Coffee shops and currywursts.

The Netherlands
September 1 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
We made our way into the bus station in Amsterdam at night. We walked around trying to figure out how to buy bus tickets and find the bus we were supposed to take to Tara's friend Aafke's place. We settled into Aafke's friend's room (who was away interviewing in another city) and went out to the corner store to grab random food for dinner. The next morning, we started out with some street wandering in the centre and some shopping. We saw the Dam Square, passed a decently-sized Chinese restaurant and the red light district by daylight. We continued wandering around and encountered Amsterdam's Chinatown! Yes, Amsterdam has a Chinatown too! Gee! It was actually a pretty big Chinatown, bigger than the one in Montreal -- pretty sizeable. Just wandering through the streets of Amsterdam was a unique experience. I have never seen so many advertisements for weed/marijuana-related accessories. It was seriously in every other window!

This was part of the China town that was actually quite large!

In the evening, we found ourselves at a cafe, where we enjoyed some coffee near one of the many rivers in Amsterdam. We were a bit on the outskirts of town.

We later returned to the centre to check out the infamous Red Light District. Earlier in the day, we had already seen old horny men lining up for peep shows in the Red Light District. I thought it was rather amusing.
The next day, we took another one of those Europe free tours and the random stories told were pretty entertaining. Apparently they are looking to close the coffee shops and the red light district slowly. If those are things you want to experience, then go in the next couple of years before they are all phased out! They plan to close coffee shops as they break regulations. This means that they are more stringent now. We also saw the Anne Frank hideout. I just stood across from the house -- a house that looked like any other house in Amsterdam. The memories of reading her diary and imagining all of that unfold in the house before me was incredibly moving. I can't believe that history was so cruel to some, and that people were responsible for such abominable acts. It was definitely a sobering moment of the trip.

The coffee shop filmed in Ocean's 11.

On the last night, we hung out with Aafke, our host (thanks Taras!) and had some delicious bread, cheese and wine before we took off to the bus terminal. Amsterdam was quite interesting, with some stories that I don't think I will repeat in this blog in case it offends anyone. I will end off Amsterdam with an attempt an artsy shot. Yay Heineken!

Germany

September 3 - Berlin, Germany
We took a night bus into Berlin: a grueling 9 hour bus ride. Joey was fast asleep throughout, having slept right across the back few seats. It was a pretty bumpy ride for me, but I got to experience the German autobahn! Damn those cars go faaast! No wonder all the guys love the autobahn! We got into town, found the subway and made our way to the hostel. After getting a little lost a few times, we managed to find the hostel and a supermarket nearby. This is where we purchased our breakfast and snacks for the day. We then made our way to the Brandenburg Gates -- the site where the free Europe tour was meeting (as our hostel had told us). This was also the location of the hotel where Michael Jackson hung his children over the railing.
We took yet another free tour through the vast city of Berlin. It is hard to imagine that Berlin has gone through so much in its history. The Jewish Memorial was quite outstanding and is meant to be left to the viewer to interpret. There was also an amazing Jewish museum that we later re-visited. The memorial is essentially concrete blocks of different sizes for one whole block. Below is a an example of one of the aisles.
Next, we stopped at the hide out of Hitler. It looks like an ordinary street now. We would've never known it was the location of Hitler's bunker without the tour guide telling us. It was crazy imagining the last seconds of Hitler's life right on the very spot where he was found. We later visited the site where Nazis burned all of the books from the university. There is a memorial now with empty bookshelves for symbolism.
After this, we also visited chunks of the Berlin Wall. The last stop on the tour was to the Berlin Dom and the art museum we didn't end up going into due to entrance costs. Below is a picture of our tour guide explaining stuff to us.
The next day, we decided to explore on our own and see the East Side Gallery -- the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall. We didn't end up walking the whole stretch because Joey got tired. However, it was still a unique experience. Shortly after returning to the metro station, we found hot dog vendors. They carry the grill literally like backpacks facing forward. It was only 1 Euro and more delicious than the $2.50CDN hotdogs back in Canada! So good!
At one of the Berlin Wall sites, we went into a Holocaust memorial. There were many placards of information as well as photographs. Some of the photos were so heartwrenching and completely sobering. There was one photo that had a particular impact on me:
Playground. Reserved for children. Forbidden to Jews.

Notice the smiling faces of the children, ignorant to what was going on. It reinforces once again to me why the right education is so important. (Well, I mean there is always that argument of what constitutes as the "right" kind of education, but I am sure you catch my drift.) Obviously it is not the children's fault that they were taught this way. They don't have a mind of their own yet. This way, unchecked, children can grow up in a controlled environment to whatever adults teach them to know. That's how we get our expert child suicide bombers and militants. Anywa, enough depression... Afterwards, we continued roaming around and gorged on a huge sausage dinner. I felt so gross after. lol. We revisited the Brandenburger Tor at sunset and took some beautiful pictures with the sun setting in the background. We then made our way to the Reichstaag, one of the political buildings in Berlin (the one that a random man allegedly burned down (whether on purpose due to his mental state, or under the influence of Hitler, we don't know)). This is the historic building that was burnt and triggered the entire Hitler regime. The building has been reconstructed with a clear glass dome, symbolizing the political process that would be entirely transparent to the German population now. It is actually a really cool dome and it served as the subject of many of my best amateur photographic works ;)


After hanging out in the Reichstaag dome for awhile, we headed back to the hostel and got ready to fly out the next morning.

United Kingdom
September 5 - London, UK
After flying back to London, we finally encountered some bad luck with weather. Well, I wouldn't call it bad luck, because it wouldn't have been a true cultural experience if I couldn't experience rain in London! Because of the rain, we decided to stay in on the first day, just lying around checking email and watching TV. We got the luxury of staying at Joey's friend's place, who happened to be out of town. She had an entire townhouse complex to herself -- which meant we had an entire townhouse complex to ourselves!

The next day, we headed off to the British National Museum with Charlotte. Again, it was a chill day of just walking around, having a few drinks here and there and catching up with Charlotte before getting ready for our flight the next day. We had lunch on Brick Lane, the Little India of London and walked around that trendy district (it reminded me of Queen St.) It was a really cool neighbourhood that I am sure Jason Chow would have loved! In this neighbourhood, we saw a restaurant that was in a double-decker bus! It was pretty cool:
... and so ended our European adventures! I hope you enjoyed following my belated blog! I wonder if I will end up writing about my trips since then: Vancouver re-visited (Dec 2008), Cuba (Feb 2009), NYC/Saint John/Halifax re-visited (July 2009). We'll see! Until next time, tata for now!

Paris, how I love thy croissants! You too, Brussels.

France
August 25 - Paris, France
We got into Paris in the morning, took the bus into the city, and the metro to our hostel. St. Christopher's Inn was a bit far from the city, but offered clean, modern accommodations. We stayed in a room for 6 people, bunk bed style. It was unique in the way it was built -- almost Japanese? The bed supports came right out of the wall and blended into the surrounding decor. The room had a sink, and sliding lockers underneath the beds. Each bed has it's own curtain, to compartmentalize every bed into private quarters. This hostel offered shared washrooms (non-co-ed). Again, we arrived before check-in time, so we dropped off our luggage and headed into the city. We found some lunch at a Turkish place, and I had my first Parisian croissant. I was in love! Our first touristic destination of the day: none other than the Eiffel Tower! We took a train into the area, and were following signs towards the site. Out of the blue, I caught a glimpse of it in a side street!

Our first peak at the towering hunk of metal that is the epitome of Paris today.

After a drawn out photo shoot at the tower and its vicinity, we walked towards the Grand Palais, where the Pont Alexander III was located. Les Invalides houses the tomb of Napolean Bonaparte underneath the chapel's golden dome. We didn't go inside, but instead trudged towards the open grass just before the Pont Alexander III. We just sat there for awhile, taking in the scenery and taking a break from the walk. The bridge itself was beautifully decorated with statues and sculptures.

A view of the Pont Alexander III, with the Grand Palais in the background.

We then made our way towards the infamous Champs-Elysees, passing fancy stores and restaurants towards the Arc de Triomphe.
The arch looked so close from where the bridge was, but it was much farther than anticipated. We then walked all the way back down towards Plaza de la Concorde, through the Jardin des Tuileries and onwards to Musee du Louvre. This was our meeting point for Ryan MacIsaac, our friend and co-worker from Arosa. (Although Ryan and I go back to our Sainte-Anne days in Nova Scotia.) Ryan had been there for a bit longer than us, so he started showing us around and we hung out for the rest of the day. First stop, le Notre Dame in the Ile de la Cite.
It was soon dinnertime, so we grabbed a Panini at a sandwich store and found a random spot by the Seine off of St. Germain to chow down. We were sitting behind the Notre Dame, cracking jokes from our working days and just taking in the scenery and environment (the back of the Notre Dame has a spidery structure). There were other groups of young French people having picnics by the Seine, with picnic cloths, tons of food and wine of course. After dinner, we trudged up to a bridge near the Notre Dame and chilled there while a bunch of street musicians played some music. There was the loveliest old woman ever, who was dancing by herself to the music. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. After that, we made our way back to St. Michel where we enjoyed an expensive coffee. I picked up the tab since I owed Ryan a few bucks back in Switzerland. It was also quite funny because the server totally looked down upon us. Love it when people are prejudice and condescending.

August 26 - Paris cont'd
The next morning, we went to purchase our train ticket after confirming that it was okay for Christian and Steph that we arrived in the next few days. Yay, go me and my forgotten French skills! We got a ticket on one of those speed trains to Brussels for the 28th. From the train station, we walked into the Montmartre area (where Moulin Rouge is!) and visited the Sacre Coeur on the top of the hill. We also ate our lunch of home-made sandwiches (go student budgets go!) of salami and fresh cheese in baguettes. We walked through the streets filled with sex shops, peep show theatres and sex museums and arrived at the Moulin Rouge.
After our own tour of the Monmartre, we went back to St. Michel to go on our free tour of Paris. The tour guide was a pretty cool guy, telling us stories about many of the historical monuments we walked by. After the "free" tour (they work on tip), we slowly made our way to the eiffel tower for its light show. We stuck around for awhile, and decided to walk up at least to the 2nd floor of the immense structure of steel. On our way up, Joey accidently stepped on my flip-flop and effectively broke it. Needless to say, I have an unforgettable memory of my ascent, both visual and tactile, as my feet soaked in the grime of the thousands of shoes that had walked up and down the stairs that day. It wasn't that bad actually... the cold metal was nice in the warmth of the Parisian summer evening. I also managed to temporarily fix the flip-flop for the descent.
August 27th - Paris cont'd
The next morning, we woke up bright and early to beat the crowds at the Louvre.
Reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, we went straight for the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, you know, the good stuff. I'm not a huge art fanatic, but I think I will grow to become one once I'm older and have the time and money. There were tons of cool paintings, sculptures and artifacts. After a crude tour of the Louvre, we went off to find lunch. We decided to indulge a little and get a taste of upper class Parisian cuisine. We bought a sandwich with truffles at La maison de Truffe, and took a visit to Hediard and Fauchon for some cheese and quiche. To top it off, Joey got some wine from Nicolas for himself. We had a gourmet picnic on a strip of grass off of the Champs-Elysees. The St. Fecilien au lait cru (cheese) was SOO delicious! Speaking of it now makes my mouth water! After the picnic, we made our way back to the hostel to pick up our belongings and make our way to the train station. A quick one-hour ish ride later on the Thalys train, we were already in Belgium! A whole new country and a whole new experience awaited us!

Belgium
August 28th - Bruxelles, la Belgique
Upon arrival that night, Christian and Steph picked us up from the train station. We just chilled and got settled in. We also found Rita awaiting us at their place! It was so strange to hang out with people you were so used to seeing in Toronto all together in a whole different country. Anyway, on the morning of the 28th, we were taken to the Palais de Justice and the Palais Royal, which happened to be open while we were there. (It's closed to the public 51 weeks of the year). There was an interesting display of a ceiling completely covered with beetles. How's that for art? We weren't allowed pictures, but Christian snuck one on his iPhone. I think he has yet to send it to us =P Oh well! Anyway, we drove to check out the town church and into the centre afterward and fit into a very narrow parking space via parallel parking. We then walked towards the Grande Place where we had a suculoo waffle. OMG. SOO different from the waffles we find in Toronto, but OH SO delectable! Once a year, they fill the entire square with flowers for some sort of festival. This time, we weren't there at the right time. Oh well! Later, we checked out the infamous peeing baby sculpture, that was in reality much smaller than expected. It's called the Mannekin Pis and apparently represented the co-habitation of French and Dutch-speaking people of Brussels. I also learned that the Smurfs and Tintin were Belgian, and that French fries had Belgian origins also! We went home after walking around the centre for awhile, and waited for Fred to come over after he got off work. It was so nice to see him again! (Once again, in Belgium and not Toronto for once!). We ordered some Chinese take out and had a feast at Christian and Steph's lovely and spacious home. Later that night, Christian took us out to see the Belgian balls ;) Also known as the Atomium in Heysel Park.
We called it an early night and just hung out at Steph's.

August 29th - Brussels cont'd
The next day, we saw the atomium by daylight and then headed out to the Chinese pavilion and Japanese garden, which were gifts from the Chinese and Japanese governments respectively. It wasn't too interesting to me, due to my asian roots. It was also closed, so we just hung around for a bit, then left to downtown again.
We went to a bar which hit a world record for having the most number of different beer brands in one bar. I forgot the number -- somewhere in the thousands? There was a huge binder for their beer listing.
We ended the night with some greasy Belgian french fries in a huge paper cone. Steph went so far as having a hot dog WITH fries inside it as a garnish! Needless to say we had itis afterwards. After filling up on greasy food, we went out that night to some bars with Rita instead of visiting John Kelly in Antwerp. It was too far and we didn't want to make our lovely hosts drive! Plus, Rita had just moved out from Christian and Steph's place. She had already started her internship at DHL by that time. The bar-hopping was fun. First, we passed Brussel's very own red light district and caught a man being glamoured by one of the woman in the window. I wonder what she was doing, because the man did not move his car (in this one lane road) despite the piling traffic behind him for some minutes. We got a good laugh out of it. The bar was nice, but I just don't enjoy bars as much due to my sad tolerance for alcohol. After that, we enjoyed some grand turkish food at a donar kebab place next door before heading home for the night.

August 30 - Bruges, De Haan, Oostende; Belgium
Today we had an awesome trip to the Western coast of Belgium, touring through Bruges (the city where In Bruges (Colin Farrell) was filmed, I later discovered). Before that, we had the most delicious croissants (even better than those I had in Paris!) Thanks Steph and Christian for showing me the light! =P In Bruges, we took a boat tour around the city (although we couldn't hear a thing the guy was saying since we sat at the back). After the tour and a quick walk through the town, we went to the area of De Haan for its beaches and stayed there for the day for some tanning. (It was a bit chilly and there was a lack of sun for some days in Brussels before we arrived). Christian and Steph were excited to get some tanning done! The beach was interesting, with lots of stage 1 succession bushes bordering the entrance to the beach. We stayed until the tide was low, and decided to head off to Oostende to find some dinner.
In Oostende, the restaurant we found was quite expensive, but we were satisfied with the random candy stand we found near the beach after dinner. =]

August 31 - Brussels cont'd
The next morning we were so exhausted from our previous beach day, that we slept in a little bit. After packing and getting ready for the day, we went off to find some crepes for brunch. It was my first time having salty crepes and man were they delish! Christian then gave us a ride to the bus station to purchase our Eurolines bus ticket to Amsterdam. We then picked up some beverages and headed off to a park near the Africa Museum. We had a little picnic if I may. What a great way to end our Belgian adventure with great friends!

I had some Krieg's and.. an Orangina ;)

Wow these postings take entire afternoons! >.<"

Madrid -- the city of heat

August 21 - Madrid, Spain
We arrived in Madrid the next morning and checked into our hostel. When we arrived, we heard of some terrible news: a terrible plane crash had occurred that morning. I later got some concern from friends/family regarding my well-being. They didn't know I had gone by bus. Oops! I guess I should provide more detailed itineraries to people next time... Anyway, we were extremely tired, but couldn't exactly check in yet. We stowed our luggage in their luggage room and went to an art museum nearby -- the Museo de Prado. We ate breakfast outside, and then headed into the museum. We were sooo tired from the previous night's bus ride that we could barely concentrate on the artwork there. I don't even remember what we saw! I just remember sitting on a bench and almost falling asleep like a bum in the art gallery! After finishing the art gallery, we walked over to a beautiful park -- el Parque de buen retiro. It reminded me of central park, but with more pruning and gardens of flowers. There was a small lake in the center, where people paddle-boated amongst the sea of gold fish. Finally, it was time to check-in, so we trekked back to the hostel and took a nap. After our siesta, we made our way to the Palacio real, the royal family's palace. We sat in the square for awhile, taking in the scenery, while some kids nearby were racing across the square. It was cute! We also found a random restaurant and went into try some paella for dinner. We watched a bullfight on TV. I never knew how gruesome it was! A good bullfighter kills the bull as quick as possible and as painlessly as possible. The fight we watched involved the bull fighter missing the bull's heart when the sword came out. =S On the way back, we took in the night-time ambience. Of the pedestrian-filled streets. I really enjoyed the vibe! There was also some guy who put on a display of toilet paper in the vents!

The children play in the windy vents, after a man tucks toilet paper in various spots. It was quite a spectacular show despite the weirdness. (The vent also smelled funny)

The next day we embarked on a free tour of Madrid. We saw many of the major sites by daylight and were let off in the downtown area on Gran Via (one of the major streets). We headed back to the hostel for our daily siesta and later prepared for dinner. In the evening, we went to the Plaza Mayor to take in the sights and sounds of Madrid.

August 23rd -- Madrid cont'd
Joey really wanted to see a bullfight so we went to the bullring to see what we could do about that. There were no shows that we were able to watch, so we just checked out the bullring (Plaza de las Ventas). We then made our way to la Puerta de Alcala (in la Plaza de la Independencia), an arch near Gran Via. Joey was hungry so we walked up the Gran Via and stopped in the McDonalds. We walked through the shopping district around Gran Via and headed back to the hostel. Later the night, we embarked on a pub crawl to the Dubliners (Irish Bar) and Sol y Sombra (with the free tour crew) and our roommates from the hostel.

August 24th -- Madrid cont'd
This morning, we went to El Rastro, a flea market. There were so many people! I hate being in crowds, so we just made a walk-through avoiding the crowded stalls (probably where the good stuff was). We stopped by a Chinese-run tapas bar (it was just coincidence that it was run by chinese people). Joey had a beer and we had some chinese tapas. We continued walking and later randomly found ourselves at el Museo de Arte Reina Sofia. It was bittersweet as it was free that day, but we had arrived about an hour before it was closing. We quickly toured as much of the art museum as we could, and saw some Picasso and Dali works. I wish we had more time to check out the museum! It was so much better than the Prado museum. Oh well! We then found our way to Estacion Atocha. This was the infamous train station that was victim to the bombing a few years ago. This is the most awesome train station ever! There is an indoor garden, home to a forest and a pond full of turtles!!!

We were on our way home, when we randomly saw a living wall beside a bank. It was pretty cool since I've never seen an outdoor one!
We stopped by at the Parque del buen retiro and just chilled there for awhile. There were families having picnics, a group jamming (which we enjoyed listening to), and children playing everywhere. There was supposed to be a drum circle according to my guide book, but I guess we didn't find it. I ended up taking a nap in the park because it was so nice! Joey wanted a beer, so we found a tapas bar near our hostel and they had some awesome tapas! That evening, we went to a Churerria with John and Shane, Joey's roommates from the hostel, and I introduced the churro to Joey. It was soooooooo delicious! We chilled in the hostel for awhile until it was time for us to leave for the airport for our red eye flight to Paris.

Wow, catching up on blogging is taking much longer than intended! However, I must finish before school starts! Only 12 days left of our journey!

Barcelona -- best city ever!

Spain
August 18 - Barcelona, Spain
We arrived in the late afternoon at Girona airport. It was a beautiful and modern airport. We got into the city and settled in our hostel. It was a very nice and modern one! We shared it with 2 other girls from South America. The pictures shown are of the hallway to our hostel and the outside of the hostel (the tall building that looks like rectangular tiles of different shades of grey).

After we were all settled and had dinner, it was already getting late. We decided to take it easy and see only one sight by night. We walked over to the Sagrada Familia -- the church started by Architect Antonio Gaudi. Apparently he spent 40 years of his life working on this project. It has since been under the lead of various architects. It is scheduled to be finished in 2026, while portions of it will be open to the public for worship and tours by September 2010. It is one of the weirdest buildings I have ever seen. In the dark, it looked very gloomy and pretty creepy. By daylight, you could stand there for hours admiring the intricacies of his work. It is just so unique from all of the other churches I had seen in Europe so far. I'd love to go back to Barcelona to see the finished product. After walking back to the hostel, we used some internet and went to bed. The next morning, there were some errands to take care of. I was out of cash! I needed to go to the bank to switch the Swiss Francs I had. After a wild goose chase around different banks with different rates of exchange, services etc., I found Caixa Catalunya. It was here that I had one of the most unforgettable realizations. The man at the bank greeted me and I spoke in Spanish, explaining what I wanted. He proceeded to ask a few routine questions and then asked for my ID. I offered my passport to him. He gathered all of the information that he had and was confused: Chinese girl by visual inspection, surrendering a Canadian passport, who speaks Spanish fluently, requiring Swiss Francs to be switched to Euros. I laughed as I realized that this was who I am, or who I hoped to be -- the traveler. We had a conversation about my roots and how I came to be at his bank switching Swiss Francs to Euros. The bank offered a good enough exchange rate. After all was said and done, I was about to leave when he called me by name and stopped me in my tracks. He waved me back to give me a pen with the bank logo. Needless to say, that pen has sentimental value now.

Since I had gone to the bank alone (and was gone for awhile because of the wild goose chase), Joey got angry at me because he was worried. =S We cooked our lunch of pasta and whatever ingredients we had left over from the previous night.

Finally we were able to start our sightseeing for the day. We headed off to see the Sagrada by daylight, as well as the Hospital de la Santa Creu. The hospital is quite a unique site and still fully functioning today. It was built in the early 1900s.
The picture doesn't do it justice, but I don't have the skills to do a panorama from the center of the courtyard. It felt kind of weird to be at a hospital, so we didn't stay long. We walked out again, looking for a pharmacy so that I could buy some contact solution and Joey could buy fresh wraps for his ankle. Contact solution was ridiculously expensive in the pharmacies. Small travel size bottles are $2 in Canada -- in the Spanish pharmacies, they were 6 Euros! (Later, I found an optic shop that sold a travel size for 3 Euros and bought that instead.) After Joey changed his wraps, we hopped onto the metro to visit the Parc Guell. We found something that we've never seen in Canada -- outdoor escalators!
The climb to the park was pretty long, but well worth it! It was absolutely stunning at the top. You could see the whole city from there! I love coastal cities because I love water! Anyway, we walked around the park, completely designed by Gaudi. I love his work -- it's so unique! Here are some pictures of the park:

One of the highest peaks in the park, where we enjoyed a panoramic view of the city.

A view of the city: Sagrada Familia to the left, las Ramblas in the center, and the beach in the far distance!
World's longest bench!
Close up of the details in the bench -- also designed by Gaudi.

The two buildings at the entrance of the park.

That's just a few of the highlights. I loved this park! (Well, I loved Barcelona in general! =P) After the adventure in the park, we were quite tired, so we made our way back to the hostel. We went to the Carrefour mall and supermarket to pick up groceries for our picnic at the beach the next day.

August 19 - Barcelona cont'd
The next morning we hopped on a RENFE train to Costa Brava. We just asked some random girls who looked like they were going to the beach to recommend a nice strip of beach. They just told us to get off when they did. So we did, and it was quite nice. It wasn't as out of the city as we thought it'd be -- maybe a 20 min train ride? We got off at Mongota Nord station, and simply picked our spot. It wasn't very busy yet, as it was early in the morning. There were tons of beach chairs, but we later learned we had to pay to rent them. =[ So I pulled out my handy-dandy beachwear cloth-thing to sit on.

A view of the city in the far off distance from the beach.

After our picnic lunch, a few dips in the ocean, and some tanning, we headed back to the hostel to get cleaned up. We also decided to check out Carrefour Mall to find a salon. Joey really wanted a haircut. We made an appointment, went to the supermarket to buy more stuff, then waited for Joey to get his haircut. His stylist was pretty cool and tried to talk to Joey through it all through his broken English as I was told afterward. I later learned he was from Zaragoza and was telling us about some cool festival going on there. Too bad we already had tickets to Madrid! People from Barcelona had really cool hair -- especially the girls. This hairstyle where the top was short (up to the chin-ish), but the bottom layers were longer (past the shoulders). It was pretty cool! After Joey was satisfied with his haircut, we went back on the Metro to go to the other Gaudi-designed buildings: La Pedrera and La manzana de discordia (Casa Batllo). Simply amazing. We continued walking down this street, where all of the expensive boutiques were (LV, Chanel etc.) and reached Las Ramblas. It was a unique experience, with tons of buskers on the street performing for money. There were some awesome shows (magic, fire-play, sword-swallowing etc.) and amazing costumes. We made it down to the Olympic port and decided to have an Italian dinner. Joey tried some Spanish beer and I had some flan. Mmm! The Olympic port seemed to contain a couple of night clubs as well. However, we were not in club attire, nor in the mood for clubbing so we tried to find our way back to the hostel. It was quite frustrating with the night buses, but we finally found one that took us home. We also discovered that on a ramp nearby the hostel, was a prostitutes' pick-up area.

August 20 - Barcelona cont'd
The next morning, we decided to head back to Las Ramblas because we hadn't had enough. We found the market (St. Joseph -- La Boqueria). So many sights and smells and yummy snacks! Since we already ate and weren't hungry, we tried some fresh fruit juice and left.
We then continued on to the statue of Colombus and the Olympic port. I wanted to see a gallery, but it was closed. So we later found ourselves sitting on the docks for awhile, admiring the fish that were swimming beneath our feet. Since we had already seen what we wanted to see, we decided to go to the Aquarium. The ISIC card got me half off ;) I paid for our tickets, and we went into the aquarium. I was in a bad mood, but let's not get into that. I was still nonetheless amazed by some of the sights I saw. The most memorable experience was standing on the conveyor belt, going under the tunnel where sting rays, sharks and crazy fish swim around me.
After that, we got back to the hostel to gather our stuff and head off to the bus station. We embarked on a 9 hour night journey to Madrid! Wow, that was a long post, but well worth it. Barcelona is one of my favourite cities in all of Europe!

Super belated trip posts.. better late than never?

I decided I would complete my blog if anything for myself. I have a terrible memory and the last thing I want to do is forget my experiences last summer! I'm sure no one else will read this until the next time I travel but since I'm not doing much traveling this summer, I should make an effort to finish up the blog before I forget everything!

With my journal of places visited and my photos, I will attempt to re-tell stories accurately..

August 12th - Venice, Italy

Train ride to Venice wasn't too bad. Very hot though! You could feel the Venetian heat as soon as you get off the train. When you leave the train station, you already see the main canal. The view is surreal -- right out of a storybook!

We booked our next train ticket to Florence (Firenze) and took public transportation to our hostel. The main mode of public transportation was via boat. The boat ride gave a pretty good overview of what the city was like. It's weird seeing doorways that lead to water and instead of a sidewalk or a garden. Basically, in place of streets, there were canals. Many residents had their own motor boats, and there were always water buses. Of course in the downtown area there were many gondolas. Surprisingly, out of the many gondolas I saw, few of them were in use. Gondolas were very expensive (about $150 CDN for a ride), but I suppose that is why there weren't always many gondolas out at once. Instead of consistently doing work all the time for small amounts of money, they wait until someone is willing to pay them big money for their services. Since we arrived in the late afternoon, we grabbed some lunch: pizza. Not once was there bad pizza in Italy from all of our experiences! Then we wandered around the streets of Venice and hung around the main plaza. We decided to go up the belltower to get a view of the whole city. It looks so weird! It just looks like a floating city!

Left: A picture of what I mean by a floating city. This is an island with a church and a few other buildings on it I believe. It's across from the main square (Piazza di San Marco).

After the sunset, we had some coffee in the main square then got some gelato and chilled by the shore of the water. The water was warm to my surprise!

The next morning, we decided to go the Lido island beach to eat lunch. We brought some cold cuts, cheeses, bread and some wine to hang out on the beach. The waves were pretty crazy there so many people were body-boarding. Too bad I didn't have a board! After we came back, we took the water bus around the outskirts of Venice and then finally headed out for a train ride to Florence. All in all, a beautiful city. It's astounding how everything can be built over the water. A great place to visit, but I don't think I could live here!

August 13 - Florence, Italy
Since we got in late, we didn't want to do too much once we settled into the hostel. We just took a stroll in the downtown area and saw the Duomo (main church) by night light, grabbed some late night pizza and called it a night.

The next morning, I woke up and one of my eyes barely opened! I thought, "what's going on?!", and later discovered that a mosquito had bit me in the eyelid during the night! My entire left eye was swollen and barely open! I ended up wearing sunglasses for the whole day, and the swelling went away (thank goodness!). We walked around in the morning and saw the Ponte Vecchio (the oldest bridge in Florence) and climbed the stairs to the hill where the replica statue of David stood. Since I wanted to visit as many places as I could, I convinced Joey to go with me to Siena.















Left: The Ponte Vecchio and the view from up top of the Piazza di Michelangelo.

August 14 - Siena, Italy
So we took an afternoon train into Siena. Boy was it different from the other Italian cities that we had visited! All of the different cities were so different from each other in fact! Anyway, Siena had many medieval elements, because it has apparently maintained its medieval style from that period.
















Left: Random Asians we encountered sitting on the steps of a random place in an alley. Gosh those Asians will sit anywhere in order to get their dose of internet access! The second photo is of a race-horse. Unfortunately we had just missed the race (because we didn't know about it). The horses have fans originating from different family histories. Different families will cheer for their horses as tradition goes. Afterward, they bring their horse back to its home and all of the families celebrate. I think this was a winner as everyone was singing and chanting with an air of excitement and happiness.

The next morning we walked around the street market, bought some food and headed to the train station. Our strategy was to avoid the heat of the day by riding in the air conditioned trains.

August 15 - Rome, Italy
We took the train in from Florence and discovered that our hostel was farther than expected. Our hostel ended up being on some campgrounds about 45min away from the city centre. However, to our surprise, we had our own cute little cabin to ourselves, with a clean washroom and our own air conditioner!

Since we got in in the evening, we grabbed dinner at the hostel, then headed out to check out Rome for what was left of the day. The trains were very cool and awesome, but varied from brand new to completely graffiti-ed on the outside (which I actually found cool). The first stop we made was to the Colisseum. I walked out of the station expecting to need to walk a few blocks from the train station. However, as soon as I stepped out of the station, it was there, right in front of us! It was definitely colossal! ;) Normally sites are less than I expect them to be because people/media put so much hope into me that I am disappointed when it is not as magical to me as it was described. Even through all the hubbub about the Colisseum, I was taken aback when I actually saw it. We loved it so much we came back the next day during the day. I had seen so many pictures of it before, heard of so many references, but to be able to stand right in front of it, to touch it, made me feel so weird! We walked around for awhile and enjoyed the eclipsing moon. Then we walked by some of the ruins, towards a huge monument for Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoia, first king of Italy. The structure was unbelievably large and beautiful. We then wandered to the tourist-infested Trevi Fountain. Of course I tossed a coin into the fountain! We'll see what comes of it! Maybe I will be back in Rome ;)

The next day, we got up bright and early to lign up for the Vatican City. It was a good choice, as the line wrapped almost around half of the Vatican City when we came out. We only waited for about 1.5 hr, and that was because we arrived about an hour before the Vatican City opened. I was flabbergasted by the Sistine Chapel. It is so beautiful! We sat there for over an hour admiring his work. Pictures and replicas just don't do it justice! The rest of the Vatican City museum was nice, but I just wasn't too into religious art. It was really funny while we were in the Sistine Chapel. There'd be these security guards that just shout "Shh, quiet, no photos" in random intervals and a funny italian accent. It made the experience comical. Then we mailed home post cards from the Vatican City as they have their own postal service independent of Italy! I suppose it's the privilige of the Catholic church! Then we went to check out the San Pietro church -- the Pope's church. There was actually a funny story here (elaboration to come later). We went back to the Colisseum first, grabbed gelato on the way and since Joey's leg was acting up, I went to Vittorio's monument on my own. It was also because I wanted to see the ruins by daylight. Then we went back to San Pietro Basilica. I had to pee SO badly but there were no washrooms nearby. I didn't think there'd be a washroom in the church (hey, don't laugh), but I had to try asking anyway. I ended up trying to ask an employee of the church. He was Asian, but only spoke Italian. I actually used Mandarin to find out where it was! Yes, I feel accomplished. Shush. There were washrooms, and that saved me from missing out checking out the tombs of the Popes. There were people mourning and literally crying for Pope John Paul II. After dinner, we hit the Pantheon and tried some fried rice balls. Then we headed back to the hostel. The next morning, we decided not to strain ourselves too much and chilled at the hostel instead. Went for a dip in the pool, and took a bus to the Ciampino airport in anticipation for our flight to Barcelona. And so ended our Roman trek. It is a beautiful city with so much character and history. I would definitely come again!

Well, I think I'm going to post this before somehow I lose everything accidentally. I will start Spain and the rest of my European travels for later posts. I will hopefully complete this summer project by the end of summer 2009!