My European Adventure Summary
Notice it's called an adventure instead of a trip / vacation because it wasn't simply a relaxation. We experienced everything from getting stuck at the airport overnight to eating at fancy restaurants and visiting some of the world's most famous attractions. Here are the places we visited:
1) Holland – Amsterdam (We went pass security scan and went outside of Schiphol airport for a drink while waiting for transfer)
2) Switzerland – Geneva, Fribourg, Gruyeres, Bern, Interlaken (Bernese Oberland) and Jungfrau (Bernese Alps).
3) Spain – Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo
4) France – Paris, Versailles
5) Germany – Berlin, Potsdam
6) Italy – Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Vatican city, Naples
7) Greece – Athens, Delphi
7 countries (technically 8 because the Vatican is a separate country and a city), 21 cities in 29 days. This required intensive planning and endurance to participate.
Here are my rankings and summary based on my experience:
1. Best/worst experience:
Best experience is probably in Berlin, Germany. Food is cheap, people are nice, free tour, pub crawl, everything seems to be great there. Worst experience: dealing with EasyJet and its greedy staff. I wrote a long rant and sent it to them and published it on several forums online. Nowadays, it’s pretty easy to destroy your name with the internet. I don’t travel to Europe all the times, so if I don’t have a pleasant experience, I’m going to make sure other people know and don’t fall for it. If I’m a terrorist, you know what airline is my target. Yeah, you heard me!
2. Most unexpected
Madrid, Spain. This could easily be listed in the worst experience but I saved that for EasyJet. May 22nd, 2010 Champions League final in Madrid. The street was flooded with Inter Milan and Bayern Munich fans, people picked pocket in metro, pilots decided to go on strike to watch the game, we slept at the airport, hundreds of people were stranded. For more details, see here. I feel sorry for those who rely on public services in Spain during the world cup, especially the championship game. I bet everything was shut down.
3. Most/least expensive
Most expensive is probably Paris and Spain in general. Least expensive is Switzerland. Okay, that’s misleading because I have family in Switzerland so I didn’t have to spend as much money as I did in other places. If you don’t have family, Switzerland can easily be the most expensive place to visit. Greece is very inexpensive also, probably cheaper than some things in America.
4. Most romantic
Forget Paris or Rome, the most romantic city is Venice. The floating city with ferries, the gondola rides, the bridges and small shops, restaurants. I’d put Interlaken and Jungfrau region second and honorable mention goes to Paris.
5. Best museum
Take a guess: Louvre? Vatican Museum? Nope. It’s Borghese Museum in the Borghese Villa. It’s a small museum compared to the others but its quality is the best. The Sistine Chapel inside Vatican Museum is no match for Borghese’s art. The hundreds sculptures inside Louvre can’t be compared to “the Rape of Proserpena” or “Apollo and Daphne” or “the David” – a self portrait by Bernini. Each statue here has pictures and paintings from the wall and the ceiling to describe it. The bad thing is that you have to check in your camera. I had a sneak shot but forgot to turn my flash off and immediately was surrounded by museum staff. They seem to take their job very seriously.
6. Best Sculpture
It’s hard to choose because I’ve seen so many paintings and sculptures throughout my trip. But I’d say the Pieta by Michelangelo inside St. Peter’s Basilica. The incredible details and expressions he put into this master piece is unbelievable.
7. Best attractions
This is the hardest because each place has its own attractions. It’s very hard to rank them from top to bottom. Here is a list of some great attractions: Gruyeres village and castle (Switzerland), Versailles garden (France), free tour in Berlin (Germany), the Vatican, Ancient Rome (Italy), the Acropolis in Athens and Delphi (Greece).
8. Best scenery
Hands down it’s Switzerland, especially Interlaken and Jungfrau region. The waterfall, the mini cable car, the ferry across the turquoise lake with houses on the side of the mountain, the temperature drop and seasonal change within minutes from summer to winter going up the elevation.
9. Best food
Each place has its own style but overall I like tapas in Spain, then ice cream and pastas in Italy, Berlin sausage was awesome too.
10. Best/worst castle
The best castle is probably castle of Gruyeres in Switzerland base on its look. For the inside, the castle of Versailles and/or the Palacio Real in Madrid probably top the list. There are several bad ones worth avoiding: Castle of St Angelo is one of them. The other one is Palazzo Vecchio near the beautiful Vecchio Ponte (bridge). The small castle in Potsdam outside of Berlin.
The best castle garden is definitely the garden of Versailles. It’s beautiful, open space, there’s a lake, bike rental, music inside the bush is very romantic, fountain of Neptune, sculptures, ice cream shops, water dancing at night and so on.
11. Most/least favorite place
Most favorite is probably Berlin just because of the reasons listed above. Least favorite place is definitely Madrid as there’s nothing to see besides the King’s Palace.
These could easily change the next day you ask me. So there you have it, my big, fat, European adventure.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Delphi, Greece
The next morning we got up early to go to Delphi. Delphi is an ancient city northwest of Athens, around 3 hours bus ride. They said Delphi was the center of the universe. We took the bus there. It was 13 euros / person each way. If you want to visit Delphi, you can visit it for couples of hours as there is not much to see. We were there for only 4,5 hours and we saw everything outside. However, we didn't visit the museum there because we saw so many museums already. The view is beautiful. The ancient site was okay, not what I expected. I got the map of the entire site so we knew what to expect. We climbed all the way up to the theater and they stopped us there, didn't allow us to go up the steps. From what I heard, you have to climb all the way up to the top of the theater to have a much better view. In the afternoon, we went back to Athens and prepared to leave. 3 days in Athens was great. I wish we went here earlier because it was our last destination, we were exhausted and couldn't do much. I wish I could go to some of the islands.
In the morning, we said goodbye to Athens and took our flight back to Milan. I was surprise how easyjet didn't check for bag size. I guess it depends on the airport and the staff. We arrived at Milan and bought tickets to go back to Fribourg, Swizerland. I still had about 50 euros left in my wallet so we used them all for our luxurious meal on the train (including some sushi). As the sun started to come down, we were leaving the country side of Northern Italy heading into the mountainous Alps of Switzerland. We passed by the small town of Sion as I saw 2 policemen getting on the train checking for passports. Far away on the mountain sides, there were couples of houses with lights on here and there. The sun disappeared as the night felt. I closed my eyes and rested a little bit realizing that my Europe adventure has come to an end.
In the morning, we said goodbye to Athens and took our flight back to Milan. I was surprise how easyjet didn't check for bag size. I guess it depends on the airport and the staff. We arrived at Milan and bought tickets to go back to Fribourg, Swizerland. I still had about 50 euros left in my wallet so we used them all for our luxurious meal on the train (including some sushi). As the sun started to come down, we were leaving the country side of Northern Italy heading into the mountainous Alps of Switzerland. We passed by the small town of Sion as I saw 2 policemen getting on the train checking for passports. Far away on the mountain sides, there were couples of houses with lights on here and there. The sun disappeared as the night felt. I closed my eyes and rested a little bit realizing that my Europe adventure has come to an end.
My big, fat Greek adventure
Okay, not really. I was there for 3 days. Athens is a vibrant city. It's very crowded, 1/3 of Greece's population is in Athens. It reminds me of some of the cities in Asia. The instant we got here, there were signs and banners everywhere at the metro and public places protesting the government. There were lots of polices blocking streets and protests. We arrived at our hotel, Chic Hotel. It was a4 star hotel but seems like a 3 star. The staff was nice, though. By the time we got here, we were exhausted, we could barely walk. I was thinking of sleeping in the hotel for awhile but I didn't want to waste precious travel time. Plus the street of Athens was live with actions everywhere, I didn't wanna miss it. We bought the 3-day public transportation pass to go on the metro for free. Well, Athens was like Berlin. Their metro and bus are base on an integrity system. You don't have to buy tickets but if you get caught, it's 60 times the price of the ticket. If you're going to the airport I think the fine was 300 times the ticket. We ate lunch at a local restaurant. I had chicken gyros it was very good and costs only 2 euros.
The first place we visited was the Acropolis. I was tired and we had to walk uphill to the top to see the Parthenon and the temple of Athena up there. But it was worth the effort. They are still rebuilding a lot of stuff around here. What strange is that everywhere we go in Athens, there are stray dogs. These are unwanted dogs being left by their owners on the street. They are not dangerous because the only thing they do is sleep all day. It's kind of sad. I heard during the Olympics in 2004, they killed all these stray dogs in couples day. That's horrible. Anyway, the Acropolis was nice. Next stop was the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This shouldn't be an attraction because the only thing left are the columns and you had to buy tickets to go in and see them. Luckily we didn't have to buy tickets for any of the attractions we went to in Athens because it was a holiday I think (or maybe they encourage tourists to come around this time). The Panathinaiko Olympic stadium was nice, but we didn't go inside. This was the stadium that hosts the first Olympic in 1896. Next we went to the National Garden which is right across from the Olympic stadium. It's the weekend and there's not much to do here so we left. That's pretty much it for Athens. You can go see all the main attractions in a day or two.
Athens metro is very easy to use. Our hotel was near Omonia station but we mostly went to Syntagma to eat as it was a big stop. There are a lot of archaeological artifacts found here when they dug up the ground to create the metro system in Athens. So, the entire metro is like a museum with lots of things to see. I think the metro here is still under construction because there are only 2 lines. At night, the city is alive with lots of restaurants, bars, and people walking around. It was fun.
The next day we visited the Athens flea market. Here you can find pretty much everything from dirt cheap to expensive stuff. We didn't buy any. Everything here is cheaper compared to all the other countries we went to in Europe (maybe cheaper than America too). In the afternoon, we went to Lycattabus Hill. This is definitely a must-go if you want to see the view of Athens. We took the metro to the hill, then walked up for about 20 minutes. There are lots of houses around here with orange and cherry trees. I would recommend to walk up the hill around 7pm and then take the cable car down at night after you've seen the sunset (around 9pm). You can see everything from top of the Lycattabus Hill. You can see the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora, the Olympic stadium, the garden... everything. As the sun goes down, your view also changes and it's very different every half hour until the city lights are on.
The first place we visited was the Acropolis. I was tired and we had to walk uphill to the top to see the Parthenon and the temple of Athena up there. But it was worth the effort. They are still rebuilding a lot of stuff around here. What strange is that everywhere we go in Athens, there are stray dogs. These are unwanted dogs being left by their owners on the street. They are not dangerous because the only thing they do is sleep all day. It's kind of sad. I heard during the Olympics in 2004, they killed all these stray dogs in couples day. That's horrible. Anyway, the Acropolis was nice. Next stop was the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This shouldn't be an attraction because the only thing left are the columns and you had to buy tickets to go in and see them. Luckily we didn't have to buy tickets for any of the attractions we went to in Athens because it was a holiday I think (or maybe they encourage tourists to come around this time). The Panathinaiko Olympic stadium was nice, but we didn't go inside. This was the stadium that hosts the first Olympic in 1896. Next we went to the National Garden which is right across from the Olympic stadium. It's the weekend and there's not much to do here so we left. That's pretty much it for Athens. You can go see all the main attractions in a day or two.
Athens metro is very easy to use. Our hotel was near Omonia station but we mostly went to Syntagma to eat as it was a big stop. There are a lot of archaeological artifacts found here when they dug up the ground to create the metro system in Athens. So, the entire metro is like a museum with lots of things to see. I think the metro here is still under construction because there are only 2 lines. At night, the city is alive with lots of restaurants, bars, and people walking around. It was fun.
The next day we visited the Athens flea market. Here you can find pretty much everything from dirt cheap to expensive stuff. We didn't buy any. Everything here is cheaper compared to all the other countries we went to in Europe (maybe cheaper than America too). In the afternoon, we went to Lycattabus Hill. This is definitely a must-go if you want to see the view of Athens. We took the metro to the hill, then walked up for about 20 minutes. There are lots of houses around here with orange and cherry trees. I would recommend to walk up the hill around 7pm and then take the cable car down at night after you've seen the sunset (around 9pm). You can see everything from top of the Lycattabus Hill. You can see the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora, the Olympic stadium, the garden... everything. As the sun goes down, your view also changes and it's very different every half hour until the city lights are on.
Friday, July 2, 2010
World cup 2010 quarter final
Germany vs Argentina
July 3rd, 2010
World cup 2010 quarterfinals
A little history behind this rivalry. It started in 1986 when Diego Maradona and his team defeated Germany 3-2 to win Argentina’s 2nd world cup title. In 1990, Germany responded by defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final match. 4 years ago in Germany, these two teams met again in the quarterfinal. Germany won in a PK shoot out after goal keeper Lehmann stopped Cambiasso’s PK. After that, a fight broke out and there were many players suspended. Argentina’s still mad about that and they wanted to revenge. Germany’s also angry because their key players were suspended the following game which they eventually lost to the world champions Italy (did I just say that?). On July 3rd, 2010 these two teams will meet again in the same situation as back in world cup 2006. This time, it’s a lot more intense as there are a lot of players on the current teams participated in the match in world cup 2006. Off the field, there are a lot of trash talkings. Schwansteiger and Lahm accused Argentina of dirty, provocative, and disrespected to the referees and the opponents. Maradona said that the Germans are nervous and insulted Mueller as a ball boy. Tevez wanted to revenge. Messi vowed to defeat Germany for the English and his favorite band. The game hasn’t started yet but already there is a heated psychological war going on. There will be more as Mueller, Bierhoff and other people jump into the conversation. I can imagine a fight between these two during the game.
On to the football part.
Germany’s starting 11 (predicted) 4-4-2
Goalkeeper: Neuer
Defenders: Lahm (c), Frierich, Mertesacker, Boateng
Midfields: Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Mueller, Khedira
Forwards: Klose, Podolski
Argentina’s starting 11 (predicted) 4-3-3
Goalkeeper: Romero
Defenders: Heinze, Demichelis, Burdisso, Otamendi
Midfields: Di Maria, Mascherano (c), Rodriguez
Forwards: Higuain, Messi, Tevez
I’ve watched every game Argentina and Germany played in this world cup (I think I’ve watched most of the games so far if not all). This year Argentina is a much stronger team than in 2006 (or 2002, 1998, 1994). They show more athleticism and skills on their offense through Messi, Higuain, and Tevez. Even their defenders can prove to be very dangerous and have the ability to score goals (Heinze). The fact that they are lead by the legend Maradona is also very important (physically and mentally). Maradona wants to win so badly, he even said “I’m going to put on a jersey and play this game myself”. Germany in contrast is a younger team with lots of strength, skills, but less experience. Their offense is as strong as any offense spearheaded by Klose and Podolski. Their midfield is dominated by young talented players such as Schweinsteiger, Ozil, Khedira, and Mueller. Germany’s strength is in their defense. Captain Lahm, Frierich, Mertesacker, and Boateng can be the difference in the game. It’s going to be a very good match up between Schweinsteiger and Messi in the middle, this could be the deciding factor of the game. Messi has been playing very well contributing lots of assists though he hasn’t scored. When Schweinsteiger plays well, Germany win. As simple as that. I think both have explosive offenses with Argentina a little better on individual skills, play makers, and quickness. Germany is a more even team with strength in every position and collectively as a team. It could come down to who has a better defense or goal keeper. The defense for both sides will have a tough day.
I love watching Argentina and their players showing off individual skills, dancing the Tango on the field. Batistuta was the reason why Argentina is my favorite team since 1994. I was disappointed that several Argentine players were left out of the team roster this world cup. That’s why I didn’t cheer for Argentina. I also love the way Germany played as a team from the opening game, inexperience and almost error free. I never really cheered for Germany before until I came to Berlin this year. It’s such a great place with great people. In addition, after watching the young German players (with a team that is less than 100%) performed, I am rooting for them this world cup. So, my two favorite teams collide in the quarterfinals. Something’s got to give, right? Let’s hope for a great, fair game. I don’t wanna see the referee’s errors decide this game. If necessary, bring on the PK shoot out once again. Personally I think Argentina is slightly better. I think if Germany still have an experience leader like Ballack (arguably the best player on the team) taking the central midfield position, allowing Schweinsteiger to move forward and freely work with Klose, Podolski, then there’s no doubt in my mind that Germany will win this one. Germany’s young squad needs more experience as they progress to more important matches. However, I would hope Germany wins and move on, if it comes down to PK, I think Germany will win. This game is very hard to pick the winner. One small error could mean the result is different, so anything can happen. This is the game that I’m most familiar with, I know all starting players from both teams, yet I don’t know how to come up with a final score. I guess that’s what happened when emotion is involved. With that said, nobody bothers me from 10am-1pm July 3rd, 2010. I will be watching every second of this game. May the better team win. Everybody, enjoy what could be one of the best 90 minutes (possibly more) in this tournament. There certainly will be goals, dramas, cards, probably a fight, and most importantly: expect a thriller world class football.
July 3rd, 2010
World cup 2010 quarterfinals
A little history behind this rivalry. It started in 1986 when Diego Maradona and his team defeated Germany 3-2 to win Argentina’s 2nd world cup title. In 1990, Germany responded by defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final match. 4 years ago in Germany, these two teams met again in the quarterfinal. Germany won in a PK shoot out after goal keeper Lehmann stopped Cambiasso’s PK. After that, a fight broke out and there were many players suspended. Argentina’s still mad about that and they wanted to revenge. Germany’s also angry because their key players were suspended the following game which they eventually lost to the world champions Italy (did I just say that?). On July 3rd, 2010 these two teams will meet again in the same situation as back in world cup 2006. This time, it’s a lot more intense as there are a lot of players on the current teams participated in the match in world cup 2006. Off the field, there are a lot of trash talkings. Schwansteiger and Lahm accused Argentina of dirty, provocative, and disrespected to the referees and the opponents. Maradona said that the Germans are nervous and insulted Mueller as a ball boy. Tevez wanted to revenge. Messi vowed to defeat Germany for the English and his favorite band. The game hasn’t started yet but already there is a heated psychological war going on. There will be more as Mueller, Bierhoff and other people jump into the conversation. I can imagine a fight between these two during the game.
On to the football part.
Germany’s starting 11 (predicted) 4-4-2
Goalkeeper: Neuer
Defenders: Lahm (c), Frierich, Mertesacker, Boateng
Midfields: Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Mueller, Khedira
Forwards: Klose, Podolski
Argentina’s starting 11 (predicted) 4-3-3
Goalkeeper: Romero
Defenders: Heinze, Demichelis, Burdisso, Otamendi
Midfields: Di Maria, Mascherano (c), Rodriguez
Forwards: Higuain, Messi, Tevez
I’ve watched every game Argentina and Germany played in this world cup (I think I’ve watched most of the games so far if not all). This year Argentina is a much stronger team than in 2006 (or 2002, 1998, 1994). They show more athleticism and skills on their offense through Messi, Higuain, and Tevez. Even their defenders can prove to be very dangerous and have the ability to score goals (Heinze). The fact that they are lead by the legend Maradona is also very important (physically and mentally). Maradona wants to win so badly, he even said “I’m going to put on a jersey and play this game myself”. Germany in contrast is a younger team with lots of strength, skills, but less experience. Their offense is as strong as any offense spearheaded by Klose and Podolski. Their midfield is dominated by young talented players such as Schweinsteiger, Ozil, Khedira, and Mueller. Germany’s strength is in their defense. Captain Lahm, Frierich, Mertesacker, and Boateng can be the difference in the game. It’s going to be a very good match up between Schweinsteiger and Messi in the middle, this could be the deciding factor of the game. Messi has been playing very well contributing lots of assists though he hasn’t scored. When Schweinsteiger plays well, Germany win. As simple as that. I think both have explosive offenses with Argentina a little better on individual skills, play makers, and quickness. Germany is a more even team with strength in every position and collectively as a team. It could come down to who has a better defense or goal keeper. The defense for both sides will have a tough day.
I love watching Argentina and their players showing off individual skills, dancing the Tango on the field. Batistuta was the reason why Argentina is my favorite team since 1994. I was disappointed that several Argentine players were left out of the team roster this world cup. That’s why I didn’t cheer for Argentina. I also love the way Germany played as a team from the opening game, inexperience and almost error free. I never really cheered for Germany before until I came to Berlin this year. It’s such a great place with great people. In addition, after watching the young German players (with a team that is less than 100%) performed, I am rooting for them this world cup. So, my two favorite teams collide in the quarterfinals. Something’s got to give, right? Let’s hope for a great, fair game. I don’t wanna see the referee’s errors decide this game. If necessary, bring on the PK shoot out once again. Personally I think Argentina is slightly better. I think if Germany still have an experience leader like Ballack (arguably the best player on the team) taking the central midfield position, allowing Schweinsteiger to move forward and freely work with Klose, Podolski, then there’s no doubt in my mind that Germany will win this one. Germany’s young squad needs more experience as they progress to more important matches. However, I would hope Germany wins and move on, if it comes down to PK, I think Germany will win. This game is very hard to pick the winner. One small error could mean the result is different, so anything can happen. This is the game that I’m most familiar with, I know all starting players from both teams, yet I don’t know how to come up with a final score. I guess that’s what happened when emotion is involved. With that said, nobody bothers me from 10am-1pm July 3rd, 2010. I will be watching every second of this game. May the better team win. Everybody, enjoy what could be one of the best 90 minutes (possibly more) in this tournament. There certainly will be goals, dramas, cards, probably a fight, and most importantly: expect a thriller world class football.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
ROME - The Eternal City
I'm writing this from memory because I got back from my trip and I've been busy following the world cup 2010 and catching up with work.
Day 1
There are many reasons why I wanted to see Rome: the ancient city, Vatican, the piazzas full of artworks, the medieval streets, and the food of course. It was my most anticipated destination. We arrived at noon via trenitalia from Florence. Rome is a vibrant city with lots of history. Our hotel was at the Trevi fountain area so it was easy to find. It was a 3 star hotel named Hotel de Petris. We put away our luggage and started to explore the city. First we went to the Trevi fountain. It's always busy here, lots of people throwing coins into the fountain. It's a tradition that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you are ensured a trip back to Rome. We didn't throw any coin because we were going to go to Naples and coming back to Rome anyway. Unless I die along the way, I'd be back here. I stood there admiring the statues for awhile.
Next, we walked to the Pantheon. It was under construction so it looked pretty bad from the outside. Inside it wasn't that good either. If you saw the movie "Angels and Demons", the Pantheon looked much better in the movie. The Pantheon in Paris was much better. Our next stop is the piazza Novona. It was Rome's most spectacular Baroque piazza follows the shape of a 1st century AD stadium. There are a lot of history behind each attraction that I've read but it's just too much to write here. The fountain in the middle of the piazza was very attractive.
We then walked toward the old church Santa Maria in Trastevere. It was one of the first official place of Christian worship back in the 3rd century. We ate lunch and dinner here in Trastevere as it was very cheap compared to other tourist places.
In the afternoon, we headed north toward the Piazza de Venezia. It's a lively plaza with lots of people and traffic. We also passed by the Castle of St Angelo, which wasn't worth the money to get in. Another noticeable place we went to was the Spanish Steps. Not much here besides a church and many many people sitting at the stairs.
Day 2
The Vatican, St. Peter's Square, and the Vatican museum (next entry)
Day 3
We didn't do much in Day 3 because we got back from Naples in the afternoon. So we only went to the Borghese Garden and visited the Borghese Galleria. We bought the Rome 3 day pass for 25 euros each. The first 2 attractions are free, discounts for other attractions and free bus, metro rides. This pass is worth the money. I must say Borghese is the best museum we've visited in Europe. All of the statues and paintings in there were stunning. If you have to pick one museum to go in Italy, it has to be Borghese. The Villa Borghese and it's garden were designed in 1605 for Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The villa was used for entertaining and displaying the collections of paintings and sculptures. However, I was pissed off that they don't allow people to bring cameras in. You have to check everything in. I got my digital camera in my pocket so I was able to get it in but EVERYWHERE there's a person standing. I couldn't even take out my camera. Anyway, most of the sculptures here was done by Bernini. Some of the important ones are: The Rape of Proserpine, Apollo and Daphne, the David (a self portrait of Bernini). The best thing about this museum is that if you buy the audio guide (which you should), it tells you the details about each paintings / sculpture. For each important sculpture, there's a painting on the ceiling explaining why the sculpture below is in the position it is. Bernini is a genius, he breathes life into these sculptures. I stared at each sculpture in here for a long time and wanted to take a picture so badly.
Day 4
We went to ancient Rome in day 4. We passed by the Trajan's market quickly, arrived at the Colosseum. The Colosseum is Rome's great amphitheater. It was the site of deadly gladiatorial combats between gladiators with animals or animals with animals. Once there were as many as 50 bears fighting gladiators and other animals at the same time. I was impressed by the design. It has 2 levels. You can actually see the room where the animals and the gladiator were before the fights. The floor was destroyed and it is now under reconstruction.
Next to the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine. Here, we went to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.
The Roman Forum was the center of political, commercial, and judicial life in ancient Rome. The ruins of the Roman forum date back to many eras. There are other buildings around. We walked around a little but, it was sunny and crowded. There's a hill on top of the Roman Forum where you can have the view of the entire ancient Rome.
The Palatine hill was okay. I was a little disappointed because I thought it was an amazing place. After all, it was the place where Rome was found. There's a museum here but it's not worth the time and money to visit.
We got out of Ancient Rome and headed toward Trastevere for some food. After that, we visited the Castle of St Angelo and the Basilica of St Peter's again.
Day 1
There are many reasons why I wanted to see Rome: the ancient city, Vatican, the piazzas full of artworks, the medieval streets, and the food of course. It was my most anticipated destination. We arrived at noon via trenitalia from Florence. Rome is a vibrant city with lots of history. Our hotel was at the Trevi fountain area so it was easy to find. It was a 3 star hotel named Hotel de Petris. We put away our luggage and started to explore the city. First we went to the Trevi fountain. It's always busy here, lots of people throwing coins into the fountain. It's a tradition that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you are ensured a trip back to Rome. We didn't throw any coin because we were going to go to Naples and coming back to Rome anyway. Unless I die along the way, I'd be back here. I stood there admiring the statues for awhile.
Next, we walked to the Pantheon. It was under construction so it looked pretty bad from the outside. Inside it wasn't that good either. If you saw the movie "Angels and Demons", the Pantheon looked much better in the movie. The Pantheon in Paris was much better. Our next stop is the piazza Novona. It was Rome's most spectacular Baroque piazza follows the shape of a 1st century AD stadium. There are a lot of history behind each attraction that I've read but it's just too much to write here. The fountain in the middle of the piazza was very attractive.
We then walked toward the old church Santa Maria in Trastevere. It was one of the first official place of Christian worship back in the 3rd century. We ate lunch and dinner here in Trastevere as it was very cheap compared to other tourist places.
In the afternoon, we headed north toward the Piazza de Venezia. It's a lively plaza with lots of people and traffic. We also passed by the Castle of St Angelo, which wasn't worth the money to get in. Another noticeable place we went to was the Spanish Steps. Not much here besides a church and many many people sitting at the stairs.
Day 2
The Vatican, St. Peter's Square, and the Vatican museum (next entry)
Day 3
We didn't do much in Day 3 because we got back from Naples in the afternoon. So we only went to the Borghese Garden and visited the Borghese Galleria. We bought the Rome 3 day pass for 25 euros each. The first 2 attractions are free, discounts for other attractions and free bus, metro rides. This pass is worth the money. I must say Borghese is the best museum we've visited in Europe. All of the statues and paintings in there were stunning. If you have to pick one museum to go in Italy, it has to be Borghese. The Villa Borghese and it's garden were designed in 1605 for Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The villa was used for entertaining and displaying the collections of paintings and sculptures. However, I was pissed off that they don't allow people to bring cameras in. You have to check everything in. I got my digital camera in my pocket so I was able to get it in but EVERYWHERE there's a person standing. I couldn't even take out my camera. Anyway, most of the sculptures here was done by Bernini. Some of the important ones are: The Rape of Proserpine, Apollo and Daphne, the David (a self portrait of Bernini). The best thing about this museum is that if you buy the audio guide (which you should), it tells you the details about each paintings / sculpture. For each important sculpture, there's a painting on the ceiling explaining why the sculpture below is in the position it is. Bernini is a genius, he breathes life into these sculptures. I stared at each sculpture in here for a long time and wanted to take a picture so badly.
Day 4
We went to ancient Rome in day 4. We passed by the Trajan's market quickly, arrived at the Colosseum. The Colosseum is Rome's great amphitheater. It was the site of deadly gladiatorial combats between gladiators with animals or animals with animals. Once there were as many as 50 bears fighting gladiators and other animals at the same time. I was impressed by the design. It has 2 levels. You can actually see the room where the animals and the gladiator were before the fights. The floor was destroyed and it is now under reconstruction.
Next to the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine. Here, we went to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.
The Roman Forum was the center of political, commercial, and judicial life in ancient Rome. The ruins of the Roman forum date back to many eras. There are other buildings around. We walked around a little but, it was sunny and crowded. There's a hill on top of the Roman Forum where you can have the view of the entire ancient Rome.
The Palatine hill was okay. I was a little disappointed because I thought it was an amazing place. After all, it was the place where Rome was found. There's a museum here but it's not worth the time and money to visit.
We got out of Ancient Rome and headed toward Trastevere for some food. After that, we visited the Castle of St Angelo and the Basilica of St Peter's again.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Florence, Pisa, Naples
2 Days in Florence
From Venice, we took the train to Florence. We arrived in the afternoon about 5pm. Our hotel was right in front of the train station but it took us awhile to search around. Our location was very convenient. The best way to explore Florence is on foot. There's a bus but you don't really need it. All the attractions are within walking distance. We finally settled down and put our luggages in the room. It was a very spacious room for a 3 star hotel in Europe. The AC worked perfectly and it was very cool inside. First place to visit was the Uffizi gallery. On the way, we saw the Duomo, a famous church in center of Florence. We didn't go inside though. Uffizi was not a very large building but the line was very long. We got the ticket in advance so we just went inside and explored the place. There were some important paintings and sculptures. For the rest of the day, we ate dinner and took some photos at the piazza della Signoria where there was a copy of the David. We didn't get to see the real David in Florence though because we didn't book ticket for the Accademia Galleria. That was probably one of the most important sculpture I wanted to see but oh well.
At night, we walked around the city and went to Ponte Vecchio, a very old Medieval bridge with houses on top where blacksmiths, butchers, and tanners used to live. Now, these houses on the bridge serve as shops and jewelry stores.
On the bridge, there was a guy singing in Italian, Spanish, and English. The crowd gathered around and listened to him. Some gave him money. I guess that's his job. His singing of "Mad World" made me think a lot about life, people, and many things going on in this world.
5 Hours in Pisa
In the morning, we took the Terravision bus at the train station to Pisa airport. I bought the ticket in advance. It costs 16 euros for a round trip. Pisa is about 1 hr 30 mins away from Florence by bus. We only spent about 5 hours here as that was plenty of time to explore the city and the leaning tower. Not much to see here besides the Church, the Baptistry, and the leaning tower itself. There were many people taking pictures trying to push the tower. It looked kind of silly and funny.
In the afternoon, we headed back to Florence and visited the Palazzo Pitti, a castle near Ponte Vecchio. Nothing special here, just an old castle and it's not as great as the castles we've been to in Europe. There was a garden with some interesting sculptures.
1 Day in Naples
From Florence, we took the train to Rome and then to Naples. Since we didn't do much in Naples (we stayed there 1 day), I'll combine that part here too. By the time we reached Naples, we were very very tired, exhausted. Our hotel was right in front of us but we couldn't recognize it. It's a 4 star hotel named UNA. Compared to other places, Naples was very cheap. From the hotel, to the food, and the souvenirs all were pretty reasonable prices. That's the reason why we stayed at a 4 star hotel. Here in Naples, no one spoke English but the people were very nice and honest. We found a very good restaurant that we ate both lunch and dinner there. We visited the National Archaeological Museum via bus. There are some really great sculptures. Some of them are huge...
We got on and off the bus heading toward the coast. There weren't that many tourists in the city. We were probably the only tourists. The bus was full of old people. We walked along the coast and took some pictures. The view was beautiful with the steep village on the cliff of the mountains.
After enjoying the food and the peaceful views, we packed up and getting ready to return to Rome, the Eternal City.
From Venice, we took the train to Florence. We arrived in the afternoon about 5pm. Our hotel was right in front of the train station but it took us awhile to search around. Our location was very convenient. The best way to explore Florence is on foot. There's a bus but you don't really need it. All the attractions are within walking distance. We finally settled down and put our luggages in the room. It was a very spacious room for a 3 star hotel in Europe. The AC worked perfectly and it was very cool inside. First place to visit was the Uffizi gallery. On the way, we saw the Duomo, a famous church in center of Florence. We didn't go inside though. Uffizi was not a very large building but the line was very long. We got the ticket in advance so we just went inside and explored the place. There were some important paintings and sculptures. For the rest of the day, we ate dinner and took some photos at the piazza della Signoria where there was a copy of the David. We didn't get to see the real David in Florence though because we didn't book ticket for the Accademia Galleria. That was probably one of the most important sculpture I wanted to see but oh well.
At night, we walked around the city and went to Ponte Vecchio, a very old Medieval bridge with houses on top where blacksmiths, butchers, and tanners used to live. Now, these houses on the bridge serve as shops and jewelry stores.
On the bridge, there was a guy singing in Italian, Spanish, and English. The crowd gathered around and listened to him. Some gave him money. I guess that's his job. His singing of "Mad World" made me think a lot about life, people, and many things going on in this world.
5 Hours in Pisa
In the morning, we took the Terravision bus at the train station to Pisa airport. I bought the ticket in advance. It costs 16 euros for a round trip. Pisa is about 1 hr 30 mins away from Florence by bus. We only spent about 5 hours here as that was plenty of time to explore the city and the leaning tower. Not much to see here besides the Church, the Baptistry, and the leaning tower itself. There were many people taking pictures trying to push the tower. It looked kind of silly and funny.
In the afternoon, we headed back to Florence and visited the Palazzo Pitti, a castle near Ponte Vecchio. Nothing special here, just an old castle and it's not as great as the castles we've been to in Europe. There was a garden with some interesting sculptures.
1 Day in Naples
From Florence, we took the train to Rome and then to Naples. Since we didn't do much in Naples (we stayed there 1 day), I'll combine that part here too. By the time we reached Naples, we were very very tired, exhausted. Our hotel was right in front of us but we couldn't recognize it. It's a 4 star hotel named UNA. Compared to other places, Naples was very cheap. From the hotel, to the food, and the souvenirs all were pretty reasonable prices. That's the reason why we stayed at a 4 star hotel. Here in Naples, no one spoke English but the people were very nice and honest. We found a very good restaurant that we ate both lunch and dinner there. We visited the National Archaeological Museum via bus. There are some really great sculptures. Some of them are huge...
We got on and off the bus heading toward the coast. There weren't that many tourists in the city. We were probably the only tourists. The bus was full of old people. We walked along the coast and took some pictures. The view was beautiful with the steep village on the cliff of the mountains.
After enjoying the food and the peaceful views, we packed up and getting ready to return to Rome, the Eternal City.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Let the game begin
It was 1994 when I watched the first full world cup of my life. Inspired by a lot of motivational stories from the news, comic book, and the atmosphere, I started to show a lot of interests in soccer. My brother and I cut out color paper of all 24 countries participated in the event and glued them into a book where we kept records of the scores and the players. Nowadays there's the internet, nobody would do that anymore. It was USA 94 and because it was in the USA, there were lots of hopes and dreams for me. It was emotional to see a Nigerian player hugging the nets, kissing the ground when scoring a goal. I saw a lot of resemblances from the world cup today with the one in 1994. There are lots of coaches who were players in 94 (Maradona, Dunga...). It was also the year South Africa started to see democracy. And today, they host the world's biggest event. Hopefully, this world cup will set aside a lot of differences and bring people together. I will try to watch every game I can... With that in mind let the game begin!!!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
One day in Venice
We got to Venice late morning. There was a little trouble at the airport because this lady from easyjet wouldn’t let me carry my hand bag. I was able to fit it in the box with some pushes but the lady was giving me a hard time. She told me to take it out and put it back in. I did it again perfectly and she wasn’t happy about it. She told me to check it in (to increase their revenues of course). I went to the counter and told the flight attendants that I can fit it in the box completely with some pushes. They were satisfied so they told me to come back and talk to the lady. She realized how foolish she is now and started to make a bitch out of herself. She stopped me again and told me that I cheated. The rules said that as long as you can fit your hand bag in the box, you can carry it onto the airplane. I got it in perfectly with some pushes sideway but it’s still inside the box completely. I even took it out and put it back in several times to demonstrate I can do it all the times but apparently she was not happy. Some easyjet customers started to get pissed off and jump in to fight for me. They started speaking her language. By now she realized that she’s probably wasting our time and her time so she let us go. Hooray! Got through security again without checking my bag in (but I need to be careful as I buy more stuff from now on).
Venice sunshine was beautiful, it was warm. We lived at an Island called Giudecca right below the main Venice island. The hotel was a 3 star hotel and it was more than satisfactory. We bought a waterbus ticket for 24 hours but it was probably not worth it (22 Euros each) because nobody was checking the ticket the entire time. As a tourist to a new city for the first time, you always make silly honest mistakes. Venice is beautiful and romantic. There are bridges, water, couples, and gondolas. They say Paris is the city of romance but I think Venice is more romantic. However, I was not surprise because I’ve seen Venice already. I’ve been to the Venetian in Las Vegas, it’s pretty much like the real Venice except the real one is 10 times bigger and looks a lot older. We went around, eating lunch, taking pictures at St. Mark’s Square. 90% of the people here are tourists, most of them from America. In the afternoon, we explored the town of Lido, away from Venice. There’s not much here besides the boardwalk and the beach, which was empty. We headed back to Venice and went around looking for food again.
At night, Venice is very beautiful with the tiny light from windows. We rode the waterbus again to the famous Rialto Bridge. It’s not crowded as it was late at night so we were able to take some pictures. Food was expensive in Venice so we walked far away from the attractions to find food. It’s still not as cheap as in Berlin but compared to the restaurant prices we saw, it was okay. Afterward, we headed back to our hotel and prepared to leave in the morning to Florence, the center of Renaissance Art.
Venice sunshine was beautiful, it was warm. We lived at an Island called Giudecca right below the main Venice island. The hotel was a 3 star hotel and it was more than satisfactory. We bought a waterbus ticket for 24 hours but it was probably not worth it (22 Euros each) because nobody was checking the ticket the entire time. As a tourist to a new city for the first time, you always make silly honest mistakes. Venice is beautiful and romantic. There are bridges, water, couples, and gondolas. They say Paris is the city of romance but I think Venice is more romantic. However, I was not surprise because I’ve seen Venice already. I’ve been to the Venetian in Las Vegas, it’s pretty much like the real Venice except the real one is 10 times bigger and looks a lot older. We went around, eating lunch, taking pictures at St. Mark’s Square. 90% of the people here are tourists, most of them from America. In the afternoon, we explored the town of Lido, away from Venice. There’s not much here besides the boardwalk and the beach, which was empty. We headed back to Venice and went around looking for food again.
At night, Venice is very beautiful with the tiny light from windows. We rode the waterbus again to the famous Rialto Bridge. It’s not crowded as it was late at night so we were able to take some pictures. Food was expensive in Venice so we walked far away from the attractions to find food. It’s still not as cheap as in Berlin but compared to the restaurant prices we saw, it was okay. Afterward, we headed back to our hotel and prepared to leave in the morning to Florence, the center of Renaissance Art.
Berlin day 2
Day 2 in Berlin was great as well. We woke up at around 8am after 11 hour of sleep. We went down to get breakfast. I loved the hams while my girl friend enjoyed the boiled egg. She took some to her room. After breakfast, we were all full of energy. So we headed toward Potsdam, a town outside of Berlin.
There weren’t much to see here except some old buildings and a small art museum. We went inside for 3 euros but it was not worth it. There’s only 1 room of artwork and that’s it. We went outside, took some pictures and went to lunch.
In the afternoon, we went to Pergamon museum. It contains lots of archaeological artifacts from many different places. We got the museum pass for 9 Euros each but only had time for 1 museum. There’s an island of about 5 different museums at the same place.
Berlin was destroyed completely from the wars so a lot of the buildings are new. Some old buildings still remained but they are mostly renovated to look complete. We walked along the river near the museum island. Afterward, we headed toward pub crawl. Pub crawl is a tour where mostly English speakers got together and went to this place to drink beer and have fun. It was 12 Euros to get in and you can drink as much as you want for about 1 hour, 1 hour 30 mins. After that, we started to crawl to 5 different bars (hence the name pub crawl). Each drink you buy there will be rewarded with a jegameister. We talked to many people there, made some friends. They are from all over the world. We were buzzed by the third bar at around 11pm so we had to run away from our new friends. In addition we have an early flight tomorrow and still wanted to see the Parliament building and the glass dome. They closed at around 12. So we hurried out. I think if you complete the pub crawl, they give you a free tshirt. By the time we got there, it was about 11:50pm and no one is allowed to get to the glass dome anymore. I was disappointed. That is probably the most symbolic building of Berlin that I wanted to see. After 2 days there, I still couldn’t get inside the dome… Oh well, there’s always next time. So we got back to our hotel and folded some clothes, getting ready for our flight to Venice tomorrow.
I really love Berlin and wish that I could spend more time here. I didn’t know there were that many things to do and there were so much fun. The food is cheap (doner, sausage and beer), people are nice, information are free, tourist-friendly, easy-to-use transportations. In my opinion, Berlin is the best place to visit, at least for English speakers. I don’t know how much information they provide in French or Italian or Chinese. It might be more or less.
There weren’t much to see here except some old buildings and a small art museum. We went inside for 3 euros but it was not worth it. There’s only 1 room of artwork and that’s it. We went outside, took some pictures and went to lunch. In the afternoon, we went to Pergamon museum. It contains lots of archaeological artifacts from many different places. We got the museum pass for 9 Euros each but only had time for 1 museum. There’s an island of about 5 different museums at the same place.
Berlin was destroyed completely from the wars so a lot of the buildings are new. Some old buildings still remained but they are mostly renovated to look complete. We walked along the river near the museum island. Afterward, we headed toward pub crawl. Pub crawl is a tour where mostly English speakers got together and went to this place to drink beer and have fun. It was 12 Euros to get in and you can drink as much as you want for about 1 hour, 1 hour 30 mins. After that, we started to crawl to 5 different bars (hence the name pub crawl). Each drink you buy there will be rewarded with a jegameister. We talked to many people there, made some friends. They are from all over the world. We were buzzed by the third bar at around 11pm so we had to run away from our new friends. In addition we have an early flight tomorrow and still wanted to see the Parliament building and the glass dome. They closed at around 12. So we hurried out. I think if you complete the pub crawl, they give you a free tshirt. By the time we got there, it was about 11:50pm and no one is allowed to get to the glass dome anymore. I was disappointed. That is probably the most symbolic building of Berlin that I wanted to see. After 2 days there, I still couldn’t get inside the dome… Oh well, there’s always next time. So we got back to our hotel and folded some clothes, getting ready for our flight to Venice tomorrow.
I really love Berlin and wish that I could spend more time here. I didn’t know there were that many things to do and there were so much fun. The food is cheap (doner, sausage and beer), people are nice, information are free, tourist-friendly, easy-to-use transportations. In my opinion, Berlin is the best place to visit, at least for English speakers. I don’t know how much information they provide in French or Italian or Chinese. It might be more or less.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Berlin is awesome!
I’m behind so I’ll try to write as quickly as I can so that I won’t forget. By now, we’re in Naples, Italy but I’m still writing about Berlin, Germany. This is because I was so tired and internet wasn’t free at several hotels. Anyway, here are my wonderful experiences in Berlin.
Day 1
We woke up early, called a cab to leave Paris to Berlin. After about 1 hr 20 mins of the super fast trip, we arrived at Berlin. Berlin is a very nice place, it was colder than everywhere we’ve been, but it was good because we needed to cool down and travel without sweating. We started to look around to find ways to get back to our hotel. One guy helped us out and took us to the right place even though he did not speak English. We got to our hotel, Best Western Express. It was about 10am but they let us check in because the room was ready. The hotel staff was making fun of me for using my credit card. He told me that not many people in Berlin uses credit card, only American does that. Yeah, America is a country built on debts and credits. There are so many people with multiple credit cards, multiple loans. That’s why we got the financial crisis in 2008 because they allow people who can’t afford things to buy them. After checking in, we tried to wash our clothes at the hotel but couldn’t because it was too expensive, each article of clothing (socks, shirt, underwear…) costs about 6 Euros. We ended up doing it at a local “Waschsalon”.
We got out of our hotel about noon. It was perfect weather, clear, blue sky, sunny, about 60 degrees F. we ate Turkish doner near Alexanderplatz, I think. It was delicious but too much. We couldn’t finish. Only 3 euros for a huge doner. If you try them, be sure to choose different sauce. Food was very cheap in Berlin compared to other places. In addition, Berlin is very tourist friendly and there are lots of free stuff to help tourists (free map, information desks everywhere, guide standing in front of metro stations for directions…). Among those free stuff, the best tour in Berlin is a free tour around the city. If you don’t have lots of time to spend in Berlin like us, this is the best way to explore the city. Basically, it’s a free tour of your chosen language. The tour guide takes you around the city to about 10 or so different locations and explains the history behind each place. The tour lasts about 4 hours and at the end, you can tip the tour guide depending on what you think about his knowledge and ability to guide you through the city. I thought it’s the best way for an organized tour since the tour guide gets paid by his ability. There are lots of other tours where you pay a fixed amount up front and there’s a tour guide taking you around. Often time, it’s very boring since he/she says the same thing all the times and doesn’t seem to want to do his/her job. This is completely different, the tour guide gets tips at the end so he will try to do his best. Our tour guide was Jeff, a Dutch but spoke perfect English. He was also very funny, knowledgeable, and made the tour interactive and entertaining. I recommend this tour for everyone. The tour starts at the Starbucks coffee in front of the Brandenburg Gate. We used metro to “Brandenburger Tor”. The metro system in Berlin is very good and it uses an integrity system. You don’t need to insert tickets to enter. You just need to buy ticket and then validate it with a machine before you go. Of course, you can just walk in without buying the ticket. However, at rush hour, there’s usually a metro employee walking around checking for your ticket. I think there’s a big fine if you don’t have your ticket validated. I think this is a really good way to run a metro system. In fact you will save a lot of money hiring employees sitting at the gate of each station all the time. It’s also very efficient to go in and out during rush hour, there’s no bottleneck.
So our tour started. Jeff, the tour guide, was awesome. He took us to all the main attractions and explained the history behind each one. I’m not gonna write the history about each attractions but it was very informative and I learned a lot from that free tour. A lot of the information were straight from text books. Some of the jokes were related to current news event and some jokes were about the French and German rivalries in English. If you are not fluent in English or you don’t know much about French history, you will not get some of the jokes. So we went to the Brandenburg Gate first, then the Parliament building. I was impressed by the glass dome design on top of the building. Below the glass dome was the work place of politicians. The design of the dome allows people to look straight down to see the politicians. Also, the politicians can look up to the people. It symbolizes Germany’s transparent democracy. Very cool idea and great looking building (I regret not having time going up there… explained in Day 2).
Next we went to the Memorial of the murdered Jews and Hitler’s bunker. Berlin is not a very rich city but it’s very rich in history. It’s also very proud of its history and does not hide it. The memorial is right next to the Brandenburg Gate, in the city center close to the Parliament building. This allows tourists, working class, politicians… everyone to see it.
In contrast, Hitler’s bunker is now a parking lot with some apartments around it. There’s not even a sign saying that it’s Hitler’s bunker. Again, the locations are also very symbolic. Next we headed toward the Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie. After that, we took a break and went to a local coffee shop. Immediately after that, we went to see the tax building, the main Cathedral, museum islands, the square where there are churches built by the French and German. We arrived in front of Humbolt University where the book burning took place. Afterward, we went to some other places that I don’t recall the name. At the end, we finished up at the Art Gallery building. I loved this tour. I got a lot of useful information out of it and some great places to eat so we tipped him well.
For dinner, we went to this local restaurant called biergarten. We had some sausages and beer. German sausages were delicious and its beer was great too. My girl friend enjoyed Beck’s lemon while I tried out some wheat beer. We headed back to our hotel to take shower. We tried to go to see the Parliament building afterward but everyone was tired. We all passed out on our bed at around 9pm.
Day 1
We woke up early, called a cab to leave Paris to Berlin. After about 1 hr 20 mins of the super fast trip, we arrived at Berlin. Berlin is a very nice place, it was colder than everywhere we’ve been, but it was good because we needed to cool down and travel without sweating. We started to look around to find ways to get back to our hotel. One guy helped us out and took us to the right place even though he did not speak English. We got to our hotel, Best Western Express. It was about 10am but they let us check in because the room was ready. The hotel staff was making fun of me for using my credit card. He told me that not many people in Berlin uses credit card, only American does that. Yeah, America is a country built on debts and credits. There are so many people with multiple credit cards, multiple loans. That’s why we got the financial crisis in 2008 because they allow people who can’t afford things to buy them. After checking in, we tried to wash our clothes at the hotel but couldn’t because it was too expensive, each article of clothing (socks, shirt, underwear…) costs about 6 Euros. We ended up doing it at a local “Waschsalon”.
We got out of our hotel about noon. It was perfect weather, clear, blue sky, sunny, about 60 degrees F. we ate Turkish doner near Alexanderplatz, I think. It was delicious but too much. We couldn’t finish. Only 3 euros for a huge doner. If you try them, be sure to choose different sauce. Food was very cheap in Berlin compared to other places. In addition, Berlin is very tourist friendly and there are lots of free stuff to help tourists (free map, information desks everywhere, guide standing in front of metro stations for directions…). Among those free stuff, the best tour in Berlin is a free tour around the city. If you don’t have lots of time to spend in Berlin like us, this is the best way to explore the city. Basically, it’s a free tour of your chosen language. The tour guide takes you around the city to about 10 or so different locations and explains the history behind each place. The tour lasts about 4 hours and at the end, you can tip the tour guide depending on what you think about his knowledge and ability to guide you through the city. I thought it’s the best way for an organized tour since the tour guide gets paid by his ability. There are lots of other tours where you pay a fixed amount up front and there’s a tour guide taking you around. Often time, it’s very boring since he/she says the same thing all the times and doesn’t seem to want to do his/her job. This is completely different, the tour guide gets tips at the end so he will try to do his best. Our tour guide was Jeff, a Dutch but spoke perfect English. He was also very funny, knowledgeable, and made the tour interactive and entertaining. I recommend this tour for everyone. The tour starts at the Starbucks coffee in front of the Brandenburg Gate. We used metro to “Brandenburger Tor”. The metro system in Berlin is very good and it uses an integrity system. You don’t need to insert tickets to enter. You just need to buy ticket and then validate it with a machine before you go. Of course, you can just walk in without buying the ticket. However, at rush hour, there’s usually a metro employee walking around checking for your ticket. I think there’s a big fine if you don’t have your ticket validated. I think this is a really good way to run a metro system. In fact you will save a lot of money hiring employees sitting at the gate of each station all the time. It’s also very efficient to go in and out during rush hour, there’s no bottleneck.
So our tour started. Jeff, the tour guide, was awesome. He took us to all the main attractions and explained the history behind each one. I’m not gonna write the history about each attractions but it was very informative and I learned a lot from that free tour. A lot of the information were straight from text books. Some of the jokes were related to current news event and some jokes were about the French and German rivalries in English. If you are not fluent in English or you don’t know much about French history, you will not get some of the jokes. So we went to the Brandenburg Gate first, then the Parliament building. I was impressed by the glass dome design on top of the building. Below the glass dome was the work place of politicians. The design of the dome allows people to look straight down to see the politicians. Also, the politicians can look up to the people. It symbolizes Germany’s transparent democracy. Very cool idea and great looking building (I regret not having time going up there… explained in Day 2).
Next we went to the Memorial of the murdered Jews and Hitler’s bunker. Berlin is not a very rich city but it’s very rich in history. It’s also very proud of its history and does not hide it. The memorial is right next to the Brandenburg Gate, in the city center close to the Parliament building. This allows tourists, working class, politicians… everyone to see it.
In contrast, Hitler’s bunker is now a parking lot with some apartments around it. There’s not even a sign saying that it’s Hitler’s bunker. Again, the locations are also very symbolic. Next we headed toward the Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie. After that, we took a break and went to a local coffee shop. Immediately after that, we went to see the tax building, the main Cathedral, museum islands, the square where there are churches built by the French and German. We arrived in front of Humbolt University where the book burning took place. Afterward, we went to some other places that I don’t recall the name. At the end, we finished up at the Art Gallery building. I loved this tour. I got a lot of useful information out of it and some great places to eat so we tipped him well.
For dinner, we went to this local restaurant called biergarten. We had some sausages and beer. German sausages were delicious and its beer was great too. My girl friend enjoyed Beck’s lemon while I tried out some wheat beer. We headed back to our hotel to take shower. We tried to go to see the Parliament building afterward but everyone was tired. We all passed out on our bed at around 9pm.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Day 11: Paris
We were supposed to be in Paris for 3 days (4 nights) from May 22 - May 26. Thanks to the pilot strike and the Champions League final in Madrid, we were stranded in the airport and lost a day in Paris (see here). This lost includes: airplane tickets, one night homeless (and sleepless) in Madrid airport, one day hotel pre-paid in Paris, one day visiting Paris, and train tickets (out of pocket) from Madrid to Paris. This lost does not include: emotional stress and frustration toward easyjet. If I didn't book a series of flights from easyjet a head of time, I would never fly with them again. Thanks a lot DifficultJet! Anyway, enough of that. We managed to find ways to the city of light via renfe, a train from Madrid to Bordeaux to Paris.
We got to Paris the next day and didn't do much that day since it was a 13 hour train from morning to about 9pm. We asked some people for directions to our hotel. Apparently it was an Indian community with lots of immigrants here. The hotel wasn't so bad but it was small, very small. We ate at a local restaurant in front of Gare du Nord. The food was good, I don't know if part of the reasons was us being hungry for a day at the airport and riding the train.
First full day in Paris
The next day we woke up early and went to meet our friend in District 13 for our metro and museum passes. We ate at a Chinese restaurant, it was delicious and cheap. From there, we went to the Garden of Luxembourg, the Pantheon, and Notre Dame. I was impressed by the Pantheon, it was beautiful, clean, and the design were very well preserved. Notre Dame was free to enter so it was very crowded. There are lots of histories of Paris in this church. I was disappointed that we couldn't get up to see the view from the church and the gargoyles around the balcony.
Next, we headed toward Louvre Museum. On the way, we passed Ponte Neuf, a famous old bridge in Paris. Louvre appeared to be very old on the outside, but once we got inside the square with the Pyramids, it was beautiful. We took a lot of pictures here. We also came back at night to take more pictures when the crowd was gone. We lined up to get inside the spacious museum. There were lots of sculptures and artworks. Among them was the famous Mona Lisa.
We took some pictures outside of Louvre again and walked toward the Garden of Tuileries. From there, we headed toward the Place de la Concorde. It was one of Europe's most historic square with a 3200 years old Obelisk in the middle. From here, we strolled along Champs-Elysees. There was a festival or something so it was crowded. We were tired so we sat at a McDonald's and tried out some French McDonalds. It was great and cheap (in Paris). Ironically, the staffs at McDonald's here speak English better than some of the ones in America.
Finally, we reached the Arc de Triomphe. From here, we took the metro to La Defense to see a modern Paris with lots of high-rise modern building and structures. You can see the Arc de Triomphe from La Defense, which is couples of miles away.
At the end of the day, we finally headed back toward Montmartre. It was about 9pm and we walked up hill to see the Roman-Byzantine Sacre-Coeur. We went to see all that in the first full day in Paris. It was a lot and we did it at a fast pace. We knew there are a lot to see in Paris, that's why we allocated almost 4 days for it but we lost a day in Madrid. So, we only had 2 full days, which we took the second full day to Versailles.
Second full day in Paris
For the second day, we went to the Chateau de Versailles. There are lots of rooms in this colossal palace. There were many artwork as in all the palaces. The one thing that I really like here was the garden. There was a 17th century fountain of Neptune. The place was so beautiful I don't know how to describe. We were walking and there are music everywhere from inside the trees. There's a large lake with a shape of a cross where people kayak and bike around. We rent 2 bicycles and started to bike around the lake. It was beautiful, nice music, quiet place. I was releasing myself to nature. All the sudden our friend hit a hole and felt from the bike. She probably broke her elbow. We saw blood all over and we had to call medics to assist her. A very romantic scene turned into disaster. However, the medics arrived and took care of her. They also took her to the local hospital where she was treated by some intern doctor, who made the wound worst the next day.
For the night, we went to visit the Eiffel Tower. Suddenly, it started to rain and everybody started running. We went to a restaurant nearby to eat. The food was great but it was pricey. I was told that this restaurant pays about 1 million euros / year for rent. That's why our meal was so expensive but it's worth it. I had some duck with potatoes, it was delicious. After that, we went to take some more pictures of the Eiffel Tower and Louvre museum at night.
I wish I can see more of the places that I planned to see (Rodin Museum, Orsay Museum, Latin Quarter, Pompidou...) However, we did not have enough time. Plus, things are very expensive in Paris. So all in all it was a good visit. There's always next time for more. I wish that the bike accident did not happen to our friend. The wound was pretty bad and she had to cancel her trip with us to Italy :( We were so sad... But at least she's okay now and is healing quickly.
One thing I noticed about the French is that they never enforce anything. Lots of signs are there just to satisfy the rules, I guess. Louvre museum does not allow people to bring water or snap photograph with flash. However, we brought in 2 bottles of water each one about 2 Liters. The guard saw that and they did not care. About one hundred people flashing cameras at the Mona Lisa at the same time and the guards did not bother doing anything, either. At the Orly airport to Berlin, we did not have to take out anything and we went straight through the gate without any problem. We did not even have to put our hand luggage into the box to see if they fit. Gotta say I love the French.
We got to Paris the next day and didn't do much that day since it was a 13 hour train from morning to about 9pm. We asked some people for directions to our hotel. Apparently it was an Indian community with lots of immigrants here. The hotel wasn't so bad but it was small, very small. We ate at a local restaurant in front of Gare du Nord. The food was good, I don't know if part of the reasons was us being hungry for a day at the airport and riding the train.
First full day in Paris
The next day we woke up early and went to meet our friend in District 13 for our metro and museum passes. We ate at a Chinese restaurant, it was delicious and cheap. From there, we went to the Garden of Luxembourg, the Pantheon, and Notre Dame. I was impressed by the Pantheon, it was beautiful, clean, and the design were very well preserved. Notre Dame was free to enter so it was very crowded. There are lots of histories of Paris in this church. I was disappointed that we couldn't get up to see the view from the church and the gargoyles around the balcony.
Next, we headed toward Louvre Museum. On the way, we passed Ponte Neuf, a famous old bridge in Paris. Louvre appeared to be very old on the outside, but once we got inside the square with the Pyramids, it was beautiful. We took a lot of pictures here. We also came back at night to take more pictures when the crowd was gone. We lined up to get inside the spacious museum. There were lots of sculptures and artworks. Among them was the famous Mona Lisa.
We took some pictures outside of Louvre again and walked toward the Garden of Tuileries. From there, we headed toward the Place de la Concorde. It was one of Europe's most historic square with a 3200 years old Obelisk in the middle. From here, we strolled along Champs-Elysees. There was a festival or something so it was crowded. We were tired so we sat at a McDonald's and tried out some French McDonalds. It was great and cheap (in Paris). Ironically, the staffs at McDonald's here speak English better than some of the ones in America.
Finally, we reached the Arc de Triomphe. From here, we took the metro to La Defense to see a modern Paris with lots of high-rise modern building and structures. You can see the Arc de Triomphe from La Defense, which is couples of miles away.
At the end of the day, we finally headed back toward Montmartre. It was about 9pm and we walked up hill to see the Roman-Byzantine Sacre-Coeur. We went to see all that in the first full day in Paris. It was a lot and we did it at a fast pace. We knew there are a lot to see in Paris, that's why we allocated almost 4 days for it but we lost a day in Madrid. So, we only had 2 full days, which we took the second full day to Versailles.
Second full day in Paris
For the second day, we went to the Chateau de Versailles. There are lots of rooms in this colossal palace. There were many artwork as in all the palaces. The one thing that I really like here was the garden. There was a 17th century fountain of Neptune. The place was so beautiful I don't know how to describe. We were walking and there are music everywhere from inside the trees. There's a large lake with a shape of a cross where people kayak and bike around. We rent 2 bicycles and started to bike around the lake. It was beautiful, nice music, quiet place. I was releasing myself to nature. All the sudden our friend hit a hole and felt from the bike. She probably broke her elbow. We saw blood all over and we had to call medics to assist her. A very romantic scene turned into disaster. However, the medics arrived and took care of her. They also took her to the local hospital where she was treated by some intern doctor, who made the wound worst the next day.
For the night, we went to visit the Eiffel Tower. Suddenly, it started to rain and everybody started running. We went to a restaurant nearby to eat. The food was great but it was pricey. I was told that this restaurant pays about 1 million euros / year for rent. That's why our meal was so expensive but it's worth it. I had some duck with potatoes, it was delicious. After that, we went to take some more pictures of the Eiffel Tower and Louvre museum at night.
I wish I can see more of the places that I planned to see (Rodin Museum, Orsay Museum, Latin Quarter, Pompidou...) However, we did not have enough time. Plus, things are very expensive in Paris. So all in all it was a good visit. There's always next time for more. I wish that the bike accident did not happen to our friend. The wound was pretty bad and she had to cancel her trip with us to Italy :( We were so sad... But at least she's okay now and is healing quickly.
One thing I noticed about the French is that they never enforce anything. Lots of signs are there just to satisfy the rules, I guess. Louvre museum does not allow people to bring water or snap photograph with flash. However, we brought in 2 bottles of water each one about 2 Liters. The guard saw that and they did not care. About one hundred people flashing cameras at the Mona Lisa at the same time and the guards did not bother doing anything, either. At the Orly airport to Berlin, we did not have to take out anything and we went straight through the gate without any problem. We did not even have to put our hand luggage into the box to see if they fit. Gotta say I love the French.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Madness in Madrid
Saturday May 22nd, 2010 probably one of the worst days of my life. We came back from Toledo to Madrid to take another flight to Paris. There were so many people everywhere. It’s the champions league final. Inter Milan fans and Bayern Munich fans were chanting and singing everywhere they go. We got lost in the Metro and went back and forth to find each other, with luggage in our hands. I was tired, exhausted, and frustrated. The soccer fans took over the city. There was literally no space to move in the metro. One guy tried to pick my pocket when I carry my luggage but I smacked his hand out of my pocket and gave him a dirty look. I was ready to fight him there if he came any closer. Apparently there are lots of pick pockets in Madrid. They get on and off every station trying to find the crowd. I thought running around exhausted, getting lost in the metro, and almost got my wallet picked was bad. I didn’t know what was going to hit me.
We finally met up at a metro station, got our luggage and began to head toward the airport. We thought we were late but we went through security quickly and got there just in time. The announcement started and we were delayed 1 hour. I thought that’s not so bad, considering we were sweating all over (with many layers of sweats), we could find something to eat and drink and settle down. An hour later, everybody got back in line getting ready to board, they again said it was delayed another 7 minutes. By then I knew something’s going on. Couples of people got mad and the security had to come to solve the problem. Another hour passed, we should be in Paris by now, but the announcement came on again. This time it’s only in Spanish. Everybody started running. I thought they changed the gate but no, the flight was cancelled. Many people told me that the pilots were on strike and would not fly (maybe they were watching the champions league final). “If you run quickly enough to easyjet counter, they will be able to put you onto the 1am flight” one lady told me. So I was running with all my luggages and sweating all over again. By the time I got to the easyjet counter, the line was too long. I think only some people got pushed onto the 1am flight. The rest (including us) was stuck at the airport. They told us that because the champions league was today, all the hotels were booked. They could not book any hotel for us and the earliest flight to Paris was in 2 days. I was mad, pissed off. I came talk to them but they started to speak Spanish and would not say anything in English. So I ran around the airport with my laptop looking for wifi to book another flight, there was none that was free. Is Madrid a backward place? The entire airport in Madrid doesn’t have free wifi. I can get free wifi from a shithole in a third world country and you don’t have wifi at the airport, coffee shops, bookstores…?
I finally found a guy surfing the internet in a corner at the airport. After some talking, he decided to give me his wifi password for 3 Euros. It was a good deal since I needed the internet to book tickets immediately. I felt sorry for the guy since he was robbed and lost all his money. He lived at the airport for 7 days already and was waiting for his sister to come give him paper and money. A while after, some girls came over and asked for his password also. They were on the same flight with us that was canceled. Some people saw that and started to gather around, creating a corner full of people who were screwed by easyjet. We talked, made some new friends, some people booked expensive tickets to fly out immediately, some stayed and enjoyed the night at the airport. We were left in a foreign country that we don’t know the language, there weren’t any compensations from easyjet, and we had to stay at the airport sleepless to watch our luggage. It was a terrible situation but we just tried to made the best out of the situation. A lot of flights were cancelled and many soccer fans had to sleep at the airport. It was not a pleasant experience. Finally, we got to the train station and booked our last minute tickets to Paris, connecting through Bordaux. All the bad things happened at once (pilot on strike, no refund from easyjet, no hotel, flight compensation, no place to stay, champions league final on the same day...) But at least we got through and we are in Paris now!
We finally met up at a metro station, got our luggage and began to head toward the airport. We thought we were late but we went through security quickly and got there just in time. The announcement started and we were delayed 1 hour. I thought that’s not so bad, considering we were sweating all over (with many layers of sweats), we could find something to eat and drink and settle down. An hour later, everybody got back in line getting ready to board, they again said it was delayed another 7 minutes. By then I knew something’s going on. Couples of people got mad and the security had to come to solve the problem. Another hour passed, we should be in Paris by now, but the announcement came on again. This time it’s only in Spanish. Everybody started running. I thought they changed the gate but no, the flight was cancelled. Many people told me that the pilots were on strike and would not fly (maybe they were watching the champions league final). “If you run quickly enough to easyjet counter, they will be able to put you onto the 1am flight” one lady told me. So I was running with all my luggages and sweating all over again. By the time I got to the easyjet counter, the line was too long. I think only some people got pushed onto the 1am flight. The rest (including us) was stuck at the airport. They told us that because the champions league was today, all the hotels were booked. They could not book any hotel for us and the earliest flight to Paris was in 2 days. I was mad, pissed off. I came talk to them but they started to speak Spanish and would not say anything in English. So I ran around the airport with my laptop looking for wifi to book another flight, there was none that was free. Is Madrid a backward place? The entire airport in Madrid doesn’t have free wifi. I can get free wifi from a shithole in a third world country and you don’t have wifi at the airport, coffee shops, bookstores…?
I finally found a guy surfing the internet in a corner at the airport. After some talking, he decided to give me his wifi password for 3 Euros. It was a good deal since I needed the internet to book tickets immediately. I felt sorry for the guy since he was robbed and lost all his money. He lived at the airport for 7 days already and was waiting for his sister to come give him paper and money. A while after, some girls came over and asked for his password also. They were on the same flight with us that was canceled. Some people saw that and started to gather around, creating a corner full of people who were screwed by easyjet. We talked, made some new friends, some people booked expensive tickets to fly out immediately, some stayed and enjoyed the night at the airport. We were left in a foreign country that we don’t know the language, there weren’t any compensations from easyjet, and we had to stay at the airport sleepless to watch our luggage. It was a terrible situation but we just tried to made the best out of the situation. A lot of flights were cancelled and many soccer fans had to sleep at the airport. It was not a pleasant experience. Finally, we got to the train station and booked our last minute tickets to Paris, connecting through Bordaux. All the bad things happened at once (pilot on strike, no refund from easyjet, no hotel, flight compensation, no place to stay, champions league final on the same day...) But at least we got through and we are in Paris now!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Toledo (not the one in Ohio)
Day 8 in Europe: Toledo
I couldn't sleep because I constantly hear car and people talking on the street. I guess hotels in Spain are like that. So I got up and updated all my photos, write this blog so it should be up to date. We left Madrid early yesterday to Toledo. Toledo is a small town about 70km south of Madrid. It only take us about 30 minutes from Madrid to Toledo via fast train. Toledo is an old town, most of it relies heavily on tourism as it is probably one of the only sources of the town's income. Most of the buildings here are really old. Some are dated back to 3rd century.
We explored Toledo on foot as it was not a huge place. It is a pretty safe place and most people here are tourists and elders. We walked around, getting lost and walked around some more. All the streets here are made of cobble stones and there are lots of hills so it's really hard to walk. We also bought bus tour ticket around town and it was very helpful. They have translation in English. However, it's not until 7 that we could get on the bus. The bus took us around town and stopped at several major locations, including a great view from the mountain to the Alcazar, the Cathedral and the entire city. There were lots of histories explained but I did not pay much attention.
For lunch, we ate at a local restaurant, which was okay, average stuff. I guess we were tired and couldn't finish all our paella mixta. After getting off the tour bus, we started walking around and ate at a nice restaurant. We sat outside watching people walking by and the kids playing soccer. Dinner was better than lunch with eggs, hams, fadieua (some kind of noodles) and paella carne. We walked around town some more and took some pictures around sunset. Finally, we got back to our hotel at around 11pm.
Overall, Spain is a nice country. It's a little different than other places because most of the stores aren't open until around 10, 11 am. People start eating lunch at 3pm and dinner at 9. I guess people like to do things later in the day here. There are lots of good food in Spain. Overall, it was a good experience. I'm also caught up with all my updates, emails and everything. So, I'm ready for our next destination - Paris - and see what the City of Light has to offer.
I couldn't sleep because I constantly hear car and people talking on the street. I guess hotels in Spain are like that. So I got up and updated all my photos, write this blog so it should be up to date. We left Madrid early yesterday to Toledo. Toledo is a small town about 70km south of Madrid. It only take us about 30 minutes from Madrid to Toledo via fast train. Toledo is an old town, most of it relies heavily on tourism as it is probably one of the only sources of the town's income. Most of the buildings here are really old. Some are dated back to 3rd century.
We explored Toledo on foot as it was not a huge place. It is a pretty safe place and most people here are tourists and elders. We walked around, getting lost and walked around some more. All the streets here are made of cobble stones and there are lots of hills so it's really hard to walk. We also bought bus tour ticket around town and it was very helpful. They have translation in English. However, it's not until 7 that we could get on the bus. The bus took us around town and stopped at several major locations, including a great view from the mountain to the Alcazar, the Cathedral and the entire city. There were lots of histories explained but I did not pay much attention.
For lunch, we ate at a local restaurant, which was okay, average stuff. I guess we were tired and couldn't finish all our paella mixta. After getting off the tour bus, we started walking around and ate at a nice restaurant. We sat outside watching people walking by and the kids playing soccer. Dinner was better than lunch with eggs, hams, fadieua (some kind of noodles) and paella carne. We walked around town some more and took some pictures around sunset. Finally, we got back to our hotel at around 11pm.
Overall, Spain is a nice country. It's a little different than other places because most of the stores aren't open until around 10, 11 am. People start eating lunch at 3pm and dinner at 9. I guess people like to do things later in the day here. There are lots of good food in Spain. Overall, it was a good experience. I'm also caught up with all my updates, emails and everything. So, I'm ready for our next destination - Paris - and see what the City of Light has to offer.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Madrid
Just when I start to know the road and the bus route and the metro after 2 days, we started leaving Barcelona for Madrid. Madrid is the capital city of Spain with about 3 millions people. It has the second most number of trees in the city (after Tokyo). It probably has the most railway connections in Spain since it situated right in the middle of Spain. The train from Barcelona to Madrid was about 3 hours with nothing interesting to see besides Spain countryside and the factories.
We arrived at Madrid, took the metro to hotel Plaza Mayor, ate at a place called Corazon Loco (crazy heart) with lots of Spanish rock style / tattoo people. It was okay, not as good as the tapas we had in Barcelona. Madrid overall is not as travel-friendly as Barcelona. I guess it's only good for politics and work. The good thing was that we went to a Flamenco show. We got there late but the seats were reserved and the drinks were served. It was good learning the dance culture and music. The performers are very famous. They performed for the king and queen of Spain before. It was a good show.
In the morning we went to visit the garden and the Palacio Real de Madrid. The 18th century castle is beautiful. There were several museums to see. The most notable ones are the Grand Palace where the king used to stay and the weapon/armor museum. The design were amazing and I wonder how much effort was put into building the palace. However, they didn't allow photos. But of course, I took several sneak shots. I don't come all the way from America to just see the museums, gotta take some photos.
For lunch we went to this Tarvana place, which was really good. Their chips and eggs and boar (jamon iberia) were really good. We walked around the city, taking pictures and sitting in a local bar drinking beer. Most people in Barcelona speak English or at least were very tourist friendly. Here in Madrid, they are not as friendly. They keep speaking Spanish to you like they think you know what they're saying. When you start to look confuse, they keep going again in Spanish. In Barcelona there were plenty of dogs and their owner picked up their dogs' drops. In Madrid, dog poops are everywhere and you need to be careful walking at night. There are also a lot of poor people in Madrid.
We went to the Prado Museum which was very large and contained lots of Europe Paintings, art works, and sculptures. It's interesting to see art works from different areas of Europe. The museum is TOO DAMN BIG, it's like a forest, you can get lost in there easily. If you want to see the whole museum, you have to take up the entire day or more for it. I am not an art person so I didn't really pay attention. No photos, no pointings allowed in the museum. It's kind of ridiculous that they do that. In America, when they say there's no photo allowed in the museum, they mean you can take photos without flash. Here they ask for your camera or you have to delete the picture in front of them. Everywhere I go I hear "no photos", "no pointing at the picture". I guess they don't allow photos so that they can sell post cards or photos at la tienda de el museo. So in honor of their no photo policy, I'm gonna post a sneak shot inside the prado museum. Small digital cameras are handy at times.
For dinner we ate at "La case de los abuelos", very good place.
Everywhere you go in Spain, you'll be able to find tapas. There are plenty of good restaurants and bars in Spain. However, Spanish starts out the day really late. They serve breakfast at noon and lunch doesn't start until 2-3. People coming back from work for lunch. Their dinner begins at 8 (earliest) and last until after midnight. I guess eating is a very common social activity in Spain. There are also plenty of pick pockets in Madrid. My bag was unzipped on our way back to the hotel. But I didn't lose anything. There were only paper towels, make up stuff, wet paper towels, napkins, and more paper towels in my bag from my girl friend. I wish they stole those so I don't have to carry them around and it will solve our suitcase problem when we get to on the next plane.
So there you have it, Madrid was a good place to visit, but if I have to pick one best city in Europe, it's not going to be Madrid.
We arrived at Madrid, took the metro to hotel Plaza Mayor, ate at a place called Corazon Loco (crazy heart) with lots of Spanish rock style / tattoo people. It was okay, not as good as the tapas we had in Barcelona. Madrid overall is not as travel-friendly as Barcelona. I guess it's only good for politics and work. The good thing was that we went to a Flamenco show. We got there late but the seats were reserved and the drinks were served. It was good learning the dance culture and music. The performers are very famous. They performed for the king and queen of Spain before. It was a good show.
In the morning we went to visit the garden and the Palacio Real de Madrid. The 18th century castle is beautiful. There were several museums to see. The most notable ones are the Grand Palace where the king used to stay and the weapon/armor museum. The design were amazing and I wonder how much effort was put into building the palace. However, they didn't allow photos. But of course, I took several sneak shots. I don't come all the way from America to just see the museums, gotta take some photos.
For lunch we went to this Tarvana place, which was really good. Their chips and eggs and boar (jamon iberia) were really good. We walked around the city, taking pictures and sitting in a local bar drinking beer. Most people in Barcelona speak English or at least were very tourist friendly. Here in Madrid, they are not as friendly. They keep speaking Spanish to you like they think you know what they're saying. When you start to look confuse, they keep going again in Spanish. In Barcelona there were plenty of dogs and their owner picked up their dogs' drops. In Madrid, dog poops are everywhere and you need to be careful walking at night. There are also a lot of poor people in Madrid.
We went to the Prado Museum which was very large and contained lots of Europe Paintings, art works, and sculptures. It's interesting to see art works from different areas of Europe. The museum is TOO DAMN BIG, it's like a forest, you can get lost in there easily. If you want to see the whole museum, you have to take up the entire day or more for it. I am not an art person so I didn't really pay attention. No photos, no pointings allowed in the museum. It's kind of ridiculous that they do that. In America, when they say there's no photo allowed in the museum, they mean you can take photos without flash. Here they ask for your camera or you have to delete the picture in front of them. Everywhere I go I hear "no photos", "no pointing at the picture". I guess they don't allow photos so that they can sell post cards or photos at la tienda de el museo. So in honor of their no photo policy, I'm gonna post a sneak shot inside the prado museum. Small digital cameras are handy at times.
For dinner we ate at "La case de los abuelos", very good place.
Everywhere you go in Spain, you'll be able to find tapas. There are plenty of good restaurants and bars in Spain. However, Spanish starts out the day really late. They serve breakfast at noon and lunch doesn't start until 2-3. People coming back from work for lunch. Their dinner begins at 8 (earliest) and last until after midnight. I guess eating is a very common social activity in Spain. There are also plenty of pick pockets in Madrid. My bag was unzipped on our way back to the hotel. But I didn't lose anything. There were only paper towels, make up stuff, wet paper towels, napkins, and more paper towels in my bag from my girl friend. I wish they stole those so I don't have to carry them around and it will solve our suitcase problem when we get to on the next plane.
So there you have it, Madrid was a good place to visit, but if I have to pick one best city in Europe, it's not going to be Madrid.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Espanaaaaaaaa
Day 5 in Europe
I left Switzerland and headed toward Barcelona. Easyjet made me check in 1 hand bag. Thanks to G for booking in advance we can use that. We landed in Barcelona about 6 oclock. To commemorate this only country in our trip that I can understand the language, I'm going to write in Spanish (the one they taught in America, which is very different).
Barcelona es muy bonito. Hay muchos restaurantes y cafes. Yo vivo en un hotel en Placa Cantalonya. Se llama Hostal Goya. Es bonito y "so so" (that means so so in english). Fui a muchos placas: Parc Guell, Las Ramblas, Gotic Quarter, Montjuic, Port Vell, Olimpic Vila, la playa y la Familia Sagrada, mi favorito. Nosotros fuemos a muchos calles y restaurantes. Hay muchas personas locas y pendejos, pero hay muchas personas muy buenas. Es una ciudad interesante.
Si, man! I don't know what I just wrote up there but anyway. Here's the English translation of that. In America they probably teach you Spanish from South/Central America. Here it's real Spanish. They replace all the words ending with "dad" with "tat". They use a lot of "que tal" which is the equivalent of what's going on? Anyway, Barcelona is generally beautiful everywhere. People are green concious, like most of Europe. I said generally because we encountered some good and bad people. Overall, the bus and metro system are wonderful. You also probably don't need to speak Spanish as there are many people who know how to speak English around the tourist areas. There are a lot of arts by Gaudi around the city. It's beautiful but weird. Gaudi must be weird. We went to many places and I'm too lazy to describe from long days of traveling and planning and eating and walking. So I'll just summarize all the places we went to and what tourist should/should not do from my experience.
We went to Guell Park, a Gaudi style design. It's okay, some structures are interesting, the view is nice and there are lots of immigrants selling stuff here. The little kids going on a field trip here were cute.
Las Ramblas just sells a lot of stuff, other than that not much to see here. It's like Hollywood boulevard except it's probably shorter and not as attractive. Gothic Quarter contains old style churches and houses. La Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's most ambitious work but is not finished. But it was the best of his design. Every wall, every space contains some kind of structure describing a bible passage. The letters are also texture. The inside is very detail. We took the elevators up to the spire. It's probably not worth the money because the place is tiny and the view is okay. The complete church is going to have 12 spires and 1 grand spire resembling the 12 disciples and Jesus. Maybe I can take my great grandchildren to visit when it is finished.
Monjuic has a great view of the city. We took a tour around the castle. The cableway (C-A-B-L-E-W-A-Y) called teleferic took us from the bottom to the castle. I wonder how long it took and how many people to carry the stones and the materials uphill to build the castle. The Montjuic fountain is beautiful specifically at night. It has music and changes color.
Finally, we strolled the beach, Port Vell, and the Olympic Village at night.
Here are what tourists should do:
Go to all the attractions, ask people! everyone is willing to help. Eat tapas at Catalana, good luxury place and was very cheap. Eat sub and calzone at Con Conesa (closest metro is Jaume I). Rent a bike and bike along the beach boardwalk. Keep all your papers and stuff secure and safe. There are lots of pick pocketters here, I saw one on the metro but it was unsuccessful. The country has 20% unemployment (probably higher) you'd expect a lot of that. There are a lot of people from all over the world selling stuff and services here. If you don't want to deal with them, just say no and they will not bother you.
Here are what tourists should NOT do:
Don't walk alone at night. Don't eat at Can Mejo at the Baceloneta beach, too expensive. There were some assholes mocking us for the way we looked when walking from the Arc de Triomf. I was going to beat them up but I didn't want any trouble so just gave them a "pendejos" and walked away. Don't take your kids to the beach, it's bad. We saw naked old men walking around like it's their bathroom. Some girls were topless for a sun tan, which many people can find disturbing but I'm okay with that ;)
There maybe more but I have to run now. Overall, Barcelona is beautiful with diverse people. As is everywhere, there are good and bad people. We met some really nice ladies pointing us to the bus location and which bus to take when the metro were closed. They speak no english but we were able to understand most of the conversation. Beside the thugs on the street, the naked old men, and the pocket picker ladies, Barcelona is a beautiful place. It's very tourist friendly.
I left Switzerland and headed toward Barcelona. Easyjet made me check in 1 hand bag. Thanks to G for booking in advance we can use that. We landed in Barcelona about 6 oclock. To commemorate this only country in our trip that I can understand the language, I'm going to write in Spanish (the one they taught in America, which is very different).
Barcelona es muy bonito. Hay muchos restaurantes y cafes. Yo vivo en un hotel en Placa Cantalonya. Se llama Hostal Goya. Es bonito y "so so" (that means so so in english). Fui a muchos placas: Parc Guell, Las Ramblas, Gotic Quarter, Montjuic, Port Vell, Olimpic Vila, la playa y la Familia Sagrada, mi favorito. Nosotros fuemos a muchos calles y restaurantes. Hay muchas personas locas y pendejos, pero hay muchas personas muy buenas. Es una ciudad interesante.
Si, man! I don't know what I just wrote up there but anyway. Here's the English translation of that. In America they probably teach you Spanish from South/Central America. Here it's real Spanish. They replace all the words ending with "dad" with "tat". They use a lot of "que tal" which is the equivalent of what's going on? Anyway, Barcelona is generally beautiful everywhere. People are green concious, like most of Europe. I said generally because we encountered some good and bad people. Overall, the bus and metro system are wonderful. You also probably don't need to speak Spanish as there are many people who know how to speak English around the tourist areas. There are a lot of arts by Gaudi around the city. It's beautiful but weird. Gaudi must be weird. We went to many places and I'm too lazy to describe from long days of traveling and planning and eating and walking. So I'll just summarize all the places we went to and what tourist should/should not do from my experience.
We went to Guell Park, a Gaudi style design. It's okay, some structures are interesting, the view is nice and there are lots of immigrants selling stuff here. The little kids going on a field trip here were cute.
Las Ramblas just sells a lot of stuff, other than that not much to see here. It's like Hollywood boulevard except it's probably shorter and not as attractive. Gothic Quarter contains old style churches and houses. La Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's most ambitious work but is not finished. But it was the best of his design. Every wall, every space contains some kind of structure describing a bible passage. The letters are also texture. The inside is very detail. We took the elevators up to the spire. It's probably not worth the money because the place is tiny and the view is okay. The complete church is going to have 12 spires and 1 grand spire resembling the 12 disciples and Jesus. Maybe I can take my great grandchildren to visit when it is finished.
Monjuic has a great view of the city. We took a tour around the castle. The cableway (C-A-B-L-E-W-A-Y) called teleferic took us from the bottom to the castle. I wonder how long it took and how many people to carry the stones and the materials uphill to build the castle. The Montjuic fountain is beautiful specifically at night. It has music and changes color.
Finally, we strolled the beach, Port Vell, and the Olympic Village at night.
Here are what tourists should do:
Go to all the attractions, ask people! everyone is willing to help. Eat tapas at Catalana, good luxury place and was very cheap. Eat sub and calzone at Con Conesa (closest metro is Jaume I). Rent a bike and bike along the beach boardwalk. Keep all your papers and stuff secure and safe. There are lots of pick pocketters here, I saw one on the metro but it was unsuccessful. The country has 20% unemployment (probably higher) you'd expect a lot of that. There are a lot of people from all over the world selling stuff and services here. If you don't want to deal with them, just say no and they will not bother you.
Here are what tourists should NOT do:
Don't walk alone at night. Don't eat at Can Mejo at the Baceloneta beach, too expensive. There were some assholes mocking us for the way we looked when walking from the Arc de Triomf. I was going to beat them up but I didn't want any trouble so just gave them a "pendejos" and walked away. Don't take your kids to the beach, it's bad. We saw naked old men walking around like it's their bathroom. Some girls were topless for a sun tan, which many people can find disturbing but I'm okay with that ;)
There maybe more but I have to run now. Overall, Barcelona is beautiful with diverse people. As is everywhere, there are good and bad people. We met some really nice ladies pointing us to the bus location and which bus to take when the metro were closed. They speak no english but we were able to understand most of the conversation. Beside the thugs on the street, the naked old men, and the pocket picker ladies, Barcelona is a beautiful place. It's very tourist friendly.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Switzerland day 3 and 4
Day 3: BERN
Bern is the capital city of Switzerland and is very attractive. It has a well preserved medieval town in the city center with the trams running constantly. The first thing we did was walking around and taking pictures of the buildings: the Swiss national bank, the national building (curia confoederationis helveticae) and the market in front of it. Bern primary language is German. Switzerland borders Germany, France, Italy, Litchenstein and Austria. There are 3 different languages spoken here (German, French, and Italian). I guess that's why it's called Confoederationis Helveticae (CH). The market in front of the Swiss bank was nice. It sold flowers and food. I tried a salted mushroom and it was good. We didn't buy anything though. The weather was not nice since I got here. It rains a little bit and the sky was gray. Despite that, all the pictures I took in Switzerland is beautiful. Anyone one of them can be a postcard. I wonder what's it's like if the weather is sunny and warm.
We walked around the city and ate waffles. There are plenty of good restaurants and bakeries around but we didn't eat in. We brought sandwich for lunch. Then we visited the Church in Munsterplatz. The gothic design was beautiful. The facade was decorated with nice sculptures of the Last Judgement Day. We took the stairs (600 steps) up to the spire and the view there is breathtaking. The red roof houses, the Aare (clear turquoise) river runs across the city with a beautiful bridge, the lively city, it was worth the walk up. Here is a picture but no photos can describe/capture its beauty. You have to see it with your eyes.
I bought some gifts at the church gift shop. We then walked around the city a little bit, snapping photos and heading toward the bear pit. It's funny how they have the bear pit in the city by the river. I had a shot at the bear but it was sleeping and it wasn't interesting. Then we visited the clock tower where I was told it's going to do some animations every hour. We missed the 12 o'clock one so we waited until 1 pm. We also missed that one so we went to a local coffee shop to have a drink and waited. I had a hot chocolate. It was okay. Then we saw the 2 o'clock animations but it wasn't much. I guess you have to wait until 12 for a long animation. I was kind of disappointed.
In the afternoon, I met my friend from Vietnam who just arrived for her business trip to Switzerland. We sat at a cafe and talked for awhile. At night we went to eat with my aunt, who lives in Fribourg. We also met her daughter whom the last time I've seen was 18 years ago. It was a nice restaurant with lots of young people eating fondou and some kind of beef on a stick putting into a hot pot. I had a seasonal beef steak. It was delicious. I also tried the tatar beef. It was a kind of raw beef with some seasoning and spices. The fries tasted good too. Then we went home and watched some tv / movies and went to sleep. It was okay, I wish I went to more places. However, I got to meet lots of familiar faces and it was a good thing.
Day 4: Interlaken and Jungfrau region, Oberland
This was a day with lots of walking, riding the ferries, cabaway, the Bergbahnen Kandersteg, and walking in the snow (more about that below). First we went to Interlaken, which the name implies there's a river between 2 mountains. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. On the way we passed by the Zentrum Paul Klee museum. The view was spectacular. I thought I've seen the most beautiful places in Switzerland already. No, I haven't. I'll make this short and post more photos because I'm about to head to the airport.
First we arrived at a waterfall. It has many levels and down at the bottom, there's a beautiful old castle style hotel. The view from here was indescribable.
After lunch we ate ice cream at the hotel restaurant. It was expensive but good. I took an empty bottle of water because the crystal design was good looking (bottle of water is not free here just like everywhere in Europe I guess). Then we took the cabaway down to the river and waited for the ferries. From here we took the ferries to the other side and went to the mountain. The view was unbelievable here. The clear turquoise river, the wooden houses beneath the mountain, the snow on top the the mountain. It was peaceful and beautiful. The sun also came up FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SWITZERLAND. When I die please throw my body down this river!
After arriving at the deck, we headed toward the mountain and took the Bergbahnen Kandersteg up 1500 meter. On the way up, we saw SNOW... in May. The temperature dropped about 10-15 degree C. The instant we got off, the snow was falling quite heavily. We went from sunny warm weather on the ferries to extreme winter weather in couples of minutes. We walked about 1km to a beautiful lake on top of the mountain. There weren't that many people as this was not a popular tourist attraction. But it was a rare gem. It's like walking in North Pole, once awhile you see a Swiss flag. We finally reached the lake. Again, I can't put words together how beautiful this place was...
I hope to see more of Switzerland, though. It's a small but beautiful country. I learned a lot too. I wanted to see Zurich, Lucerne, more of Geneva, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. I guess I'm greedy. But I'll be back here for 1 or 2 days in less than a month.
Bern is the capital city of Switzerland and is very attractive. It has a well preserved medieval town in the city center with the trams running constantly. The first thing we did was walking around and taking pictures of the buildings: the Swiss national bank, the national building (curia confoederationis helveticae) and the market in front of it. Bern primary language is German. Switzerland borders Germany, France, Italy, Litchenstein and Austria. There are 3 different languages spoken here (German, French, and Italian). I guess that's why it's called Confoederationis Helveticae (CH). The market in front of the Swiss bank was nice. It sold flowers and food. I tried a salted mushroom and it was good. We didn't buy anything though. The weather was not nice since I got here. It rains a little bit and the sky was gray. Despite that, all the pictures I took in Switzerland is beautiful. Anyone one of them can be a postcard. I wonder what's it's like if the weather is sunny and warm.
We walked around the city and ate waffles. There are plenty of good restaurants and bakeries around but we didn't eat in. We brought sandwich for lunch. Then we visited the Church in Munsterplatz. The gothic design was beautiful. The facade was decorated with nice sculptures of the Last Judgement Day. We took the stairs (600 steps) up to the spire and the view there is breathtaking. The red roof houses, the Aare (clear turquoise) river runs across the city with a beautiful bridge, the lively city, it was worth the walk up. Here is a picture but no photos can describe/capture its beauty. You have to see it with your eyes.
I bought some gifts at the church gift shop. We then walked around the city a little bit, snapping photos and heading toward the bear pit. It's funny how they have the bear pit in the city by the river. I had a shot at the bear but it was sleeping and it wasn't interesting. Then we visited the clock tower where I was told it's going to do some animations every hour. We missed the 12 o'clock one so we waited until 1 pm. We also missed that one so we went to a local coffee shop to have a drink and waited. I had a hot chocolate. It was okay. Then we saw the 2 o'clock animations but it wasn't much. I guess you have to wait until 12 for a long animation. I was kind of disappointed.
In the afternoon, I met my friend from Vietnam who just arrived for her business trip to Switzerland. We sat at a cafe and talked for awhile. At night we went to eat with my aunt, who lives in Fribourg. We also met her daughter whom the last time I've seen was 18 years ago. It was a nice restaurant with lots of young people eating fondou and some kind of beef on a stick putting into a hot pot. I had a seasonal beef steak. It was delicious. I also tried the tatar beef. It was a kind of raw beef with some seasoning and spices. The fries tasted good too. Then we went home and watched some tv / movies and went to sleep. It was okay, I wish I went to more places. However, I got to meet lots of familiar faces and it was a good thing.
Day 4: Interlaken and Jungfrau region, Oberland
This was a day with lots of walking, riding the ferries, cabaway, the Bergbahnen Kandersteg, and walking in the snow (more about that below). First we went to Interlaken, which the name implies there's a river between 2 mountains. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. On the way we passed by the Zentrum Paul Klee museum. The view was spectacular. I thought I've seen the most beautiful places in Switzerland already. No, I haven't. I'll make this short and post more photos because I'm about to head to the airport.
First we arrived at a waterfall. It has many levels and down at the bottom, there's a beautiful old castle style hotel. The view from here was indescribable.
After lunch we ate ice cream at the hotel restaurant. It was expensive but good. I took an empty bottle of water because the crystal design was good looking (bottle of water is not free here just like everywhere in Europe I guess). Then we took the cabaway down to the river and waited for the ferries. From here we took the ferries to the other side and went to the mountain. The view was unbelievable here. The clear turquoise river, the wooden houses beneath the mountain, the snow on top the the mountain. It was peaceful and beautiful. The sun also came up FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SWITZERLAND. When I die please throw my body down this river!
After arriving at the deck, we headed toward the mountain and took the Bergbahnen Kandersteg up 1500 meter. On the way up, we saw SNOW... in May. The temperature dropped about 10-15 degree C. The instant we got off, the snow was falling quite heavily. We went from sunny warm weather on the ferries to extreme winter weather in couples of minutes. We walked about 1km to a beautiful lake on top of the mountain. There weren't that many people as this was not a popular tourist attraction. But it was a rare gem. It's like walking in North Pole, once awhile you see a Swiss flag. We finally reached the lake. Again, I can't put words together how beautiful this place was...
I hope to see more of Switzerland, though. It's a small but beautiful country. I learned a lot too. I wanted to see Zurich, Lucerne, more of Geneva, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. I guess I'm greedy. But I'll be back here for 1 or 2 days in less than a month.
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