we opted to walk it ourselves.

Luzern is famous for is covered bridges, so appropriately, our first stop was the Chapel Bridge. The bridge was built in the 14th century as part of the city’s fortification, but sadly much of it was destroyed, including 81 of 111 paintings which adorned its archways, in a fire in 1993, the bridge and some of the paintings have since been restored. After crossing the bridge, we made our way down the river to the lake side and walked up to the Hof Church. A monastery was founded here in the 8th century, but again the church was sadly destroyed by fire in 1633 but was rebuilt in 1645. It is the most important Renaissance church in Switzerland. After taking some photos of the church we headed away from the lake front for a while until we reached the Lions Monument. The Lion’s Monument or “The Dying Lion of Luzern” was carved out of the natural rock in memory of the heroic death of Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. It is considered to be one of the saddest most moving monuments in the World. From here we made our way towards the pedestrian “Old Town” of Luzern, and grabbed a quick an relatively cheap (at least according to Swiss standards) lunch.

After lunch we walked again way from the river and up the hill to the Musegg Wall. The wall was built in 1386. Three of its towers are accessibly by the public, although Tim and I went up none of them, as our legs are still incredibly sore from our Alpine hike. One of the towers, the Zyt tower, has the oldest clock in Luzern, which is privileged to chime every hour one minute before all the other clocks in Luzern. After walking along the Musegg Wall we made our way back down the hill to the “Old Town” and to the river front again where we crossed the Spreuer Bridge where one has an excellent view of the Needle Dam, which was build in 1859/1860 and regulates the level of the lake even today through the careful removal and placement of the so-called “needles” or wooden posts. From here we walked back a bit into the town on the opposite side of the river from where we have spent the majority of our time to see the 13th century Franciscan Church, the Ritterschur Palace, which was built for Luzern’s Mayor in 1557 as his private residence, and the riverfront Jesuit Church. We then walked back over the river for a third time this time on a modern pedestrian bridge and viewed some of the lovely fresco painted buildings that were once part of the “Old City Squares” before walking by the Town Hall, which was built between 1602 and 1606 and back across the Chapel Bridge to make our way to the train station.

We left Luzern around 2:30 in the afternoon and upon our arrival back in Zurich we took the tram back to our hotel to catch the afternoon soccer match before heading in to explore Zurich.

After our rest and the soccer match we hopped back on a tram towards the center of Zurich. We had been told by the hotel staff that we could take Tram 2 all the way down to the lake front, so we were a bit confused when the Tram terminated a couple of stops prior to where we had intended to be. But from the map it didn’t look like we had far to go, so we thought nothing more of it. As we walked towards the 13th century Fraumünster Cathedral it became clear why the tram had stopped early. The streets up and down the river front all the way to the lake were packet with stalls selling goods/food/drinks, carnival games, rides, and more. As we continued down towards the lake front we saw a sign that said, well I assume it said, Zurich Fest 2010. What luck! We quickly forgot about seeing any sights, although I don’t believe we missed much more than a few churches and heaven knows we have seen plenty of those on this trip thus far, and grabbed a couple drinks and joined in on the festivities. They had a skiing show on the lake front, followed by an air show (and later another air show) which was heaven for Tim, a wakeboarding show in the river, and bands galore. We grabbed dinner from a stall, and just walked around enjoying the chaos until we finally made our way to where they had a big screen playing the evening soccer match. We stayed and watched through the 1st half before making our way back through the crowds to catch the tram back to our hotel. It was a surprising and amazing evening in Zurich!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

A Stopover in Bern


This morning we left the hostel around quarter after 8 and headed to the train station to catch a 9:01 train to Bern. The trip to Bern only takes about an hour, so we arrived at the Bern train station around 10:00. The Bern train station is the biggest one we have come across thus far on our trip, but we managed to find our way to the luggage storage room and after a detour to get some change to pay for the luggage storage we had our bags stored and started walking into town.

We first walked by the Zytglogge or clock tower, for which Bern is famous for, but it was not close to the hour so we merely walked by and planned to stop back by closer to the hour to see its famous revolving figures. Next we continued down Kamgasse to the Einstein Museum. The Einstein Museum is housed in the humble apartment where Einstein lived while working as a clerk in the local patent office, but Einstein said that it was here in this home that he developed his theory of relativity in 1905. After touring the Einstein Museum we went to Bern's 15th century Gothic Cathedral and climbed its 344 steps to the top of Switzerland's tallest spire for panoramic views of Bern. By now it was nearly noon so we headed back to the Zytglogge and watched it strike 12 and its characters come to life, not nearly as thrilling as it sounds, trust me, but there sure was a crowd there to watch it, so at least we weren't the only crazy tourists. After this we walked down Kornhausplatz and saw the decorative fountains that depict various historical and folkloric characters, including one of a giant eating some children, which I found sort of creepy. Then we had the lunch we had packed along the river before walking by the Bundehauser, home of the Federal Swiss Assembly, on our way back to the train station.

We caught the 1:00 train out of Bern to Zurich and were there within an hour. Our hotel was a bit of a way from the train station and took us an expensive 8 Swiss Francs tram to get there. At the hotel we relaxed, when down to the grocery store to get something for dinner, and swam in the pool, another relaxing evening. Tomorrow we will be day-tripping out to Luzern and checking out Zurich upon our return.

By Christine

Working out, Swiss style!


Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

I had planned to wake up between 7:30 and 8:00 this morning to try and be out the door by 9:00, but when I woke up at 7:30 and then again at 8:00 it was so thick with fog outside that I didn't see the point in getting up quite yet, after all what is the point of hiking in the Alps if you can't even see them! Luckily by 9:00 or so the fog had really started to burn off and we got up to have our breakfast and pack our day bag with lunch/snacks/water for our hike. We left the hotel sometime after 10:00 and headed to the train station. We purchased tickets to Grindelwald and a cable car from Grindelwald to First, as well as a return ticket from Grindelwald, with a plan to hike from First back down to Grindelwald, this cost us about 70 US Dollars, which seemed like a lot until we realized that most people were paying over 150 US Dollars per person to go to the top of Jungfrau. The train to Grindelwald took 45 minutes or so and then we had to walk about 20 minutes through town to the cable car which took another 30 minutes or so to reach First (essentially a hut with an extremely overpriced restaurant and restroom facilities). From here we hiked uphill for about an hour or so to a beautiful lake where we stopped and had our packed lunch. From here we walked mostly down hill but on a less groomed path where you had to carefully watch your step over rocks and streams. We hiked down approximately 3500 ft in elevation and I don't know how many miles over the next 3 hours, but I can tell you that by the time we reached the bottom, my legs felt like jello. The views were definitely worth the strife though, pictures can't even begin to do it justice. On the train ride back to Interlaken from Grindelwald I could barely stay awake. On our way back to the hotel we stopped again at the grocery store and got a lasagna to bake for dinner. Then after a short rest we made dinner and were off to bed early. Tomorrow we head first for Bern where we hope to spend a few hours before continuing on to our hotel in Zurich.

3 trains and 9 hours later we are in Switzerland!


Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Today was our earliest travel day since we left Athens. We left the hotel around 5:30 a.m. to walk to the train station to catch a 6:00 train to Zurich. The trains are actually very comfortable, so we were both able to get a little sleep on the train. That is until the gentleman next to us on the train decided to conduct a business meeting over the phone and spoke so loud he literally woke us up and continued in this manner until finally he got off the train at one of its numerous stops. The rest of the the 5+ hour train ride was spent doing some reading for my required summer pre-work until I felt I was falling asleep then on the computer typing up some of these blogs to try and get caught up. We arrived in Zurich around 11:20 and switched trains to catch the 11:35 train to Luzern. This was just a quick one hour or less ride then we had to switch trains again in Luzern. In Luzern we needed to grab lunch, but we didn't have very long as our next train departed for Interlaken at 12:55 and we didn't have any Swiss money yet, so we had to go to Burger King, the only place we could find that would accept credit card. And let me tell you one thing about Switzerland, it is FREAKING expensive, I don't believe we will be eating out at all in Switzerland, meals will be sandwiches in the hotel room for the next several days. Two chicken sandwiches, a small drink, and a small fry cost us $20 U.S.! So after this shocking lesson we boarded our scenic train to Interlaken. The train car we were in had panoramic windows that allowed for outstanding views of the mountains as we made our 2 hour journey to Interlaken and into the Alps. We arrived in Interlaken around 3:00 in the afternoon and walked from the train station to our hostel, the Lazy Falken. Luckily we had a private room at the hostel, although I am certain we are paying more than we should for it, but its nice to have your own bathroom and not have to share a room with strangers and worry about your belongings. After settling in, we walked to the grocery store to buy some groceries for dinner/lunch for tomorrow. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore Interlaken at all today as shortly after we got back from the grocery store it started raining. So we had a lazy evening at the hostel, made dinner,and watched some soccer. Honestly, I think we both really needed a low-key day. Tomorrow we plan to go hiking up in the mountains, so I think we will need the rest!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Music and Trick Fountains


Monday, June 28th, 2010

This morning we left the hotel around 10:00 a.m. Our agenda for the day was to see the Mozart museums in the morning and then tour Schloss Hellbrunn in the afternoon. We went first to Mozart’s Wohnhaus or residence. Mozart lived in Salzburg until 1780, when he was 24 years of age, and it was this location where he lived with his parents and sister for the later part of his years in Salzburg. Again, we were not allowed to take photographs in the museum, but I will tell you a couple of things regarding the museum. First of all, I managed to resist the urge to touch Mozart’s harpsichord unlike my father and thus avoided scolding (thanks for the warning Mom). Secondly, my favorite pieces were the whimsical targets, over which Mozart and his father competed to come up with the most hysterical scenes to portray on the targets, and let’s just say there were some funny ones. From Mozart’s Wohnhaus we made our way over to Mozart’s Geburtshaus, or birthplace, where he, his parents, and his sister spent their earlier years in Salzburg. Here I learned some interesting things about Mozart and his family. Mozart may have lived in Salzburg until he was 24, but he spent almost a third of his life traveling, 3720 days to be exact, and his 35 years he composed 600 works, 22 of which were operas. Interestingly enough, Mozart considered himself to be primarily a composer of operas. Mozart worked with the best singers of his time, but they were often difficult, not much different from the famous actors of today. The audiences of the 18th century however were very different from those of today. Audiences typically would talk, receive guests, and even eat food throughout the 6 to 8 hour performances. Principals about medicine were also unique in those days. The Mozart family supposedly washed daily, which was uncommon in the 18th century, as most people still believed that water if applied externally caused diseases. The primary medicines of the day were primarily laxatives, as it was believed that illnesses must be excreted from the body, which is also the reasoning for frequent blood-lettings of the day.

After touring the Mozart museums we walked over to a plaza, which was said to have fast food stands based on what our guidebook stated. We found the plaza, and sure enough it was filled with Würstelstands and fruit vendors and more. For lunch Tim had a bürenwurst and I had a käsekrainer, and they were delicious. After finishing our lunch we bought some fruit to have for a snack and for breakfast in the morning as well as a “Salzburger Brezen” or pretzel, which was very unique in that it had a very strong fennel taste to it. After lunch we walked back to the hotel to have a short rest.

After a rest we headed to the train station to pick up a bus to take us to Schloss Hellbrunn. It was a short bus ride out to the Palace. When we arrived we first headed to do a guided tour of Schloss Hellbrunn’s famous trick fountains. The most famous of these is the Prince’s table. At the Prince’s table, the Archbishop who built the castle and its trick fountains 400 years ago would seat his guests and enjoy a meal together, but when he gave the signal, one of his servants would flip a switch and suddenly water would come gushing out of the guests seats and from around the table, drenching them all. This was particularly funny because there were very strict court rules which stated that no one may stand before the archbishop, and of course his seat was completely dry. Other trick fountains included a “rain grotto” in which the archbishop would entertain his guests and again at the flip of a switch rain would pour down upon them. There are also little “Disney-like” scenes along the walkways depicting various Greek Mythology with moving characters as well as a large stage with multiple levels that plays music and you can watch the characters move about the town and at the end on-lookers get a surprise in the way of a blast of water from behind. The amazing thing about all of these contraptions is that they are all water powered, as there was no electricity back in those days. After touring the trick fountains we took a quick tour of the interior of the Palace before walking back to the bus stop and catching a ride back in to town.

Once back in town we headed back to the hotel once again to rest and clean up for dinner. For dinner we walked back down into the “Old Town” to a restaurant called Wilder Mann, which was recommended in our guidebook. The food was good and drinks were cheap, and we ended our meal with a desert that didn’t taste like wet dog smells this time, a pancake filled with ice cream and covered with chocolate sauce….YUM!

Tomorrow we have a long travel day as we head to Switzerland. We had to switch our order up a bit because of accommodations, so we will be taking the 6:00 train to Zurich, catching the 11:35 train to Luzern, and then the 12:55 train to Interlaken. We should be at our destination by around 3:00 in the afternoon, so for now. Goodnight!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Hills, or at Least the Streets, are Definitely Alive with the Sound of Music


Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Today we were out of the hotel by around 8:30 and walked across the street (this was extremely convenient) to the U-Station and made our way to the main international train station in Vienna for our 9:20 train to Salzburg. I must say I have been pleased with house easy the train stations have been to navigate, after a couple of trains now, we seem to be able to find our way pretty well without assistance.

We arrived in Salzburg about mid-day and after picking up a proper map of the area were able to navigate our way to the Holiday Inn Salzburg City, which was approximately a 15 minute walk from the train station. When we arrived, our room was not ready, so we checked our luggage with the hotel staff and made our way towards the “Old Town” of Salzburg. We made our way through quiet pedestrian shop lined streets to Residenzplatz, the plaza off which, the Dom cathedral is located. The three bronze doors of the Dom represent faith, hope, and love, and the dates 774, 1628, and 1959 represent the year the cathedral was first built, the year the cathedral was rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire, and the year the dome was rebuilt yet again after being destroyed by an aerial bomb.

From Residenzplatz we made our way towards the funicular Festungsbahn and caught a ride up to the top of the castle-fortress Festung Hohensalzburg. Festung Hohensalzburg was built in 1077 and was home to many archbishop-princes who ruled Salzburg from 798 A.D. Inside the fortress there are staterooms, torture chambers, and two museums all of which we toured. The best part of the tour in my opinion was the viewing deck from the top of one of the fortress’s towers from which you could get a 360 degree view of Salzburg and the surround areas. After walking around the fortress, we started the walk down, taking a small detour to go see Stift Nonnberg, Nonnberg Abbey, where The Sound of Music first finds Maria.

Once back in the center of the “Old Town” we made our way to St. Peterskirche and walked among the lovingly tended graves which cover the abbey’s grounds. From here we wandered the streets of the “Old Town” and followed the sound of music, pun intended, to Franziskanerkirche where a group of school children were performing a choral concert. After listening in for a while we continued our leisurely stroll through the “Old Town”, across the river, and back to our hotel to check in and freshen up after a day of travel before heading back into town for dinner.

We took a different route into town that led us to Mirabellplatz, the plaza adjacent to the Schloss Mirabell. The palace was built by the prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich for his mistress in 1606, but the formal gardens, with their tulips, crocuses, and Greek statues, are the main draw at this palace. After a stroll through the gardens, we made our way to the pedestrian bridge and crossed over the river back into the “Old Town” once again. We made our way through passageways and pedestrian streets back to the base of the Festung Hohensalzburg to Stiegl Biergarten, which we had seen on our walk down from the fortress. Here we found a table outside overlooking the “Old Town”. The setting was perfection, and the meal was one of the best, if not the best that I have had so far in Europe. Tim had another Wiener schnitzel and I had “Ofenfrischer Schweinsbraten” which is roast pork with dumpling and sauerkraut, and is absolutely DELICIOUS! Tim of course had a beer and I had a glass of the house red. It still amazes me how inexpensive beer and wine are in Europe. A half liter of beer or a quarter liter of house wine is usually under 4 Euros a piece. As we were finishing our meals the most ridiculous desert I have ever seen was brought out to an adjacent table. It was on an oval platter about 12 inches in length and contained three GIANT mounds of what looked like meringue or cream. We called the waiter over and asked what it was, he told us “Salzburger Nockerl”. Tim decided we had to have it, despite the fact that there was no chance in hell that we would finish it and it cost 12 Euros, which was more than either of our meals. The desert took about 20 minutes to prepare, so we relaxed and enjoyed the sunset until the desert arrived. I will never forget Tim’s description after his first taste. “It tastes like wet dog smells!” he said. Needless to say, when we left to walk back to the hotel, there was a lot of Salzburger nockerl still on our plate.

A Day in the Life of Royalty


Saturday, June 26th, 2010

This morning we took the U-line out to Schloss Schönbrunn, the Habsburgs’ 1441-room summer palace, of which we toured 40 rooms. It was a quick and easy journey out to the palace, and once off the train there was no need to determine which way to go, you just follow the herds of people all going to the same place. Once inside, we purchased a ticket that included an audio-guided tour of 40 rooms of the palace’s first floor, entry to the Privy Gardens, entry to the Gloriette, and entry to the Labyrinth and Maze. We had about 45 minutes until we could start the tour of the palace, so we headed to the Privy Gardens, which were directly adjacent to the palace. The Privy Gardens in and of its self was nothing spectacular, beautiful yes, but not all that much more spectacular than the rest of the grounds of the palace. The one nice feature of the Privy Gardens was a viewing platform they had added from which you could take a really nice photograph of the side of the palace with the Gardens in the foreground. I think the ONLY thing Tim enjoyed about the Privy Gardens were the GIGANTIC lemons. The garden featured numerous lemon and orange trees, and I have NEVER seen lemons of this size, they were half the size of Tim’s head (you will see in the picture if you click into our photo gallery at the top of the blog and go to the Vienna pictures). Tim concluded from this that we need a lemon tree. We will see how that goes.

After the Privy Gardens we head for the entrance to the Palace tour and picked up our audio guides. No photography was allowed inside the Palace, so unfortunately I have no photographs to show you its splendor, only my words. The Imperial bedrooms and private living quarters, to my surprise, were grand yes, but were not overly lavish or ornate in design. The Emperor’s office for example was extremely understated and was full of portraits of his wife, children, and grandchildren. Some of the more formal gathering rooms where the Imperial family would have received guests however were much more ornate. There are three rooms in particular that come to mind, a long rectangular hall that had two small octagonal rooms at either end of the hall. The two small rooms in particular were very ornate. They featured some of the most beautiful wood floors I have ever seen with detailed designs highlighted with various types and shades of hard woods. In addition there was an elaborately designed “Chinese Room”, as I understand all of the Imperial Palaces of the time had a “Chinese Room” as the fabrics and designs were considered to be very “regal”.

After completing the tour of the inside of the Palace, we made our way back outside through the grounds and up the hill at the back to the Gloriette. Honestly, I am unsure of the original purpose of the Gloriette, it had a small interior building which now houses a café and two long arched open hallways on either side. It was a beautiful structure looking down on the Imperial Palace and grounds. The ticket we purchased also allowed for us to take a winding staircase to a viewing platform at the top of the structure which again provided an amazing photo op with spectacular views of Schloss Schönbrunn and modern day Vienna, which I’m sure would’ve seemed very far away in the Imperial days. From the Gloriette we headed back down the hill to tackle one of several mazes on the Palace grounds. After successfully defeating the maze, which took longer than I anticipated I must add, we walked back to the U-line station and caught a train back to the center of Vienna.

Upon our arrival in Vienna we set out to find a restaurant that was recommended in our guide book as being a classic Biesl, traditional Viennese pub serving solid Viennese fare. After switching trains and a 10 minute walk, we arrived at our destination, a bit out of the “touristy” part of Vienna we were pleased with the atmosphere and were looking forward to our first true Austrian meal. Zu den 2 Leiserln has been serving enormous schnitzels, and when they say enormous they mean ENORMOUS, to politicians, blue-collar workers, and everyone in between for 100 years, so of course we ordered the “Wiener Schnitzel”. A note to anyone who might find themselves in Vienna and want to order a Schnitzel at Leiserln, one schnitzel was PLENTY for the two of us. As Tim has already explained, Wiener schnitzel is NOT sausage, but in fact a giant piece of meat (traditionally veal, but Pork is the most common) pounded thin, breaded and fried. I found Wiener schnitzel to be very much like the pork tenderloins you find so often back home in Indiana. It was good, but not really my type of food, but I feel very strongly about sampling local cuisine. Now the potato salad that came with the schnitzel on the other hand was amazing, and incredibly unlike anything I had ever tasted. I don’t even know how to describe it other than to say that it didn’t have a mustard or mayonnaise or any sort of cream base, and it had almost a vinegar taste….YUM! After lunch we went back to the hotel for a short rest.

After a break we took the train back up to Stelphensplatz, the plaza along the pedestrian Kärntner Stausse near the Stephensdom Cathedral. From here we made our way to Zwölf Apostekeller, a heurigen, or wine tavern, located in the city. Heurigens sell “new” wine that they often produce on the premises, and it is thus usually very inexpensive, less than €2.50 a viertel (250ml). The majority of the heurigens in the area are located in the wine-growing suburbs to the north, northeast, south and west of the city, but we found this gem in the city, thanks to our guide book, and sat down in this atmospheric cellar for a glass of wine.

After the heurigen we took a casual stroll back to Flanagans again, to have dinner and watch the soccer. Tomorrow we move on to Salzburg!