Thursday, August 20, 2009

Home Sweet Home

Great to be back. I promise to give a full detailed recap of the trip, along with photos (once I sort through all 3000+ of them..zomg) and Nam's account of the trip (once I nag him 1029348 times).

Here's a teaser of what's to come...

(Our trip can be pretty much summarized into these two pictures...lol)







These were taking shortly after seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, France

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Inbetweens and Austria

So as it turns out, we were unable to get a seat on the Vienna overnight, so we had to go in the afternoon AND book a hostel for the night in Vienna cause we werent going to be on a train. --German keyboard has the Y and Z mixed up, making it really really confusing, since i have Ys in my usernames, emails, last name and even password. gahhh.

Will have to blog about Venice later, as I dont have the money/time to pay for internet right now. got bored of venice quite fast, actually... it was nice for a bit, but it's expensive! spent a lot on food/gifts there.

extending our vienna stay for a bit; not leaving til tmrw (Sunday) night as we couldnt get a train out earlier. shoot. just realized i could have booked a bus instead...ah darn. oh well.

Italy has given me more mosquito bites in a few days time than any other camping trip ive ever taken. i shit you not, i look like i have chicken pox. 4-5 on my face (and eye!) and at least 40 everywhere else. ahhhhsöldfkjasdlkfja.

Cant believe our trip is winding down so quickly. i know ive posted quite a few blog entries (although not nearly as much or as detailed as i had wanted to), and in retrospect, there are a lot given that ive just been gone 2 wks (TWO WEEKS?! seriously, it seems like we've been gone for AT LEAST a month) It's saturday afternoon here, and by Wednesday morning, we'll be on our way back to Toronto, and then seeing everybody at camping, which i am thoroughly looking fwd to =)

SPEAKING OF CAMPING...
(as im too lazy and too short on time to send out individual emails)

-- DRIVERS: i need licence plate numbers!
Dont make me hunt you down when i get back. you'll be getting calls at 5 in the morning cause of my jet lag.


Still unable to post pictures, darn. will try again at next computer lab.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

So here I am in a computer lab, finally, with 36 minutes left on my paid account. After checking my email, facebook, twitter, etc. I decide to do what I really bought this internet time to do: upload my pictures as I have been promising to do ever since I arrived. (I even bought a USB card reader!) But lo and behold, they disabled the usb port and wont allow me to upload my pictures. I think some sort of of anti-terrorism, for the same reason that Italy has made a law requiring all computer labs to get your passport or driver's licence --rolls eyes--

Still not a real qwerty keyboard, but at least most of the keys are the same. We're leaving Rome via train to Venice in about three hours. Enough for dinner and some computer time.

Rome has been absolutely spectacular. I can't believe that we're halfway through our trip already!

Saturday:
The only word to describe the airport in Girona (about 1.5 hrs from Barcelona; cheaper) was clusterfck. But we had left early and had plenty of time to wait for the flight. Flight was smooth, save for the obnoxiously loud group of guys in the plane who didnt shut up for the hour and a half. Apparently cheering like it's a football/soccer game as the plane is landing is a tradition, to celebrate that the piece of shit budget airline actually took off and landed in one piece haha. That was our last flight before we leave. Only trains from here to Prague.

We got to our hostel around 2:30ish and were pretty burnt out from the RyanAir flight from Barcelona. Went to see the Fontana di Trevi (I'm working off an Italian map, hence the Italian names) and the Piazza Mignanelli. I wish I could show you guys a map, but you can google it or wait for my pictures hehe..

Sunday:
We were supposed to go to Vatican City today, but Nam wasn't feeling well the night before/day of, so we didn't wake up as early as we had liked, and, knowing that it would be crazy crowded for Sunday mass, opted to go to the Colliseum and Palatine Hill instead (ruins). The ruins were absolutely incredible, especially considering that there was still so much that hadn't been excavated yet. We took a tour for both, and it was well worth it.

Monday:
Made our way to Vatican City to see St. Peter's Basillica, the Vatican museum, and the Sistine Chapel. Again, we opted to go with a tour group to avoid the lines. Unfortunately, the first tour guide we had had a really heavy Italian accent (we were promised a native English speaker), so we got a refund and found a different tour group. The Sistine Chapel is breathtaking, and craning my neck for even 10 minutes or so hurt like crazy; I can't imagine Michelangelo doing it for years (no, he did not paint it on his back).

Vatican City operates like their own country, minting their own coins, delivering their own mail, etc. Apparently their mail system is more reliable than the rest of Italy's we mailed a bunch of postcards from Vatican City. If you haven't sent me your address yet and you want one, e-mail me your address!

Tuesday (today):
Checked out of our hostel, but left our bags there so we didn't have to carry it around all day. Went to the Pantheon (google it; it's architecturally amazing) and re-visited the Fontana di Trevi (this time, we each threw a coin into the fountain) and did some quick souvenir shopping. We also saw the Bernini's Four Fountains, which are four fountains (duh) situated in the four corners of a busy intersection. Finally, we stopped by the Piazza Della Repubblica and the Fontana del Tritone. Overall, it's been a pretty chill day, and now we're just waiting to be able to get into our overnight train, which will arrive in Venice around 5:30 am tomorrow.

I desperately wish I could upload pictures!! Hopefully I'll be able to do it when we arrive in Venice. We ran out of room on our 4gb card and finally bought another 4gb. Considering that we've only just reached the halfway mark, I expect to have it filled up by the time we return home!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

My written journal hasn't been much better than my online one; our days have been jam packed and I'm usually too tired to blog via my iPod when we get back. Nam isn't feeling well tonight, so he's asleep right now, giving me a chance to catch up on my writing. I have a terrible memory, so I'll have to recap through the pics on my camera, even though I can't post them yet.

Barcelona:
Aquarium-- lots of fish (duh). There's a moving path that takes you underneath the aquariums, which is pretty cool. Got to see lots of sharks, rays, tuna, etc.

Boqueria-- super big outside market with fresh foods, fruit, seafood, meats, etc. We try to go to restaurants only once, as to give other places a chance, but there was one seafood bar there where we simply had to go twice! Mussels and razor clams. Mmmmm. Also bought six passion fruits for 1.50 euro!! Soo good!

Gaudi-- saw a few of his works, took pictures of the outside, but neither of us were particularly interested in paying 20+ euros to wee the inside, so we'll just pretend we went in ;)

Bulls-- went to see the arena where the bull fights are held. Small museum, super smelly. Got to see the bulls too! The arena is huge. Wish we could have seen an actual bull fight.

Chocolate museum-- name is self explanatory. History and traditions of chocolate. Lots of chcolate displays too. Even our ticket in was a chocolate bar!!

Beach-- spent our last day in Barcelona lazing and relaxing by the beach. Aside from the unjust chair rentals, it was a pretty sweet day of just sun and sand. Yes, it was awesome.

Las Ramblas-- the heart of Barcelona. My fav part of the city. It's a long pedestrian strip full of craftsmen, artists, performers, vendors and restaurants. Definitely super touristy, but our hostel was right off the strip, so we went up and down often. Looooved it!!
just walked into our hostel in Rome. Beautiful.

Airplane ride from Barcelona to Rome= loudest, most obnoxious group of ppl EVER. Who screams,cheers, claps and jumps like you're at a soccer game as the plane is starting to land??

Super hot here, but that's nothing new. Haven't gotten a chance to send post cards yet. Will do soon. Wifi is better here, but still no USB to upload pics. Times like this I wish I had an iPhone lol..

Last days of Barcelona updates coming soon. Nap time for now :)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Click to enlarge


aquarium in barcelona


barcelona harbour



Getting our sketches done in paris


In front of Versailles


[tilt your head. didn´t have time to rotate haha...] Eiffel tower, right before it lit up

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Finally got a hold of a real computer, but cant stay on for long. stupid international keyboard again.
Crazy hot here! probably low 30s. Went to the Barcelona aquarium today, saw lots of fishies!
There are hookers everyyyywhere.

wifi here is slow. we have taken over 700 pictures, and i want to post up at least a few highlights, but the computer is restricted. sigh. next time, i promise!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Barcelona = love at first site.

Got To our hostel not too long ago. Stressful day, rushing between Versailles, trains,metro, Paris hostel, airport, last train to Barcelona, closed metro , but finally made it to our hostel. Great host @reception. Going for food/drinks in a bit; his city never sleeps! Keep sending those addresses my way!

Ps. Nam and I are slowly but surely driving each other crazy. I'm sure be can attest in his next post, which he has promised to come soon...

Monday, July 27, 2009

Finally got some wireless on my iPod. Can't type a lot on it though-- small keyboard. Hard to type in Internet cafes cause the keyboard is really different. It's not a qwerty board. Quite a few letters are "misplaced", mking it really difficult to type efficiently.

Flight to JFK was only an hour. Connecting from jfk to paris was delayed 2.5 hours. Sat on taxi strip waiting for take off took forever! And when we finally got there, we were told out luggage wasn't there yet. Didn't get delivered to our hotel til 24 hrs later. Watched the tour de France yesterday. So many ppl!! Went to notre dame cathedral during the Sunday mass too. Beautiful. Woke up late this mining, but finally getting over jet lag. Spent the day at the louvre, saw the Mona lisa. Went through champs élysées and saw Eiffel tower. Wanted to go up, but the lineups were huge, so we just took lots of pictures of it haha. Been eating a lot of pasta for staying in Paris, France.

The metro here is pretty crazy, but the leaning curve isn't steep. Driving is pretty all over the place tho, and it's kinds scary walking across the street sometimes. Weather was really hot yesterday, but today we had rain and it cooled down quite a bit; probably low 20s. Going to Versailles tmrw, and if we have time, the catacombs. Flying to Barcelona tmrw night. Nam has much more interesting stories, but his fingers are too big for my iPod. Comments would be appreciated on the blog itself, as I'm not checking twitter and facebook as frequently. Tell me your addresses if you want a postcard!!
arrived in paris early yesterday morning.
lost luggage. it came this morning.
tour de france yesterday. louvre and eiffel tower today. will blog more when i have access to non-french keyboard.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Exactly 72 hours and counting...

Stupid shouldn't-have-left-these-til-the-last-minute stuff...

_I bought a 1 terabyte external hard drive yesterday. Yes, probably overkill, but I needed a hard drive anyways, since I accidently deleted my entire music folder and have no more room on my hard drive to transfer it back from my iPod. As of right now, the only physical evidence of my life's worth of music is my iPod, and I would very much like to back that up before I leave. Unfortunately, I just ordered it from Dell yesterday, and its estimate delivery date is Friday. *fingers crossed*

_I ordered euros from TD Bank this weekend, but miscalculated the time it would take to get delivered to my bank. SHIT. So, on Tuesday I got an e-mail confirmation saying that it would take 3-5 business days to get here. That's crazy pushing it. And then today, I get my second confirmation e-mail saying that the czech currency (I ordered them within hours of each other) would get here in 3-5 business days too. SHIT SHIT. Ah well...looks like I'll be converting it at the airport then...

_Extended travel insurance. Yep, I should get on that.. Done.

_Laundry. Yes, as stupid as it sounds, I can't pack a bag full of dirty clothes...and it takes time to sort them, throw them in the washer and dryer/hang them. Oops. Done.

_Misc. items: USB card reader to upload pics on the go, mesh bags, locks...

_And I still need to book Venice/Vienna, and the train rides to/from/inbetween. Not to mention the complete itinerary for the trip is still up in the air...

Sunday, July 19, 2009

6 days [!] left til we fly out. I still haven't booked the Venice and Vienna hostels, nor the train rides between Venice/Vienna and Vienna/Prague. [freakout]

Just put in the order for money tonight. Hopefully it should arrive at the bank by the end of the week. Can't order czech currency yet..no money in the bank =\

_updating template. Bear with me for the next few days, as I try to squeeze that in between work and planning..

Monday, July 13, 2009

Finalized half the rest of the trip! Woohoo!


Paris
Boissiere
http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/france/paris/1477/
(2 nights)

Barcelona
Barcelona Ramblas Hostel
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Barcelona-Ramblas--Be-Hostels/Barcelona/435
(4 nights)

Rome
Stargate Hostel
http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/italy/rome/1478/
(3 nights)

Venice
Hotel Minerva & Nettuno
http://www.hostelsclub.com/hostel-en-6045.html
(2 nights)

Vienna
Red Carpet Hostels Vienna
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Red-Carpet-Hostels-Vienna/Vienna/24892
(1 night)

Prague
Czech Inn
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Czech-Inn/Prague/14982
(3 nights)


Overnight trains:
Rome -> Venice --booked (Trenitalia)
Venice -> Vienna --not yet booked
Vienna -> Prague -- not yet booked

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Spent the last 5 hours looking up hostels in Europe. Most Def didn't think it'd be this hard. *sad face* Trying to balance between budget and comfort.

I've narrowed down my top 2-3 picks for Prague, Vienna, Venice and Rome (working backwards!). Still need to look up Barcelona and Paris. Ugh, it's frustratingly expensive. Decided not to go white-water rafting in Slovenia after all, too much of a rush. Took those two days and added it to Venice & Rome instead.

Monday, July 6, 2009

19 days and counting...

Still so many things we need to do!

-Book flights from Paris to Barcelona and Barcelona to Rome
-Book hostels and/or hotels
-Buy a Eurail Select train pass Opted to get individual train passes instead
-Get Nam to buy a backpack
-Book whitewater rafting date Not going to Slovenia after all

And then there's the small detail of actually planning out our itinerary and what we're gonna do...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Since everyone keeps asking, I have to update this now. While I'm sick. And hallucinating ponies and mushrooms. And my fever is fluctuating so like a bad carnival ride. But I heart blogging. And I didn't go to work today, so now my typing fingers are restless.

We're backpacking Europe for 2 and a half weeks. Weeeeee!

Saturday July 25th
Toronto > New York > Paris

Wednesday August 12th
Prague > London > New York > Toronto

The tentative itinerary at the moment:
  • Fly to Paris, France
  • Fly to Barcelona, Spain
  • Fly to Rome, Italy
  • Train to Venice, Italy
  • Train to Ljubljana, Slovenia (white water rafting)
  • Train to Vienna, Austria
  • Train to Prague, Czech Republic
  • Fly to Toronto, Canada
Of course, that is subject to change. The only definitive cities are Paris and Prague, which is where we're flying in/out of.

Suggestions, tips, hints, recommendations would be highly appreciated =)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The countdown to Eurotrip 2009 begins..