(Officially) the Worst Backpackers Ever

So we’re in our 5-star hotel in Athens, Greece. Thank you Priceline! We got in at 2am yesterday, woke up at about 1pm, and used the rest of the day as a recoop day. We went to a couple of restaurants in the area. One was an authentic Cretean (Cretian?.. help!) restaurant where we started with a  Takos “salad” (and we’re discovering that the salads here aren’t necessarily what we mentally conjure with the word) that was half-a-loaf-‘uv hardened (toasted) bread with cold tomato puree and shaved feta cheese with a drizzle of olive oil atop. Jen got a burger with cheese in the middle, but the “burger” showed up as two mini sausage-shaped seasoned ground meat patties (with cheese in the middle) on top of soft pita bread. I ordered (and received) pork chops with soft pita bread that were perfectly seasoned and cooked (and only cost 8euro!). Our food came with fries that tasted phenomenal with the meat and pita all rolled up.

For dinner we went to a little place around the corner from our hotel, a lil’ mom-and-pop grill house, where we shared a Thatiki salad, shaved lamb meat with pita, and sliced potato. We wanted to stay close to the hotel because Jen’s foot was starting to hurt, and we didn’t want it to be too bad for our second day.

Yesterday, Saturday, we got dropped off by our hotel shuttle near Syntagma Square which is in a shopping area. There are many small side streets that first house commercial clothing lines, then weather into small shops of novelty tshirts and souvenirs. After walking down several of these, Jen and I discovered the side-side streets where the more flea market-esque antique dealers hang out. It was later in the day by the time we found some of the ones with more unique items, so the market atmosphere was winding down. But the market is supposed to be in full swing on Sundays, so we would have the opportunity to hit them again the next day.

We picked up a couple of street food items that were absolutely delicious. One was a GIANT donut that was just the simple donut with large crystalline sugar all over it (and soon all over us! Messy fare). The second was a still of coconut with chocolate around it and more shaved coconut on the outside. It was amazing. And there we street bands playing their instruments next to a historic church in a square nearby. And there were a bunch of big stray dogs that were asleep in awkward positions in awkward locations in front of stores (Greece has approx  150,000 stray dogs, so they are pretty much everywhere). And there were strange teenagers with signs for “FREE HUGS” all over the place (and they were pretty assertive about giving these hugs away), we were basically walking with these kids down one street because we were going around the same pace, and we kept passing other groups of kids like’em headed in the opposite direction. Figured that it was either the new “hip” thing to do for high schoolers on the weekend, or they were clever pickpockets. None of them were good looking enough to risk getting ripped off, so we were lucky not to get suckered into it. J

There’s a lot of beautiful jewelry and cool pottery. And a bunch of the shops sell interesting olive oils and wines. At lunch, Jen and I went to one of the many restaurants around the shopping streets, and got a table in a beautiful interior garden area that had natural light pouring in through the clear ceiling and winding vines crawling up the walls. It was really pretty. Jen got moussaka which is a casserole with courgette and aubergine (zucchini and eggplant) and I got lamp gryos, shaved meat with pita and fresh onion, tomato, cucumber salad to eat with + the tsaisiki yogurt salad that seems to come as a side with most  things that come with meat and pita. I also got ouzo which is an aniseed spirit (…and apparently “spirit” means liquor, rather than “wine cooler-like drink” as I previously thought…because I never order “spirits”…I’m not very religious –buh nuh-na)which was quite strong. Good, but STRONG.

Unfortunately, Jen’s foot was starting to hurt pretty bad two-hours into our flea market excursion. Jen has plantar fasciitis, for those of you who are unfamiliar with her podissue. Not “serious”, but quite an impediment when most of the sights are seen on foot.

So today, Sunday, we’re sitting in our hotel room watching the London marathon. Our bed is HUGE and super comfy, so that is a nice perk J Jen’s got her foot in her weird foot stretching sock, trying to heal up. I’ve had her taking Tylenol every few hours to keep the internal swelling down and encourage whatever healing (or just not hurting) we can get.

I’m thinking about calling the National Archaeological Museum along with some of the other sites we could see tomorrow and the next day (last two days!!) to see if they have wheelchair options so that Jen won’t have to walk too much but we can still see what’s there. Maybe the concierge will know if the Acropolis requires visitors to walk up the entire hill…because we actually have a pretty good view of it from the top floor of our hotel, if not. But yeah, open to any suggestions or not-thought-of options from you guys. Maybe we can get her a cane or a crutch or something for the time being.

Anyway, it’s Sunday the 17^th, and we leave Athens on the evening of Tuesday the 19^th. We fly back to London for one evening, then back to the States the next morning.

Looking forward to seeing all of you again! Jen’s getting a bit sad about the end of the trip, but excited about getting home… There’s a bit a sadness about the traveling coming to an end. –But none of those thoughts yet! We’re in Athens, baby! Woo-hoo!

Change of Plans...Let's go to Amsterdam!

Hallo! We are now in Amsterdam, NL! And it is shweet! Getting in was a bit of a bump in the road, but now that we’re here and back in the saddle, allz geode!

So we left out of the Ciampino Airport (not Fumicio main airport) on the 9^th and got to see a bit more of Rome’s countryside. It was cute and picturesque…with random Roman ruins scattered in farmers’ fields. So also kind of weird.

When we got to the airport, we put our backpacks into our stowage bags (so that all the ties and cords don’t get caught during their ‘checked luggage’ journey. Jen’s stowage bag immediately ripped, so we got out of line and attempted to find some makeshift accommodation. We ended up tying off all of the MANY pull cords and such of Jen’s hiking backpack satisfactorily. We got back in line and progressed up to the counter where we were informed that since we did not print out our boarding passes, RyanAir was going to charge us 40 euro per a boarding pass to print them out for us… “Um, excuse me?” –We then asked if there was an internet café or some place with a printer in the city where we could print out our boarding pass… the counter-lady referred us to the ‘Information’ booth.

Jen had brought her flash drive, so the information guy (grudgingly) was able to print out our boarding passes which I had saved as a PDF file on our computer. (Another young couple was having the exact same problem..which they too got handled.)

Switching writers now (btw)

So we got on the plane and had a nice flight into Amsterdam…oh wait, we didn’t fly into Amsterdam we flew into Eindhoven, Holland (which according to Mallory/the internet was supposed to be only a 10 minute train ride into downtown Amsterdam…needless to say, that wasn’t quite the case.)  So after spending 2 hours in the airport (once we landed) trying to find accommodations for our stay, we finally got on a bus to head to Amsterdam at 6:00pm.  Here is the breakdown…20 bus ride to Eindhoven train station…then a 2 and a half hour train ride…then a 10 minute metro ride…then a 20 minute tram ride…then a 15 minute walk to the hotel.  (All the times are estimates)  So we finally got to the hotel about 10:30 – 11pm.  That was the longest 10 minute train ride from Eindhoven ever J.

Our hotel is great considering we weren’t able to book it until day of. 

More to come…we leave for Athens tonight!

Food In Rome

Last time you heard from us we had been in Rome only a day or so.  We have since left Rome but had an amazing time in the Ancient City.  So far I think we have seen the most in Rome and London.  We kept pretty well to sightseeing everyday in Rome.  We went to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica.  Both were stunning.  We had to rush through the Vatican Museum because it is so massive but we did see the Sistine Chapel.  We also made our way to the Pantheon and all the beautiful Piazzas.  The architecture in this city is so breath taking.  The detail in the sculpture…wow.  We also got to spend some time in a beautiful garden overlooking the entire city.  I think that the Trevi Fountain was my favorite…I had no idea it was going to be that big!  All the pictures in the world don’t do it justice.

Not only did we see amazing things we also ate amazing things and here is Mallory to tell you all about that J

Gelato. MMMmmmm… So, while we were in London, we met up with one of Denise’s besties (Lawrence) who we mentioned during our England entries. Mr. Lawrence was kind enough to tell us about a couple of gelato joints he had frequented during his time as a Roman. The gelato at the first place was EPIC. It was like a block from the Trevi Fountain, and you walk in and you feel like you’ve accidentally stumbled into a professional chef’s demo area. The gelatos all had elegant and elaborate names and we definitely took a while to decide. But I settled on a ½ caramel w/meringue, ½ honey gelato medium cup. The honey was the flavor for which they were best known, and I got the medium because the large would have bankrupted us. (the gelato turned out to be super rich though, so I’m not glad that I got a medium, but I’m okay with it… I mean, had I gotten a large I definitely could have eaten it but…okay, never mind) Jen got ½ honey, ½ chocolate with meringue. She liked hers too.

The second gelato place was a bit difficult to find. We headed to find it straight from the Pantheon, and it took us about on hour. And it was hot. And the streets were tiny because it was Rome, and our map was less than helpful. But we found it! I got the rice and cinnamon (medium) and Jen got pineapple, coconut, and mango.  Both combos were super refreshing. Mine tasted like horchata and Jen’s was like a smoothie salad with a punch!.

What else? Um, OH! Pizza! Really good pizza at this place called Florida (it was on a street called Florida), and it was amazing. The cheese and the sauce and the…toppings! Very good.

And we went to this place near our hotel with was near Termini that had homemade desserts. Our dinners of homemade pastas were flavorful and well made, but the dessert was soooo goood. Jen got a layered berry cake and I got tiramisu. And we inhaled both of them. Then we ordered a second tiramisu (it was our last night in Italy!), and did not regret it one bit. It was so amazing. (It was called 39 Pizzas or something. If you go to Rome, go there; eat tiramisu, be happy.)

And during drink orders, when we asked for water, our servers would ask if we wanted it “with or without gas?” Jen and I shared a chuckle over that a couple of times…that’s pretty much it in the food department, I think.

Paris Day 2

Z’Seconde Daye En France

We woke up on our second day in France still absolutely zonked with fatigue. We had clothes hanging everywhere because of the various loads of laundry that had to be hand washed and hung to dry. I was taking full advantage of the lovely weather and our mini balcony. The weather was really gorgeous and once we got the blackout blinds up, it was much easier to get out of bed. (We made sure to leave them semi-open every day thereafter. Not seeing a hint of daylight can really kill your bed exiting morale!)

The Hotel Comete was conveniently located next to the Metro, so we hopped on and headed to the Champs-Elysees. It’s a huge street lined with a bunch of nice/cool/”hip shops and eateries and located close to a bunch of Paris landmarks. We walked down the Champs-Elysees in search of food; it was like hunting for elk in a jewelry store, people. Everything was super marked-up, far too expensive for an easy breezy lunch meal on our first day in Paris.

Just as we had given up all hope for food and were about to hold out for a less touristy (therefore less expensive) area in which to dine, we found this dine-and-go sort of minimart that was really cute and seemed to be ‘in’ with the late-twenties white collar lunchers. We each grabbed a sandwich and a drink, and I got a yogurt and a dessert. The guy at the counter was oober nice and we exited the miniestablishment having spent less than fifteen euro. Now that’s what I call “Yum!” We found an adorable park where I was able to watch the people and their dogs (missing Dewey and Kramer the whole time, of course).

We walked back up the Champs-Elysees toward the Sine. We passed by the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais which had gorgeous statue ornamentation, and gold embellishments, and were just really cool. Jen retied her shoes while I took a few snapshots. Then we headed toward the Pont du Alexandre III (a really sweet bridge) that had a stretches of grass on the other side of the Sine.

Some cheerleaders were practicing a routine on the grass, so we sat down and rested. Jen laid down to nap for a little while and I took out my various books (but ended up mostly watching the cheerleaders…who were HORRIBLE, btw. I don’t even know if they were serious.) One of the girls fell on her head during a throw at one point during the practice, but she was fine. From where we were sitting we had a view of the top of the Place de les Inhabitantes, the Eiffel Tower, the Pont Alexander III, and both the Grand and Petite Palais.

We walked down the Seine to the Musee d’Orsay, and then crossed the river again toward the Louvre. We walked through a portion of the gardens in front of the Louvre, called the Tuleries, and then made our way up toward the grand structure of the great museum. We sat around the big glass pyramid and its fountains and looked around a bit. The line to buy tickets was super long and we were still thinking about buying the Paris Museum Pass (to get into over 50 different museums and sites around Paris), so we weren’t going to commit to the time investment of the line and it was too late in the day to go into the Louvre anyway. The sun was setting and it was too pretty to go inside.

We were pretty beat by this time, so we headed back to the area around our hotel for dinner. We bought a loaf of bread, Nutella, cheese, and strawberry jam along with a container of crepes from a local market. We had a lovely picnic in our room and watched a show with Christian Slater solving mysteries. And there were French subtitles so we learned a lot (about the human condition, solving a murder, acting philosophy, and the French language. It was a very fulfilling evening.) We called Lisa on Skype and had a very nice conversation letting her know how our day had gone. My mouth was full so she couldn’t understand me, but it was okay because I think she understood that it was DELICIOUS.

Then we went to sleep.

From, Mallory

Ciao Bella!

Hey All!

First let me just say, thanks for the comments!  Mal and I love reading them J keep them coming people!

Greetings from Rome, or Rrrroma as they say here (make sure to roll that R people).  Today is technically our second day in the Italian city, but really our first of actual sightseeing.  Yesterday we took a train from Venice to Rome.  It was a Eurostar and only took about 3 ½ hours.  It was a very pleasant trip, we made a friend!  Actually, Mallory made a friend but I chimed in every now and then.  Anyways, her name was Natasha and she was from England (so we could actually understand her…yay!).  She is studying Art History in University and she was headed to Rome on a 5 week class trip (two weeks in Rome and two weeks in Florence).  I wish I had to take a 5 week European vacation for my major!  So as I was saying, between Natasha and Mallory there was never a silent moment during the entire train ride J.  We got into Rome about 3:15pm and found our hotel rather easily.  Although I should mention that it wouldn’t have been that easy if the owner of the hotel hadn’t been standing outside.  Luckily, he caught us just as he was leaving to get food (apparently he thought we were arriving at noon and had been waiting three hours for us to arrive).  So he showed us up and got us checked in.  Mallory and I got settled into our room and I promptly conked out for a nap.  I was in a funky mood because I was kind of depressed about leaving Venice.

An hour later, Mal woke me up and we took a stroll down the street in search for some food.  Eventually we came across this cute place where we were the only ones in the restaurant.  We dined on bruschette, a pizza with hot dogs and potatoes on it, pasta with meat sauce, and for dessert pana cotta.  The bruschette was amazing but the rest was a bit bland.  However, this is the second time we have had pizza with hot dogs on it and I really think this should catch on in the States.  It is awesome!  Lemme tell ya, these Italians, they are brilliant when it comes to putting things on pizzas.

Once we were done with dinner we headed back to the hotel.  When we got back we watched some Italian TV.  As far as our hotel room goes, it’s ok, but not great.  The real problem arises when there is no hot water for us to shower and no internet that was advertised.  (The hot water issue was better today, Mal and I both got showers in the middle of the day with hot water).  So we were both frustrated and decided to sleep it off.

Today we got up at a reasonable hour and started our tour of Rome in the Ancient City.  We walked from our hotel to the Roman Forum.  The Ancient Ruins were stunning to see.  It was amazing to be walking on stones that were placed there over 1000 years ago.  We walked around for a good 2 hours, awed by the architecture that was still standing.  It must have been “school tour day” because the amount of children at this place was insane.  Anyways, after our tour of the Forum we headed down the street to grab lunch.  We ate at this little pizza stand.  Mallory got a beer and a slice of pizza with eggplant on it and I got just a slice of cheese (or margarita pizza as they call it here).  We also shared this other sandwich thingy that had cheese and salami on this bun like thing (it kinda looked like a slider/mini burger thing). By the way, did I use the term “thing” enough in that sentence?  So the food was awesome!  No surprise, we’re in Italy.  But that cheese and salami burger was super good.  The bun wasn’t like anything I expected.  It was like couscous packed together…I don’t know it was just good.  Hold on, I’ll get Mallory to describe it for you better… okay, so it was like soft corn-mealish stuff that was seasoned with oregano and infused with a bunch of flavors. I have no idea. It was fried on the outside, but the inside “bun” was just soft deliciousness. Then the slice of provolone and sausage stuck inside was just the extra hint of savorysweetness. Love.

So after we ate, we sat outside the Colosseum for a bit while Mal made me a garland of dandelions.  I wore it the rest of the day J.  Once the person sitting next to us started to smoke, we decided to head into the arena.

What can I say, the Colosseum was MASSIVE.  It was really cool though.  We learned about the gladiators and all the underground passageways.  They used trap doors under the “stage” to rise up animals and gladiators.  Sometimes they even flooded the arena so that they could perform naval battles.  I can’t really think of much else to say about it.  It was really old, really big, and really cool.  That about sums it up.

 So after the Colosseum, Mallory and I headed back to our hotel where luckily, we now had hot water.  So we both showered as quickly as possible to make sure it didn’t run out on us.  After our showers, we met with the owner of the hotel, she is very nice, and told her about our internet problem.  She went to great lengths to figure out the problem and eventually called what I assume was tech support and got it all worked out.  Ok well mostly worked out…I mean we don’t have internet in our room but we do in the hallway and that is good enough for us.

Once that was all settled, Mal and I walked around for a place to eat.  We ended up at a little place where the staff was amazing and the food was ok.  We went their mainly because their prices were amazing.  We had a lovely dinner though together aside from the group of zombies that passed us about halfway through our meal (people dressed and painted like zombies, not actual zombies…come on people!)

After dinner and dessert, we headed back to our room, cuddled up on the hallway floor, and watched Gladiator.  After seeing the actual Colosseum it was cool seeing Russell Crow duke it out in a CG Colosseum.  Anyways, we felt that it fit the mood of the day J.  

Sitting in the Venetian Sun

Hey Everyone!

Yesterday was an amazing day.  It marked a year and a half that Mallory and I have been together.  To celebrate, Mallory and I took a gondola ride through the Venice canals, both the Grand Canal and the side canals.  Our gondolier, Georgo, was fantastic.  While we relaxed and enjoyed the beauty that is Venice, he paddled away while spouting interesting historical information about the buildings we sailed past.  For Mallory and me, it was the best kind of activity, romantic and informative.  We learned that being a gondolier is a family tradition, that the small canals are about 8 ft deep and the Grand Canal is about 12 ft deep, that 98% of the Venetians work in the tourist industry, and that there are four major bridges over the Grand Canal and over 400 bridges over the small canals. 

We left Georgo and headed in the direction of St. Mark’s Square.  We took the “tourist route” through gift kiosk after gift kiosk, eventually ending up in the shopping district of Venice with high end boutiques like Gucci and Ferrigamo.  We chose to bypass these stores and headed into the Murano Glass shops instead.  There are so many beautiful designs.  We were captivated by quills, wine stoppers, and various figurines made of glass.  All of which were too expensive and too fragile for us to buy.  Anyways, we stopped for gelato along the way, neither one of us can remember right now what we had (we’ve had so much gelato, at LEAST two scoops a day) but after eating it my tummy started to hurt.  It was something that I had started to notice once we got to Venice and mostly after we had gelato.  I couldn’t understand why, so I decided to mention it to Mal this time.  And do you know what she said…?  Something so horrible and so upsetting, I’m surprised I haven’t blocked it out of my memory.  She told me that I might be lactose intolerant.  Can you believe that?!?!?!?!?!?!  Lactose intolerant?!?!?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?  That is like a death sentence.  I mean, no cheese, no ice cream/gelato, no dairy of any kind, what is the point of living???????  Luckily, Mal popped into a pharmacy and came out with these pills that she told me to take the next time I had gelato or pizza.  I looked at her skeptically but took one and headed to the gelateria next door (about 30 minutes had passed since our last scoop so we were over do for another one) and low and behold I had no tummy ache afterwards.   Isn’t my girlfriend amazing?  She is always looking out for me and my best interests.  So I say to you, the unfortunate souls who have been diagnosed lactose intolerant, the cure is out there and it will allow you to eat all the pizza and ice cream you want!!

Anyways, moving on, we eventually made it to St. Mark’s Square.  It was beautiful and big and crowded (with both people and pigeons).  Mal and I have taken to watching the birds a lot this trip.  It has been really fascinating and fun because apparently it is mating season.  We like to sit and watch the male pigeons do their “sexy” dance for the female pigeons.  It is so amusing.  So when we got to St. Mark’s Square and the entire place was covered in pigeons, it was like watching a bird orgy!  So we sat down for a bit and took in the scenery before taking off to find some food.

A couple hours and miles later, after trekking through the maze that is Venice, we decided on a cute little place for dinner that Mal had found on the internet with rave reviews.  We arrived right when they opened and already it seemed to be filling up quickly.  We didn’t have reservations so we were seated at a table for four with an Asian couple.  So to be clear it was a table for four being used as two tables for two.  It was definitely awkward.  They seemed nice though and later on in the meal we found out that they were Korean but studying in Vancouver.  For our antipasti dish Mal and I ordered small shrimp in polenta (American translation: baby shrimp in a cornmeal like substance).  I’m a pretty picky eater but t was surprisingly good.  Kinda chewy but all in all I was happy with it.  Our main dish (funny enough was the same main dish the Asians ordered) was Spaghetti in a scallop and shrimp based sauce with artichoke and langostini.  And it was beautiful.  I’ll let Mallory describe…

 The texture of the pasta was perfect, we received it slightly al dente, and by the time most of the food on the plate had been consumed it was cooked to perfection. The langostini tasted as though they had been basted in the same ju as the spaghetti, but had none of the expected boiled bloat. I don’t know what they did, I don’t know how they did it, but it was absolutely delicious.

As for me, I was a little startled to receive three very large shrimp (head, tail, shell, and legs) on top of my perfectly cooked spaghetti.  Mallory didn’t seem to share in my surprise.  I agree that the food was great, however I had a really hard time getting over my food looking at me that I only had a little bit of the shrimp.

After dinner, we walked home and both pretty much crashed.  We decided to skip Florence and stay another day in Venice.

So today, Saturday, is our last day in Venice before we hop a train to Rome tomorrow morning.  The day has been spent making arrangements for Rome, doing laundry, and just relaxing.  Right now we found a little side alley close to our hotel.  The alley leads right to the Grand Canal where we are sitting up against a wall in the afternoon sun in shorts and t-shirts enjoying the lovely sea breeze.  Mallory is reading Atlas Shrugged and I’m writing this blog but occasionally we look up and wave to the people in the boats and gondolas passing by.  This is just as good as any beach…a secluded spot right on the water enjoying the cool (yet not too cool) Venetian afternoon.         

We HEART Venezia

Today was our second day in Venice. It is absolutely beautiful here. The weather is perfect, the crests of the canals dance all day long in the sun, and everyone speaks English. Life is good.

I had four scoops of gelato total today, Jen had two. For breakfast: gelato; lunch: spinach ricotta calzone and chicken siciliana calzone; for dinner: spaghetti alla bolognaise, ravioli alla bolognaise, and a magherita pizza. I had a “spritz” with my meal, recommended on someone’s blog as a favorite early evening Viennese drink. What showed up was a bright orange liquid with a green olive on a stick and a slice of lemon floating at the top with a few pieces of ice. It looked horrible; it was DELICIOUS. We walked to a Il Doge Gelateria a couple doors down from the restaurant that has some of the best, freshest gelato on the island. I got three scoops: chocolate hazelnut, caramel (which had a picture of flan next to the title), and hazelnut. Jen got one of the signature flavors: crème del doge, which was chocolate with orange. All of it was delicious and amazing. Jen and I can find our way back to our hotel without a map now (a bit of wandering, of course, but that’s the fun of it.)

Every corner has a new amazing shop with handcrafted workmanship, a centuries old church adorned with aged saints, or a gallery of Murano glass (beautiful to look at and window shop). Today Jen and I wandered into a mask shop. The cobblestone streets still hold the confetti from Carnival a few weeks ago (at the beginning of Lent), apparently it’s a big deal around these ‘ere parts. The mask shop had all handmade hand painted papier-mâché masks of every color, sparkle, and animal one can imagine.

We came back to the hotel after lunch and wandering. I had a headache and needed to lay down without the sun shining in my eyes. Jen saw me back to the room then went to buy me some caffeine. She came back with a giant two-liter Coca Cola Light (my FAVORITE soda in Europe) and a cannoli to help the healing along. We took our afternoon siesta outside our French doors to the little balcony/plaza outside our hotel room. We’re on the top floor of the building, so we have access to the area where the cleaning ladies air dry the hotel’s sheets and it makes for a very pleasant and comfortable sitting area.

I researched places to eat dinner recommends on the internets after we had rested up, and Jen and I decided on a couple of options plus one gelataria nearby. The first place didn’t work out, the second place was just a takeout pizza place, which we weren’t looking for, so we just picked another restaurant near by these two Venice staples, figuring that most of the places in the area had much of the same reputation. We were either right or lucky, because dinner this evening was delicious. The gelato place I had found online was still close to where we had suppered, so all my research wasn’t for naught!

It was a nice easy breezy day followed by a simple and lovely evening. It’s been nice to just spend time with one another and be able to appreciate the nuances of not such a touristy couple of days in Venice. Tomorrow is supposed to be our last day here, but we’re considering extending our Venice stay by a couple of days and skipping Florence altogether, maybe even heading to Rome early. Lots to discuss!

Bonjour (Part 3)

So after having a wonderful dinner watching the sunset over the Paris canals, Mallory and I opted to get dessert at the McDonald’s next door to our hotel and make our list of what we wanted to accomplish during our week in Paris.  I know it sounds weird that we wanted to get dessert at McDonald’s but the McDonald’s in Europe are nothing like the McDonald’s at home.  For one thing they are super clean, and they seem to be a “cool” place to hang out, kinda like a Starbucks in the States.  Anyway, they have super modern/comfy couches and chairs to sit in and they tend to be multiple stories.  As far as the food goes, the McDonald’s in Paris had its own separate counter for espresso and other café drinks as well as pastries and desserts.  Crazy right???  So Mallory and I get this berry crumble thing that is super good and spread out our maps and stuff on the table to look over everything.  As we are planning out our next few days, a group of kids come up to us asking for money.  There were three of them , two boys and a girl, and they all looked thin and dirty.  It was really sad.  The one little boy came up with a sign and asked us for money for food.  Mallory and I said no but he kept asking and putting his sign in front of me.  Finally they left, Mallory and I felt really bad that we couldn’t help them…that is until about 15 minutes later I realized the kid had stolen my iPhone.  Yes, that’s right, I was ripped off by a 12 year old.  Needless to say that put a damper on our first day in Paris.  Anyways, after that Mal and I were ready to be done with the day so we headed back to our room, called Mom to cancel my ATT service, and then headed to bed with the hope that the next day would be better.

As far as the blogs go from here on out, we will most likely blog simultaneously about what we are doing in Italy and what we did in Paris so we can catch up.  So just to clarify…any time we blog about Paris it’s the past and any time we blog about Italy it is the present.

We will keep you posted!  Also, we love reading your comments so feel free to leave us some!

Bonjour (Part 2)

So Billy Elliot was amazing!  The boy who played Billy was incredibly talented and very fun to watch.  What a dancer this kid was!  I really hope he has a future in theater.  Even though Mallory isn’t a huge musical fan she still seemed to enjoy the show.  After the show we hopped on the tube and went back to the hotel.  By the time we got back it was around midnight.  We very quietly finished our packing and were lucky enough to get to bed around 1am before we had to get up at 3:15am to catch our 5:25am train to Paris.  Well I had planned the whole route out via bus because the tube didn’t run that early.  We got on our first bus at the right time and made it to our switch point without a hitch.  The problem started when we got off our first bus and couldn’t find the stop for our second bus.  Once we realized where the stop was, the bus was passing us and we missed it.  We ended up waiting for about a half hour before the next bus arrived to take us to St. Pancras station.  Let me just say…I planned this journey with extra time just in case something like this happened, so it’s not like I was cutting it close.  Anyway, our second bus trip took 12 minutes but stopped outside Kings Cross Station and not St. Pancras International.  So imagine Mallory and me literally running around London with giant backpacks (both of us almost taking nose dives into the pavement at some point) at 5am having no clue which direction to go, it was incredibly funny looking back on it now. (Stress: looking back on it)

So we make it onto the train and lug our packs to their holding area and collapsed into our seats. The train pulls out of the station at EXACTLY its departure time. I’m just happy that Jen was in charge of our wake-up and transportation schedule that morning! We saw a beautiful amazing sunrise over the green rolling hills of central-southern England before we lapsed into the semi-coma that only a four AM marathon can induce. (Did I mention that we got into our seats with FOUR MINUTES TO SPARE! Seriously. I can’t even…it was ridiculous. Anyway…) We woke up as the train was readying itself for our Gare d’Nord arrival. And we continued waking up during the 25min slow down (to a snail’s pace) pull in to the station. After we got off the train, Jen immediately announced that we had to find a park (Sounds romantic and lovely; but wait--) because she needed to sleep, and anywhere would do. So we pulled out our map to attempt to find a park…so that Jen could go to sleep. Upon pulling out our map, we were immediately approached by a French tween girl gesturing at a clipboard. She wanted us to sign our information to the deaf and mute children of France mailing list or something. Jen had the pen in her hand and was confusedly staring into the girl’s adorable mute face when an old bald Frenchmen came up to us shaking his finger. First he shook it at the tween girl,  then at us, then at us at the tween girl, aaand we realize that we were about to have our identities stolen. So we thank him (kind of) and apologetically/confusedly walk away from the girl who was apparently NOT mute, because she turned to scold the old man for foiling her plans. (Making her sound like an evil genius, now, but at the time the names on the list were photocopied and these kids are at every subway station for a tourist attraction in all of France…that was definitely more than one run-on sentence. But hopefully you were able to follow. Apologies.) A nice black man on the street told us how to get to the park, so we made our way over there. I pulled out Atlas Shrugged and Jen rested her head in my lap and stretched out on one of the park’s benches. About ten minutes later, the first black nanny and child arrived in the park to play. Within 20 minutes we were overrun. Jen and I had a nice time watching the children mess with one another, but eventually decided to go back to a McDonalds we had seen near the train station. From there we used the internet to figure out how to get to our hotel and were easily able to navigate the subway stops to the area of the Hotel Comete. We got off the subway at the Jaures metro stop which is right on a canal. We tried to follow the addresses in the area to the hotel, but soon sat down, again, to rest on some benches in the sun and to take in the gorgeous day. When we got our bearings we realized that we had gone in the wrong direction. So we headed back up the street and found our hotel (right next door to ANOTHER McDonalds! Magnifique!) My 13-years of Spanglish finally paid off fore I was able to check us into our hotel in my mangled dialect. The lovely madame who owns the hotel only speaks French, Italian, and Spanish, so we didn’t have much to work with, but we adapted. We checked at about 1 o’clock and slept for the next few hours. We had a good time walking around the neighborhood and having our first dinner in Paris from one of the bakery/sandwich shops that are everywhere in this neighborhood. We ate near the water as the sun was going down and it was beautiful.

To Be Continued…

Bonjour (Part 1)

Bonjour!

Greetings from Paris!!!  I am sorry that it has been so long since we have written; it has been a hectic and eventful few days.  Where did we leave off…hmmm…right…last you heard from us we were in our second to last day in London  So instead of doing all the wonderful things we had planned for that day such as seeing St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey, we spent ¾ of the day sitting at the Rail Europe office trying to get our train tickets from Paris to Venice.  After we bought our train tickets we went to check out same day ticket prices for Billy Elliot the Musical.  Sadly they didn’t have any for that evening’s performance but we did get a great deal on tickets for the following night’s performance…19 Euros per person for the 4^th row!  As my grandmother would say…Such A Deal!!!  From there we walked to Buckingham Palace to have tea with the Queen…well not really. 

And the guards did this bizarre goosestepping thing every fifteen minutes. They all looked like they knew it was ridiculous, but the recession makes people do some stupid-looking things! So then we walked along the park that’s across from Casa de Her Majesty and down to the Marble Arch. Then we walked to Harrod’s which is a gigantic department store that both of our mothers informed us we HAD to visit while in London…so we did. It was a big department store.  A big department store with insanely expensive merchandise. Merchandise so expensive, in fact, that we were required to remove our backpack before we entered for fear that we may jar one of their…jars or any other items from their beloved shelves. The first half hour was spent desperately trying to exit the perfume section. We would have left the building if we had been able to do so, but the friggin’ place was like a giant smelly labyrinth. Fortunately that Dantesque nightmare was quickly followed by the Park from Willy Wonka opening atop one of the twelve-thousand mini escalators, complete with the flowing chocolate river. AND OOMPA LOOMPAS! Almost anyway. (Note: spray tanner should be outlawed for those who do not operate such luxuries with discretion. We headed back to our hotel early so that we could begin to pack up. Since the next day was, once again, planned to be jam packed with excitement, we knew we might not have enough packing time the next evening for doing all that needed to be done.

The next morning we got up and had our morning tea and muffin in the dining room where we met Ray and Valerie.  Ray was an Irish musician and Valerie was a French teacher, who were getting ready to tour the States for three weeks by helicopter.  We had a lovely chat with them (mostly Ray…he was a talker) and discussed both of our trips and their upcoming nuptials once they returned.  Once we were on our way, we headed towards Westminster Abbey.  We took a bus so we could take the scenic route through Notting Hill.  Once inside the Abbey we took the audio tour and learned about all the history behind the stunning building.  It was fascinating but we couldn’t stay too long because it was getting late and we still needed to make it to St. Paul’s before it closed.  When we arrived at St. Paul’s, the exterior was so stunning that we decided not to pay the 13 pounds per person to go in.  We walked around the exterior for a bit admiring the artistry before moving on.

Down about half a block from St. Paul’s, almost to the Millennium Bridge, there was an adorable pub with reasonable prices. Jen and I decided that it was about the right time in the afternoon-early evening for our libation. Jen had a pint of a very fine local cider, and I enjoyed a local microbrew that was FANTASTIC. It was a very enjoyable, warm afternoon with lots of people in good spirits in their little groups. We almost didn’t want to leave, but eventually did. We crossed Millennium Bridge and Jen was very excited because it was in the sixth Harry Potter movie. There were young men cooking candy-coated peanuts on each side of the bridge and it made the entire area smell AMAZING! We were both full, so we didn’t purchase any, but we enjoyed the view and appreciated the fine aroma on our way to Shakespeare’s Globe theatre. (Not the real Globe, that was destroyed a while ago. And not the remake of the Globe…that was also destroyed a while ago. We sojourned across Millennium Bridge to the THIRD installment of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.) It was almost an exact replica of the original Globe, as close as all the historical documents were able to describe, and it looked really good. We didn’t go on a tour, although that would have been nice, but we still wandered around the inside, the gift shop, and its exterior reading all the little information plaques along the way. I learned a lot. And I’ve taken two college courses on Shakespeare, and several others in which he was covered, and all we did was read the plaques. This place is pretty good. From the Globe we walked down the bank of the Thames. I stopped to take a picture of Jen in front of the Globe, still buzzed from my fine fine pint (and a bit of Jen’s too), while leaning back for the picture my canteen was dislodged from our daypack and tumbled over a ledge and into the water. A nice guy who was sitting nearby tried to save it as he heard it bouncing behind me (I had no idea where the noise was coming from…or why Jen was giving me that look), but it escaped. We chased it down river a good…15 yards before figuring that it was lost forever. We said our last goodbyes to our faithful canteen (me with my best “WILSON!!!! Nooo! Wilson! I’m sorry!” Tom Hanks impression) and made our way down the river. We passed by the Tate Museum next to the Globe, all the way down to the Waterloo Bridge where we caught a bus back across to the other side of the river Thames. We switched busses until we made it up to Leicester Square for dinner with a family friend. Lawrence was an old (not too old!) friend of Denise’s who has lived in London for five years. We had a fantastic dinner at an Italian restaurant a couple blocks from Trafalgar Square. He was a regular there since he works in that area, so the wait staff was wonderful and super friendly, and Jen and I had a terrific time chatting Lawrence up about everything and anything. (Don’t worry Denise, we take those stories to our graves J ) We had to jog/sprint to Billy Elliot. We were having such a good time at dinner that the play’s start time slid passed us. We missed the opening number, and had to disturb the lovely blonde family residing in the seats closest to the aisle, but still made it to our seats.

To Be Continued…..

the Sun Never Sets on the British Empire!...so when do we get to nap then?

Hey Yankees!

Day four in LondonTown, and Jen and I still haven’t gotten sick of each other! And there’s MORE good news: we had another lovely day of sightseeing. (Today’s without one single error navigating the tube or busses!)

We visited Camden Market straight from the hotel. Camden Market is the fourth largest London tourist destination, we can attest to this stat after our shoppescapade this morning. It kind of had a Venice Beach feel, with vendors selling artwork, vintage clothing, knick-knacks, paddy-wacks, and every type of souvenir one could possibly imagine! ‘Twas beautiful!

We went to the British Museum from the market. Jen had downloaded Rick Steve’s (the travel guru) walking tour of the Museum, so we tried it out and it was very informative. We followed along in a Rick Steve’s London Travel Guide and learned more than during 6 years, K-5^th grades, of California Public Elementary School drilling. And the internal architecture of the building was amazing. Great minds like Virginia Woolf used “the Great Hall” as a reading space. Marx used it while forming his ideas about communism! (So we scowled while being astounded by the spaces austere beauty.) We saw mummies and a piece of Egypt’s Sphinx’s beard, and the Roman Marbles from the Parthenon! (And we’re going to go see it in real life in a few weeks! Exciting much?! I think so!!)

We went and rested Jen’s achin’ feet at a cute little café near the Museum before the Jack the Ripper Tour (a bus ride and a couple of tube stops away…before walking for 2.5 hrs straight!) We walked all over the City of London and learned a lot of history about that space (around the Tower of London). (English history is violent!) Our tour guide has written two books on JTR and knew everything about everything. Our group was mostly American, so there was also a spirit of camaraderie in that. It was actually kind of nice. Our guide was actually pretty funny for a historian. Jen bought one of his books and he signed it for her. She was very happy.

Since it was after eleven by this point, we climbed our bruised and broken bodies into the nearest tube station on Liverpool Street and made our way back to the hostel.

Today (I finished writing this entry the morning after I started it…hope that I didn’t mess up tenses too much. Sorry!) We’re heading out to Notting Hill to look at the area, then over to Piccadilly Station to buy our train tickets from Paris to Venice, then we’re headed over to Westminster to look at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben (which actually refers to the bell inside named ‘Ben’, not the bell tower itself. Interesting!). Then we head back up to the Tower of London area to see St. Paul’s Cathedral. Hopefully we will get most of that done!

Missing everyone terribly! Thanks for checkin’ in here!

Cheers!

The Official(ish) JenMal Trip Itinerary [...note: subject to change, alteration, and occasional falsehoods (you'll never catch US, coppa!)]

I know Jen and I promised several people this list, so I'm finally getting to it. Here ya go!:

3/16 Fly to London
3/17 Arrive Heathrow -- nite spend at Holiday Inn Heathrow
3/18 Commute to Bridge Park Hotel/Hostel, Wembly
3/22 Last day in London
3/23 5:25am Eurostar train to Paris $150
3/24 check in Paris (Angleterre Hotel or Hotel de la Comete...still figuring it out)
3/29 Evening overnight train to Venice
3/30 Arrival Venice
4/2 Intercity train Venice --> Florence $34
4/5 Intercity train Florence --> Rome $42
4/5-4/9 Rome
? Athens
? Santorini
4/19 Athens --> Heathrow 7pm flight
4/19 Back to the Holiday Inn Heathrow (thanks Mom!)
4/20 9:55am -- Heathrow--> LAX ~4pm arrival
4/20 ~5pm play with Dewey and Kramer

First Day In The City!

So really quick breakdown because I am exhausted.....

Got up...had traditional English breakfast at hotel....took tube to Tower of London....toured Tower of London...learned really cool stuff...took lots of pictures...especially with stuff regarding Henry VIII for mom...left Tower of London...took bus to Trafalgar Square...walked through Trafalgar Square to Leicester Square...looked for discount theater tickets...decided not to get tickets tonight...had "supper" (American translation: linner)...walked around West End...took tube to Kings Cross Station...was very disappointed that we couldn't find platform 9 and 3/4 because station was under major construction...took tube back down to Westminster and had a romantic night stroll across the Westminster Bridge with the Houses of Parlament in the background...was stunned by it's beauty...walked to Waterloo Station...caught one of two busses back to hotel...eventually got back to hotel...took shower...now sleep...night night all.

I hope I get a chance to be more descriptive...maybe Mallory will elaborate on the day in the amusing way that she does.

Love to all!

Jen

Our Adventure On London's Public Transit

March 18, 2011

Hey all, it’s Jen again.  Mallory was going to write but she is tuckered so hopefully she will get a post in tomorrow.  Today was quite an interesting day…oh the trials and tribulations of public transportation! 

Mallory and I woke up at 3am local time because of that stupid 4 hour nap we took yesterday.  So we played cards until about 5am when we were both able to go back to sleep until the alarm went off at 9am.  All in all it was a good morning; we rearranged our packs and got everything situated for our trek to Wembly.  In an attempt to get hyped for our day we tried to plug Mal’s computer in so we could listen to some music…well we blew the circuit in the room L and had to pack using our headlamps to see (thanks Patti and Dave for the headlamp tip!).  Once we checked out we took a bus to Terminal 1 of the airport to catch the tube.  At the tube station, Mallory and I had a hard time figuring out how to get where we wanted to go and ended up asking a very unhelpful tube attendant.  Mallory decided that our best bet would be to call the hotel and ask them how to get there via public transport.  Anyways, here is Mallory to finish the story…

We eventually got here. It was a long arduous trek from the wrong bus stop that I misheard over the payphone in the tube station at Heathrow. So we had to walk over four bus stops to our hotel, in the rain, uphill, carrying our packs. Jen was in a FABULOUS mood because we still hadn’t eaten. She swore a vow of fasting until we reached our place of residence for the evening (so she had quite a wait!).

We made it here and got checked in and the nice pretty blonde receptionist took us to our room – a basement room of 12 bunk beds with a shared bathroom. The cleaning guy was just wrapping up his duties, which focused on making the room smell like drain-o.  He was very good at what he did! We also got to meet one of our roommates…’meet’, a loose term, since he was unconscious and snoring like a tranquilized antelope and we were staring agape at his ability to sleep through the burn of the aroma of clean.

We went upstairs and ate another traditional English meal. Mine was a beef stew on mashed potatoes and Jen had spaghetti Bolognaise.  Both were quite good. Warm. Warmgood. We split a diet coke out of the bottle.

We then started exploring the neighborhood. Most of residents are of African descent. The women wear head garments and skirts all the way down to their ankles. These folks are mixed in with a bunch of Afro-Caribbean Rastafarians. There are also quite a bit of people of Persian/Arab/Middle Eastern heritage. Lots of families running around the bricked suburbs.

We got back to the hotel and decided that we could eat. We sat at a table behind the city workers who had come straight from work in their neon-colored work clothes to socialize and share a pint. The eating area in the hotel is very nice and open with many different televisions on and tons of interesting conversation. The barkeep was a nice guy who reminded me of characters in “Snatch” (movie) and reminded Jen of Cal on “Lie to Me” (tv show). He was hilarious and made fun of us for losing our key. Jen had fish and chips and a pint of Guiness, I had Chicken Tikka Marsala with naan, chips, salad, mango chutney, rice, and Jen and my pints of Guiness. Since its St Paddy’s week there’re AMAZING Irish specials going on in the pubs. You cannot refuse these bargains! (Summed up with the amazing quote from a manager at our hotel from yesterday “it’s Irish, but not too Irish”…she was talking about the decorations in the lobby/bar/restaurant area of the hotel…it was like a business assessment. Jen and I died laughing.)

We found our key. I had left it in the room. We tried our new bath chamois towels. They were stellar. Our roommates are bad, but not too bad. One of them started watching tv and driniking stella artois from  tallcans when he got home from work at around 5…not much has changed. He (and the rest of us, apparently) are currently enjoying Pierce Brosnan Bond movie magic. It’s kind of homie in its own way.

We’re looking forward to clear, sunny Saturday morning skies tomorrow. We’re heading in to the City of London to check out Westminster area down to London Bridge. Excited!

Happy Holidays!

Mallory

It’s Jen again…obviously Mallory is the more entertaining writer of us.  I’ll try and get her to write more, but if you see that I write a post please don’t skip it because you know Mallory’s posts are funnier.

Time to hit the hay!

Night!

Jen

We Have Arrived!

March 17, 2011

Hey all,

It’s Jen!  Hopefully Mallory will write some posts of her own but right now it seems that I am the one who is more excited about this whole blogging thing.  Anyway, this is our first post.  We wanted to post right before we got on the plane but for some reason the computer wasn’t connecting to the LAX network.

First let me say that I think I am now spoiled….flying business class was amazing and I am not sure I can ever go back to coach…(not really, but kinda).  We each had our own little pods that reclined into a bed, it wasn’t the most comfortable thing but I usually sleep hunched over with my head on the tray table when I fly, so I’m not complaining.  We also got amazing meals (I liked them I don’t think Mallory was all that keen on them) and had our own personal TV.  Now here is where you are all going to get really jealous…I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1!  Anyways, the flight was pretty smooth and we got into London around 11:30am local time.  As we were landing the pilot informed us that it was 5 degrees and a beautiful day.  Needless to say, I freaked out a bit.  I mean I packed for cold but not that cold.  Mallory was quick to remind me (with a smile of amusement on her face of course) that it was 5 degrees Celsius which converts to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  Although I was a bit embarrassed I was definitely relieved.  So once we disembarked, customs was a breeze and I got the first stamp on my passport!!!

We grabbed our bags and hopped on a bus to our hotel.  Luckily, Mallory double checked which bus we were supposed to take because I picked the wrong one.  Anyways, we got to the hotel about 1pm and promptly crashed for about 4 hours.  We puttered about for a bit in the room and then took a walk around the area.  We stopped to eat at an English Pub called The Three Magpies where I ordered a “cheddar cheese and baked beans jacket” (American translation: beans and cheese in a baked potato) and Mallory got a “Tuna mayo” (American translation: tuna sandwich).  So yes we have had our first true English meal!

So now it is about 9pm and we are in our hotel room watching a football game.  Oh by the way, the room’s lights only go on when the hotel key card is in a holder that way the lights can never be on when no one is in the room….these Brits are smart….Americans should take a page out of their book.

So tomorrow Mallory and I go to the hostel where we will be spending the remaining nights of the London portion of our trip.  After that…well, we haven’t decided yet, but we will be sure to keep you posted!

Hope all is well!!!!

Lots of love!

                Jen   

Let me just say that I don’t think I will ever get sick of the accents J Love it!