Sarah's ramblings about her trip to Europe March-July 2003
Wow, Rome is sooooo hot! I swear it's 40 degrees out there...hence why i'm in an internet cafe (air conditioned of course) in the middle of the day.
Venice ended up being a lot of fun, although i didn't enjoy all the tourists that were swarming around the whole city. It was interesting to take ferries instead of buses/metros all the time. The hostel i stayed at was right on the side of one of the islands, so at night we would get bottles of wine and sit, drink, and dangle our feet into the canal...until we noticed our blisters felt like they were burning.... I ended up spending 3 nights there because it was a cheapish hostel, and i wanted to relax on my last day there so i went to the beach with a girl from amsterdam that i met at the hostel. She also offered me a place to stay in amsterdam when i go there in august so that's awesome. We pretty much roasted on the beach and talked, swam in the warmest ocean water i've been in so far, and then got ice cream, it was a good day! I absolutely can't stand Italian men though, they're such pigs...but i guess that explains Brad :-)
Then I took the train to a town called Riomaggiore which is part of cinque terre for any of you who know italy. It's this cool area where there are these 5 fishing villages that you can hike between, it is also where i met up with Shannon and Karen again. On our first full day there we did the hike which was amazing. It was through vineyards and olive groves, and most of the time being right by the water. It was soooooooo hot though, we drank so much water but it was worth it. It took all day too, we just wanted to collapse when we got back to our room. Then the next day we just hung out on the beach and tanned some more (we're trying to blend into the italian population which think that SPF 15 is adequate for kids!). Then Shannon and I went kayaking along the coast which was so fun. It was the first time i'd gone kayaking but i absolutely loved it (new expensive sport for me). I ate pizza every night we were there though cuz it was only 5 euro for a pizza so shannon, karen and i shared them a lot!
Then we came to Rome, which is the hottest city i have been in so far. It's been between 30 and 35 degrees everyday, with about 70% humidity. We're drenched in sweat from the moment we walk out of the hostel in the morning until we get in the shower at night. And yet the italian men still make comments all the time. It's also hard to sleep cuz it's so hot. The night we arrived we got taken on a walk around the main sights by Shannon and Karens tour guide, which was great cuz it was about 10PM and it had cooled down a bit by then. Also it was amazing to see all the ancient ruins lit up at night. Then yesterday we went to the vatican, although we missed seeing the pope by one day. It was still neat to see the vatican and the sistine chapel. Then last night we went on a pub crawl that was put on by the hostel and it turned out to be lots of fun! We didn't get to sleep until around 4 or so though, so we aren't doing much today...actually as i type this shannon and karen are up in our room sleeping! And tomorrow, we're off to a place called the Amalfi coast in southern italy, and we're just gonna lie on the beach for a few days before heading to Greece to do the same thing for 10 days! heehee what a hard life i have! Anyhow, i feel like i'm writing to myself cuz noone emails me anymore :-( Maybe i should send out annoying mass emails!!!! Hahahahahahaha
So London was amazing...great to see things i had only read about or seen in pictures. Did way too much sight seeing though in such a short time. Then i took the bus to a place called Tours in the Loire valley south of Paris. I got to go through the chunnel and everything, which was cool, they load all the cars and buses onto a train to take them through the tunnel. That was the most exciting part about the bus ride. I arrived at tours way too early in the morning...it was 5:15 AM, but i was on UK time so more like 4:15. The hostel i was staying at was closed till 8 too, so i had to spend 2.5 hours in the train station. McDonald's didn't even open till 8, i was shocked! Anyhow, so i got to the hostel, dropped off my bag, showered and then jumped on a train for a nearby town to go see some castles. When i got there i found out it was a holiday so most things were closed, however i managed to find a bike shop that rented me a bike for the afternoon. So i spent about 5 hours biking around the french country side, looking at castles (or at least what the french consider castles...more like big old mansions). It was awesome! Then i slept so much that night. The hostel i was staying in had all private rooms which was nice, noone waking me up early in the morning! The next day i was too tired to look at anymore touristy things so i hopped on a train to Paris to meet up with Shannon. After wandering aound the train station trying to get my bearings, i found out how to get to her hotel, and ended up staying there that night. When i finally found Shannon and Karen, we went for a picnic dinner under the Eiffel tower, which was romantic except that we were all girls. i could see how it would be romantic if you were there with a boy though...
Then i spent the next few days wandering around Paris. I saw a lot of really cool painting (mostly monet's and van gogh's) but didn't get a chance to go to the Louvre (yeah i know, bad sarah). i just didn't have time.... I also saw the arc de trioumphe, the opera house and some other famous buildings. I also got hit on by french men. All the time. And they are bloody persistent! Then i hopped on a train to avoid them and went down to southern france to relax for a few days. I spent 3 glorious days in Biarritz and they were exactly what i needed...i lay on the beach, listened to the waves, and got a nice sunburn :-) Didn't do much, but that was the point! Drank some red wine, but that's what happens when wine is cheaper than water :-)
And now i'm in a town called Vicenze. I meant to be going to Venice, but the guy who made the reservation at the last hostel screwed up and booked my in Vicenze instead of Venezia. I figured it would be an adventure, and it has been. It's only 1/2 hour from Verona(of romeo and juliet fame) so i spent the day today there. I even saw juliet's balconey (not real hahahaha) and romeo's house. It's such a tourist trap but oh well! It was sooooooo hot there though, at about 3 i looked at a sign that was in the shade and the temperature was reading 31 degrees. But then as i was heading back here it was pouring rain. I think it's rained every single place i've gone on my trip so far! I'm bringing the rain with me i guess.
Tomorrow i'm off to Venezia to see what it's like to have a city on islands. It'll be cool cuz i'm staying at a hostel on one of the islands. We'll see!
Oh, and i changed my flight today, for those of you who want to know, i'm flying into Vancouver on August 12. I tried to get an earlier flight but they were all booked, oh shucks :-) At least i managed to find a travel agent who spoke english, i was anticipating having a lot more trouble.
I just had th absolute best day in London! To start the day i went jogging along the Thames river for 40 minutes and it hit me when i was jogging that i was jogging in london (heehee). Then Shannon, Karen and I went and watched the trooping of the colours near buckingham palace, it was a WAY larger version of the changing of the guard. Just as we were about to leave, we got caught in a blocked off area of the park around buckingham, and so we HAD to watch this really cool parade of all the soldiers, marching bands, and horses go by. They were like 2 metres away from us too! Then we went and got 20£ tickets to see Phantom of the Opera! It was sooooooooooo great. It brought me back to grade 11 when i saw it the first time, and it was even better cuz it was in London! Before the performance we went to the National gallery, and saw a bunch of famous Monet, VanGogh, and Renoir paintings that we had always seen in pictures, but they were the real ones!!! heeheehee! Then i went to see about getting to Paris tomorrow by train, but got lost finding the train station, but in my search for the train station i found a cheap sushi place...it was only 2£ for 8 pieces. It was the first sushi i've had in 3 months and it was all i expected :-) So yeah, i'm very happy and now we're off to see Tate Modern which is supposed to be an awesome gallery. Yeah for free art galleries and museums! Anyhow, almost out of time on internet, but yeah, I really like London!
Hi from the land of the irish! Yeah i'm in Dublin right now, it's not exactly what i expected, but it is fun none-the-less. I met up with Shannon here on Sunday, which was great cuz i was getting sick of travelling alone. We went out the first 2 nights we were here, but couldn't find any good irish pubs...who'd a thought that there are better irish pubs in Vancouver? Heehee. I arrived pretty late on Sunday, having spent ALL day on the bus. I left Cambridge at 6:45 AM to get to London to catch my 10 AM bus to Dublin. After a delay in London ( somehow the bus lost it's registration plates and they only realized this about 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave and everyone was on the bus and settled in) we set out for the 10.5 hour journey to dublin. The ferry ride from Wales to ireland was quite interesting. It was stormy, foggy, plus had a drink with some Aussies i met on the bus and all these combined made walking on the boat very challenging (ps i think it was more the boat rocking back and forth than the drink i had). Then Shannon and i went out to a pub with the Aussies, but they were leaving on a tour the next morning so we didn't stay out too late. Then we spent the next day (monday) wandering around dublin. It's not that big of a city and there was a womens marathon on so the city was packed with women all wearing the same shirts. We found this cool park in the city that had a lake and so we had ciders by the lake. Again we tried to go out that night, but the pub we went to closed at 12, so we went to bed fairly early. Yesterday we went on a train journey though which was a lot of fun. It poured almost all day, but we went as far south and then as far north as we could on dublin public transit. In the south there was a beach that we walked along, it was really pretty when it wasn't raining and windy :-) Then we went all the way north beacuse there is a castle and a fishig village up there. We got to where the castle was supposed to be, but found out that it was a 20 minute walk and we were already cold and wet, so we just went to the fishing village. And there my friends, shannon and i had the absolute BEST fish and chips we have ever had in our lives. It took us a while to decide which fish and chip shop to go to, and finally we decided on the cheapest one...which truned out to be the best. I'm not going to eat anymore fish and chips while i'm here cuz i don't wanna ruin the memory! hehehehehe yeah i'm weird. And then today Shannon left about an hour and a half ago to catch the bus to london, and i leave at 4 PM.
Oh, i forgot to write about the rest of my time in cambridge. On Saturday (the 31st) My cousin and his wife took me on an adventure into Norfolk(?) We drove through Norwich (east coast of england), and went to a heritage house. This house was amazing. Parts of the house were from the 1400's. And it was also the house where Anne Bolelyn was born in. Then we went further to the coast, and found a fishing village to stop in. We walked along the beach some and then walked along the promenade in town. There was an arcade there with these 2p coin machines which were really fun. I think we went through 3£ worth of 2p coins! It's probably a good thing we were only using 2p coins and not £'s :-) It was a lot of fun though for only 3£. Then we had fish and chips and drove back to Cambridge. My cousin and his wife introduced me to Jelly Babies though. They're kinda like gummy bears, but they're way better. They have a different taste, they aren't as sweet, but i'm so addicted to them now :-)
Anyhow, i should go see more of dublin instead of sitting in an internet cafe all day...off into the rain i go :-)
