Annie and I's trip has turned into more of an adventure than I originally expected. We've done some serious trekking the past few days, in a really great way, of course.
We started in Zurich, and being the banking capital of the world, you wouldn't believe the cost of living. The Swiss franc is about 1 to 1 with the dollar, but prices are way higher. We had a delicious, 7 franc dinner through of sausages and diet coke, so I'm not complaining.
Zurich was freezing, but Luzern (day 2) was absolutely gorgeous - it has a lake via a glacier (crystal clear) and hundreds of swans (who all want to be fed) and is surrounded by the Alps. It was pretty in a whole different way than my other Euro-City favorites.
That night we headed to Basel, to stay with a friend of Anne's from Greentree Church. Lindsey and her roommate (both chemical engineers from MO) were absolute dolls, and I justified splurging on dinner a Lebanese dinner and wine since my bed, internet, and laundry were all free. Trust me, you have not adequately appreciated clean clothes until your jeans no longer fit you. It is a new kind of heaven to slip into clothes that fit and no longer smell of smoke, Euro BO (not mine, promise), and greasy food. I was so happy, it was almost a little silly, but I was too satisfied in my beautiful, clean clothes to judge my emotions.
Thinking about it now still brings a smile to my face. Ahh.
We then jumped on a train to Salzburg - a whooping 7 hour train ride through the Swiss Alps. We were riding the sides of mountains, going through the middle of mountains, and watching the snow come and go on the ground. It was a beautiful ride, and we went through Lichtenstein, so now we can boast of our three country tour.
Then it was time for The Hills Are Alive . . . . Sound of Music tour baby. Tourist central, but wonderful all the same. Absolutely worth the 34 Euro ticket. We're both dying to watch the movie now, and I'm close to buying it on iTunes. But I shouldn't. I'm almost out of hard drive space. Whoops!
Today we landed in Vienna, which is BIG and beautiful. And finally, Rick Steves can guide us around - his Eastern Europe book includes Vienna, and we are renewing our passionate relationship together. I LOVE Rick Steves. Best travel books ever, including his cheese.
We have three nights here (we're staying in the old maid's room in a hotel, what an experience), and we're thinking about a quick day trip to Bratislava (Slovakia).
Internet is still a bit iff, but I'll communicate as best as possible.
Much love.
Auf Weidersahn!
We got to see a bit of Basel the next morning
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
RICOLA. . .
Switzerland is BEAUTIFUL!
Come here.
It's unreal - the meadows, the super-clear glacier lakes, the snowy alps! Its amazing.
I met Anne really easily in Zurich, and we spent the night there, took a train to Luzern, spent the day there this morning, and now we're in Basel, staying with a friend of Anne's from church.
Which means free WIFI, free laundry, and a free bed.
Loving it, right now!
Come here.
It's unreal - the meadows, the super-clear glacier lakes, the snowy alps! Its amazing.
I met Anne really easily in Zurich, and we spent the night there, took a train to Luzern, spent the day there this morning, and now we're in Basel, staying with a friend of Anne's from church.
Which means free WIFI, free laundry, and a free bed.
Loving it, right now!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Fake and Real Europe
Paris was wonderful - you should go. Its a neat city. Although, I'm becoming a lazy tourist. Really, after you seen one important national landmark, every other national landmark isn't that exciting. The Eiffel Tower was neat, but it lacked the wow moment. Through the eyes of a tired backpacker, I suppose.
We went to Disneyland one day (1.5 days budget right there in the ticket), and it was super. You should go there too. Its just like Florida, except it snowed for a few minutes, and Buzz Lightyear speaks in French. Haunted Mansion, oh, excuse me, the "Phantom" Mansion, was a huge, confusing let down, because it was all in French, but the rest of the rides were just as good as their American grandparents. Space Mountain Mission 2 was the best. We went on that twice.
I'm now in Zurich, with Anne, which is a very posh city. After 2 weeks in France, its nice to hear some German, which I kind of understand. Zurich is beautiful, but the cost of living, and doing anything, is extremely high. The Swiss Franc is about 1 to 1 on the US Dollar, but the prices are not comparable. For instance, a Big Mac? 11 Francs. Woah there.
We didn't eat at McDonald's, by the way - we had some good, German sausages. And Diet Coke, naturally.
We're off to Basel tomorrow.
Much love.
We went to Disneyland one day (1.5 days budget right there in the ticket), and it was super. You should go there too. Its just like Florida, except it snowed for a few minutes, and Buzz Lightyear speaks in French. Haunted Mansion, oh, excuse me, the "Phantom" Mansion, was a huge, confusing let down, because it was all in French, but the rest of the rides were just as good as their American grandparents. Space Mountain Mission 2 was the best. We went on that twice.
I'm now in Zurich, with Anne, which is a very posh city. After 2 weeks in France, its nice to hear some German, which I kind of understand. Zurich is beautiful, but the cost of living, and doing anything, is extremely high. The Swiss Franc is about 1 to 1 on the US Dollar, but the prices are not comparable. For instance, a Big Mac? 11 Francs. Woah there.
We didn't eat at McDonald's, by the way - we had some good, German sausages. And Diet Coke, naturally.
We're off to Basel tomorrow.
Much love.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Paris!
We under estimated Holy Week travel. Everyone in France seems to go somewhere, and they all take the trains. We planned to leave Nice in the morning, take the 4-5 hour train to Lyon, spend the afternoon and evening there, and then head to Paris (2 hour train) at a leisurely pace the next morning (yesterday).
Except, when we got to the train station, all the trains to Lyon were full. So we went to Marseille, thinking we could get a train out of there, which we did, although all the earlier ones were also full, and so we ended up in Lyon at 5 PM, which didn't leave much time for sightseeing - we were losing daylight. We decided to buy reservations early for our next day train to Paris, and lucky we did - the only one that had seats open was a 7AM.
So, we had to trade our day in Lyon for a extra day in Paris, which is really neat so far. We went to the Lourve last night (free for people under 26 on Friday evenings), and walked around the Latin quarter. Our hotel is pretty nice and has a super strong radiator - we're doing our laundry by hand, and its dry in no time. That's how you tell the place is a winner.
Much love.
Except, when we got to the train station, all the trains to Lyon were full. So we went to Marseille, thinking we could get a train out of there, which we did, although all the earlier ones were also full, and so we ended up in Lyon at 5 PM, which didn't leave much time for sightseeing - we were losing daylight. We decided to buy reservations early for our next day train to Paris, and lucky we did - the only one that had seats open was a 7AM.
So, we had to trade our day in Lyon for a extra day in Paris, which is really neat so far. We went to the Lourve last night (free for people under 26 on Friday evenings), and walked around the Latin quarter. Our hotel is pretty nice and has a super strong radiator - we're doing our laundry by hand, and its dry in no time. That's how you tell the place is a winner.
Much love.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Add to list: a couple of more middle aged friends. We have talked to no one our age yet here in France, although we now have 6 new friends to boast about - all about the age of our parents or older. Today, Canadian Couple #2 knew a lot about French transportation. A lot. They took a 20 minute bus ride to inform us. Useful . . . ? No. But friendly.
Marsielle, France has something to do with teh Count of Monte Cristo, although I'm not sure what. Its somehow related to this prison on this island outside of Marsielle's harbor, but the winds were too strong, and our boat trip was canceled. We then went to the top of the city to visit a famous church, and got some amazing views of the area. The south of France is very hilly, and I'm starting to realize the vast number of photos I have of various cities, all taken from above. I still love trains, and the one from Nice to Marsielle yesterday was beautiful - almost all along the coast. The one from Marseille to Nice, however, was darker, because it was at night.
I finished book #1 on this trip - The Kite Runner. I liked it, and read it in three sittings - 2 trains, 1 plane.
Today we went to Ez and Monaco, and both were beautiful. I'm uploading pictures tonight onto the computer, so I'll probably have some up here soon.
By the way, strawberries are uber cheap here, even with the exchange rate. I'm eating myself sick of them. But not really - who can ever get sick of strawberries? They are delicious!
Marsielle, France has something to do with teh Count of Monte Cristo, although I'm not sure what. Its somehow related to this prison on this island outside of Marsielle's harbor, but the winds were too strong, and our boat trip was canceled. We then went to the top of the city to visit a famous church, and got some amazing views of the area. The south of France is very hilly, and I'm starting to realize the vast number of photos I have of various cities, all taken from above. I still love trains, and the one from Nice to Marsielle yesterday was beautiful - almost all along the coast. The one from Marseille to Nice, however, was darker, because it was at night.
I finished book #1 on this trip - The Kite Runner. I liked it, and read it in three sittings - 2 trains, 1 plane.
Today we went to Ez and Monaco, and both were beautiful. I'm uploading pictures tonight onto the computer, so I'll probably have some up here soon.
By the way, strawberries are uber cheap here, even with the exchange rate. I'm eating myself sick of them. But not really - who can ever get sick of strawberries? They are delicious!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
salsa pocket al la french
French pastries are delicious, and I love croissants. Yesterday, we took a side-trip to Russia (when I upload the pictures, you will understand), and on the way, found a beautiful bakery. My adventurous nature got the best of me (what? you didn't know I had an adventurous nature? its really only limited to pastry selection) and I chose a mysterious turnover-looking pastry for lunch. I'm sure it wasn't mysterious to the French, but with my language skills - which have now expanded to include "hello", "please", "goodbye", and "get out of my way", there was no hope of discovering what it contained until I took a bite.
First, I thought it was tomato sauce (like a pizza pocket, cold, and not as delicious). Then, it was spicy. And then I realized it was salsa. In a flaky, golden crust. And a little bit of cheese. Disappointment? Yes. Was it good? Not really.
Update: Yorkie count is in the billions. Everyone in France has a dog, and it appears that over half own Yorkies, or strange wannabe Yorkies that are a little too large. John and I stumbled across an antique market yesterday in Old Nice (if only overseas shipping was free - I coveted about thirty beautiful tea sets), and most of the vendors had their little dogs curled up in packing boxes and things. We tried to make friends with one, but he wasn't really having it. Lesson learned: French dogs can be as rude as French people.
Actually though, the French have been very kind to us. They don't even hate me when I butcher their language. I tried to order some bread goods the other day with the skills John taught me, and the woman had to resort to English to understand me, and HER English was minimal. But she still gave me my benets (delicious golden fried dough with powdered sugar, oh my).
Today we're headed to Marseille - our trip to Avignon has been canceled due to train schedule, but this should be a neat replacement.
much love!
First, I thought it was tomato sauce (like a pizza pocket, cold, and not as delicious). Then, it was spicy. And then I realized it was salsa. In a flaky, golden crust. And a little bit of cheese. Disappointment? Yes. Was it good? Not really.
Update: Yorkie count is in the billions. Everyone in France has a dog, and it appears that over half own Yorkies, or strange wannabe Yorkies that are a little too large. John and I stumbled across an antique market yesterday in Old Nice (if only overseas shipping was free - I coveted about thirty beautiful tea sets), and most of the vendors had their little dogs curled up in packing boxes and things. We tried to make friends with one, but he wasn't really having it. Lesson learned: French dogs can be as rude as French people.
Actually though, the French have been very kind to us. They don't even hate me when I butcher their language. I tried to order some bread goods the other day with the skills John taught me, and the woman had to resort to English to understand me, and HER English was minimal. But she still gave me my benets (delicious golden fried dough with powdered sugar, oh my).
Today we're headed to Marseille - our trip to Avignon has been canceled due to train schedule, but this should be a neat replacement.
much love!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Bonjour!
Its Day 3 of Epic Adventure, and we're still in Nice, France, and it is very nice! John just about died on the bus ride here from the airport on Friday when I told him I thought it looked like Florida, but I'm slowing beginning to see the European side of the city. Nice is part of the French Rivera, so it has lots of palm trees, pastel-colored buildings, a beach (although very pebbly) and casinos, so on the strip, it looks like any other commercialized beach town. But when you get into the old part of the city, it fits much better in my vision of what Europe looks like (old buildings, tiny streets, street performers, and everyone has their dog with them - I have a very simplistic view of Europe).
The weather is BEAUTIFUL. It's in the mid 60s, and all that worrying I did about what coat to bring? Useless. I barely am wearing even a fleece outside. And the sun is shining - meaning I've worn my sunglasses more here than anywhere else! (Well, maybe not as much as Italy . . . ). I'm loving this vacation so far.
We haven't done too much, we're still recovering from the end-of-term-exhaustion, and Nice doesn't have much to boast of other than its atmosphere, and its ice cream. There's a gelato place in Old Nice that has so many strange flavors - I stick to normal ones: strawberry and mango (delicious), but John has tried olive (he liked it, I thought it was gross), beer (you could only taste it in the aftertaste) and rose (kind of like vanilla, actually) and he promised to try the tomato and basil. We've also tried the local specialty - socca, which is like a chickpea pancake and have had some delicious mussels.
Some numbers for you:
4: number of times we've heard "Hey There Deliah"
1: number of times we've been mistaken for honeymooners
4: number of middle aged friends we've made
about a million: number of Yorkies I've seen here in Nice
1: pile of dog poo I've stepped in
1: cup of tea I've had since I've been here (I suspect they jack up the price because this is a popular British vaca spot)
much love!
The weather is BEAUTIFUL. It's in the mid 60s, and all that worrying I did about what coat to bring? Useless. I barely am wearing even a fleece outside. And the sun is shining - meaning I've worn my sunglasses more here than anywhere else! (Well, maybe not as much as Italy . . . ). I'm loving this vacation so far.
We haven't done too much, we're still recovering from the end-of-term-exhaustion, and Nice doesn't have much to boast of other than its atmosphere, and its ice cream. There's a gelato place in Old Nice that has so many strange flavors - I stick to normal ones: strawberry and mango (delicious), but John has tried olive (he liked it, I thought it was gross), beer (you could only taste it in the aftertaste) and rose (kind of like vanilla, actually) and he promised to try the tomato and basil. We've also tried the local specialty - socca, which is like a chickpea pancake and have had some delicious mussels.
Some numbers for you:
4: number of times we've heard "Hey There Deliah"
1: number of times we've been mistaken for honeymooners
4: number of middle aged friends we've made
about a million: number of Yorkies I've seen here in Nice
1: pile of dog poo I've stepped in
1: cup of tea I've had since I've been here (I suspect they jack up the price because this is a popular British vaca spot)
much love!
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