Hey all! Thought I´d write a quick update on the difficulties we encountered trying to get to Barcelona... where do I begin?! Well, our initial plan was to catch the train from Nice to Barcelona. We got up early and were at the train station 40 min before our train left, nice and early. We discovered, to our dismay, that a reservation was required in order to get on this train, and all we had were our Eurail passes. The lineup to get a reservation for the train was long but didn´t seem TOO bad, so we figured we could make it. Train was at 10:30.... 10 am rolls around... line hasn´t moved... 10:15... nope, still hasn´t moved. 10:30... okay, we´re screwed. There was no other train to Barcelona that day from Nice. We decided to head out to the airport to see if we could catch a cheap flight out to Barcelona. Hmmmm, guess again. It would have cost Katie 700 euros at least to fly to Barcelona on the cheapest airline!!!! We started panicking, calling the Nice hotel we´d been staying in to see if we could stay another night, but no, they were full. The train to Barcelona stops in Montpellier, France, so we decided to just head to Montpellier instead and catch the train from there the next day. Booked what looked like a decent hotel from the internet and headed to Montpellier. We got there and it was as close to Harlem as you can get in Europe. Scary, scary, scary, and we didn´t want to be outside anymore than was necessary!!!! We arrived at our ´hotel´, found that they hadn´t received our reservation. Had to find an internet cafe to print off our reservation and proof of payment through Expedia. Finally convinced them to give us a room, which turned out to contain a bunk bed with stains everywhere, a floor that make strange cracking noises, and a suspicious looking washroom. We spent as little time in there as possible - only to sleep!- and got up at 6 am and promptly left (although we´d been up since 5 because dad called after hearing where we were and told us to immediately get up, shower, and get out of town!!). Went to the train station to catch our 7:30 am train only to find out it was full. Next train was at 11:40, so we walked around for a bit, ate, then went to sleep on the floor of the train station for a while. We then laughed hysterically for about an hour over our predicament. We finally got on the train, which was to stop in Port Bou, Spain, before heading off to Barcelona. We arrive in Port Bou, thinking, okay, now we´re safe. We´re almost in Barcelona, finally.... or so we thought. The train was supposed to get in at 4:12, and when a train pulled up at 4:05 accompanied by an announcement in Spanish which included the word ¨barcelona¨, we got on. WELL, GUESS WHAT?!?! We got on the wrong train. This one was going back the way we came!!! We arrived back across the French border, realized we were in the middle of nowhere, and started panicking. I managed to ask a train station worker in French to call us a cab, and this actually ended up being an incredible experience. The taxi driver spoke only Spanish and was playing lovely Spanish music in the cab, and it turns out that the 20 minute drive across the French-Spanish border is just... breathtaking. We wound our way up through the mountains and had spectacular views of the ocean and small towns along the way... we actually ended up feelign very lucky that we missed our train as we never would have seen such an incredible sight had we not! Anyway, finally arrived back in Port Bou to find that our train was an hour and a half wait away. Finally, finally, we got on that train and were on our way to Barcelona. I have never felt such relief at finally arriving in a place!!! We had booked in at an apartment for several nights in the centre of the city, and when we finally arrived, we were absolutely blown away. The apartment is beautiful and looks as though it´s a real, modern apartment that someone lives in, complete with great modern art and a waterfall shower. 50 euro a night each.... we have no idea how we got so lucky!!!!! The owners are probably drug dealers, but we don´t care!!!
Anyway, having a great time in Barcelona now. We´re here for 2 more nights and then off to Madrid, then Lisbon, then Lagos and then ´home´to London!!!! The weather here is beautiful and hot and we now look a little less Canadian due to our deepening tans!
Hope everyone is well and that you enjoyed that little story about our crazy adventures trying to get to Barcelona! Will write again soon!
Love,
Emily
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
I'm back!!!!
Hello everyone!!! Sorry for the massive gap between posts - the last couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy and none of our hostels have had internet access. It's such a pain to track down internet cafes so I just kinda gave up on the whole internet thing except for odd e-mail check here and there.
Where to begin.... well, right now Katie and I are in Nice, France, right by the Italian/French border. We're supposed to be in Florence right now but after a whirlwind week and a half of sightseeing which included stops in Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Geneva, and Venice, we decided that we needed a break, so we skipped Florence and we're now spending three nights in beautiful Nice before heading off to Barcelona for four nights, then Madrid for three, Lisbon for three, Lagos for three and then back to London!! Just two weeks left - I can't believe it!!
Last week my good friend Tom (from London) joined us in Amsterdam, and Fiona's friend Anjelica from home joined us as well. We went to visit Anne Frank's house which was quite an eerie experience - it was actually much smaller than I had envisioned and it's so hard to believe that two entire families lived in that space for two years without ever seeing the outside world. In Berlin we saw the Berlin wall, which was actually much thinner than I had expected. It was an incredible sight to see. We noticed that there were very few references to Hitler in the city, which was interesting. They seem to be trying to focus as much on the Cold War as possible and as little on WWII as possible. We saw all the major sites in Berlin with Captain Tom as our leader, and had a grand time and many great meals! Munich was an absolute blast, and of course we went to Haufbrau house (sp?) to drink litre glasses of beer and eat German sausage and sauerkraut. Before I forget, I have to mention that when we were in the Munich train station waiting for our train to Geneva (through Zurich), we were standing around in the newspaper shop buying... a newspaper, obviously... when I heard "No way... no way..." I looked over, and there was my old highschool friend Charles Skelton!!!!!!! Who knew?!?! To meet up with an old friend in a tiny newspaper shop in the middle of Munich... what a small world! I was in shock!
What else... Geneva was beautiful but unfortunately it rained almost the entire time we were there!!! We got stuck in the rain on our way to the UN building, which meant that we were as far away from our hostel as we could possibly have been. We made the most of the situation by dancing in the rain and having bubblegum blowing contests. Katie and I also took off our shoes and ran barefoot in the rain for a while. What can ya do?!
Venice, as usual, was stunning. Katie and I spent a large portion of our time there feeding the pigeons, and we now have many insane pictures of us with pigeons on our arms, heads and backpacks. I can just hear Dad saying "DO YOU KNOW HOW UNSANITARY THAT IS?!?!?!"
Anyway, we arrived in Nice last night after a 9 hour train ride and are staying in a lovely little hotel literally a 1 minute walk from the gorgeous beach. Nice is just beautiful, palm trees everywhere, old European buildings, good food... we're in love!!!!! Katie is actually lying on the beach right now - I got bored after lying there for a few hours! The Meditteranean is a perfect blue and so warm. We're extremely glad we came here rather than spending more time sightseeing in Florence!
I hope this was a sufficient update - I promise to write again when we're in Barcelona as we won't be so rushed and I'll have more time to relax and find a computer!!!!!!
I hope everyone is doing well - I miss you all sooooooooooo much despite the lack of updates and e-mails!!!!!!!!!!! Thinking of you all constantly,
Love,
Emily
Where to begin.... well, right now Katie and I are in Nice, France, right by the Italian/French border. We're supposed to be in Florence right now but after a whirlwind week and a half of sightseeing which included stops in Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Geneva, and Venice, we decided that we needed a break, so we skipped Florence and we're now spending three nights in beautiful Nice before heading off to Barcelona for four nights, then Madrid for three, Lisbon for three, Lagos for three and then back to London!! Just two weeks left - I can't believe it!!
Last week my good friend Tom (from London) joined us in Amsterdam, and Fiona's friend Anjelica from home joined us as well. We went to visit Anne Frank's house which was quite an eerie experience - it was actually much smaller than I had envisioned and it's so hard to believe that two entire families lived in that space for two years without ever seeing the outside world. In Berlin we saw the Berlin wall, which was actually much thinner than I had expected. It was an incredible sight to see. We noticed that there were very few references to Hitler in the city, which was interesting. They seem to be trying to focus as much on the Cold War as possible and as little on WWII as possible. We saw all the major sites in Berlin with Captain Tom as our leader, and had a grand time and many great meals! Munich was an absolute blast, and of course we went to Haufbrau house (sp?) to drink litre glasses of beer and eat German sausage and sauerkraut. Before I forget, I have to mention that when we were in the Munich train station waiting for our train to Geneva (through Zurich), we were standing around in the newspaper shop buying... a newspaper, obviously... when I heard "No way... no way..." I looked over, and there was my old highschool friend Charles Skelton!!!!!!! Who knew?!?! To meet up with an old friend in a tiny newspaper shop in the middle of Munich... what a small world! I was in shock!
What else... Geneva was beautiful but unfortunately it rained almost the entire time we were there!!! We got stuck in the rain on our way to the UN building, which meant that we were as far away from our hostel as we could possibly have been. We made the most of the situation by dancing in the rain and having bubblegum blowing contests. Katie and I also took off our shoes and ran barefoot in the rain for a while. What can ya do?!
Venice, as usual, was stunning. Katie and I spent a large portion of our time there feeding the pigeons, and we now have many insane pictures of us with pigeons on our arms, heads and backpacks. I can just hear Dad saying "DO YOU KNOW HOW UNSANITARY THAT IS?!?!?!"
Anyway, we arrived in Nice last night after a 9 hour train ride and are staying in a lovely little hotel literally a 1 minute walk from the gorgeous beach. Nice is just beautiful, palm trees everywhere, old European buildings, good food... we're in love!!!!! Katie is actually lying on the beach right now - I got bored after lying there for a few hours! The Meditteranean is a perfect blue and so warm. We're extremely glad we came here rather than spending more time sightseeing in Florence!
I hope this was a sufficient update - I promise to write again when we're in Barcelona as we won't be so rushed and I'll have more time to relax and find a computer!!!!!!
I hope everyone is doing well - I miss you all sooooooooooo much despite the lack of updates and e-mails!!!!!!!!!!! Thinking of you all constantly,
Love,
Emily
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Mmmm Belgium...
Hello!!! We arrived in Brussels, Belgium yesterday from Paris and so far we are absolutely loving it here. Brussels is a million times cheaper than Paris too which is a huge plus!!! The city is just fantastic - it's so compact and European and quaint and full of activity. They have this spectacular square in the centre of the city which is surrounded by these incredible old, old buildings. Behind that square are tons of winding little pedestrian-only streets full of cafes and restaurants, all serving up tons of Italian, seafood, and other kinds of deliciousness (although I don't like seafood!!!) This place is just bustling and it's very eccentric, which I love.
Our hostel is absolutely fantastic. We've been really lucky since we arrived on continental Europe in terms of the quality of our hostels. The one we stayed at in Paris was actually a budget hotel, but it was great, clean, and 500 metres from the Louvre! It was extremely cheap too and we couldn't believe what a deal we got until we realized that the place must be haunted! We had a bunch of really weird experiences in our room, including the door swinging open all on its own, and the toilet flushing on its own followed by the bathroom door opening when no one was near it. We also all experiences strange hot and cold flashes in the room which disappeared when we left. Veryyyy weird!!! We figure that that's what accounts for the cheap price!
In Brussels, our hostel is a 5 minute walk from the centre of town. Our room is clean with extremely comfy beds, nice clean puffy duvets and real pillows (versus the flat nasty ones at other hostels), and a private ensuite bathroom which is very clean and lovely - it's very much like a hotel!!!!! We love it here and don't want to leave! Our plan was initially to spend 2 nights in Brussels then one night in Bruges and then onto Amsterdam, but we found out yesterday that we can't take the train to Amsterdam from Bruges, so we decided to just stay in Brussels for one extra night. Fine by us! We need a few days of relaxation after the insanity of Paris. There's so much to see and do in Paris and it really takes its toll on your poor feet!
Haven't seen any museums and whatnot yet in Brussels but may do so tomorrow - today I spent the day walking around alone, relaxing in cafes and taking in the culture! I highly recommend Brussels as a vacation spot and if you want to go the hostel route, check out the 2GO4 Quality Hostel - it's where we're at and we love it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will post again soon - hope everyone's doing well!!!!
Love,
Emily
Our hostel is absolutely fantastic. We've been really lucky since we arrived on continental Europe in terms of the quality of our hostels. The one we stayed at in Paris was actually a budget hotel, but it was great, clean, and 500 metres from the Louvre! It was extremely cheap too and we couldn't believe what a deal we got until we realized that the place must be haunted! We had a bunch of really weird experiences in our room, including the door swinging open all on its own, and the toilet flushing on its own followed by the bathroom door opening when no one was near it. We also all experiences strange hot and cold flashes in the room which disappeared when we left. Veryyyy weird!!! We figure that that's what accounts for the cheap price!
In Brussels, our hostel is a 5 minute walk from the centre of town. Our room is clean with extremely comfy beds, nice clean puffy duvets and real pillows (versus the flat nasty ones at other hostels), and a private ensuite bathroom which is very clean and lovely - it's very much like a hotel!!!!! We love it here and don't want to leave! Our plan was initially to spend 2 nights in Brussels then one night in Bruges and then onto Amsterdam, but we found out yesterday that we can't take the train to Amsterdam from Bruges, so we decided to just stay in Brussels for one extra night. Fine by us! We need a few days of relaxation after the insanity of Paris. There's so much to see and do in Paris and it really takes its toll on your poor feet!
Haven't seen any museums and whatnot yet in Brussels but may do so tomorrow - today I spent the day walking around alone, relaxing in cafes and taking in the culture! I highly recommend Brussels as a vacation spot and if you want to go the hostel route, check out the 2GO4 Quality Hostel - it's where we're at and we love it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will post again soon - hope everyone's doing well!!!!
Love,
Emily
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Finally!
Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in updating the blog - I was finally convinced to do so after receiving a worried e-mail from my mom! Alright, I'm using a French keyboard and all the keys are different than they are on N.A. keyboards so I'm just going to start typing as I normally would and you'll all have to figure it out because this is taking forever!!!!!
Weùve been in Paris since Mondqy evening and had quite the adventure trying to make our way to our hostel: We just assumed thqt since our hostel is right by the Louvre; that we needed to get off qt the stop cqlled Louvre: Well; by the time we made it to the Louvre stop two hours after leaving the airport; we finally realized we were dead wrong as we actually ended up in the middle of the French countryside!!!!! Turns out we were supposed to go to the stop cqlled Palais Royale du Louvre or so,ething along those lines.....!!! We finally arrived sometime around 8 pm, having left the airport around 4, so we were a little tired to say the least - carting massive backpacks all over Paris is not so easy!!! Anyway, we had met up with Fiona at the airport and her friend Brian joined us later; having caught a flight from Liverpool, where he'd been for a few days: Fiona, Katie and I spent the interim eating Japanese, running around the empty Louvre property among the famous pyramids by twilight, and going on a ferris wheel which allowed us to see the entire city by night - and where we were also harassed by carnies who thought it was hilarious to spin us around everytime we came around to the ground again!!!!!! Anyway; more highlights - the Louvre was closed yesterdqy so we went to the Musee d'Orsay insteqd; where we saw some incredibly famous pqintings by the likes of Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, van Gogh etc: then we climbed up the Eiffel Tower!!! Quite an amazing experience and a spectqculqr view: today we;re doing the Louvre and Notre Dame, then tomorrow is Chateau Versailles:
This computer just shut down on me but luckily most of this entry was saved!!! I must go before this keyboard and computer drive me insane - just to let you know; this is zhqt it zould look like if I hqd qctuqlly gone qheqd qnd typed qs I nor,qlly zould hqve111 I hqte french keyboqrds11111
Miss you all very much and hope everyone is doing well!!! Are you happy now mom?!?! Have a safe trip back to T.O!!
Love,
Emily
Weùve been in Paris since Mondqy evening and had quite the adventure trying to make our way to our hostel: We just assumed thqt since our hostel is right by the Louvre; that we needed to get off qt the stop cqlled Louvre: Well; by the time we made it to the Louvre stop two hours after leaving the airport; we finally realized we were dead wrong as we actually ended up in the middle of the French countryside!!!!! Turns out we were supposed to go to the stop cqlled Palais Royale du Louvre or so,ething along those lines.....!!! We finally arrived sometime around 8 pm, having left the airport around 4, so we were a little tired to say the least - carting massive backpacks all over Paris is not so easy!!! Anyway, we had met up with Fiona at the airport and her friend Brian joined us later; having caught a flight from Liverpool, where he'd been for a few days: Fiona, Katie and I spent the interim eating Japanese, running around the empty Louvre property among the famous pyramids by twilight, and going on a ferris wheel which allowed us to see the entire city by night - and where we were also harassed by carnies who thought it was hilarious to spin us around everytime we came around to the ground again!!!!!! Anyway; more highlights - the Louvre was closed yesterdqy so we went to the Musee d'Orsay insteqd; where we saw some incredibly famous pqintings by the likes of Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, van Gogh etc: then we climbed up the Eiffel Tower!!! Quite an amazing experience and a spectqculqr view: today we;re doing the Louvre and Notre Dame, then tomorrow is Chateau Versailles:
This computer just shut down on me but luckily most of this entry was saved!!! I must go before this keyboard and computer drive me insane - just to let you know; this is zhqt it zould look like if I hqd qctuqlly gone qheqd qnd typed qs I nor,qlly zould hqve111 I hqte french keyboqrds11111
Miss you all very much and hope everyone is doing well!!! Are you happy now mom?!?! Have a safe trip back to T.O!!
Love,
Emily
Thursday, July 5, 2007
From Edinburgh to Belfast
Hello!! This is just going to be a quick note as we're about to run out to grab a bite to eat. Spent the day in transit from Edinburgh to Belfast - this involved taking a train to Glasgow, another train to Stranraer (pronounced StranRARRRR - like a tiger, as Humza pointed out), and then a ferry to Belfast. The ferry was massive and gorgeous, very comfy!!!! In total it took us about 6 hours to get here from Edinburgh. So far we've only seen the part of Belfast that stretches from the port to our hostel near Shaftesbury Square, and it's... not the loveliest city I've ever seen, let's just say. Our hostel, however, is FANTASTIC. It's the Belfast International Youth Hostel and it's big, clean, modern - very very nice and we are extremely pleased. Nice change from the crappy, stale-cigarette-smelling one we stayed at in Edinburgh.
Yesterday we went on the most spectacular, amazing 12-hour bus tour of the Scottish Highlands, Glen Coe and Loch Ness, where we are pretty sure that we spotted the Loch Ness monster. My sister got a picture that we'll have to post in here at some point!!! Loch Ness was just beyond anything I had ever imagined - much bigger and beautiful than I had thought. Got some pretty stunning pictures of it as well as of the Highlands. Our tour guide was absolutely hilarious and was quite possibly the most knowledgeable person I've ever encountered - at least in terms of Scottish history. He knows everything there is to know about the land and its people, so it was a very informative trip.
Went on a walk last night after we got back and had the good luck to see the famous Arthur's Seat (google it for some pictures) overlooking Edinburgh set off by a rainbow. Perfect end to our Edinburgh leg of the trip!!!
Tomorrow we're going to visit the west end of Belfast where the majority of the violence took place during the 'Troubles' in the 60s, 70s, etc. Probably going to walk around the university campus as well - not too sure what else there is to do here but we'll find out!
Katie is standing behind me muttering 'Katie wants soup' so I think I should cut this off now... I'm getting a little scared.
Take care everyone and will post again soon!
Love,
Emily
Yesterday we went on the most spectacular, amazing 12-hour bus tour of the Scottish Highlands, Glen Coe and Loch Ness, where we are pretty sure that we spotted the Loch Ness monster. My sister got a picture that we'll have to post in here at some point!!! Loch Ness was just beyond anything I had ever imagined - much bigger and beautiful than I had thought. Got some pretty stunning pictures of it as well as of the Highlands. Our tour guide was absolutely hilarious and was quite possibly the most knowledgeable person I've ever encountered - at least in terms of Scottish history. He knows everything there is to know about the land and its people, so it was a very informative trip.
Went on a walk last night after we got back and had the good luck to see the famous Arthur's Seat (google it for some pictures) overlooking Edinburgh set off by a rainbow. Perfect end to our Edinburgh leg of the trip!!!
Tomorrow we're going to visit the west end of Belfast where the majority of the violence took place during the 'Troubles' in the 60s, 70s, etc. Probably going to walk around the university campus as well - not too sure what else there is to do here but we'll find out!
Katie is standing behind me muttering 'Katie wants soup' so I think I should cut this off now... I'm getting a little scared.
Take care everyone and will post again soon!
Love,
Emily
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Hello from Edinburgh!
Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting here, we've been quite busy over the last few days. My sister arrived safely in London on Saturday despite having to sit next to a psychotic drunk woman on the plane. That night we went out for Japanese in Leicester Square (where I learned that it's rude to tip at a Japanese restaurant... who knew?) and then went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour in east London. I loved the tour - our guide was a professional Jack the Ripper researcher who's writing several books on the topic, and was extremely thorough and knowledgeable. We saw most of the original buildings and areas where the murders took place, which was fascinating. East London is such a unique area - it's primarily Bangledeshi these days but it has previously been primarily Jewish. Most of the buildings there are original from the 18th and 19th centuries and are apparently quite expensive due to their historical significance. Although most of the tour took place in the rain, it was worth it - and the rain just added to the ambience.
The next day we wandered around the Knightsbridge area and went into Harrod's, where we saw the opera singing chefs making pizza. We also witnessed a big fight in the Marks and Spencer's between two women - it ended with one of them screaming 'Learn some manners you rude cow!!!!!' before storming off.
Anyway, we just arrived here in Edinburgh yesterday. It's been raining most of the time but it's an absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring city. I've never seen a city with a similar layout - New Town is north of Princes Street and Old Town is south - it's Old Town that is just spectacular. You can imagine that the cityscape would have looked much the same a couple of hundred years ago. Our hostel isn't the nicest place on earth but it has everything we need and the people are nice - we've already gone out to the pub with a bunch of people here.
Today we walked the Royal Mile and went to Edinburgh Castle, which was fascinating. We wanted to see Hollyrood Palace as well, but it's closed right now to the public because the Queen is there!!
Tonight we're doing a walking tour of the underground dungeons... supposed to be quite spooky!!! We're looking into doing a full-day tour of the Highlands and Loch Ness tomorrow. Should be fantastic!
I hope everyone is doing well!!! I'll post again soon!
Love,
Emily
The next day we wandered around the Knightsbridge area and went into Harrod's, where we saw the opera singing chefs making pizza. We also witnessed a big fight in the Marks and Spencer's between two women - it ended with one of them screaming 'Learn some manners you rude cow!!!!!' before storming off.
Anyway, we just arrived here in Edinburgh yesterday. It's been raining most of the time but it's an absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring city. I've never seen a city with a similar layout - New Town is north of Princes Street and Old Town is south - it's Old Town that is just spectacular. You can imagine that the cityscape would have looked much the same a couple of hundred years ago. Our hostel isn't the nicest place on earth but it has everything we need and the people are nice - we've already gone out to the pub with a bunch of people here.
Today we walked the Royal Mile and went to Edinburgh Castle, which was fascinating. We wanted to see Hollyrood Palace as well, but it's closed right now to the public because the Queen is there!!
Tonight we're doing a walking tour of the underground dungeons... supposed to be quite spooky!!! We're looking into doing a full-day tour of the Highlands and Loch Ness tomorrow. Should be fantastic!
I hope everyone is doing well!!! I'll post again soon!
Love,
Emily
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