David's World Tour Begins...

Berlin - Back to Germany!

droberts70 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:45:00 GMT

Arriving at the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin was spectacular. It was as if it was brand new- HUGE with steel and glass. Here the 'S-bahn' (the faster metro) was elevated (in some parts) and the major section made a ring around the city. It provided some beautiful sights of the city and gave a better perspective of where you were. Big, tall and long buildings stretched down the city blocks that seemed to be like 2 of DC's city blocks. The city was just beautiful- more than I had imagined.

In Berlin, they offer a free tour that lasts about 3 hours. It gives you a taste of the city's history and it's FREE! (tipping is not mandatory, but nice- it is afterall 3 hours and the guides are great with history and character). The tour took us all over the city and talked about Berlin's rocky past with Hitler and we even got to see where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the hotel window! haha. (see, Berlin isn't all dank and gray with history.) The Reichstag, their Parliment building, was hugely impressive with a glass egg dome. You can go in, free of charge, up to the top and see the views of the city- the lines can be long, but take your time once inside.

Denmark, Sweden & Norway

droberts70 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:59:00 GMT

After Amsterdam it was 3 short trips up north mostly due to cost. Copenhagen Denmark, Stockholm Sweden and Oslo Norway (home of the Fjords). It was much colder up north which was expected, though it had been cool since leaving Italy (where did my summer go?). These 3 countries were also not on the Euro and had their own currency. It was funny because here things were priced like "62kr" for a cup of coffee. It was mind boggling to see, but I knew it translated to like 3 or 4 US dollars. The biggest kick I got was when we were in Oslo Norway at a TGI Fridays (don't give me grief for that! I was hungry and didn't want to spend hours looking for something to eat! haha). The burgers on the menu were 159! haha. The bill for Alan and I ended up being like 495! Of course it wasn't $500, but it was still a bit pricey- about $80 total. I'd make jokes about how I could never a-fjord to live in Oslo. haha. All three cities were beautiful and the people were kind and friendly. I just wish their prices were more like 1.99 rather than 199. haha.

To save time and money, we utilized the night trains. We took the night train up to Copenhagen from Amsterdam and spent the day wandering around the streets. Then we took the night train up to Stockholm and stayed for a day to rest and to tour the city, then it was back on the train for a trip over to Oslo to see the famous Fjords. We didn't take the overnight, so we got in late afternoon and rushed to catch a boat over to the Viking Boat Museum. How awsome to see old Viking vessels and try to imagine how horrible it must have been for them to sail with no real comfort on the boats. No wonder they pillaged! haha. The next day we took the train over to Flam, Norway to where the Sognefjord Fjord is. The scenery on the way to Flam was spectacular, yet almost lunar in a way. The hillsides and mountains gave way to valleys (not as deep as Switzerland) with lakes of water. The ground wasn't grassy either, but rather rocky terrain. Sparse houses and shacks dotted the area making you wonder how they live in such a desolate area and yet moreso- how do they survive in the winter with snow? You would think that the snow would cover them up completely! Like in Switzerland, the views were hampered by falling clouds, but as before, it added to the beauty and mystery of the surrounding area. We caught a train in Flam that decended down to the bottom of the mountain, passing waterfalls and beautiful canyon views, to where we caught a boat that cruised along the Fjord. The water was still and dark- I figured that's probably what the Lockness would look like. We moved through the valley of the mountains slowly watching the beauty unfold before us. I liked the fact that there wasn't a mess of other tourist boats passing, like on the Rhine river. It was just us and the Fjord. At the end of the almost 2 hour ride, we passed a smaller section of the Fjord- it was only 12 meters wide and 25 meters deep (that should be like 30 something wide and 80 something deep, right?), yet there was a big cruise ship beyond that small section. I know that the Fjord connects with the Atlantic Ocean, but how'd that thing squeeze in? haha. At the end of the cruise, we hopped a bus that took us to the closest train station, Myrdal, for the long ride back to Oslo. The next day we left to go south to catch up with the night train to Berlin. I had read that it was to be a 2 part journey from the city of Malmo (near the Swedish border) via Ferry for 3 hours and then train for the remainder to Berlin, but when we got our tickets, all we had was train reservations in a sleeper car. As we boarded the train in Malmo, we met a nice Indian woman from Gotenburg, Sweden named Indrani. She was funny and immediately we became friends. She was traveling alone to meet up with a friend in Prague, leaving her husband and child behind for the weekend. We chatted a bit, telling her our stories of traveling, as the rest of the cabin filled up and we all hunkered down for a good-night's sleep. Then came something amazing! The train stopped! haha. Yea, that's kind of amazing in itself- if you've ever slept on a train, it's really good when it stops because it is quiet and not squeaky. But this stop wasn't a usual train stop- it seemed to last a while and from the loud speakers from outside, it seemed like we were at a freight yard or something. Then suddenly the train lurched forward as if it hit something (not hard, but like they were adding on another car). This got our attention more, so we looked out the window to see that our train was being loaded onto a ferry boat!! I've seen cars on a boat, but a train?! Sure enough the passage to Berlin was train and ferry together. We were allowed off the car and Alan and I left to go up on deck to look around. It was dark outside with only the lights shining from the shore of the city and the stars in the sky. The water was calm too- nothing like the ferry ride from Ireland to France. We walked around exploring for a while before returning below deck to the train for sleep. After about 3 hours I was woken up by the train being unloaded from the boat and then we were on our way to Berlin. A really cool experience! As we arrived to Berlin, we said our good-byes to Indrani and went to find our hostel.

Amsterdam!

droberts70 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:40:00 GMT

Before arriving in Amsterdam, we Luxembourg and Brugge were two small quaint towns. These were just stop-overs on the way to Amsterdam and were only one day trips.

Amsterdam was, well, Amsterdam... yummy Falafels and Febo (machines with food in them!). It was my 2nd time there so it felt a bit like home. It was fun to take time and relax- we even got in a couple of movies...The Simpsons and Disturbia.

I still love the canals and architecture of Amsterdam.

Germany

droberts70 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:26:00 GMT

Next- Munich Germany, was fun with it's Beer Gardens and famous Beer Haus, the Hofbräuhaus- the quintessential Bavarian beer hall. Here I enjoyed BIG beers along with a BIG plate of food of sausages, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. Mmmmm. We stayed at a hostel close to the fairgrounds where part of the Oktoberfest celebration is held. They were busily getting it ready, setting up HUGE tents for the HUGE crowds. I can't imagine the crowd of people decending upon Munich at the last week of September for Oktoberfest- the Hofbräuhaus gave me a bit of a glimpse... lots of people, lots of beer, lots of inexpensive food (you need it to help with the beer!) and lots of umpha songs and fun! Oh, don't forget about the lovely ladies selling the HUGE pretzels too (but don't buy them here as they are too expensive). It was fun to see the waiters and waitresses carrying handfulls of the huge beer mugs to tables- sometimes as many as 5 or 6 in one hand! EVERYONE who was there was having a good time- some, maybe too good of a time. haha. But hey, it's Munich! The city was charming and had a large park area with a pond. And the weather was nice enough to catch a glimpse of the nude sunbathers in the park. In the town square was a tower clock, the Glockenspiel, unfortunately partly under reconstruction, is famous for its 11am, Noon and 5pm showings of nearly life-sized figures that perform for the crowds below. Munich, like other parts of Germany have 2 types of train transport- the metro or U-bahn or the intercity fast train, the S-bahn. We got to ride the S-bahn free due to our eurorail passes, but there really aren't any turnstiles that keep others from jumping on and off the S-bahn for free. Perhaps there are train officials that will check for tickets, but I never saw any.

After Munich was Rothenburg Germany- part of the 'Romantic Road' and I believe the best part. It is a small little town with BIG charm. Beautiful houses fill the city that is surrounded by a wall with towers. It was a treat to stay here as it seemed that many tourists didn't stay in the town, so at night things seemed to slow down a bit. In Rothenburg there was a nice treat called Schneeballen. It was a ball of dough, deep-fried and covered with things ranging from powdered sugar all the way to white chocolate. I had read about Schneeballen in the travel books and how they are only 'tourist' food as the locals don't like them, but I found them to be pretty good. I mean, a baseball sized ball of fried dough dipped in chocolate- what's not to like? haha. Rothenburg is beautiful with it's colorful houses, flowers and cobble stone streets. It was a great town to relax in.

From Rothenburg there was the Rhine river and a hostel castle in Bacharach... and many other castles along the Rhine river. The boat ride down the river gave you a glimpse of many castles, some are now home to hotels or hostels. The hostel castle we stayed in gave you a glimpse of what it was like in the middle-ages as you had to walk up a million something steep steps to get to the castle- a long journey with a 40lb backpack on! Didn't they ever hear of an elevator or tram?! hahaha. But after sweating and huffing and puffing, the view from the castle was awsome-it overlooked the Rhine and provided beautiful evening pictures with the moon looming overhead in the distance. From Bacharach, we took the cruise up the Rhine to Koblenz to catch the train onward to our next destination.

Switzerland

droberts70 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:23:00 GMT

Switzerland was awsome! It was like you would imagine it- HUGE Mountains, DEEP valleys, green grass and Swiss Army Knives gaLORE! They also have a cool grocery store called the Coop (co-op). It provided us with nutritious, delicious and cheap meals. There was a nice 'Betty Bossi' line of products of pasta salads, etc. that came with a cool bend-n-snap spoon and fork combo and a napkin! Those Swiss think of EVERYTHING! haha. It is amazing to see the alps with glaciers looming overhead. Unfortunately, my time in Switzerland was with clouds and some light rain so the only time I got to see the glaciers and snow-capped Alps was when I first arrived. :-( But the clouds still added a bit of charm. I mean, I can't say that I've ever been to a place where the clouds roll down the mountainsides and into the valley like fog. It was spectacular. Everything was green AND clean and the lakes produced by the glaciers up above were a beautiful turquoise blue. I felt like I could drink from the streams (and probably could, but didn't). There were tiny towns littering the valleys and the higher elevations of the mountains. I could imagine how awsome it must be to live on the edge of the mountain and looking down at the town below you. I managed to take in a couple of nature hikes- going up the mountain in a gondola to Mannlichen (was that 'liken' or 'licken'? haha. No comments here- the name is a bit bizarre.) hiking up higher to Kleine Scheidegg and then down to Wengen. Spectacular views all around. A funny thing here was that the cows have bells, some that range in different size, so as you wander around the trails, you hear an orchestra of bells ringing. I don't really know the history of the bells, but do know that they are also on the houses too. I also saw an awsome waterfall called Trummelbach falls. It is a combination of about 10 falls that spewed out about 20,000 liters of water a second! It is hard to imagine that amount of water isnt it. The highest mountain peak in Switzerland is called Jungfraujoch and they have mountain trains that will take you to a station high above the clouds to see the Alps and glacier, but as I had mentioned- it was too cloudy and didn't give us a good view at all. Plus it was about 4 degrees celcius, with snow, and me without my snow outfit!! The hostel we stayed at was Balmer's and was one of the best hostels in the area. They provided several adventure options (who knew Switzerland was also an adventure destination) with things like Sky Diving, Glacier Climbing/Trekking and Canyoning-that included rappelling (on a small scale), jumping/traversing canyons and swimming in the waterfalls. At the hostel we met 4 girls from Maryland! We had a fun time hanging out with them at the hostel happy-hour where I enjoyed playing flip-cup! haha. The currency in Switzerland is the Swiss Franc and here was our first taste of higher prices than the Euro, but not too high. Unfortunately before I left, I didn't have a chance to find out if Swiss Miss was from Switzerland...anybody know? snicker

From Interlaken came short stops in Luzern and Bern. Both had their flavor of being medieval cities. I liked Bern a bit more, not only because it was the Capitol of Switzerland, but because it had an interesting past-time for the locals. The river Aare runs next to the city and with quite a current. Along side the river at certain parts of the bank, you will see a red handle connected to stairs. In the warm weather, the locals (and some tourists too) will jump in and float down the river. The catch here is that you have to get out before reaching the end (and it is a scary end, with a dam and choppy-churning water!!)and in order to do so, they have to reach one of the red handles and climb up the steps onto the bank. I didn't risk it, though the water was freezing anyway. Another interesting site in Bern is the Bear Garden. It is actually a sad sight as it is a concrete ring with a couple of Bears in it. The bears are part of Bern's history as it was the first animal killed by a Count while on a hunting expedition during the construction of the city. I guess they want to protect the bears they have in captivity, but it seems like it only makes it worse. Plans are to build a better pen for them, though I (and many other people) feel that something else should be done- like set them free.

Wandering Around Europe

droberts70 — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:07:00 GMT

Here I am again, with another long delay and people wondering where I am and where I've been. It has been a bit more of a challenge than I had hoped to write in my journal, still with trying to find time and available/cheap internet places. And now with long gaps it almost makes it even harder to play catch up. Right now I've scored FREE use of the internet in the hostel I'm staying in, in Krakow Poland, but of course with busy days and other people wanting to use the only 2 computers available, it makes it hard to write, but no worries... I will try my best to catch you up!

I think I left off with Florance Italy. I could give you the 5 second tour and say... "From Florence, I finished Italy with Rome, Napels and Venice. Then on to Interlaken, Luzern and Bern Switzerland, Munich Germany, Rothenburg Germany, Bacarach (Rhine River) Germany, Luxembourg, Brugge (or Bruges) Belgium, Amsterdam, Copenhagen Denmark, Stockholm Sweden, Oslo Norway, Berlin Germany, Prague Czech Republic and now Krakow Poland." but that isn't the same as telling you a bit about them, right? haha. Well, grab a cup of coffee/tea and/or cigarette and relax... it's going to be a bit long. :-)

I will catch you up on Italy in a min...

Florence

droberts70 — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:16:00 GMT

The next destination was Florence Italy. Home of the famous Duomo, Statue of David (the real one), the Ponte Vecchio (bridge with the jewlery shops on it) and a few others. I will have to say it is famous for the Supermerkat where I would buy these yummy pasta salads that was mixed with olives, tomatoes, corn, green beans and red kidney beans. I was in heaven and it was big enough for a meal (which I ate the salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner!) It was also on sale for 1.99 euro! Cant beat that! Anyway, Florence was a crowded city and I do mean crowded. Forget ever complaining about tourists in Washington, DC...it seemed like the whole world was here at the same time I was. Our first evening, we grabbed a salad and a couple of yogurts and headed for a bench in front of the Duomo and snacked while watching life. There were tons of vendors selling their wares- more here than anywhere I have seen traveling (outside of NY). Who knew you could come to Florence and get a "Pradda", "Guccii" or "DKNYC" fashion for a few euro. haha. I got the impression that Florence doesnt like these vendors peddling their products too much, because as the polizi would drive up, these men would swiftly pack up their stuff (usually laid out on a huge sheet they could just pick up) and start to walk off, all the while eyeing the Polizi to wait for them to leave, then lay down the sheet and start selling again. I laughed thinking how Italy is high in fashion and here, just like in America, anyone can be a cheap fashion star.

On the second day in Florence, we were going to see if we couldnt catch a glimpse of the statue David. A glimpse you wonder? Well, I must admit, Europe isnt cheap and neither are their museums, etc. Italy especially is expensive with admissions and to see David it would cost 10 euros! Back in Cinque Terre, a girl secretly told us (which I will blab...er share with you know) and that was... dont pay the money, because you can see David in all his well-known glory from the exit door. Thats right! He conveniently stands facing the exit doors so all you have to do is wait for people to come out and wha-la there he is. But today we couldnt see David or any other museum as it was Monday and everything worth seeing like that is closed. Sundays and Mondays in Europe. No worries, we walk around exploring more of Florence and watching all the 'rich folk' explore the riches of jewlery on the Ponte Vecchio. I had stopped to laugh at this funny sight of Micky and Minnie Mouse paper cut-outs with yarn leggs dancing to music. The vendor picked Micky to show that there was nothing but magnets on his feet and put him back down and like magic, he went back to dancing. I was amazed and intrigued. I wanted one. For 2.50 euro who cared if it didnt work. But me with no real jam box (how 80's), I decided against it. Besides, I thought there had to be a gimick of some sort like he had a big magnet something in his bag that was conveniently placed on the opposite side of the paper dancers, across from the jam box. But in any case it was entertaining.

That evening we decided to head to a bar called 'Moyo'. Another tip given to us from the Cinque Terre gals was that this bar serves appetizers- a full spread of them- and they are free as long as you buy a drink. We think... 'Free Food!' and check it out. We grab 2 beers (10 euros) and wait for the food. We meet a cute young American girl, Hellen, who had been studying in Florence and was waiting for her friend Melissa to make her way back to Florence, before they headded back to the States in 2 days (she is from Tennessee). The food comes out, but by this time we've spent 20 euros by having 2 more beers. Just like we were told, the food was delicious and f-r-e-e, though I think we probably spent about 50 euros talking and drinking that night. A black man joined our table- he was working in Florence, but I think lives in Milan. His name was Kelvis and he was in fasion photography. He excitedly showed us his website... www.kelvisinvisible.it which was quite interesting I must say. I only got the 5 second tour, so if anyone visits that site and sees anything 'nasty', it wasnt my fault. hahaha. His stories were interesting and entertaining- in my beer goggle state, I repeated to him that I wanted to be his apprentice and learn fashion photography. I do have a nice Nikon digital SLR camera waiting for me at home damnit and I want to put it to good use! haha. After a few more beers and conversation, we all went our own way.

The next day we were leaving, but were determed to stop by and see David and Alan wanted to visit the Utzi (?) museum. Holy crap- the lines at 8:30 in the morning were stretched around the block. The Utzi museum was out and luckily the exit door for David paid off as we got to see the HUGE white marble statue. As we passed the Duomo to get to the train station we walked through a sea of people. Groups, groups and more groups, each with an umbrella or flag high in the air to distinguish themselves. Good-bye Florence.

Cinque Terre Continued...

droberts70 — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:03:00 GMT

The hike from Corniglia took us to the next town of Vernazza. I had seen pictures in the Rick Steves book of Vernazza, but it didnt do justice to what you would see before you as you turned a corner and saw the town below. We walked through the town and had slices of pizza and gelato (mmm gelato!)I actually ate gelato sandwiched in a croissant. I guess a true French/Italian ice cream sandwich? We sat and admired the locals and tourists meander around, some sunbathers and swimmers in small coves that shared the small townspeople's boats. There were several kids and even some adults climbing up a steep rocky cliff and diving into the ocean. We caught the train back to Riomaggoire to head back to the hostel. We did enough for one day and saved the last part of the hike for the next day.

Back at the hostel, we sat outside and admired the surrounding beauty of the countryside and La Spezia below us. Natalie came out with the other Australian girls and before we knew it we were with wine and conversation. More and more people joined as the evening progressed, sharing stories and trips. Here, I learned the word 'dodgey' which is the Australian word for suspect. Also did you know you can mix diet coke or regular coke with red wine and it is acually a real drink in Spain? I forget the mix conversions, but it tastes a bit sweet like sangria. I joked with the woman who showed me this concotion that people back at home would consider me white trash with such a drink...at the next wine festival I'll say... "I'd like a nice bottle of red wine and a side of Pepsi please." haha.

The next morning was a bit tough- small hangover. We took the train to Vernazza for our last hike... Monterosso. The hike started intense. We were both a bit dehydrated, but had water bottles in hand as we started up steep stairs that seemed to go to infiniti! I kept panting to Alan that we could turn around at anytime and just take the train to Monterosso.. why hike? we already did the first 3... who cares about the last one right? But we perservered and made the hike up and I am glad we did. More beatiful scenery as this part winded through the many olive trees with nets for catching them at harvest and wine vineyards clinging to the steep hills. Monterosso was more of a resort town with a sandy beach and it was also the place I had hoped to swim. When we arrived the beach was littered with people and of course men selling you chairs and umbrellas for a mere 20 euro! yikes! We rested a bit had lunch (I had a yummy salad with Anchovies) and then took the train back to Riomaggoie to hopefully get to the spot of the rocks where Alan was swimming the day earlier for a swim. This time I was going to jump in. I swore! Besides, I was hot, sweaty and ready to swim. The train took us back and we hiked over to Manarola, where the rocks were, and no one was there. We climbed down, but this time the surf was a bit more than last time. Alan, of course, jumped in. Me... I contemplated and anticipated my move. Luckily there was a boat landing about a hundred meters from the rocks, so I decided to walk over there to enter the water where other people were. Alan swam over to meet me. At the landing, the water was still pretty deep. Dark blue with big boulders below. I threw aside all fears and jumped in. It was great! I floated around for a while and didnt want to get out. It started raining at one point (small shower) and still, I stayed in the water enjoying the comfort. Later as we waited for the train to arrive, I sat in the evening sun watching the milky white waves crash on the rocks below. It was funny to me to see cars on the hillside wind their way down. It is so misleading the distance and even though they appeared small and thus far away, the scene looked like something from a minature train scene or as I thought, like the castle scene from Mr. Rogers where Lady Lane (is that her name) lived and the little train would go around. haha. I know, my mind thinks of off the wall things. Anyway wasnt Lady Lane always drunk? Her face was always red, but I guess thats another story.

Cinque Terre aka Heaven

droberts70 — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:12:00 GMT

I guess here I have to fill you in on the Rick Steves book as I had mentioned earlier. I dont know if youve seen his travel shows in the South, but in DC-MD, his shows frequented the travel programs. I used to watch him, as lame as he was, because at the time I was gaining my knowledge of traveling. Who would have thunk that he was a world-wide phenomenon! I found a 2007 Europe travel book of his in our hostel in Madrid and kinda sorta took it... BORROWED it! (I plan to leave it for someone else, but as Alan says.. It will be outdated by then!). In it he had travel itineraries and plans that we didnt have and it was wonderful! One place he mentioned was Cinque Terre (pronounced Chinka Terra) Italy. There were 5 costal towns linked together by several paths and a train station. Many didnt allow cars in. So we decided to check it out and I am glad we did. We stayed at a hostel that was waaaaaaaaay up in the mountains- in Biassa. It was funny because when we booked this hostel, we were told that there was only one bus that went from the hostel to the train station in La Spezia (next to Cinque Terre) and the last one was at 8:10pm. Luckily we were to arrive a bit before then. We were doing great with train travel on the trip so far- a bit tired for having to plan out ahead since several journies needed reservations. The train from Arles was a LONG one, but it was a very scenic one. It took us along the coast past Nice France, Monaco and Monte Carlo. You should have seen the people on the train that got off at Monte Carlo. haha. Oh, la la! The next stop was in Italy. Definitely a language shock. Ciao! Gratzi! Our train changed, going to La Spezia, and when we arrived at the station and walked to the correct platform, a train was pulling in. The sign said it was a different destination (Torino - winter olympics), but it was old info- departed at 16:27 and our train to La Spezia was at 16:40. So, we jumped on the train and found our reserved seats. Alan commented that he wasnt sure if it was our train or not, but I assured that it was and that the display was just not updated. In Italy many platform displays are not digital- they are the flip kind, so I just assumed it was broken. Can you tell where this is going? haha. So, the train like starts moving and like since I still dont have a watch, I ask Alan... so... what time is it? He glances at his watch and nervously says that the train is leaving a wee bit early than 16:40...more like 16:32. Ah, so what... a few min early. Maybe there wasnt anyone left on the platform. Well, I started to worry a bit- after all we needed to catch that bus! So, I walked down to where the conductor was sitting and asked him if we were on the train to La Spezia. He smiled and said.. NO. Torino. Opposite direction. I looked at him shocked and a bit miffed and said.. Nooo Tornio train departed at 16:27 and La Spezia was at 16:40 (as if he didnt know his train schedules). His only reply... it was late. And welcome to Italy! hahaha. Hopefully anyone can attest that the trains here are late. If they arent, then the platform that they arrive/depart on are not the right ones. It is funny. Now instead of relying on departure times as identities for what train you need (since many dont display the full voyage, only the end destination), now we have to ask before we board. Or luckily the stations sometimes announce in english what the deal is. So, we had to change at the next station, which was oh, about 45 min down the road and go back to our transfer station (Genova, IT) to catch our train to La Spezia. We ended up getting there with enough time to spare to catch the bus to Biassa. The bus that came was a short bus and I mean short. There were about 4 girls in front of us with their backpacks and us with ours and several other people on board. We climbed aboard, not knowing what to expect other than this hostel was 16 euros per person, per night for a 4 bed dorm. Why so cheap? We were about to find out. Bwa hahahahah! Ah, it isnt that bad. It was actually pretty cool, though the bus went up and around and up and around these winding and twisting turns, blowing this out of tune horn that sounded like something from a mexican la cooka racha song. It was good that the horn worked as it notified oncoming cars that a bus was coming up the tight winding road. We traveled for what seemed to be forever before reaching a tiny town on top of the mountain. It was funny as they had car dealership flag-streamers (those multi-colored pendant things) zig-zagging across the streets like some festival. The hostel was atop this mountain and thats why it was so cheap. haha. It was actually a 20 minute ride up and there were a total of 2 restaurants. It was beautiful to see the city of La Spezia below in the distant and to see the moon rise over the mountain ridge. The only drawback was the church bell that rang and rang and rang. Youd think that it would ring the appropriate time (maybe it was off for daylight savings), but it had a mind of its own. Sometimes it would chime the correct time and other times it would just chime and chime. haha. It was cool though, I would have to admit to hear it ring and somewhat know what time it was. I guess me, being without a watch, would find it more amusing than anyone else.

The hostel was nice as we met a nice Aussie girl named Natalie. Our first night there we went to the local pizza joint down the street (like I said- only 2 restaurants there). There was already a large table of backpackers there, enjoying their meals and conversation. As we finished our pizzas, one girl invited us over to hang out with the group. It was nice. There were actually a couple of Aussie girls there, but Natalie we liked the best. She had been traveling by herself and had her own agenda- to travel wherever and whenever she felt like it. haha. She had funny stories about traveling around and even leaving Australia and going on some long-assed journey from Australia to Dubai to Hong Kong to wherever and then down to Italy. She said she was traveling on a plane for over 3 days straight, but didnt care. At least she didnt have a Eurorail pass. haha.

Cinque Terra was wonderful. The first town was Riomaggorie and the houses clinging to the side of the cliff was so postcard-like. This is the Italy that I have seen and have wanted to see. The bus ride from the hostel to Riomaggorie was awsome. More windy roads, but this time by the cliffs near the sea. Once in Riomaggorie, we decided to walk to the next 4 towns. The walk was to take a good 5 hours to cover all towns. We started out and it was amazing. Walking along side the cliffs and the sea. The area was dotted with jagged rocks below where people would escape to and lay out or swim. Alan was wanting to swim badly and so in the next town over we found a secluded area down on the rocks where he happily dove in. Me, on the other hand, felt that it was too risky with the rocks and the surf- not to mention I am not to happy about dark water and the area around the rocks was pretty dark. The water is pretty clear, mind you, but it was deep. So of course I weighed my options of going in while Alan called me Chicken from the sea. What can I say? After about 20 minutes or so he decided to get out (since I wasnt coming in) and we proceeded on our way to the next town Corniglia. The hike to this town was a bit more challenging- more rocky and higher altitudes, but well worth it. The sights from these trails were amazing and unforgettable.

It Has Been Forever...

droberts70 — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:00:00 GMT

Yikes! It has been forever since I have updated my journal, but have no fear, I will fill you in on what has been going on. Also, please forgive me for not being able to add punctuation to any word that needs an appostrophe-I cannot find it on this keyboard. haha. You wouldnt believe how many differet versions of keyboards there are! I think they move things just to make your internet time and euros tick away.

I think I last finished talking about going to San Sebastian Spain. What a great place and a good place to stop! Right on the beach San Sebastian was a quiet little town just past the French border. We took the overnight train to San Sebastian from Paris, which was 2nd class accomodations (oh, poor me right? haha) and was a coach with 6 bunks in it and a lovely French couple with 2 suitcases the size of the Eiffel Tower blocking the way into the cabin! Ugh. Foreigners! haha. Our bunks, naturally, were on the top, so we had to climb the mound of luggage to the top bunk inches from the ceiling. No worries. I dont think I slept a wink due to the semi-claustrophobic quarters and with the train making what seemed to be every stop that was on the line! Who would be getting on a train at 2 in the morning? We arrived at San Sebastian at about 8ish in the morning and went to the hotel to check in only to find out the woman tells us that we have no reservations. But we do. Maybe it is a translation thing. She is nice enough to use 2 euros of her own money to activate the internet so we can show her our email identifying our reservation. I cant find it. Alan cant find it. I know we spent a good 2 hours in Paris booking our hotels, so where is it?? We give up and appologize, but she is even kinder to call to her friend next door and scores us a room for 2 nights and at 50 euro a night (25 each). It wasnt until later that I realized that we never even looked at the hotel that we thought we had reservations for... not sure how I locked in on the name and though it was our hotel. haha. But no worries, we were saved.

San Sebastian had 2 beaches one in the more resortish side of town and one in the old district side of town that we were in. They were getting ready for a Jazz festival, naturally, the day we were leaving. Big tents on the beach in preparations. The beach was nice and quickly got filled up. I mentioned to Alan that women usually are topless in Europe, but was surprised...er rather shocked.. to see old men naked. ew. Actually there were old men and young children naked. haha. Things you just dont want to see when sunning yourself at the beach. Seriously! After beach time it was time to eat, but there was a twist to how one eats here. They have bars all around that serve Tapas, but this isnt your typical tapas bar. They have like tapas buffets, all spread out on the bar and you basically walk in, eat what you want and drink what you want and when you have had your fill, you tell the bartender and wha-la, he produces a bill for you. Most tapas range from 1.50 to 3 euro each. It is funny for people like Alan and I who dont know what to do and stand waiting for acknowledgement from the bar staff that it is okay for us to eat... most times we waited and waited and then just went for it. It was difficult too because there was so much to choose from from other bars and some were packed wall to wall with people. So where was the real food? I dont know. I just remember seeing these tapas on the bar from sun up to sun down. haha.

We left San Sebastian for Madrid and then Barcelona. I wont go into much detail here because we only stayed for about 2 days each and didnt do much here at all. I have already enjoyed the sights of both places in the past and they are still the same. Alan isnt much of a cathedral guy and we were both tired of museums and the cost of getting into most places that we just took in the walking sights of each city. Of course both were crowded as usual- mostly with loud young people (god, i feel old saying that) and loud italians. Is it necessary to YELL when talking to your friends? haha. I think Europeans like to talk loud in general.

From Barcelona, we took the train out to Arles France on our way over to Italy. Arles is on the Rhone river and has some Roman ruins to see and provided day trips to Avignon. Arles was a cozy little town. Not loud at all, but had its small group of travellers visiting. There was a coliseum there that was over 2,000 years old! Woah. Looked like the one in Rome. And as luck would have it, there was a bullfight there too.. when? then day we left. haha. (can you tell we are missing the cool stuff?). It is funny because we have to plan ahead and we dont know when the cool stuff happens until we get into town and find out that it is happening on our departure. From Arles, we took a day trip out to Pont Du Garde, which featured a beautiful 2,000 year old Aquaduct. It was amazing, HUGE and stretched over what must have been a beautiful river, but now is a small stream. On our 3rd day, we decided to jump on the train and go to Aix-en-Provence. This area bosted the life of Cezanne, the famous artist. I had seen a lot of his paintings at an exhibit in DC last summer. Other than Cezanne, there wasnt much to see in Aix. LOL. Maybe it was just us, but it was rather boring. At least the 30 minute train ride was fun. haha. Speaking of trains... I have to fill you in on a little secret. Have you ever wondered where the stuff goes when you flush the toilet? Well, I have found the answer! If you wish not to know, cover your eyes... I found from a Rick Steves travel book (LOL Ill fill you in in a min about the book) and he explained that when you flush, the stuff goes out all over the tracks, plain and simple. Hmmm. That explains why when you are in a station and you see water leaking out from the bottom of the train. HA. Thats not water really now is it. When you are in the bathroom of a train, they usually tell you not to use it when at the station. No wonder. No need for doodie on the tracks to add to the already somewhat filthy stations right? haha. So, there it is. Now you know if any one ever asks. haha.

After Arles France, we found HEAVEN: Cinque Terre, Italy.

La Paris

droberts70 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:35:00 GMT

In Cork, we figured we would just go to the train station and get on the next train to Rossalare to catch the ferry, but when we got to the station to check on times, we were told that it was not a direct route and that the one train we could catch would bring us to Rossalare at 22:00 hours- and we had to be at the port by 15:00! eeek. So we rushed to the bus station to find a bus to take us there and with luck, a bus was about to leave and would put us at the port by the time we needed. Had we missed that bus, we would have missed our ferry! The ride took about 3 hours to the port. Just as we got there, they started boarding. When Alan purchased the tickets (we got a discount with our eurorail passes), he opted for the less expensive supplementary, so we got chairs to sleep in. I tried to picture it being like a long flight and that being in a chair wouldn´t be so bad. When we boarded the boat, the section we were in was downstairs and when I walked in, it was like a huge theater. TONS of chairs and no windows. Oye! We dropped off our backpacks in our designated seats and headed upstairs to the deck to watch the ship leave the dock. Next stop was to the pub for a few pints. haha. Since it was a car ferry, there wasn´t much to do on the ship at all. They did have a couple of ´shows´but they were horrible. Seriously. I spent much of the time writing in my personal journal and catching that up to date. By 10 I was pooped and headed downstairs to go to sleep. It was a bit difficult to do at first as there were a few loud-mouthed foreigners. Not sure the nationality--maybe Russian, but they didn´t know how to be quiet. haha. Then as I did begin to fall asleep, this rather loud group of Irish people came down with their retarded son who would burst out with noise randomly. I´m not trying to poke fun at the retard, but it was funny. I used my hoodie sweatshirt and covered my head and eyes, which helped me sleep. We got to Cherborg Paris at about noon. Thank god that journey was over. Now I know I´ll pay more for a cabin on the next boat. haha.

At Cherborg, we took a train into Paris central. Our eurorail passes are for 1st class accomodations, so we get to travel in style. haha. The train ride was nice and smooth. The scenery was spectacular as well. We passed through beautiful fields and meadows. I love traveling by train, though they tend to put me to sleep. haha.

Paris was much warmer than the UK and Ireland. YAY! It was also bigger and had more room to move, though there were still a bunch of people walking around. Similar to London, the subways were filled with different levels, connecting tunnels and lots of walking to different trains. We had a small subway map that helped with the navigation.

We got to our hotel and dropped our bags off and toured the city. It was very neat to finally see the Eiffel Tower in person. It really is an amazing structure. The lines to get up to the viewing deck were too long to wait in, so we decided to go up in the Arch instead. We walked around and decided to take a train out to Versille. It was mentioned in our travel book as a ´day tour´and it certainly was. That place is HUGE. The sucky part was that it is under renovation so the spot where the most photos are taken where Marie Antoniette (I can´t spell!)opens up the doors to the balcony and supposedly said "Let them eat cake" was covered up by scaffolding. Booooo! The line to view the inside of Versille was enormous like that of the Eiffel Tower, so we opted to go through the gardens first. This is where you could see just how enormous Versille is. The gardens stretched out around the back and straight down the middle was a wide path leading down to the lake. Alan said it was Paris´version of the Washington DC ´Mall´. We walked and walked and walked until we got down to the lake where people were renting row boats. We grabbed some sandwiches and sat by the water. This group of ducks came up and I fed them some bread. I was laughing at these baby ducks, who were like Pirhanas. As soon as I would throw in a piece of bread, they would race in a pack over to it. I caught it on video. haha.

We must have spent almost 2 hours walking around the gardens and then back up to the main square. The line was now very short, so we went in and got our tickets. Inside it is just amazing. I can´t imagine having such a lifestyle like that. Enormous paintings covered some walls. There were a lot of statues (even in the gardens) and the hall of mirrors with huge chandilers hanging from scene painted ceilings. Absolutely spectacular.

The next day we toured Paris and went up to the top of the Arch for a great city view (thanks Matt for the tip!). We walked down the famous Champs street - I can´t spell it, so I won´t try haha. It was filled with tons and tons of stores and eateries. We walked down to Notre Dame and along side the river. Next was the Louvre, but the lines again were enormous. I honestly didn´t have an interest to go in (museums bore me) so we just hung around and took pictures. I did hear that the portriat of the Mona Lisa there was actually small and not big as most people think (thanks Stephen for that tidbit!).

We moved on to the Pantheon, which is like DC´s capital building. It houses a giant pendelum ball that proves the earth´s rotation by showing the time as it swings to each number. Below the Pantheon are crypts where famous people like Marie Curie are burried.

And speaking of crypts, our next stop was the catacombs of Paris! This is where there are tunnels under the city that were used for excavation of stone that helped build much of the city. When the excavation ceased, for some reason they took the remains from several cemetaries and put them down below. When you walk through the long tunnels (45 minutes from one end to the next and that wasn´t even for the whole catacombs!) you see piles of neatly stacked bones and skulls along with signs that indicate what graveyard they came from. The interesting thing here is just how many piles of bones there are! It was a bit creepy.

The wine at the local supermarkets in Paris is pretty cheap. We ended up grabbing a few bottles of Merlot for about 1.99 euros each. haha. What is funny in Paris is how people walk around with loafs of french bread snacking on them. But I must say, french bread, cheese and ham is yummy!

We had a short break to do laundry (finally! It had been forever since we washed clothes - more than in the sink). I thought I understood what to do, but ended up starting the washing machine at the laundromat before I could get the soap in so I basically just washed my clothes in water. hahaha. We had a good laugh about that.

Paris was great. I can´t wait to go back when I have more time and when it´s less crowded.

Next: San Sebastian Spain!

Put a Cork in it...

droberts70 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:47:00 GMT

haha.. I don´t think Cork Ireland is known for cork or not, but it is the gateway for the Blarney Castle and the famous Blarney Stone. It is also access to the Ring of Kerry.

When we arrived in Cork, we got tickets to Blarney Castle and were able to make the next tour with time to drop off our backpacks at the hostel. The ride to the castle was short on what seemed to be a local bus, though it was full with tourists like us. The castle was cool with an erie look. When we got up to it there was a small entrance out front. A couple was going in and I asked what it was. Alan mentioned that it was a way to get into the castle, so we followed the couple in. Quickly things got dark as it was more of a cave than an entrance to the castle. None of us had a flashlight really and I tried to use my key light to light the way which it was doing badly in the pitch black darkness. A man with his 2 boys came along and they scooted ahead as they had a light and they were making jokes along the way like.. ¨This is the pit to hell¨ and "oh, there´s the skull of the last guy who came in here". It was funny and took the edge off of being in a small confined space in darkness. We crawled our way through to find the end where we learned that what we were in was the dungeon. haha. At the end there was space enough to stand upright and in the flash of a camera´s light you could see scrbbles on the walls and ceiling of the people who have been as far as we had. I took a couple of funny pictures of Alan and I in the cave. I was glad to get out and was happy that I didn´t get claustrophobic!

We walked through the Castle, which was pretty much an empty shell with several rooms. There were signs on the walls that would describe what the castle looked like back in the day. How amazing would it have been to live there.

We got to the top, where the Blarney Stone is and waited in a small line before it was our time to kiss the stone. It is a very interesting procedure- an old man tells you to sit down, lay back and grab onto these two iron rails. Then you have to stretch your neck out while upside down to kiss the stone which is about a foot away from the flooring, so you´re like hanging over the edge of the castle! (don´t worry, there are iron bars below to keep you from falling out. haha) I kissed the stone- I got way down the wall and kissed the stone. Legend says that whoever kisses the stone will have the gift of the gab. I guess now I´ll have a double dose. haha. Now, of course, to make it more touristy there is a giant camera snapping 2 pictures of you while you kiss the stone. I opted to take Alan´s picture and he took mine so we have our own version and wouldn´t have to pay the 12euro to get the pics, but we did look at them. Mine didn´t come out well as my hand was covering my face where I was holding on for dear life. heehee.

We toured the grounds and went through the rock garden. There were some rather strange and intersting plants- one that was a giant leaf. I asked a couple of people if they knew what it was, but no one seemed to know.

When we finished, we went back to catch the bus, but there were a million people in line waiting, so we went in to the nearest pub for a pint. I tried Bulmers for the first time. It is a cider beer and very good. I had seen many people drinking it in the UK. The couple that we met at the entrance to the dungeon were there drinking as well and so we chatted a bit about our adventures. The guy showed us pictures of when they walked into these other caves at the Castle and he said that it was so dark he couldn´t see, but he said he kept seeing this white bulb like thing on the rock and when he got to it he snapped a picture. When he looked at the picture, he saw next to the big bulb- a big spider! hahaha. So, he said he was a bit freaked out. haha. Maybe it´s better to go in without a light. We drank more pints and watched the futbol game (or was it soccer?) on TV. I would have to say that this game is much more work than our football games. These guys are running back and forth and back and forth trying to get a goal, all the while without breaks. I mean, they do have fouls and such where they stop to regroup, but it´s not like every 2 seconds like it is in American Football.

The bus finally arrived and we went back to the hostel to crash.

The next day we went to on the Ring of Kerry tour. We contemplated driving it ourselves rather than sit on a bus for 10 hours (yes-10 hours!), but it would have been more of a hassle and I know I wouldn´t have gotten the pics that I did. The Ring of Kerry is basically a 100 mile drive through the beautiful rolling mountains down to the ocean and back through. After a couple of hours you begin to feel like... ok, so we´ve seen mountains and ocean and more mountains, but it really is beautiful. The bus would stop along the way allowing us to take pictures and to eat. We sat in the back of the bus and met a girl named Rebecca, who is from Washington State. She was in Ireland as a live-in nanny for this couple. She had been with them for about 7 months and had intended on staying until 10 months. It amazes me how people stay in these countries for a long time, though obviously she had a free place to stay and didn´t have a 3 month time limit with a eurorail pass. haha.

When we stopped for lunch, I went to the restroom to get tissue to blow my nose and ended up twisting my back. DÓH! I was wondering when that was going to happen and was surprised it didn´t happen sooner. So, the rest of the ride was in pain. :-( The funniest part of the journey was on our last stop when we entered into a small town for dinner. The bus driver had mentioned a chinese food restaurant and Rebecca, Alan and I were in agreement to go check it out. It turned out to be an Indian-Thai restaurant. Odd combination, no? Once we sat down to eat we realized it would probably consume all of our time, which it pretty much did. We had an hour to eat and we were just a couple of minutes late back to the bus. As we were walking to the bus we were joking at how everyone would be mad at us for being late and all of a sudden, the bus started to leave! With my bad back, I started sprinting after the bus waving my arms over my head. I probably looked like the biggest freak as several people on the streets were looking at me. haha. Finally the bus turned a corner and I got the attention of a man that was sitting near us on the bus. He told the driver to stop and as soon as I got to the door, the driver said "glad you could make it, though I wasn´t going to leave you... I was merely moving the bus ´round- I was blocking traffic." haha. Too funny!!

We arrived back to Cork at about 10pm, said our good-byes to Rebecca and went to bed. The next day was our 16 hour ferry ride to Paris.

Limerick, Ireland

droberts70 — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:34:00 GMT

Limerick Ireland was a very small town which I actually thought would be much bigger since it is close to Shannon- one of 2 major stopping points in Ireland where the cheap Dublin/Shannon flights are. On this stretch of our voyage, we had a B&B to stay at which was somewhat of a relief as we have been staying in either youth hostels or, like in Dublin a ´normal´backpacker hostel. The hostel experience hasn´t been bad at all. I´m accustomed to sleeping with a bunch of people. :-) And I guess Alan can attest, they´re accustomed to sleeping with my snoring. haha.

Limerick is a pretty area with lots of houses with yards and driveways. The houses were very big too, which made me wonder what the income range was. I mean, my house in Maryland was much smaller than these.

We arrived in the late afternoon, so after purchasing our tickets for the Cliffs of Moher, we stopped by a local pub outside of the train station. Alan had mentioned earlier that a woman at his work once told him that in Ireland there are 2 types of pubs- one that anyone can drink in and one that only the locals can drink in. When we walked into this pub (Charlie St. George), it looked like it was a local´s only pub, but Eva, the lovely, warm-hearted bartender immediately greeted us and made us feel quite welcome. After our 2nd pint, she asked where we were from and when she found out we were from DC, she immediately grabbed her ledger from behind the counter and mentioned of another Lad from DC who had an Irish bar and that she got him to give her his info so she could send him a postcard. We tried to look for it in her book, but didn´t see anything and we gave her suggestions to Irish Pubs in DC, but nothing seemed to ring a bell. None-the-less, we signed her register and she promised to send us a card every now and again and we promised to send her a picture of our travels (she was in awe of what we were doing). It was a fun experience watching the locals interact as well as a chap named Paddy. He was a true Irish older man, very small in size and didn´t have any teeth. No one apparently understood him- I know I didn´t, but I thought it was because he was talking Gaelic (?) Irish, but Eva said she´d give us a gold coin if we could figure out what he was saying. They´d banter back and forth and it was fun to watch. Another guy sitting next to me (William) started chatting us up and telling us stories of him and his flight attendant girlfriend with ATA and how he´s moving to Ohio in March of next year to live with her, but he doesn´t know how he can handle the US with his need for pints. haha. Later after several pints more and some type of whisky and red bull (is red bull everywhere??) shots from him and his friends, he told us of lepprachauns (sorry for my spelling) and fairy areas. I know what you think... fairy areas?... but it was interesting what he told. He said that there are places in Ireland where machinery doesn´t work when they try to clear the land for development because they are protected by fairies. I think of tinkerbell or something like that. haha. After a while Paddy and William started breaking out in Irish songs. It was the best night we´ve had with the locals! We left the pub so that we could get up in time to go to the Cliffs, and stopped by Eddie Rockets- Ireland´s version of Johnny Rockets. The food was pretty decent for what I can remember.

The Cliffs of Moher. It is hard to describe them other than to say it is stunning and spectactuar. The bus ride to the cliffs showed Ireland´s beauty- this is what I have waited for in our travels- scenery other than city scapes. The view of the cliffs is not very vast from the visitor´s area, unless you break the law somewhat and go beyond a rather large DANGER, DO NOT ENTER sign and hike along the edge at your own risk, which is exactly what we did! haha. I know! It was scary! My fear of heights concerned me, but I did it and am happy that I did as the views were so awsome. The day was as awsome as it could get- sun and hardly any wind, which is good as the wind is what kills people from the cliffs. There were a few parts of the path where the foot path was about 2 feet from the edge and there is only a rock wall to hold onto. We hiked for about 1 hour and a half down to this old castle tower on this section that was almost the most western tip of Ireland. Again- breath-taking. If you´ve seen the pictures from my gmail Picasa you´ll see the beauty. I´d say we spent about a good 5 1/2 hours at the cliffs. One cool thing I forgot to mention was that when we hopped the Danger sign, there was a bunch of photographers taking pictures of a model posing at the edge. I snapped a few pics myself!

Where Am I, Part Deux

droberts70 — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:20:00 GMT

So I left off at Edinburgh, UK. Outside of viewing the Royal Mile, there was also Carlton Hill, which too was high atop the city. Here there was an odd column structure along with an observatory and a lighthouse type building. Again, the view from here was amazing. While sitting and meditating, we noticed a few people walking atop a cliff-like mountain peak, so we too decided to check it out. We walked down to the start of the path, passing an old (and I mean old) cemetary. The graves were very old and I believe this is where they have the spooky Edinburgh night tour. We got to the mountain and started our climb. It was steep at first and then became narrow. I got a little worried as I'm not the best for heights, but I perservered and made it to the top portion. A secondary path led to a higher area on top of the mountain, however it was too steep for my comfort. haha. So we walked down using a cut-through path that led us to ruins of an old chappel and further was a pond that was full of ducks and swan. The swan were very beautiful and large. I was a bit nervous and thought this would become an AFV moment if they started to attack us, but luckily they didn't.

The next day we left to go to Holyhead UK to catch the ferry to Ireland. It is crazy that we spent about £100 traveling from Salisbury to Edinburgh, yet the fare to get from Edinburgh to Holyhead was a mere £26 each! And that included the ferry to Ireland. Very bizarre. The trip took us a mere 9 hours total- the ferry was about 2 hours.

When we got to Dublin, it wasn't what I thought it would be. It smelled of dog pee (which later I linked to the Guiness brewery) and there were tons of younger people (kids) walking the streets at night in crowds. Of course we arrived late, so my first impression was blah until the morning.

Our hostel here consisted of a 10 bunk dorm that was mixed. Our first experience with that. We've slept in a lot of Youth hostels where there would be about 4 to 8 bunks (all male) but never mixed. This was also our first with staying at a regular hostel and not a YHA, which tend to be more clean and less rowdy, but we thought what the heck- it was only for 2 nights.

We toured Dublin the next day using an open roof bus. As usual with Ireland weather, it rained a bit, so the views were blah (it was cold here too). I found out an interesting factoid: The world's second largest monument (like DC's) is in Dublin's HUGE park- the 1st largest is of course DC. Pretty cool, no?

After the bus, we headed out on foot to take snaps of the city. We also stopped in the Harry Lemon (I know-odd name...) pub for a pint and some delicious traditional Irish stew. It cracked me up when the food came, as the stew was served with a baked potato. It seems most of Europe love their carbs! Many times you would get a 2nd potato with your meal. I didn't mind though.

After lunch, we found an internet cafe and spent 4 hours there planning out our journey from Ireland to Paris and then to San Sebastian Spain.

Dublin has a famous pub area called the Temple bar. Here, there are swarms of people in pubs listening to Irish music-some more traditional than others.

After our 2nd day I was happy to leave to go to Limerick to tour the Cliffs of Moher.

David

Where Am I?

droberts70 — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 19:26:00 GMT

Judging from the many emails I just read, it tells me that it has been a long while since I last wrote in my journal. My apologies- sometimes it isn't as easy finding an internet cafe to sit down to write, much less one that is not expensive! Right now I have 16 minutes remaining so I'll make this quick, but hopefully informative.

Right now I am in Cork Ireland, but got there by way of... let's see the last place I talked about was Manchester, UK no? Manchester was one night's stop- not enough to tour, though no worries. It was pretty dank and rainy and didn't look like all that much good fun. After Manchester, we went north to Edinburgh. Edinburgh was very interesting- very old city with lots of history. The buildings here were coated with what looked like black soot. Not sure if it was from the coal age or not. The city is fairly hilly with Edinburgh Castle high above. This is a very famous spot for their Military Tattoo festival that starts mid-August. From the castle you get the best view of the city below. From the castle a road named the Royal Mile, extends outward and contains many shops and pubs. Imagine back in the days of royalty at the castle and the many shop owners trying to sell their wares then.

Egads- time is running away... I will fill you in more.

Until Next Time...

David

A Laugh

droberts70 — Mon, 9 Jul 2007 22:34:00 GMT

You know, I have to laugh a bit at myself with all that I am writing or shall I say, not writing, in this journal. I feel badly for those reading it as I feel I try to give you a glimpse of my journey, yet fail miserably with these simple comments. The problem here, I guess, is that I don't have much detail to tell you about. I don't know whether or not to give you the 'web' version of these places or just give you the 'David' version. haha. Please forgive me if you find this less than entertaining. I hope to spice it up a bit when I have more time on the internet than 30 minutes.

Right now I should catch you up on a few facts of what I've seen in London. First fact is that country-wide they just started their smoking ban, so no smoking inside public places or train station platforms. They are feeling what some of us felt in the US when we went under a smoking ban. But for the most part, it seems to be going over well. Another interesting finding here is that many people roll their own cigarettes. I talked with these 3 women at the Pig and Fiddle 'beer garden' yesterday in Bath and inquired about this. It was funny to me to see a woman roll her own cigarette, but she advises that it is much cheaper AND healthier as it is real tobacco. I would think it would cut down on conusmption as well as it seems to take a couple of minutes to pop out a cigarette. Though I guess professional rollers can roll one in a matter of seconds. haha. Outside of smoking I found it interesting that the day remained lighter well past 9 o'clock. I don't have a watch (I lost mine prior to my trip and have been too cheap to purchase another one) so I've been relying on Alan telling me the time and many times I am shocked to see that it is 10 and still a bit light out.

Today we're in Manchester, though we are only staying the night really. The trip from Bath took longer than expected and we didn't arrive to Manchester until 4pm. By the time we got to the hostel, it was about 5 and there wasn't much time to do any sightseeing, though I don't think we'll be sad. The city is okay, but not all that impressive from what we've seen- typical English city with old buildings.

Tomorrow we're off to Edienburgh. I've pronounced this as eyeden-burg for some reason and Alan kept telling me it was more like ed-en-burg. But today I found that it is really simply ed-en-borough. haha. I guess sometimes Phonics doesn't always work. haha.

Cheers- Until Next time...

PS. I am uploading my pics now and will have a link to them and will hopefully 'dress' up some of these entries with them as well.

Stonehenge and Roman Baths

droberts70 — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 03:40:00 GMT

Good-bye London, hello country-side. Salisbury England is a very nice place with a mini bustling metropolis! The city centre was full of people and shops galore! Salisbury is the gateway to Stonehenge. I know this might sound redundant of me to say, but I really did think that Stonehenge was atop a mountainous region, when in fact, it is basically in a field. The weather at Stonehenge was a bit cold and windy. Though tolerable. Large crowds of people walked around listening to the audio tour. It took about 40 minutes to run through the whole tour, then back on the bus to Salisbury. We stayed around the city centre for the rest of the day and planned our trip to Bath, which is where we are now.

Bath is a bit north west of Salisbury and is a BEAUTIFUL area. Very beautiful. To picture Bath, you would have to think of a V with the bottom of the V being the river that runs through and each side the hillsides that extend upward from the river. Bath is famous for... well, it's Roman Bath. Here, the city centre is also bustling with tons of people and many shops. I find the beauty more in the surrounding country side as it is lush with greenery.

Tomorrow our next stop is Manchester England.

Until Next time... Cheers!

Cheers!

droberts70 — Thu, 5 Jul 2007 19:05:00 GMT

We are finally in London... good old semi-cold and rainy London! Is it Fall already and I didn't know it? haha. Alan told me that it was going to be a bit cooler, but by that I thought he meant that we would be living easy in less-than-90-sweltering-degrees of DC. I didn't know he meant it was mid-60's here, though I don't think he knew it was that cool either. Luckily we have rain coats and long-sleeved shirts to protect us from the cool temps.

Our trip started out in Montreal, which was semi-okay to me. We had a 9-hour layover and decided to hike around Montreal's 'old port'(I think it's called). We took a bus down to the port area, which seemed a bit grungy and dirty. Down closer to the port there was an area that resembled that of Fell's Point in Baltimore- cute shops and restaurants winding throughout the streets. Montreal was having a Jazz festival that we got to experience. Lots of people there! Apparently they have festivals throughout the summer.

The flight to London from Montreal was relatively uneventful. Unfortunately we were in an exit row and didn't have the leg room comfort that we thought we would. I slept a bit better than I thought, though Alan was restless the whole flight. We arrived in London around 10:15 am and after retrieving my backpack, we headed off to the underground to our hotel. After a quick shower and nap, we hit the road and toured rainy London, seeing the London Tower, London Bridge (haha), this cool venue called the London Dungeon and the Eye of London. We finished the day off with a couple of pints of beer (Cheers!) in a small pub down from our hotel.

Today (7/5/07) we toured a bit more of London- seeing, of course, Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard. I remember seeing this with my Mother several years ago when I was a teenager, but seeing it this time I couldn't understand why this is so popular. I mean, it was a bit cheesy with band music of James Bond and Golden Eye. It was a bit amusing more than I remembered. Afterwards, we saw Big Ben, the Parliment House, Trafalgar Square (where they were setting up for the start of the Tour de France), Picadilly Square and the British Museum.

The next stop is Salsibury to see Stonehenge.

I hope to post pictures soon. The computer available to me is an Internet only computer. But have no fear- they're coming!

As always, I miss everyone back home.

Happy Trails-

Until Next time...

It's Almost Time!

droberts70 — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 19:50:00 GMT

I wish I could tell you that I'm sitting at my friend's computer feeling giddy with excitement for my RTW trip that starts tomorrow AM, but I can't. It's not that I don't want to go- it is just that I still feel unprepared and a bit disorganized. I know that I am as organized as I can be, but if you know me, you'd understand that I have to methodically plan all of this out so I know what to expect. No worries- throw caution to the wind and if I forget to pack something, then I didn't need it anyway!

Several friends have asked me about how I felt about what is going on over in London at the moment. I'd have to say that I feel badly for what is happening, but it certainly doesn't deter me from starting my voyage there. We are all somewhat at a disadvantage with terrorism, but we shouldn't be afraid of it. It does stink though that whoever these people are, they're following the same itinerary that Alan and I are! London AND Scotland?! Let's hope they don't continue to Ireland too! I hope we don't have any travel problems.

To all my family and friends: may you have a WONDERFUL and SAFE 4th of July. I will be here in spirit celebrating it with you!

Until Next Time...

Waiting...

droberts70 — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:43:00 GMT

I've been on edge for the past few months, but with good reason. I'm about to embark on the trip of a lifetime with my best friend Alan- a trip that will take us through many countries around the world, hopefully for a year!

To prepare for a trip of this magnitude, we both have sold, stored and thrown away a lot of our life-long possessions to trim down to just the bare necessities- a backpack with a week's worth of clothes, toiletries, 2 pairs of shoes and a travel book. Mind you - me having just a week's worth of clothes makes me nervous. haha. Though I didn't wear everything that was in my closet, I did enjoy having a choice of things to wear.

So, after a grueling 2 months of getting the house organized and ready to sell and quitting my IT job of 9 years, I'm finally somewhat relaxed and I am getting excited about the trip. All that's left to do is wait until July 3rd when we leave DC/MD to go to London via Montreal. I'm hoping we get a chance to tour Montreal during our 9 hour layover.

Until Next Time...