Oh Europe Part 4

Part 4: The last of my Euro-backpacking

Monday April 14^th- Day 25- Munich, Germany

Germany was one of the countries I had most been looking forward to, so to finally arrive felt good, not only because it was Germany, but also because it meant we only had a week more of traveling before returning to England and being able to unpack my tightly crammed backpack.

We took a free tour of Munich, which is an excellent idea for anyone heading to Europe. There is a company that offers free tours of about 7 or 8 cities throughout Europe. All that you do is tip the guide at the end, and even that is not required, but come on, who would leave them hanging. All the tour guides I have had are amazing and definitely deserved the tip. But the tour guide was actually from California. He took us around Munich, showing us various churches, an outdoor market, Hofbrauhaus, the ritzy shopping area, some of the main government buildings, and all the while telling us the history of Berlin. Pretty much everything we saw was reconstructed to look just as it did before the bombings. After our tour we wandered on our own to some of his recommended spots and went up one of the towers to get a view of the city.

Then we headed back to the hostel to do laundry before dinner. Curtis kept talking about this currywurst (sausage with ketchup and curry powder) he ate the night before. We tried to track one down, but were not successful in finding someone who could provide us with one on the spot. So we settled for kebabs . . . the search for currywurst could continue another day. . .

Tuesday April 15^th Day 26- Berlin, Germany

Waking up nice and early, we grabbed some food and hopped on the train to Berlin. We caught a bus to our hostel which just happened to be on the street on which my grandfather, my Opa, once lived. My aunt had supplied me with two addresses. One was on the same street and the other was in Potsdam which I never got an opportunity to go see. But that gives me a reason to go back, and soon.

When we got to the hostel, Adrienne was awaiting our arrival. She flew back from England to celebrate my birthday with me in Berlin. We got settled and headed for lunch before wandering a bit. We went to the Reichstag, but didn’t go up because of the long line. Instead, we decided to go up at night. It was still a gorgeous view. Then we went to the Brandenburg Tor and looked at the memorials that were between the Reichstag and the Tor. Then we strolled down Unter den Linden, a tree lined street and went inside a few souvenir shops. We all became obsessed with Berlin’s walking man (the little man who signifies that it is okay to cross the street) and found a shop full of Walking Man souvenirs, all of which were a huge rip-off, but it was fun to look. Then we journeyed over to the Berlin Wall and walked along a long stretch of it. Of course, it was super cold and raining slightly so we were In need of some coffee or just warmth in general. But I have to say: the Berlin Wall was one of my favorite parts about the city. We walked along a stretch that was completely covered in artwork. It varied from graffiti-style to a recreation of Adam and Eve to pop-art. I can never fully comprehend what life was like in Berlin at that time, but I know my family’s history in Berlin and it felt right to be in Berlin for my birthday. When we spotted a train station, we went inside and sat at a McCafe with some hot chocolate and defrosted. Its funny how nice McDonalds is in Europe. If only they knew the condition of most McDonalds in the US.

After defrosting we headed back to the Reichstag for our night view before going in search of currywurst yet again. We finally found a street vendor and ate our currywurst and fries in the metro to avoid the cold. It was yummy, very satisfying and probably not too hard to make yourself. Idea for next year? I think so. Then we headed back to our hostel only to find out they had currywurst there. But I think ours was probably better. We hung out in the hostel bar/common area for a bit and watched a bunch of German kids sing karaoke. Finally the staff left and told us we could stay in there as long as we wanted and to just hit the lights on our way out. So we stayed for a bit, watching Southpark in German. And chatting a bit and taking a few photos since the walls were done with really cool wallpaper, each wall sporting a different design.

Wednesday April 16^th- Day 27- Berlin

We did yet another free tour, with yet another American guide. We hit some of the spots we covered the day before, but also visited the Holocaust memorial, the area of the bunker where Hitler hid and the spot where he died. We visited Checkpoint Charlie and a different part of the Berlin Wall, the Opera House, Humboldt University where the Brothers Grimm were educated (if I remember correctly) and more. It was a good tour overall. We met a few more US students who were travelling around Europe so we went with them after the tour to find the Neue Synagoguel, which like a lot of the other places we passed by was completely destroyed in the war and then reconstructed. But it was pretty much the most ornate façade I have ever seen for a synagogue. Then we walked back in the direction of the synagogue. But Adrienne and I split off and went souvenir shopping and picked up some postcards and then hung out at the Reichstag as we waited for the others. It was getting late by this time, so we headed back to the hostel to get ready for my birthday celebration. We found a kebab place recommended by Adrienne’s friend. They really do make the best kebab. Then we headed toward central Berlin for a pub crawl to celebrate my birthday. We met a lot of interesting and cool people throughout the night, and it was definitely fun. It was weird not being home to celebrate my birthday with my friends, but I was still happy that the girls were with me.

Thursday April 17^th- Day 28- Berlin to Amsterdam, Netherlands

We caught an early train to Amsterdam, but not before picking up a few snacks for the ride. When we arrived in Amsterdam, we sat in the train station for a few hours to get our tickets to Paris. That was not fun. For once it was sunny, and not freezing, but we were inside waiting for our number to be called. Finally we got our train tickets and headed to our hostel to check in and then wandered around Amsterdam. It was a beautiful city, with a lot going on. A mini-fair was in the process of being set up, people were everywhere. We got our souvenir shopping out of the way, finding a store with cheap patches, so we stocked up on the countries we were missing. For dinner we ate at a thai restaurant and it was really good. Then we had a little birthday “cake” aka an orange from Sarah, a little bit of chocolate from Jenn and 50 Eurocents from Curtis. I had my birthday candle from the previous year in my camera case. It was just something I kept forgetting to throw out. It was slightly amusing. We then headed to the famous red light district but stopped for dessert along the way. The desserts were kinda pricey, but the shop owner gave me a deal because it was my birthday and Curtis bought it for me as my gift. Tiramisu cheesecake= yum. We wandered through the Red Light District for a bit before heading back to catch up on sleep.

Friday April 18^th- Day 29- Amsterdam to Paris with a stop for our mystery country.

We had decided to catch a later train to Paris so we could spend more time in Amsterdam since our day before had been cut drastically short. We got up early, stored our stuff at the train station, and rented bikes, well everyone but me. I didn’t want to spend 7 Euro for less than an hour of bikeriding. So I explored a bit of Amsterdam for myself and took care of some apartment related stuff at the post office before meeting with the group for our free tour. We ran into two friends of mine from Royal Holloway. The tour guide took us throughout Amsterdam while telling us its history. We went to the Red Light District, to Anne Frank’s house, saw the old town walls, the narrowest house in Amsterdam and much much more. We originally planned on leaving earlier but decided to stay a bit longer. After the tour, we caught our train to the mystery country where we needed to go to catch our train to Paris.

What country is the mystery country?

Belgium

We spent a few hours in Brussels. And the gist of the story is that you can see Brussels in less than 2 hours, and the central part in less than 30 minutes. Once we got to the central part, we got our souvenirs, had a Belgian waffle (so so good), bought some Belgian beer and chocolate, sampled various chocolates, saw the main areas and plaza, saw Mannequin Pis, and grabbed dinner for the train in about 20-25 minutes. And we didn’t feel all that rushed. It was actually quite fun, but I do see why people recommend that you not go to Brussels if you are going to Belgium.

Anyway after our quick stop, we headed back to the train station and caught our train to Paris, our final city.

Once we arrived, we found our hostel and also found out we were on the sixth floor. So we dragged our tired legs and heavy bags up the stairs to find we had our own room. After such a long day, we craved sleep.

Saturday April 19^th- Day 30- Paris, France

To continue the cycle, we went on yet another free tour that day. Actually we went on two.

We were taken to or shown and told more about the Pont du Nouf, the Louvre, Champs de Ellys, Arc de Triumph, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Opera House, a few gardens. . . and that was only about half of it.

After the tour we had a few hours before the next one. We wandered around Montmarte, checked our email at an internet café, got some souvenirs, had a crepe, and saw the Sacre Couer, a cathedral. And I have to say, crepes in Paris? Not that great. I prefer Crepes-a-go-go in Berkeley. We then headed to the Moulin Rouge to meet with our tour guide again. She took us around the area showing us where Van Gogh’s blue room was, the street he based his café at night painting on, the studio of many other famous artists including Picasso, the Sacre Couer (we had an accidental habit of going to places before our tours), the last bit of vineyard in the area. The list could go on, but I can never remember the name of everyplace. After our tour, we headed to a recommended place for cheap eats and ordered enchiladas and margaritas. We have a nickname for the enchiladas we received: ‘frenchiladas’. There were no enchiladas on our plate. It looked nothing like the picture. In fact, for some strange reason, we had a few onion rings on our plates. We took a chance. . .and failed. We then decided to visit the Eiffel Tower at night and caught it as it sparkled. It was absolutely gorgeous. Some things are just better at night.

Sunday April 20^th- Day 31- The Final Day- Paris

After waking up and eating breakfast, we headed to Notre Dame. It was fantastic. Im a sucker for stained glass, so of course I loved it. Then we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to see it in the daylight. We ate our Belgian chocolate and drank our Belgian beer beneath it. A combining of cultures if you will. Then we went to a different part of Paris, got croissants (they really are better in Paris), and found the Paris American Academy, and the Parisian version on the Pantheon. Then we headed back to the Louvre, but I decided not to go in. I wanted to be able to spend a good amount of time in there and not feel rushed. Plus, now I have a reason to go back. Then we headed to the Jewish area in search of falafels that had been recommended to us. We ended up doing some shopping and each leaving Paris with a pair of shoes, which I swear wouldn’t have happened if my mom had just kept talking to me while I was in that store. I kid. I kid. But we grabbed some food and headed back to our hostel to grab our stuff anf then head back to England on the Eurostar.

Once in London, we found the trains had stopped running to our town so we had to catch a cab half way. . .ouch! But the driver was really nice and didn’t charge us for extra people or our bags and drove as fast as he could. I spent the night in Sarah’s room, and returned to my room on Monday morning.

That would conclude my month long backpacking adventure. I hope you all enjoyed reading about it. I had a great time. I learned a lot and got to see places I would have never dreamed of being able to see. But now I have an itch that cannot be scratched. There are so many places I want to go, but probably won’t be able to for quite some time. After all I need to build up my savings account again since all my hard earned money has left me.

Being back in Egham has been nice. I had some travel plans fall through, but Im just trying to relax since I will be working again as soon as I get home.

I’ve seen a few films, went to a friend’s house for dinner which was fun, made it through all 5 of my exams and finished that pesky paper, went to the UC May Ball which involved a river cruise on the Thames, went into London to talk to people coming to Cal next year, spent time with my floormates including a nice floor dinner, had a nice relaxing shopping day in Windsor (where the Queen lives) and while I wish I was a bit busier, I think that things will pick up a bit.

I went on a Shakespeare walk in London yesterday and spent the rest of the day shopping for ball gowns with the girls on my floor. I picked up some photos to hang when I get home. I have a dinner at my director’s house on Wednesday and our Summer Ball on Friday and then it will be just one week til I am home.

Oh Europe Part 3

Seeing as though it is a typical rainy English day and a bank holiday, I’m taking the day to catch up on correspondence and give you folks some more reading material.

Friday April 4^th- Day 15- Milan, Italy

That morning we sadly left behind beautiful Interlaken and boarded a train to Milan. We bid adieu to Adrienne who went elsewhere to visit a friend, and went in search of our hostel, which was actually a hotel. After a nice nap, at this point we needed a nap every time we got somewhere, we headed out. We visited the Duomo, which Milan is quite famous for, and for some reason always gets mentioned in my psychology class when we talk about neglect. Well at least now I can say I’ve seen it. We explored its neighbor, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which had high end shops and was overall quite gorgeous in its design. We ventured towards Milan Castle and wandered through it and came across a park on the other side. We strolled through the park, discovering a concrete amphitheatre with actual chairs peeking out through the concrete. Then we shopped a bit which led to a few purchases, none of which were made by me. I was the one who came wanting to buy a handbag in Italy and I was the only one who didn’t. Funny how those things happen, huh? Anyway after shopping we went in search of dinner. After a few wrong turns and an overall very confusing journey we find a Chinese place near our hotel. While the service wasn’t great and the portions were tiny and the price was high, it was a nice meal. And aside from almost getting stuck in the bathroom all night, because the key had fallen out of the lock and wouldn’t turn properly once I put it back in, it was a good day.

Once we returned to the hotel we relaxed and Sarah turned on the TV so we watched TV in Italian. . .but Pimp My Ride was still in English (hmm. . .interesting)

Saturday April 5^th-Day 16 Milan to Athens, Greece

After checking out of our hotel, we wandered for breakfast and got a bit choosey with our bakeries. Finally we found a nice café and had a pretty cheap breakfast. We then went on to see the Museum of Modern Art and another adjoining museum. We saw a park from a window and decided to head that way. Since it was the weekend there were a lot of kids running around with their families. They had games set up like bumper cars and it was very amusing to watch. We found a place to sit in the sun and hoped that the sun would restore our California tans. On the way back to the hotel to get our bags, we stopped to look at street vendors and grabbed a quick lunch. Once we had our luggage we went to the train station to catch a bus to the airport. We successfully made it to the airport and checked in our bags. Yes a legitimate airline where you can check bags! We didn’t have to worry about our bags being too heavy like we did when we left London. We waited in the airport for our flight to board and made a few phone calls home. Then once on the plane, we were once again pleased to be flying with a legit airline. And trust me you know you’ve been backpacking when you get excited for airplane food. A ‘free’ meal and ‘free’ drinks!

We arrived in Athens that night and met Sarah’s friend from home, Rachel, who would be joining us on our cruise. We took the metro to our hostel, a very long ride might I add. The hostel was not good. We have chosen some pretty good places in the past, but occasionally you get one that’s not so good. We were a bit scared to use the bathrooms and it was pretty dirty, but we reminded ourselves that we were only here for a night.

Sunday April 6^th-Day 17- Athens (Day 1 of cruise)

So the hostel made up for its state with an amazing brunch. Sure we had to pay but there was a lot of food and it was good. It was a surprisingly amazing breakfast for the establishment. Excited for our cruise we took the metro to Piraeus where we would depart from. It was insanely crowded, with lots of knock off handbags and glasses being sold. We weren’t sure how far our port was so we decided to walk a bit. Then we asked someone and they told us it was too far to walk. We found the bus that would take us there and got on only to find out we had to buy our tickets elsewhere. We hopped off to get our tickets and the bus left. Luckily we still had plenty of time so we just caught the next one. After a ride that assured us that it was in fact too far to walk we arrived at Marina Zea and found our ship. We still had time before check in so we hung out by the end of the dock and enjoyed our first bit of Greece. This was our vacation from our vacation. We had signed up for tours so that we wouldn’t have to worry about planning our days. We met a few of the people who would be on the boat with us including a group of families who were from the US but living in Germany and a UCI alum.

Once we were allowed to check in we got settled in our rooms. Jennifer and I shared and Sarah and Rachel shared. Jen and I had the tiniest room. Our beds were less than a foot apart and there was zero (I’m not exaggerating) room to walk. Sarah and Rachel’s had the same distance between the beds, but had a bit of room. We then went exploring. There was a lounging area, an exercise area, a restaurant, a bar and a hot tub. I was impressed. I thought it would be really bad considering it was a pretty good price. It wasn’t great but it was better than I expected, okay well I did expect to be able to move around my room a bit.

Then we went in search of food. Since it was Sunday most places were closed so we ended up with chips (crisps) and ice cream from a news stand. Very healthy. After, we went back onto the boat and jumped in the hot tub before dinner. Relaxing. We decided to eat dinner on board since there was nothing around. Bad service, small portions, but convenient. And I think it was around this time that we realized there were about 40 obnoxious high-schoolers from an international school in Spain on our ship, which would explain why none of our friends were able to come. Basically for the majority of the trip the people on the boat and the crew thought we were part of that group.

After dinner we played Taboo and went to the cruise director’s meeting to get an overview of the ship and everything.

Monday April 7^th- Day 18 Kiato (Day 2 of cruise)

We woke up in the middle of the night because the ship started shaking and our phones and books and things on our headboards attacked us. Turns out the ship was starting up to leave port. Not fun.

We woke up before 8 am because we were told there would be an alarm and drill at 8. But it didn’t happen til 8:30. We all had to put on our life vests and go to the edge of the ship. It was slightly amusing.

Since we had a tour for the day and had run out of granola bars long before, we ate breakfast on the ship. The waiter was extremely rude and snapped at us for asking if we could order but then tried to be nice when we paid, probably because he realized when he swiped our cards that we weren’t part of the school group and in fact were adults with our own money or credit card linked to our accounts.

Our tour departed not long after and we headed toward Nemea where the Nemean games were held. It was excavated by a Cal professor in the 1970s (go Cal!). We saw the ruins of the locker room, the stadium and the tunnel which connected the two. We then heard more about it from a professor the cruise hired to give us lectures (oh no not school again!). We then went down the road and saw more ruins (the theme of our time in Greece) including one of the Temples of Zeus but not THE Temple of Zeus. After we got back on the bus and headed to Mycenae, which I studied in Art History in high school. We saw the Treasury and Lion Gate with Grave Circle A. All of which I once knew more about.

For lunch we were taken to a nice restaurant where we were served roast lamb and potatoes, salad, and yogurt and honey for dessert. I usually don’t eat lamb, but it wasn’t bad. Oh yea, and it was included in what we originally paid for the tours, which was way less than people were paying if they booked on board.

Then we were taken to a gift shop place which specialized in sterling silver. For the most part it was out of our price range, but I did pick up a few things, which cannot be disclosed to my mother.

We got back to the boat with enough time to go to the grocery store before the ship activity for the night. We weren’t supposed to bring food on board so we hid it all in our purses. We bought granola bars and bread and jam for breakfasts.

Then we relaxed until the ship activity: wine tasting. We had a free wine tasting (without the pesky high school group) and sampled 2 whites, 1 rose and 2 reds. We learned a bit about how the wine was made and talked with some of the people we had lunch with. It was fun because they taught us how to properly taste wine.

For dinner, we went to a gyros place recommended by the couple we spoke to at the wine tasting. They were really cheap and the best we had the entire trip. We took our gyros and found a playground by the port where we hung out for a bit before deciding we were still hungry and needed another gyro. Those things are pretty small. Then we went in the hot tub again before bed. It was nice to be able to relax.

Tuesday April 8^th-Day 19- Ithaca (Cruise day 3)

We didn’t have a tour for the day so we decided to have a nice low-key relaxing day. We slept in a bit to account for the hectic day that was tour day #1. After eating our breakfast of backpackers: bread and jam, we headed out to explore the island a bit. We picked up some postcards and stamps and got some souvenirs. Apparently post offices dislike my family, because of all the cards I sent that day only my brother’s got lost, as far as I know. I bought a turtle charm for my phone and it broke just a few days later. So long to my souvenir. We returned to the boat to lounge out on the chairs, except it wasn’t particularly sunny that day. After finding a fax machine for Jenn we went in search of lunch. We found 40 euros on the ground and I saw one of the families walking by the area just before so we found them and asked them if it was theirs. One of the dads thought his son might have lost it, but later said his son hadn’t lost it. We tried our best to find its owner and continued our search for lunch. We had a late lunch, another Greek dish for me: pastiscio which is a noodle dish kind of like noodle casserole. The menu for the restaurant said “Come to the kitchen to see our specials” and he wasn’t kidding. As soon as we walked in we were led to the kitchen to see what was available. It all looked so good. I wish you could do this in the States so you wouldn’t get so many surprises when you see that roast chicken and potatoes that you ordered. Then we grabbed some gelato and sat by the water followed by a nap and reading time. The activity for the night was Greek lessons so we decided to check it out with our happy hour drinks in hand. We decided to treat ourselves on our relaxing day. For dinner we had gyros yet again and sat by the water and for dessert we went to a pastry shop and I got a mini chocolate crème cake. A bunch of people from the ship came into the same shop including one of the families we met on the first day who wanted to hear more about our backpacking adventure. Once back on the boat we played Trivial Pursuit and realized we need to learn more random facts.

Wednesday April 9^th-Day 20- Patras (Cruise Day 4)

We went on an all-day excursion again. We went around the ancient Olympia site and saw the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Hera, the Philippeon, Hera’s Altar and the Stadium. After a short walk we arrived at the museum which houses some of the statues which were originally a part of the site’s structures. Then the professor gave another lecture, which I only heard part of because we wasn’t speaking loud enough, so I ended up joining the girls who were already sitting across the quad.

For lunch we were taken to a restaurant and served Greek salads, pastiscio, and a gelatin thing with jam all of which were very good. We then had some time to shop for souvenirs before heading back to port where we visited St. Andrews Church on the way to the grocery store (which was a lot further than we thought). But we had the company of a stray dog who led us to the grocery store.

After dinner we climbed to the top of these stairs which afforded an amazing view, except it was night so it wasn’t that amazing, but it was a workout. We looked around that area a bit before heading back on board. Once again, we played a board game and went to sleep, something that became a habit and caused some of the people on board to tease us about coming all the way from California to play cards in Greece.

Thursday April 10^th-Day 21- Itea (Cruise Day 5)

We had a half-day excursion to Delphi where we saw the Treasury of Athens and another stadium as well as a Greek theater and some cute stray cats that made me miss my Billy. It was long-ish but tiring walk to the stadium since it was very hot out and the terrain was hilly. After we went to yet another museum which thankfully was air conditioned. We were served a free lunch on board of pasta and a pear. It was very little food compared to the days before. We then wandered for a bit to find internet. I got stressed out when I found out about a bunch of stuff I somehow had to do for an apartment and the girls went and wandered while I tried to get some stuff accomplished. They came back and Jen had bought everyone a pastry and it was yum and made me feel a bit better. We headed back to the boat and put on our suits and went swimming in the cold Mediterranean, with sandals on because of the rocky beach. The beach we were on had those straw umbrellas you see in Corona commercials which was a little amusing to me. After, we jumped in the hot tub to warm up a bit. Then after a nice shower I read for a bit and just relaxed out on deck in the sun. For dinner we had gyros again. We couldn’t find anything else that was cheap and sounded good as we wandered the area. We ate them on a bench by the water and were attacked by giant bugs that were attracted to the lights around us. Just thinking about it makes me shudder. Then we went back on board for the activity that night: belly dancers.

Oh man. . those belly dancers were something else. First a male one came out and started dancing with the high schoolers who just loved it. Then a female one appeared and started accosting the male guests. Basically slowly but surely they grabbed everyone. Half the room cleared out and we soon followed. We ran for our lives. We ended up running to the hot tub bar and playing cards before joining a few of the guests who were dancing. The belly dancers later came to that deck and I kept my eye out for the awkward male one to avoid him. *Shudder*

Friday April 11^th- Day 22- Aegina (Cruise Day 6)

The ship arrived at port later than usual so we took it as an opportunity to sleep in a bit. We had another half-day excursion. First we went to the Temple of Aphaia. By this point we were too tired to stand around and listen to all the information, and we got a little tired of taking so many photos. After, we headed to Kolonna which was actually right by the port. We went to the museum first, and then to the site. Sarah and Jen stayed behind at the museum, but Rachel and I explored the site and found an amazing ocean view awaited us. We then walked back to the pier and ran on the shop to grab our books and such since the ship was going to leave for a few hours. Since we had decided to stay off the boat for those few hours, we walked to the beach because Sarah wanted to get away from the high school kids, but there were annoying kids there and it was really dirty so I decided to head back to the pier where I sat and read and wrote for a bit. Then I went to look for internet and a postcard for my cousin. I don’t think it ever made it to him. Along the way I stopped in some shops and a grocery store to get some jelly for out bread, and some juice for Jen who was starting to get a cold. I was able to find a postcard for my cousin but no stamp. I ended up having to get a stamp in Germany. But overall I really enjoyed looking around the town and just having some alone time. I needed it. After returning to the boat I took a nap and then went to dinner and had an English style meal.

Saturday April 12^th- Day 23- Piraeus (Cruise Day 7)

We had another day trip on this day. We went to the Acropolis and the National Archaeological Museum and had lunch in an area of Athens near the Acropolis. The Acropolis was pretty much just as I imagined it. It was weird to be there. It’s just one of those things you saw on TV during the Athens Olympics and you read about and see pictures of, but never really imagine yourself there, kind of like when I saw “David”. I just tried to take it all in, which I feel like is impossible to do. After lunch which was okay and gave us time to talk to people on the ship a bit more, we went shopping in that area. It is known for its markets. It was fun to look, but by this time, it hurt even to think about spending money, and I was exhausted and slightly burnt. Sarah wanted to go take a look at a theater so we headed back to the Acropolis. I decided not to go back in to take a closer look at the theater, but to sit out on a bench in the shade and enjoy just being there.

We decided to eat dinner on board that night. We had planned to have the buffet, but when we got there I found out it was a seafood buffet, and for those of you who know me at least semi-well, I do not eat seafood. Jenn kept trying to convince me to try it, but I tried shrimp for them in Barcelona. I was not eating seafood. So I ordered off the menu. We played cards that night and were teased by one of the families on board. They worked for the US military in Germany and told us if we ever wanted American food, they had access to it and invited us to stay with their families when we came to Germany. But we already booked Munich and Berlin so we didn’t end up taking them up on their offer. But overall all the people we met on the cruise were very nice. Especially one of the receptionists who continually fixed my card which would either work on my door or the entrance and not both.

Sunday April 13^th- Day 24- Athens to Munich, Germany

After settling out accounts on board and checking out we looked for a place to do our laundry and failed. So we headed to the airport where we spent pretty much the whole day. We said farewell to Rachel and boarded our plane to Munich were we met up with Curtis another UC student from Royal Holloway and relaxed in the hostel with a few cups of tea as we prepared ourselves for the last week of our adventure. . .

. . .more to come in Part 4 (hopefully the last part)

Oh Europe. . .Part 2 (P.S. I'm DONE!)

IM DONE! Which is good news for all of you because that means you get more reading material. And I know many of you have been looking forward to it because I’ve had several comments over the last few days, but hey I had exams! But here ya go. Part 2 of the European backpacking adventure.

Saturday March 29^th Day 9- Vienna, Austria

After a 12+ hour train ride, we arrived in Vienna at about 8:30 a.m. and bought our tickets for the next leg of our trip: Prague. Then we went to the hostel and checked in. After we went exploring for a bit, but honestly I felt as though I was going to fall asleep standing up. And while as backpackers, we learned to sleep just about anywhere, this was not fun in the slightest. I was exhausted. 9 days in and all I wanted to do was sleep. But we saw Parliament and went to the Opera House to see if we could manage to get some tickets but unfortunately we weren’t able to snag any. After a nice lunch of Subway, I swear I’ve had so much Subway in Europe, which is funny because I never eat it back home, and don’t plan to when I return. . .I’m a Togo’s girl at heart. But anyway, back to the story. . . We headed back to the hostel to wait for our friend Adrienne who was on her way from Barcelona. But on the way, we had to get some necessities. Sarah’s shoes were dying and I had already run out of socks . . . so we took care of those issues and awaited the return on our dear Adrienne. Once she was in we tried to buy our train tickets to Switzerland, which was difficult because three of us had a Eurorail 3 country pass. No one knew how to book it so we had to wait til Prague.

Once we sorted ourselves, we went exploring a bit more. We went to Karlsplatz Church Place which was really nice. There was a man made pond/fountain-ish thing in front of the Church in which the image of the church was reflected. Gorgeous. We then decided to head to the palace (Schonbrunn) for our night exploration. After that we went to the Hundertwasserhaus. That was pretty cool too. Except for the walk there. First of all it was very long. . .and second. . .well I should warn you that the next bit is a bit sad. . .

. . . have you decided to continue?

Well you remember what happened to me my first day at Royal Holloway? Yes that right my ankle. . .Well I sprained it again in Vienna on the way to Hundertwasserhaus. Yea I’m a genius. No I’m a klutz.

Anyway we continued on as I limped and made it to the Hundertwasserhaus. It was really cool. It was constructed with no straight lines. And since it was night I didn’t get a great shot of it, but it was the idea behind it that impressed me most. After we headed back to the area by our hostel and got some bratwursts from a street vendor. They were yummy. And for dessert I tried the chocolate torte, a speciality of Vienna according to Adrienne’s guide book. Yea it wasn’t heavenly but it was good. Pretty satisfied, we headed back to the hostel and claimed our free glasses of wine and then went to sleep. Only 9 days down and we were feeling it.

Sunday March 30^th-Day 10- Vienna

We tried to pack in the activities on our second day. We woke up early just to see Vienna’s Boys Choir perform. We were supposed to be there by 8 for a 9:30 performance at mass. We were running late and couldn’t find the exact location. We ran into a man looking for the same place. It was about 8:25 at this point, or so we thought. As we were trying to figure out the location, the man mentioned how late he was and how little time he had. So we gave him a funny look. Then he told us “Well it’s 9:25”. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME! We had completely forgotten. We rushed and finally found the place and caught part of the performance . . . on a TV. because the church was so crowded and the boys choir was in some random place.

We then decided to get breakfast. We went to a cafe and had a pastry and a Wiener Melange (Vienna’s famous coffee) and planned the rest of the day.

We went back to the area we had been to the day before and explored a bit more. Then we went to find the famous clock that uses figures for each hour and cycled through them all at noon. But we arrived too early so we decided to find the Stadttemple which is the only synagogue in Vienna to have survived Kristalnacht. It was a bit tricky to find. And we had quite a good time trying to explain what we were looking for to a person who was cleaning up the plaza we were in. He spoke English but really had no idea what we were referring to. When he finally got it he directed us in the right direction. I really enjoyed seeing something that withstood all the trials and tribulations that Europe and the Jewish people were put through. But it was nearing noon so we headed back to the clock. Let me say: best clock ever! Each figure had a different song as it passed. It took a while but was kind of cool.

We continued our cultural day by having wienerschnitzel at a local restaurant. It was pretty good. But I learned yet another lesson: Never use those nice colored paper napkins to clean a stain. I spilled ketchup on my jeans. So I grabbed my napkin and some water and luckily got the stain before it set. It wasn’t until about 45 minutes later that I realized I still had a stain on my jeans. Not from the ketchup but from that festive yellow napkin I had used to clean myself up. Oh no! And this one wouldn’t come out either. . .yea it’s official. I was pretty much a mess this entire trip.

But after lunch we headed to Stephanplatz and climbed one of its towers. We didn’t go as high as we thought we were going to, but it was a very claustrophobic experience. It got narrower as we ascended its spiral steps and it wasn’t just in my head. But we climbed over 300 steps to get a view of Vienna. Back on the ground, we encountered a B-Boy group who performed. They were really good and hilarious. It was kind of like a boy band gone wrong.

Then we went back to the Schonbrunn and explored the grounds. We wanted to find the hedge maze (or labyrinth) but had a bit of difficulty. So we asked a man who was walking his dog. He didn’t speak much English so I went over to help as much as I could, but of course, my German flew out of my head and I tried to explain to him that we were looking for a game of some sort. On the way into the grounds he spoke to me a bit in German and I responded with a few laughs and very little German. When we got inside we pointed to what we had been looking for on a map and laughed. Had we just said labyrinth he would have known what we wanted. But the labyrinth was actually pretty lame so we just explored and enjoyed our afternoon.

We had another sausage for dinner and went back to the hostel. Since we assumed our train would be an overnight one, we didn’t book the hostel for the night. Our train was leaving first thing in the morning, so we decided to spend the night out. We went to the hostel and hung out for a bit and then went to an area they had recommended. Turns out it was Vienna’s red light district. So we left and proceeded elsewhere. We found a club that was highly recommended but got a little lost along the way. Eventually we found it, and hung out there. It was a Sunday night so no one was around. We sat on the couches and waited it out. I actually fell asleep about 10 minutes before we left and the girls had to wake me up to leave. By that time my ankle was throbbing and I could barely walk. We went to catch the bus back to the hostel and then grab our bags and head to the train station. Which is technically part of . . .

Monday March 31^st- Day 11- Prague, Czech Republic

Well I limped through the train station and seriously began to consider cutting my trip short. I could barely walk, how was I going to backpack around Europe? We took the 4 hour long train to Prague and I sat with my leg elevated the entire way. We got to Prague at about 10 am and had to withdraw money, since they use “crowns”. But the money only came out in 2000 crown bills. And no one wanted to break it for us. So we bought our train tickets for Switzerland to break our bills (The people in Prague knew how to book our tickets since our passes covered Germany, which we had to travel across to get to Switzerland) We bought our metro tickets and headed to the hostel. Once we arrived at the hostel we took a nice nap before adventuring out. We had a late lunch at a local cafe/restaurant, which went a bit awry since the woman gave and charged us for bread we asked not to have. But we walked around Prague, found me an ankle brace, and ran into a few people from Royal Holloway while we walked across the bridge towards the castle. Of course we did as we always did. . .budgeted it by walking around and exploring on our own. We even found another “cool” clock that represented life and death. . .but it was actually incredibly lame. It did not impress us in the least after Vienna’s. We ended up finding a place for dinner that had a good deal on a set menu. It was soooo good. I was incredibly full by the end of it that I actually waddled out of there. And it only cost about 10 euro. For once the exchange rate was somewhat in our favor. We head soup, dumplings and beef sirloin with a cream sauce and cranberries (yummmm) and apple strudel. . soooooo good! After we headed back to the hostel to wash up a bit before going on a pub crawl. We were the only people who turned up so we ended up just hanging out with the person running it who was from England. We chatted and had a good time hanging out before we left to have a nice sleep.

Tuesday April 1^st (APRIL FOOLS!)- Day 12- Prague

We woke up pretty early and went to see another “cool” clock that represented life and death at 11 a.m. ( I think. . .). . .but it was actually incredibly lame. It did not impress us in the least after Vienna’s. We walked along the river and saw the “dancing building”. We were all completely exhausted by this time. We found a park and enjoyed the sunshine. We then went for lunch and found a grocery store to find food for our incredibly long train ride to Switzerland. It was amazing how much food we got for only 4 euro. Prague can actually be really cheap! Just don’t go near a Starbucks or touristy area. We explored and headed back the hostel to hang out before catching our train.

I think this upcoming bit was the scariest part of my backpacking trip. As we were waiting for the train to arrive, 3 girls came up to us asking if we were to going to Frankfurt. We told them that we were going on to Switzerland. And they then proceeded to warn us to be careful and told us how they has been gassed and robbed when on a train into Germany. So of course, this scared us all. The train arrived and we got into our cabin. It was kind of like a summer camp experience. Bunk beds with very little space. We got all of our important stuff locked away or in money belts or somewhere on our persons. But there was a lock on our door and only one other person was to join us in our cabin. For the first few hours the other girls were making a lot of noise. They were trying to open their window and were freaking out. But who could blame them. We are pretty sure they didn’t sleep that night. But since the door had a chain lock (like in a hotel room) and the other woman in our cabin just slept, we were safe. We concluded that they must have had seats and not couchettes and therefore would have not had a lock on their cabin. This trip in total took us 17 hours. We ate our dinner and gulped down water and multi-vitamin juice (We were not going to get sick). But of course, we accidentally bought fizzy water, because we can’t read Czech and even after shaking it in the store we thought it was flat. . .yuck.But the sleep was good, oh man so good. We definitely needed that. We had one transfer on our trip and it was within Switzerland. Although there were two stops with the name Basel one in Germany and one in Switzerland, so that caused a great deal of confusion as you might imagine. Overall, it was a pretty uncomplicated train ride, outside of the scary story part and the 2 Basels.

Wednesday April 2^nd- Day 13- Interlaken, Switzerland

Welcome to Interlaken, Switzerland where you can do pretty much an extreme sport you have ever wanted to do and enjoy beautiful scenery and the cleanest, freshest water you will ever set your eyes on or drink. If I were to live in another country, it would be Switzerland. It’s really expensive. The Swiss Franc is basically the dollar’s equivalent but the numerical value assigned to things there just blows your mind. But I think Interlaken is where we had the best time even though things didn’t work out as planned. We originally planned to go paragliding, which is a little like hang gliding except with a parachute. You basically run down a hill and get lifted up and sail over the scenery. This of course scares those who are afraid of heights like me. I was so unsure about it. I’d much prefer to go white water rafting . . . and still would. However, we booked our trip for a time just prior to the actual ‘season’ so we were a bit limited in our options.

Once we arrived in Interlaken, we bought our tickets to Milan which is when Adrienne would be leaving us . . . but fear not she rejoins us later in the trip. We found our hostel, but I really enjoyed the walk to the hostel. We walked along side a stream. The water was so incredibly clear that you could see every rock on the bottom, and even a few CDs. There were snow-capped mountains everywhere we looked and we found ourselves constantly saying “Oh! Look at that one!” AMAZING. We checked in and found we had a room to ourselves. SWEET! We had amazing views out our windows. Basically this was just what we needed: a gorgeous place to relax a bit. Just because we wanted to relax didn’t mean that we had nothing urgent to do. Laundry topped our list. Laundry throughout Europe is so expensive and hard to find. We went to an information point to get info on parasailing and looked at swiss army knives.

Once we found an acceptable laundry place, aka the only one we could find, we went back to the hostel to change into our laundry clothes. Which actually wasn’t too bad for me, I found a shirt at the bottom of my bag which was perfectly clean and I had my gauchos which I had packed for Greece. It ended up costing us 11 Euros for laundry because the dryers just would not dry our clothes. But during the laundry time we got ourselves some cheese and bread. Yes that was a main staple. And guess what came in handy in cutting/spreading our cheese? That’s right ladies and gentlemen: the trusty backpacker’s spoon. Speaking of, I got my spoon in Switzerland. . that’s another story for another time though. After our “snack” which actually was more like a meal, we went to collect our laundry. . and of course it wasn’t dry. We spent so much time and money in that laundry place. And we realized that it was getting awfully close to Happy Hour. So we rushed and ran back to the hostel (the laundry place’s owner was just outside and must have thought we were crazy). We put our stuff in our room and grabbed a half pint of the local beer (yuck) and played some cards. Yes cards. . .see how handy they are?

We then began to debate what to do. We ended up hanging out with some of the people who worked at the hostel or had worked at the hostel. They took us to a kebab place. That was one expensive kebab. . .and that’s when you know it’s expensive to live in a place- when even their ‘cheap’ food is pricey. We ended up in the attic portion of the hostel, which had been transformed into a bouldering room. Basically you could ‘rock climb’ on the walls and ceiling. It was really cool. We just hung out and listened to one of the guys play this really cool instrument that is kind of drum like. I’ll have to ask someone the name of it. It was nice to just hang out.

Thursday April 3^rd- Day 14- Interlaken

We woke up just in time for breakfast, which was pretty much gone by the time we got there. . . just one of the many reasons to get out of bed a bit earlier. But we had clean clothes to wear so I was content. We called the paragliding place to check on the status of our ‘flights’ only to learn that due to the weather, we wouldn’t be able to go. So we decided to have a laid back day. We got our souvenirs. We had fun shopping for swiss army knives, which are actually decently priced. We got all of them engraved and between 4 girls we walked out of the store with about 15 knives. Later in the day we went to the post office and I shipped a package home with souvenirs for my family and my Venetian mask. A few weeks later it arrives in San Jose. . .oh sunny California how I miss thee. My mom described the condition of the box to me in these words: “It looks like it has been attacked by a pack of wild animals”. Thanks Swisspost/US Postal Service. Some things fell out of the box, but the majority of it made it home. That still frustrates me. . .

We then decided to explore. We walked across Interlaken and saw some people paragliding. What?! It was a bit frustrating to see, but we still ended up having a good time on our trip.

That night we decided to hang out with everyone from the night before. But first we decided to have a good dinner. We ate at a recommended place, and while a bit expensive, it was completely worth it. The waitress placed bread on the table and gave us water. We asked her how much the bread was because you never knew in Europe. She told us it was free. Let’s just say that the restaurant made some Americans very happy. We filled ourselves on free bread and unlimited water-the best tasting I’ve ever had. Switzerland- free water AND bread! That is so hard to find in Europe. Usually you ask for water and they charge you 3 euro for a little bottle that lasts all of 15 seconds. We had a nice 3 course meal with coffee ice cream to end it. Yum! I must say we ate a lot of good food on our trip. And for 3 courses the price wasn’t so bad since the franc = the dollar.

After we ate our yummy dinner we went back to the hostel and met with the group. We ended our night early though and like most other nights: slept.

So this is where part 2 ends. I am just under half way through my trip. But it is getting late here in England and I have a lot of sleep to catch up on. I’m just glad to be done with exams. One more year of school left. Just over 3 weeks left in England. I will be back soon enough.

Keep watch for part 3 coming soon!

Europe. . .how you tire me out.

I have returned. After 31 days of backpacking across Europe. Ive learned a lot in my travelling. One of the top things I learned was: Always carry a spoon. You laugh but they are useful utensils. You can spread, cut, and scoop.

I planned to visit 8 countries during my month long travels, but actually went to 9 (more on that later).

Internet was hard to come by and usually very expensive so I did not get to use it very often (especially during my week in Greece).

This is going to be a long one ladies and gents. And there will probably be more than one. And the beginning is much more detailed, because lets face it. . after backpacking for so long, your brain shuts down and you cant remember exactly what you saw and you stop writing things down.

So to begin where I left off.

Saturday March 23^rd- Day 2- Rome, Italy

After touring the Vatican we headed towards St. Peter’s Basilica. But unfortunately, because it was the day before Easter it was closed to visitors. I really wanted to go in, and have been told several times that I should have found a way (whatever that means), but alas. . .it becomes a reason to go back to Rome.

That night we had a lovely meal of pizza and salad with the questionable bread basket. . .which led us to a bit of trouble and joy later on in the trip. But we were careful as usual and just assumed it was not free. Dinner was amazing anyway. We even got a bit of gelato at the end. Oh Gelato how I love thee. . .I could see myself working at the gelato place on Berkeley’s campus. . .but that might be a bad idea.

We decided to do some night sight seeing so we headed to the Trevi Fountain. We got some gelato on our way there. . .yum. . .but actually headed in the wrong direction so we finished our gelato by the time we got there. Oh well . . . We threw in our coins and took lots of pictures and just admired it. I highly recommend it at night. Gorgeous.

We took the bus back, since the metro closed, and went to bed since we planed on getting up early to go to the Vatican like the rest of Italy.

Sunday March 24^th- Day 3 (Easter)

We woke up super early to head to the Vatican. Confused at what attire was appropriate, but lacking nice clothes we went in our jeans, which felt a bit weird to me, but it turns out a lot of Italians do it. . We got there before it started so we went back to our hostel and grabbed our bags and checked in at our new one, where our friend Adrienne, could finally join us. That was one crazy metro journey. Luggage, crowded, crazy, yelling Italians=lots of pushing when there is nowhere to go.

We then headed back to the Vatican but the intense rain, umbrellas, etc prevented us from seeing much so we left and headed to the Colosseum where the rain was even more intense and the metro was even crazier with the pushing. We got DRENCHED! There were puddles everywhere and all in all it was a very uncomfortable experience. You know it was raining hard when it turns up looking like snow in your pictures. We decided to just head back to the hostel and call it a short day. . .but of course after lunch the rain let up a bit. I got in touch with my friend Nicole from Berkeley who was with her group of Californians studying in Brighton and we planned on meeting for Easter dinner. Then we ventured out for further exploration. But not before putting to use another valuable lesson: Always bring at least 2 extra groceries bags. Why you ask? For your feet. Because lets face it tennis shoes don’t dry quickly and nothing is more uncomfortable than wet feet. Luckily I had a pair of dry thick wool socks so I did not need to use this tactic, but for others, it proved quite useful and quite entertaining for all.

1^st stop- Republica where we used expired coupons provided by the hostel to share some Big Macs and of course use their free toilets. . .which leads me to lesson 3: McDonalds and Starbucks are the only places who do not (usually) charge to use their toilets therefore always be aware of where one is located.

2^nd stop-Spanish Steps where we climbed to the top to get a beautiful view of the city. Of course the area around them was occupied by high end stores like Dior, so we left and headed to our

3^rd stop- Piazza del Popolo where we saw the Santa Maria del Popolo (the church) and wandered about the square for a bit, window shopping at shops we could never afford and eventually being led back to the Spanish steps, where we were to meet with the other California girls later in the night.

When we met the girls, we had no idea of where to eat, but had seen a place where the prices weren’t too bad in the area so we headed there. We managed to get a table together thanks to some kind American tourists who moved for us and we all had a great meal.

Then after heading our separate ways, my group headed back to the Colosseum to give it a second chance. But of course we had to have gelato. I mean it was Easter after all. The Colosseum was much kinder to us that night, perhaps it took pity on us.

Monday March 24^th-Day 4

Colosseum take 3. We got up and headed to the Colosseum where we stood in line for entry and were amused by the gladiators with cell phones and cigarettes. . yes you are back in ancient times my friend. .

But we got in and it was sunny unlike the day before (seems the Colosseum had warmed up to us over time). I really enjoyed walking around it. It was pretty much what I expected. . . I was glad not to be let down. And amazingly I got the EU citizen entry price by just flashing my visa, although that didn’t work for all of us. . .

We left and I bought a memory card for my camera, since 1 G was definitely not going to last me. After seeing other prices around Europe I actually don’t feel ripped off, believe it or not. So we went to the Roman Forum and walked through a gorgeous garden among the ruins. And just like a lot of places we went, there were great views.

We left and walked toward the Pantheon which I was excited for because I had studied it in art history. We stopped to take a few photos at the Piazza Venezia which had amazing sculptures out front. And finally arrived at the Pantheon, which had closed early because it was Easter Monday. Although they left the door open a bit so of course there was a queue (a line. . .I don’t know I get weird looks from people when I say queue) to peek inside. So we stood in it and took a peak and then headed for the Piazza Navano where we relaxed a bit with a late lunch.

Then we went on a search for cannolis and found the perfect miniature ones. I swear cannolis are now one of my favourite desserts. But sadly we found none that compared to the first ever again.

We continued our wandering and ended up in front of the Castel S. Angelo. And frankly, sick of castles, we kept walking and stumbled upon a building that from afar looked strangely like St. Peters Basilica. But no, how could we have walked THAT far? But we did. We were once again heading towards the Vatican for Vatican take 4. Which leads to the next lesson: Always walk a distance in a city before deciding that the city is too large to walk.

We went back to the hostel, by metro, because that really was too far to walk and relaxed before heading back to the area by the castle for dinner. By the time we were done with dinner we were all craving gelato and decided we needed to see a sight by night yet again. So we headed back to the metro and went to the central bus station and began to wander around in search of gelato. And BAM we stumbled upon the Republica yet again and as we walked we realized we were about to reach the Colosseum. So we got our gelato and hopped on a bus that would take us to our hostel and away from central Rome AKA the twilight zone.

Tuesday March 25^th-Day 5 Florence, Italy

We said our goodbyes to Rome and boarded a train to hell. . .well not really but it was the train from hell. We stood the entire way because the train was way too crowded and pretty much everyone had large bags. We got to our B&B and were told we had been placed in an apartment because they didn’t have the room we had requested. We got excited because that meant our own kitchen and everything. But wait. . .we get there and the place is really dirty, smells of smoke, and trust me no one would want to do any cooking there. With 2 beds, Sarah and I shared for the next two nights.

We left the flat and headed out. Florence was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining, there wasn’t a rushed feeling in the air. It was paradise to us at that point. We walked along the river and just enjoyed the weather before we had to be at the Uffizi which we had booked tickets for. We got to see the Birth of Venus, among other Botticelli and DaVinci, etc. works. Then we walked and window shopped picking up souvenirs and looking at handbags along the way. We arrived at the Duomo, a cathedral, which we would later run into by accident (pretty much the theme of our travels). Since it was late we could not go inside, but just the outside was great. It had such an ornate pattern.

After we continues walking and found a merry go round and a Italian band serenading a large group. We sat in the area for a bit and just enjoyed. Then we grabbed a quick dinner of kebabs the food of champions backpackers. After we headed to the grocery store to save a bit of money and ended up buying the dessert of the region: almond biscuits with a dessert wine. We had a bit of trouble getting the bottle open as the corkscrew we had was not very good. But overall, the dessert was good. The almond biscuits were the best part, could have just had those and been completely happy.

We then went to purchase our train tickets for the next few days so our adventures could continue.

Wednesday March 26^th-Day 6- Florence/Pisa

We woke up bright and early to make our reservation at the Galleria dell’ Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David. Okay that was amazing to me. So much larger and so much more detailed than I ever expected. It was a small gallery so there was not a ton else to see. But going just for that was worth it.

We then headed to the train station to get our train to Pisa. Once we got to the Leaning Tower of Pisa we took some of the usual photos with it (holding it up and all) and wandered the area for a bit before heading back to Florence where we met Jen’s Italian friends and bargained for a backpack for me since my duffel was already failing me. (Turns out that it probably would have been fine because Jen used it the rest of the trip to store everything she bought) But the backpack was worth it. It was so much easier to lug around.

We just looked wandered around the outdoor market before grabbing some quick food , heading in and playing cards. Another lesson: Always have a deck of cards. There are some nights when you are too tired to do anything else and they prove quite valuable when you are on a train or in need of a way to waste time in an airport.

Thursday March 27^th- Day 7- Venice

After catching our train from Florence to Venice, we arrived in a cold, wet Venice. Next lesson: Always have a map, especially a good one of Venice and if you get lost don’t be afraid to ask for help, but beware the nice tourist who thinks he is being helpful but in all actuality knows less than you.

After wandering around Venice, we finally found our B&B and grabbed some lunch. A calzone. . yum. Then I retraced our steps and got us back to the train station where we met some of Sarah’s friends from home, one of whom would be joining us for our Greece cruise. We went shopping for masks, went to Doge’s Palace, something I was excited for thanks to art history, and had some coffee/tea and a pastry before walking them back to the train station.

We then went in search of dinner and decided to go for a place with a set menu, which was actually very worthwhile. The owner seemed very nice and we asked him at the end where we could store our bags in the city and if he knew how much it would cost to do so at the train station for a few hours. He looked at us and told us he would store them in his back room for us for free and we could just drop them off in the morning. Umm . . sure?! Basically we took a poll and decided Venice was one of the friendliest cities.

Friday March 28^th- Day 8- Venice

We woke up and checked out of our hostel and dropped our bags off at the restaurant and spent the day wandering, picking up souvenirs, masks, postcards, and calling home. We had pizza at the same restaurant as a way to thank the owner and headed toward the train station to catch our over night train. Sadly the man had given us the wrong tickets, perhaps without knowing and instead of the couchettes we had requested, we were stuck in regular seats in a cabin for our long ride to Vienna. It was a long night, with very little sleep on my behalf.

Okay I’ve made it through the first week or so. . . Will continue with more shortly. Still ahead: Austria, Cezech Republic, more Italy, Greece, Germany, mystery country, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

P.S If you made it through this, you've read about half of the amount I had to write for my paper. . .which I should work on some more . . .

Roma

So with some spare time waiting for the girls to finish up in an internet cafe I decided to give you all an update. By the way, why isn't coffee served in an internet CAFE. . .why use the word cafe. . .

I moved out of my room Friday morning and spent the day with Sarah before we left for the airport. We go to the airport around midnight and slept there. ..or tried to. . .let's just say it was interesting. But at 430 a.m. we could check in so we did and our flight departed just after 6.

Upon our arrival, we were motioned through passport checks, which means no stamp for me. Strange. . . We then caught a bus to a metro stop and hoped on to the stop which would lead us to our first hostel. It was basically the spare rooms of a woman's apartment but was still cute.

Our first stop was the Vatican where we stood in line for about 3 hours to get inside because we wanted to see the Sistine Chapel. We made it just in time for the last entry: 4 p.m. So worth it! My highlights were: the Sistine Chapel (Adam and Eve and Giving the Keys to St. Peter), School of Athens, and these paintings that appeared to be 3 dimensional but weren't which were on the walls leading around the museum. . .

Time's up. . . Ill try to update again!

Finishing up February and what it coming up. .

Okay my apologies but this will be a quick run down of the last few weekends.


Feb 23rd-24th

I went to Wales with a tour group. It was an overnight trip and we got to stay in a hotel, which we took advantage of since we spent the night in watching TV instead of treking into town in the rain to go out. We saw lots of Wales since we drove around a ton. Got to see the Wales Museum of Welsh Life (yes thats the name) saw some more Abbey ruins and even had an opportunity to see Anthony Hopkins since he had just unveiled a statue that morning and was having lunch in the cafe of one of the castles (Caerphilly Castle). But we decided it wasn't worth waiting around for. . .
Overall it was a good weekend, but I officially burnt out on picture taking so there are not too many to job my memory.

My highlight of the weekend was going into a coalmine. We got all geared up and had a tour of the coal mine and got to hear some stories about it. It was really fun and something I never would have thought I would do.

On the way back we had a trivia game, but since most of us couldnt answer questions we kept getting prizes for getting it half right. I got 2 postcards and a key chain. SCORE!

The next weekend (Friday Feb 29-Monday March 3rd. . aka goodbye Feb. . ) I was headed to Brighton, but had a paper due on the day I got back so I worked hard all week and completed it! Just in time too because I was helping with a fundraising party for the swim team on Thursday night. We all put on our beach gear and put lots of fish and waves on the walls and raised a bit of money for our championships. But I woke up bright and early on Friday morning and caught the train to Brighton to be reunited with Nicole, my friend and ex-coworker from Berkeley who is studying at the University of Sussex- Brighton. She spoiled me by cooking me a lot of good meals and we had a nice relaxing weekend. We had a nice dinner on Friday night. Then on Saturday and Sunday two more girls who are studying at Warwick came down. So on Saturday we all went to this Italian place our director had taken the Brighton kids for lunch and then shopping and finally hit up the bowling alley (where we got IDed. . .to bowl?). I actually won. . imagine that. . although my score was still quite bad. Then the next day we went to the pier, ate some Chinese food (so good) and did a bit of shopping before heading home where we relaxed for a bit and then made dinner. Burrito night! California style! So much good food. The girls left early Monday morning but I stuck around until about 11 and then caught my train home and did some work before lecture.

Yay for a good weekend with a good friend!

The next week I had a lot to get done since it was the 3rd to last week of term. I caught up on some reading and started to organize my media paper. . .which is once again 4000-5000 words and worth 100% of my grade. But I organized a team social on Thursday night so took a break to have a bit of fun with my teammates. But then that weekend was dedicated to do reading for class and my paper.

Which brings us up to last week!
Let's see. . paper. . .paper. . .yep worked on my paper all week.
We had a friendly gala against another swim team on Tuesday night so that was fun but really it was all about getting ready for my swim competition. We left on Friday for Sheffield for the British University Championships. We stayed in some nice apartments since we booked our accommodation late. I shared a room with Lauren who is from Colorado but we shared the apartment with two of the guys since the girls couldnt all fit in one apartment. We went out as a team on Friday night and competed on Saturday afternoon for our division (3 since this is the first year we were a recognized team by the university). I swam in both the medley (of which I swam breaststroke) and freestyle relays, 100 meter free and 50 breast. Yes why breast? Im so horrible at it but I wasn't really given a choice. My times weren't too horrible considering I train for 2 hours a week. We then competed in the finals for our division on Sunday where I DQed the relay. Oops. . .and did worse than the day before but not by too much. We headed back Sunday night and ran into a bit of trouble with the trains since the doors closed on one of the girl's bag but we all got home and all had our stuff with us.

Basically this week has been stressful since I head off for my travels on Friday. I just got my first draft of my media paper out and still have to edit it a bit. I have reading to do for my bio psych class and am in the process of packing up my room and packing for the 4 weeks I will be traveling and all I have is one carry-on size duffel back. . . this should be interesting. I just got my final exam schedule and will be done on May 21st which gives me some time to go to the places I really wanted to go to but didnt fit in like Ireland and Madrid.

I also got my registration appointment for Berkeley but unfortunately the only 2 psych courses I know I need to take are at the same time. And since I dont know exactly how my courses here will factor in I might end up having to repeat a course. . .oy vey but Im hoping for the best and even though I got a bad appointment time at least it is once I am back in England so I don't need to stress about it while I travel.

So here is my schedule for the break:


Friday March 21st-leave for Airport
Saturday March 22nd- Depart for Rome @ 6 a.m.
Sunday March 23rd- Rome
Monday March 24th- Rome
Tuesday March 25th- AM Depart Rome for Florence
Wednesday March 26th- Florence
Thursday March 27th- AM Depart Florence for Venice
Friday March 28th- Venice PM Depart- take overnight train to Vienna
Saturday March 29th- Vienna
Sunday March 30th-Vienna
Monday March 31st-Prague
Tuesday April 1st- Prague
Wednesday April 2nd- Interlaken, Switzerland
Thursday April 3rd- Interlaken, Switzerland
Friday April 4th- Milan
Saturday April 5th- Milan Depart @ 6 p.m. to Athens, Greece
Sunday April 6th-Sunday April 13th- Greece cruise through easy cruise
Sunday April 13th- Depart Athens @ 6 pm to Munich
Monday April 14th- Munich
Tuesday April 15th- Munich to Berlin
Wednesday April 16- Berlin (celebrate my 21st birthday at midnight with a group of my friends!)
Thursday April 17- AM Depart from Berlin to Amsterdam
Friday April 18th-AM Depart from Amsterdam for Paris
Saturday April 19th- Paris
Sunday April 20th- Paris depart afternoon and take the Eurostar back to London



Monday April 21st-Sunday April 27th: Last minute editing of my paper and studying for final exams

Also my exam schedule

Thursday May 8th- Bio Psych exam
Friday May 9th- History- Politics of Postwar Europe Exam
Friday May 16th- Cognitive Psych Exam
Monday May 19th- Social Psych Exam
Wednesday May 21st- Personality Psych Exam

And then Im done! YAY!


I will try to keep you all updated as much as possible as I travel.

February may be a short month but it can fit in a lot Part 2

Okay here goes part 2. Unfortunately the internet is too shaky to load pictures, even takes ages to load them onto the internet in general, so at some point (cross your fingers) I can get some up in some form.

So I finished up Edinburgh (sadness. . .those were some good days) and now am moving onto the weekend of February 16th and 17th. I went on two separate day trips. Leeds Castle and Canterbury on Saturday and Oxford and the Cotswolds on Sunday.

So we left pretty early on Saturday and spent a few hours on the tour bus before arriving at Leeds Castle, which might I say is simply gorgeous. It is still used for celebrities and such to stay when there is an event. We had about 2 hours there. We walked through the grounds and saw hundreds of swans, ducks, and GREEN! Yes green in February. Once we arrived outside the castle (p.s. there's a golf course there; how cool would that be?!), a few of us (aka me and the other Californians who went) decided to hit the hedge maze first since we didnt know how long it would take us. After reading the info sheet, we saw that on average it takes 20 minutes for people to complete. Once inside, we decided to race, which scared me because let's face it, being trapped in a maze, not cool. . . Somehow though I managed to win and made it to the stone grotto in the center first (in about 10 minutes might I add) and watched the rest scurry around from my post (ah sweet victory. . .) After everyone completed the maze we headed into the groto which was really cool. There were mosaics, fountains, and a cool pathway which led us back out of the maze. We then headed to the castle. It was ridiculously large and it took us a good deal of time to wander through. What's nice about this castle is that it once belonged to a private family, but now belongs to Britain . It is surrounded by water, a man made moat, and since it was a nice sunny day the water spaw-kled (its better if you imagine a little british boy saying it). We could see the golfers as we approached the entrance. Once in, I was just in amazement. A lot of people liked the maze best, but just the immensity of this place and how it was furnished got me. I'm a sucker for interior design and some of the more modern rooms were just perfect. . .somehow. . .About half the castle was restored to look like it did back in the day and the other half modernized when it was purchased by a private family in the late 1920s.
One of the conference rooms was actually the site of a meeting between the Egyptian President and Israeli Foreign Minister for the preparation for Camp David Accords.
This place was amazing. There was a hot air balloon to get views of the grounds, a little train to take you up to the castle and peacocks!! Somehow that was really exciting to us.

So we got back into the bus and headed to Canterbury to see Canterbury Cathedral and spend some time in the town, after a lunch break, our tour guide led us to the Cathedral and we were able to look around for a bit before it closed. Now in all honesty I do love Cathedrals and Abbeys and all that, but they do start to look alike after a while. While Canterbury Cathedral reminded me of the one in York, it had its own personality that I really liked. We walked around the crypt portion, which is more like some seculded prayer areas and around the nave. And of course, the stained glass was one of my favorite parts, especially because the sun was out and when I rounded a corner I could actually see the colors of the glass reflecting on the wall. But it was a pretty quick visit that left us some time to look around the main street in town before heading home. We got home pretty early, which I'm not used to considering evry other tour I went on we have returned super late, but all in all it was a good day. I got some work done and rested up for the next day.

SUNDAY: We headed to one of the small towns in the Cotswolds, a popular vacation area for Englanders. It was a very sweet little town but there wasn't a lot to do. We walked around a bit, sat and watched the ducks, fed them a bit of muffin that my friend had brought along and hit up a candy shop before boarding the bus on the way to Oxford. Oxford was fun. We explored some of the buildings associated with the University including Radcliffe Camera, part of the Oxford Library, which was closed off and I didn't realize people could actually study in there until my friend Megan who studied there last fall filled me in. We saw St Marys Church but didn't get a chance to go to the top as recommeded by Megan. Our tour guide was a bit unorganized that day. He sent us off for our free time before we even got the opportunity to see what was around. But we did get to go into Christ Church, aka Harry Potter mania. Now I don't read or watch Harry Potter so I wasn't super excited, but what amazed me is that people actually eat in that dining hall. And that they have to wear appropriate attire if they go to dinner at a certain time. WOW! But most of Oxford was just a walking tour and a chance to grab some lunch. Then it was back on the bus for another early night home, which was good because I had a very long week, with Scotland and 2 tours and was in desperate need of some down time.

That week was a good week as well. One of the girls on my floor turned 19 so we had a little floor party to celebrate and all had to dress as our favorite things. I decided to dress as California/warm weather and threw on a pair of shorts and tanks top and began missing the warmness of California and the fact that I could wear that to work. We went to the Student Union all dressed as our favorite things and just had a good time hanging out and dancing. It was nice to bond with my floor mates.

I had a lot of work to get done during the week though because the very next weekend I was heading to Wales for the entire weekend!

More to come . . . stay tuned! (And once again I tried photos. . .sorry!)