30/06/09 Rome to Venice Day 1

We got up early and the security guard drove us to the train stop, where we found our way to Rome Termini and onto our train to Venice.



When we arrived, we decided to walk to our hotel because it costs 6.50 euros to ride the vaporetto. Venice isn't very big and it wasn't too hard, though it was really hot, especially with out backpacks. Due to there being virtually no cheap accomodations open in Venice, we are staying in an actual hotel with an actual bed, shower, toilet, TELEVISION, and towels! It's pretty amazing. I miss TV.

We went to Rialto where there are a bunch of market stalls and looked at all the glass things. We got some food items, including fresh fruit cups. There are a lot of shops with cute little glass animals like birds and bunnies and various breeds of dog. Some of them are really tiny and adorable!

After that, we got some gelato and headed for St. Mark's Square. It was too late to go in the basilica, so hopefully we will tomorrow. We're also hoping to go to a few islands tomorrow, like Lido and the other one...which I can't remember the name of right now, but they make all the glass there.

Right now we're in a bar with free wifi. There's a guy playing guitar and covering songs. He's a good singer, especially since he's Italian and singing in English.

For some reason Allen has the idea that whiskey tastes good and is now falling asleep, so we should probably go now.

29/06/09 Rome Day 2

We tried to get up early and ended up leaving the campsite at around 9:30 and headed to the Colloseum. The wait wasn't too bad at all, but it cost 12 euros each to get in!

There was only a discount for youths from the EU. Luckily, the ticket also covered Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum.

We really liked the Colloseum, but the rest of the day was filled with disappointments. There was some sort of holiday in Rome related to St. Peter, so the Pantheon, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museum were all closed! It wasn't possible to stay any longer because we had already made reservations for Venice.

We did a lot of walking and saw the Fountain of Trevi and that was pretty cool, but both our cameras were out of batteries at that point and we didn't get any pictures!

After this, we went back to the campsite to prepare for our train ride to Venice the next day. We had to get up early, but didn't have an alarm clock, so we decided to drink a bunch of water and hope for the best.

28/06/09 - Rome Day 1

We woke up pretty late, and headed int Rome.

Th Vatican was really crowded. The line moved fairly quickly, so it wasn't too bad. The line was a lot longer as we were leaving. In the Vatican, we headed straight for St. Peter's Basilica. It is huge, and quite impressive. There are a lot of strange doors with statues of popes over them, which were all closed. Also, the center of the basilica was roped off, so we were restricted to the outskirts. The pictures are primarily mosaics, which were beautiful. There was also a statue by Michaelangelo. He carved it at the age of 24... Which is completely ridiculous. (That man was pure genius). We also went through the crypts. Unfortunately, the line to climb the dome was quite long, so we headed towards the museum...

Which was closed. We would have had free admission today, but the museum closes at 1:45 and we arrived at around 2:30. Oops. We are planning on hitting it up tomorrow.

We went from the museum to the train station, and booked seats to Venice for the 30th. We proceeded from the station to the National Roman Museum (name?). A 7 euro entry fee granted us access to what Rick Steves calls the largest exhibit of Roman art ever. There were some amazing mosaics, and a lot of marble busts. They also have an exhibit on the history of coinage, and a room that was a giant painting of a garden.

Tomorrow, we hope to see ancient Rome (whatever is not closed to us), and the Vatican Museum.

27/06/09 Nice to Rome

We're taking a train to Milan and then Rome.

Update:
The train was pretty freaky, we were scheduled to arrive at 3:00 and make a connection on a train departing at 3:30. We arrived at 3:20.

On the train to Rome, I met two pretty cool people. One was a girl attending a university, and the other was a British woman who has been living in Italy for the past 40 years.

Our hostel is a bit NW of Rome, near the Prima Porta metro stop. It is kind of dumpy, almost a resort/luxury campground that has been allowed to decay a bit. The cabins we are in are small and cramped, and the beds are incredibly saggy. The restaurant is nice... but the food isn't that good. Oh well. Back to our rather boring day...

After arriving in Rome at 7:50, we took the metro to the hostel, ate dinner, and went to bed.

26/06/09 Nice Day 2

Today, we took a bus to Eze, a medieval village on a mountainside near Nice. It is pretty cool, a small village carved into a rock. We'll post pictures later.

25/06/09 - Nice Day 1

We arrived in Nice (NEESE) at around 9 AM. After obtaining a map from the tourist info, we went to our hostel. Located just off one of the main streets in Nice, it is kind of a shabby place. We're typing this sitting in the hall, on the floor, as there are no seats and we don't get WiFi reception in our dorm.

When we arrived at the hostel, no one had checked out yet, so we were unable to check in to our dorm. We dropped our packs off behind the reception area, and walked around a bit. The beach area is alright, though it is a pebble beach. I guess French people don't mind pebble beaches, as it was super crowded, and there were people sunbathing on those hard, round pebbles. The water is a lovely blue, lighter towards shore, and suddenly darker a few hundred feet out.

After observing the water, we decided that we would want to go swimming, and shopped around for suits/trunks. We found some and then ate lunch in what looks like their equivalent of Bellevue Square. After that, we checked in, and are bumming around, waiting for the sun to lose its intensity.

24/06/09 - Paris Day 4

Check out of hostel
Bum around
Overnighter to Nice, arrive at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

Update:

Not much happened on Paris Day 4! We went to Luxembourg Gardens and sat around basically all day. There was a school band from the US playing for a while.

That evening, we stopped by a Monoprix (French grocery/general store chain) and got some candy, yogurt, scones, and lemon Schweppes.

On the train, we were staying in a compartment with six couchettes. We talked to a kid in French military training school who was on his way home for break.

Sleeping wasn't too bad, though I woke up a few times because the ride was kind of bumpy.

23/06/09 - Paris Day 3

Versailles
Paris Illuminations

Update:

We woke up, ate breakfast, and took off promptly for Versailles. Apparently, we should have skipped breakfast. The lines were huuuuuuge! First, we had to line up to buy tickets into the palace, then we had to enter a longer queue for getting into the thing. The place was pretty cool. I was very confused viewing the painting of Napoleon's coronation, which I'd already seen at the Louvre. One of the curators explained that there were two copies of the painting, both originals.





After touring the Royal Apartments, we headed out to the gardens. The fountains are turned on for periods of time during the summer, with accompanying classical music. It was very nice. Adding to the places we would visit if we had museum passes were the Grande T- and the Petite T-, along with the Queen's Hamlet. The scale of the gardens is incredible. I cannot fathom how many groundskeepers they must have employed to keep it all looking green and weed free.



After Versailles, we went back to our hostel, and booked places in Nice and Rome.

Paris Illuminations was pretty interesting. I was dead tired though, and started falling asleep. Probably one of the most expensive naps I've taken. Basically, the tour is a busride through Paris at night. You see the Arc de Triumph, Eiffel Tower, and various other sights in their softly glowing night gowns. The Eiffel Tower was notable. Apparently for the millenium, they set up a bunch of lights to go off all over it, creating a sparkling effect. They liked it enough to turn the lights on for the first six minutes of each hour, every night.

22/06/09 - Paris Day 2

Quick update due to lack of time.

We did:
Eiffel Tower
Invalides
Eurail Passes

Update:
(I don't remember the details quite clearly, as this was a few days ago.)

We woke up, ate breakfast, and caught the Metro out to somewhere near the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to beat the crowds, but didn't. The line for the elevator was ridiculous. We got passes letting us walk up the stairs for 3.50 euros each, and hiked up. I took the stairs two at a time (a total of 670 steps, iirc). :P. The view up top was beautiful, though the sightseeing plaques posted along the railing were fairly useless.




After the Eiffel tower, we walked south, grabbing lunch on Rue Cler. There was a resturant serving fancy crepes. After lunch, we went to Invalides, and Mairead used the toilet. We did not enter, as she had no real interest in it. If we had bought the museum pass, we might have gone in.



Leaving Invalides, we went to Gare de Lyon to purchase our railpasses. Things got a bit complicated for us here. Apparently, the train to Barcelona was full, so we would need to pay a premium to get on board. We also learned about reservation fees. This was a rather unpleasant experience. Mairead freaked out. We went back to the hostel, and looked up plane tickets. It is still cheaper to do Europe by rail, but we had to cut Barcelona. We purchased our railpasses in Gare de Nord, and made reservations to Nice and from Nice to Rome. The passes cost 473 each, and reservations ran us 60 or so. Booking in advance is advisable.

For dinner, Radey had a fancy salad, and I had a three (tiny) course meal. The food was pretty good.

21/06/09 - Paris Day 1

Today there is a music festival in Paris. There are lots of bands playing on the streets this evening.

I woke up because Allen told me to, but then all he did was wash his clothes. He claims he didn't tell me to get up, but I think he did.

We went to Notre Dame. There were some birds for sale down the street and there was a sad one. After that, we wanted to go to the deportation memorial, but it was closed. So, we walked around and got some sandwiches and a raspberry tart. We sat on a bench on a bridge and ate them.



After that, we went to the Louvre. We wandered around for a while before deciding to go on a tour. We saw the foundation of the original Louvre and, of course, all the major artworks like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.



We came back to the hostel because I was really tired. It was around 5 pm at this point. Allen went to sleep and refused to get up until after nine! For dinner, we got a pizza. :D

20/06/09 - London-Paris

We packed up in the morning and checked out. From the hostel, we went to Westminster Abbey and actually went in this time...with our huge backpacks. We were going to go to the British Library, but they were conducting bag checks and we didn't want to bother with it.



Our train to Paris left at 1:30 pm and we arrived at around 4:45 pm (Paris is an hour ahead). The hostel is fine. It's not in the city center, but the metro is easy to use. There's no wifi! We have to pay to use the computers here. :(

For "dinner" we had crepes from a street vendor. I had nutella and Allen had nutella and banana. We walked around for a while and saw the Bastille monument or whatever that thing is.

We were pretty tired so we went to sleep after that.

19/06/09 - London Day 3

Allen didn't sleep well last night, but I slept like nobody's business. Like a rock-hard rock.



We went to the Petticoat Lane Market, but didn't buy anything, although I wanted to. There were a lot of cute clothes, but I don't really have space for anything. Then, we went to Brixton Market because Allen wanted to buy some fruit, but all we got were little oranges. (Ten for a pound!!! -Allen)



After that, we went to the Tate Modern. There were a lot of weird things, but I actually liked the surrealism exhibit. They had a nice Dali painting. There was also a Monet painting and some Picassos in another exhibit. Other than those, the best part was the giant table and chairs. Unfortunately, pictures and climbing weren't allowed.



We walked through Green Park to Buckingham Palace.








We had some sandwiches in the park by a pond. While we were sitting on the bench, a kid walked by and asked his dad, "Is the Queen only allowed to swim in there?"

The rest of the day isn't very interesting. We went back to the hostel and took a nap, then went to McDonalds to use the wireless because the hostel's wireless hasn't been working. It is now, though! It took a really long time to connect.

I'm sad, though! We didn't get to go on any walking tours. There's a haunted London one, but I didn't realize it until it was too late to go. On Sunday, there's a Harry Potter tour, but we won't be here then.

Tomorrow, we leave for Paris, but first we're planning to go to the British Library (lugging our enormous packs... -Allen).

18/06/09 - London Day 2

Mairead claims to have only slept two hours. I slept ~4. We woke up at ~4 AM, and went downstairs at 5 to send out an e-mail to our parents, and update the blog.

Today's Plans:
British Museum
Piccadilly Circus
Trafalgar Square
National Gallery

Hopefully I'll get an internet connection on my netbook somewhere, and be able to upload pictures.

Update:
We ended up doing everything listed. The British museum was pretty cool. They have a lot of stuff from ancient Egypt and Assyria:



Radey's favorite items were the obelisks and the Egyptian false doors.


After the British Museum, we went to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.




Unfortunately, no photos are allowed within the Gallery.

After wandering the gallery for a while, jetlag and lack of sleep caught up with me. Radey seems to be dealing with it quite well >.>. We went to a pub and had lunch, hoping that would help. I had fish and chips, and Mairead had a cheese and chutney sandwich. We also tried a Pimm's, which was quite good. The lunch made me more tired, if anything. We wandered to Westminster Abby, and then headed back.




After a nap, we went out to Piccadilly Circus and walked all over.



Regent's Street has a bunch of large/classy shops. We went back to the hostel after this, picking up some chocolate, a Subway sandwich, and yogurt on the way. After eating, we went to bed.

17/06/09 - Arrival/London Day 1

We arrived in London yesterday!

The plane trip was kind of interesting. We taxied onto the runway, only to move back to the terminal, because an individual was sick. This delayed our flight by about an hour on the ground, but they made up for it in the air. Kind of. While in transit, another person got sick, and required an ambulance team to get them off the plane early, leaving the rest of us in our seats. We got off the plane around 11:30 AM.

Getting to the hostel was simple. Once off the plane, we followed the signs to the Underground. Tickets to zone 1 were £4 each. The ride took about .5 hours to get to Bayswater. Our hostel was right down the street.

Our hostel, Hyde Park Inn, is alright. We are in a room with 6 other people so far, though there are beds for 10. The bathrooms are "crazy and make no sense" (Radey, 18/07/09). They are rather small and cramped, and one stall's light goes out every 10 seconds unless you move around, and even then, the sensor is not very sensitive. With a ten pound deposit each, three nights will run us £95 (or 75, once we get our deposit back). They serve breakfast from 7:30-9:30, and have no curfew.

Our roommates seem pretty cool. One girl is from Hong Kong, who's moved here, and is working at a restaurant near Hyde Park. One couple is from Poland, on a weekend vacation. Another guy is from Australia, though he just flew in from LA. He's flying around the world, headed for Thailand next. The last pair got in laaaaate last night, and we haven't had a chance to chat.

Anyhow, after we got in, paid, and everything, we went for a walk. Kensington Gardens is huge. There were a lot of swans swimming around a in pond-like structure, and some baby ducks sleeping with their mommy. There were also a lot of off-leash dogs, being walked by some people from "Happy Dog." We had a light lunch at a waffleshop. I had a smoothie, and Radey had a carmel cheesecake. This ran us about £8 (yikes). We were pretty tired (a screaming baby on the plane kept sleep far far away) and retired to our room, napping for five hours or so.

I awoke famished, and we set off around 8 for some food. Rick Steves recommends a place called The Churchill Arms, which we'd walked by earlier. It was rather crowded outside, so we skipped it. We ended up at an organic bakery on Notting Hill Gate. I had a delicious chicken and mushroom pie, and Radey had a Thai carrot and lentil soup. Radey also ordered a Fuller's Honey Dew beer. She did not like it (as usual). We should have ordered a cider.

After dinner, we went back and slept.

The weather was alright, though there were sporadic bits of rain and wind.

16/06/09 - Departure

We left today! I woke up early as my sisters banged around the house, getting ready for school. I tried to sleep longer but failed, so I took a long shower. After eating Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast, I bummed around the house, chatting with my parents until it was time to go to Radey's. My dad drove me over, and Mairead's father took us to the airport.

We went through the United Airlines queue (We're taking Air Canada), and through the security checkpoint queue. Apparently, TSA officials are not United Airlines CSRs, so we had to go get our actual boarding passes back at the front of the airport. Oops. I don't know what the machine printed out for us, but apparently they weren't boarding passes.

A first for me: The plane we took to Vancouver was a prop!

We're currently sitting in the Vancouver airport, waiting for our 5:20 flight to Heathrow.

Preparation

Luckily for me, Mairead did most of the trip planning, while her mom bought the tickets for us. Thank you, Mrs. Saling!

Here is what I'm bringing:

Clothing:
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair of polyester pants (they dry quick!)
1 pair of khaki shorts
1 light jacket
1 pair of cotton shorts for sleeping in
1 polo shirt
4 t-shirts
1 long sleeved shirt
4 pairs of boxers
5 pairs of socks
1 cotton hat
1 pair of shoes
1 pair of sandles for the shower

Hygiene:
2 travel-sized bottles of shampoo
1 bar of soap
1 toothbrush
1 handkerchief
1 washcloth
1 electric razor

Accessories:
2 plug adapters, UK and EU
1 Canon 800IS camera
1 Asus EPC-1000HE (Thank you, Dad!)
1 umbrella
1 wallet
1 backpack
1 daypack
1 traveler's pouch (thing to keep your passport on you)
1 notepad
1 pen
1 pair of headphones
1 Rick Steve's Best of Europe 2001 (Thanks Rachael!)
7 plastic bags, ziplock and otherwise for holding things
Chargers for everything electric.

My mom helped me decided what not to bring, to save space.

Here's a picture:

Does it all fit?

Barely.

Introduction

Hello, welcome to my europe trip blog. If things go well, I'll make a post once a day in the evening of whereever I am, about what we do, see, eat, etc. I'm going on this trip with my girlfriend, Mairead Saling.

The current plans are as follows (dd/mm/yy):
16/06/09 - Depart Seattle. We'll transfer planes in Vancouver, BC, and then straight to Heathrow
17/06/09 - Arrive in London, UK
20/06/09 - Depart London for Paris, and arrive on the same day
23/06/09 - Take an overnight train from Paris to Barcelona
24/06/09 - Arrive in Barcelona, Spain
25/06/09 - Take the overnight to Nice, France

These two are tentative.
26/06/09 - Bus to Monaco, spend the day there, bus back to Nice
28/06/09 - Ferry to Corsica
End tentative.

30/06/09 - Arrive in Rome, Italy
02/07/09 - Depart Rome, making a stop in Florence, arriving in Venice
05/07/09 - Take an overnight train to Vienna
08/07/09 - Arrive in Munich, Germany

At this point, the planning gets sketchy. Mairead is not sure she wants to go to Berlin. I'll post updates as they come.

10/07/09 - Arrive in Berlin
11/07/09 - Take an overnight train to Copenhagen, Denmark

16/07/09 - Arrive in Stockholm, Sweden
18/07/09 - Arrive in Oslo, Norway
20/07/09 - Arrive in Dublin, Ireland

We will eventually make our way back to London and fly home, returning on the 7th of August.

A bit about me:
My name is Allen Tsai (Tsai is spelled phonetically, one syllable, figure it out) and I'm a freshly graduated CS major, from the University of Washington. This will be my first trip to Europe and my first trip without someone older to guide me along. I'm going on this trip "for the experience." I like to see things and go to places that I've read about. I also hope to meet some cool new people, though I'm terrible about maintaining contact.

About Mairead:
Mairead (pronounced Mer- Raid), nicknamed Radey, pronounced Ray-Dee) graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in English. She's been to Europe before, with her family. She enjoys dreariness, which is why we are spending so much time in the UK and Ireland. As an aspiring writer, she is hopefully also looking for inspiration. Hopefully because I don't know if she is or not. :P