I was a bit sick the day I wrote that entry and was in a very bad mood, the next day and the day after I enjoyed Amsterdam a bit more. It's a very pretty city and the people are friendly. I didn't try the eggs but I'm sure they're delightful.
Right now I'm in Barcelona, after Amsterdam I headed to Rouen, France with plans to visit the Normandy coast and see where the allies landed during WWII, but after problems finding the hostel, which was situated in a bad area, I booked a hotel for two nights, saw where Joan of Arc was killed, visited a cathedral or two and headed out.
Barcelona is nice, it's a bustling city. Yesterday there were union protests so the subway was shut down, so I walked for a few hours, not seeing much. Though, I did follow a group of protestors for a while, they were comical, they stopped at all the big department stores and malls and flooded them, sticking stickers everywhere. I have been very tired the last couple days, getting from Rouen to Barcelona required 3 trains over a 48 hour span, so I've mostly been resting. I'm in Barcelona for a week though, so I have time to visit Claire and Co. and see the sights and maybe have a beach day.
All this traveling has been conducive to reading, though. I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance twice, a good philisophical style read, and currently I'm working on The Count of Monte Cristo which I have trouble putting down. I brought The Stand, a Steven King book, with me and after reading its 1200 pages or so, I left it in a hostel. It was a sad thing to do, but necessary.
My plans, as of now, are to head to Portugal for about a week, then come back through Spain, possibly stopping in Madrid, but slowly working my way to Prague, which is one of the last places you can get real absinthe apparently. Not that I'll try it, I'm a good boy.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
I changed my mind and came to Amsterdam
Instead of heading down to Barcelona, I decided to visit amsterdam for a few days. It has its charms, but it is a bit dissapointing. The sights are few and far between, it is very touristy and expensive, and it all feels very claustrophobic. I like the canals a lot though, and the public transportation seemed confusing at first but I've grown to like it quite a bit; it's all trams so you get to see the city. I don't feel very inspired about my writing right now, so I'll continue this tomorrow.
But here's the pope! The police-woman was very excited.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
I landed in Heathrow on Tuesday. It was a pretty uneventful flight, I met a londoner on it though who wrote me about 2 pages of travel notes and invited me to stay with him in London or with his friends who are throughout Europe. It was a good start. I hopped on the tube after trying to figure out London's somewhat complicated subway system. They have zones, zone 1 is the middle of London, it is the haps, 2-6 make concentric circles outwards. You buy a ticket based on what zone you are in or which you want to go to, I still don't really get it, £4 seems like a lot to go about a quarter of a mile.
About 4 hours after I landed I left for Paris, taking a train through the chunnel. There wasn't much to see, mostly black. After arriving in Paris I made my way through their subway system which I find to be pretty well organized and maintained. I arrived at my hostel and promptly fell asleep. I was grumpy throughout most of these 24 hours or so of travels.
The next day (and pretty much every day since then) I woke up at 6, ate a breakfast of cereal, bread and jam and about 4 cups of coffee then headed out. My hostel in Paris was out where the boonies were, if Paris had any, so the trip into the touristy area involved a few lines of the subway. The first 2 days I was there I subway'd to Gare du Nord, where I had arrived from London and walked my way to the river (Seine?) and walked down it, taking pictures of anything that I liked (which I will post when I find a computer with a USB port). I made it to the Eiffel Tower and was greeted by 2 deaf mutes on at 2 different times who had petition/fundraising sheets asking for money. I started signing the first deaf-mutes sheet then saw she wanted money. I looked at her and noticed she had four gold teeth, which the other deaf-mute, as well as many self-proclaimed Bosnian refugees had. Thinking this through I decided to walk away, deciding that they were in some sort of begging/gypsy club. I later found out that I was correct in this assumption.
So I hit up all of the major tourist sites in Paris, I sat by the Seine for a few hours each day and read my book, I ate cheese and salami way too much, and I attempted to buy a Eurail pass. The Eurail pass (basically, a pass which allows me to take any train at anytime without paying) I had ordered at home came the day after I left, it's a long and frustrating story, so the plan was for me to buy one at the conveniently located Eurail aid office in Paris which, to my knowledge, does not exist. I was unsuccesful, so my plain to head down to Madrid or Barcelona was put on hold so I could meet one of my Daddyo's business associates in London, where I write this, to pick it up from him.
I took the train back through the chunnel, booked a room in a happenin' hostel near Russel's Square in London, and obtained my Eurail pass. I arrived here on Friday and am staying here until Tuesday.
The day I arrived I strolled through the British Museum, a nice museum which is free and about 200 yards from my hostel, then went to bed at about 7 pm. Yesterday I headed to the Thaimes, waited in line to buy a ticket to go on the London eye for about 10 minutes before deciding I'd come back alter, then headed towards parliament. I saw all the government buildings, as well as a nice statue of Honest Abe outside of the supreme court I think, then made my way to the hotel to pick up the Eurail pass. The hotel which I got it from was right outside of Hyde park so I waited there for a while, reading and strolling, snacking on salami as usual, when I saw a barricaded off road. I asked a friendly bobby (cops to you folk back in the US) what was going on and he told me the pope was coming through to a vigil in the park. I grabbed my pass and decided to wave to the pope.
I then waited about 5 hours. I read, drank red bull, ate crisps (chips to you folks back in the US) and bummed around the park. I have to hurry with the description a bit now, I am running out of internet time, but the wait was long and I was tired and the pope arrived in his popemobile. I waved, he waved, I took a picture, he did not.
Today I went to regent park and read and relaxed, I ate a sausage (the highlight of my day so far) and then made my way back here. I'm heading to Barcelona, hopefully, on Tuesday. I'll try to post a few times a week. Sorry for any poor grammar/misspellings, I'm about 5 beers deep. I also had a picture ready to put on this post of the pope but this computer is of some wild operating system that I don't understand.
About 4 hours after I landed I left for Paris, taking a train through the chunnel. There wasn't much to see, mostly black. After arriving in Paris I made my way through their subway system which I find to be pretty well organized and maintained. I arrived at my hostel and promptly fell asleep. I was grumpy throughout most of these 24 hours or so of travels.
The next day (and pretty much every day since then) I woke up at 6, ate a breakfast of cereal, bread and jam and about 4 cups of coffee then headed out. My hostel in Paris was out where the boonies were, if Paris had any, so the trip into the touristy area involved a few lines of the subway. The first 2 days I was there I subway'd to Gare du Nord, where I had arrived from London and walked my way to the river (Seine?) and walked down it, taking pictures of anything that I liked (which I will post when I find a computer with a USB port). I made it to the Eiffel Tower and was greeted by 2 deaf mutes on at 2 different times who had petition/fundraising sheets asking for money. I started signing the first deaf-mutes sheet then saw she wanted money. I looked at her and noticed she had four gold teeth, which the other deaf-mute, as well as many self-proclaimed Bosnian refugees had. Thinking this through I decided to walk away, deciding that they were in some sort of begging/gypsy club. I later found out that I was correct in this assumption.
So I hit up all of the major tourist sites in Paris, I sat by the Seine for a few hours each day and read my book, I ate cheese and salami way too much, and I attempted to buy a Eurail pass. The Eurail pass (basically, a pass which allows me to take any train at anytime without paying) I had ordered at home came the day after I left, it's a long and frustrating story, so the plan was for me to buy one at the conveniently located Eurail aid office in Paris which, to my knowledge, does not exist. I was unsuccesful, so my plain to head down to Madrid or Barcelona was put on hold so I could meet one of my Daddyo's business associates in London, where I write this, to pick it up from him.
I took the train back through the chunnel, booked a room in a happenin' hostel near Russel's Square in London, and obtained my Eurail pass. I arrived here on Friday and am staying here until Tuesday.
The day I arrived I strolled through the British Museum, a nice museum which is free and about 200 yards from my hostel, then went to bed at about 7 pm. Yesterday I headed to the Thaimes, waited in line to buy a ticket to go on the London eye for about 10 minutes before deciding I'd come back alter, then headed towards parliament. I saw all the government buildings, as well as a nice statue of Honest Abe outside of the supreme court I think, then made my way to the hotel to pick up the Eurail pass. The hotel which I got it from was right outside of Hyde park so I waited there for a while, reading and strolling, snacking on salami as usual, when I saw a barricaded off road. I asked a friendly bobby (cops to you folk back in the US) what was going on and he told me the pope was coming through to a vigil in the park. I grabbed my pass and decided to wave to the pope.
I then waited about 5 hours. I read, drank red bull, ate crisps (chips to you folks back in the US) and bummed around the park. I have to hurry with the description a bit now, I am running out of internet time, but the wait was long and I was tired and the pope arrived in his popemobile. I waved, he waved, I took a picture, he did not.
Today I went to regent park and read and relaxed, I ate a sausage (the highlight of my day so far) and then made my way back here. I'm heading to Barcelona, hopefully, on Tuesday. I'll try to post a few times a week. Sorry for any poor grammar/misspellings, I'm about 5 beers deep. I also had a picture ready to put on this post of the pope but this computer is of some wild operating system that I don't understand.
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