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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Day 2 in Switzerland

Day 2: I went to sleep at 11pm local time and woke up around 4,5am, like yesterday, to start writing because I couldn't sleep despite a busy day. I don't usually sleep while traveling (at least I try not to). It's like a habit I guess. We accomplished a lot today.

First we woke up early, had breakfast with eggs and pepperoni. Then my uncle called and told us that he wanted to see us. We went to a local grocery store first to pick up some things. It's a nice, close place called Coop. I bought some chocolate and maggi for my mom, and some local beer :) Then we went downtown Fribourg to meet my uncle in a small coffee shop in the city center. It's a nice place but we didn't take any picture. We met and talked a little bit about work and life. I was surprise because he wore a "Michigan Engineering" shirt, which is eye catching (yellow/blue and it's in English) in a small city of Fribourg. He never went to / taught at Michigan. Then I realized that his son (my cousin) is a professor there. It was a good talk, I had a cappuccino, which was okay. It was nice seeing him again in Switzerland though.

Next we went up to the top hill/mountain and had a spectacular view of the city of the bridge, the houses on mountain sides... It's a great view. Next up was Ponte de Berne, a 13th century wooden bridge. Not much to see here besides the bridge so we snapped some photos and headed toward Gruyeres. We passed by the Cathedral of St Nicolas on the way to Gruyeres.



The instant we arrived, we encountered some thugs (by thugs I mean polices). It's sort of universal everywhere you go, you will be harassed by these thugs. They told us we couldn't park there. Instead of telling us to move the car to a different parking area (because we were right there just getting off the car), they wrote a ticket. The conversation was in French so I didn't understand anything they said, but it was later translated. Switzerland is overall very peaceful with a lot of greens, cows, sheeps, and is not as violent as America, they could use a little less police in my opinion.

The frustration quickly disappeared as we approached the old town of Gruyeres and the castle. It's so beautiful from every angle. The small old town lies beneath the mountains with an uphill walk leading to the castle.


On the way up, we saw sheeps and cows eating grass, each one of them had a bell on their neck making funny sounds and they looked so cute. The view from the castle window was amazing. It was a great place to take panoramic photos. I am not much of a castle fan but we enjoyed it. My girlfriend really loved it. She wanted to see every castle in Europe.




Finally, to wrap up a busy day, we went to the Cailler Chocolate Factory. We took a tour to learn the history of chocolate in a newly renovated factory. At the end, they gave us free samples of chocolate, which was like a buffet. I ate too much that I was full before dinner. It was a busy first day, but I could go to more places. Well, still couples more days in Switzerland.

Photos posted

First day in Europe

My flights weren’t so bad. First Baltimore to Detroit was okay. We were there early so we got through security pretty quickly. There weren't that many people at the airport anyway I guess because of the bad weather. I thought the flight was delayed or canceled because nobody was calling for boarding, turned out it was on-time but moved to a different gate without notice. The second flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was great. However, we only had 35 minutes to change plane and we were the last ones through the gate. I like this flight. There were movies and music on the screen so it wasn’t so bad, just like the ones I had going to Korea and Japan but shorter flight. I slept a little. Amsterdam is beautiful from the airplane window. There were a bunch of windmills (old and modern) and organized farms. The streets were clean too. We went through security and the guy asked us for return tickets which we didn't have. Then we did a complete body scan which was pretty cool. The machine went around and read my body, after 3 seconds it displays OK. Funny how I had so much metals attached to my jeans and it was okay. We sat at a sport bar and watched some tennis, I tried a small Heineken draft which tastes a little differently.

The first day in Europe was as expected. We didn't do much because we got there a little late in the afternoon (Surprise all the planes were on time). The weather wasn't so good, it was cloudy and some light rain but still beautiful. I don't know why I slept at 9pm (3pm US Eastern time) and woke up around 3:30 am (9:30pm US Eastern time). I guess I'm going to see what the sun looks like in Europe.

My Big, Fat Euro Adventure

Finally, my vacation begins. That's the map of where I'll be going, from A to N, about 6,7 countries, 15 cities in 28 days (might be more depending on where the planes and the trains take me and my budget). Look for lots of writings and photos...

New Immigration law

I read the new Arizona immigration law last week but today I came across this article

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-05-03/news/bs-ed-arizona-immigration-letter-20100503_1_illegal-immigration-arizona-curbing

This law reminds me of a trip I had about 8 years ago with my brother, cousins and friends to my country. We booked tickets to go to another city overnight. When the mini van arrives, we realized that it was a mistake to book cheap tickets as there were so many people inside. There was no more space to sit. All of us were boys so we didn't care. People inside gave us looks like they didn't want us to come in even though we have proper tickets. The mini van went around and picked people up. After so many stops and so many people getting on board, some people including those just got on were mad and told them that there is no more space. The driver and the guy collecting ticket pretended like they didn't hear anything and kept going. Of course the more people they get for their trip, the more money they make. It was a 15-seater but by the time we finished picking people up, there were about 25 people inside (not including the driver and the guy collecting ticket). What I learned from that trip is that people just wanted to get on board and secure their seats. Once the van arrived to the next stop, people who already occupied seats do not want any more to get on board. And the cycle repeated. It was a fun and memorial experience, anyway.


Now, I don't even know what to say about this law. There are so many things wrong with the new law in Arizona, why do people support it to implement in other states? Don't get me wrong I am against illegal immigration. My family filed proper papers and waited decades for multiple interviews to come to America. I don't think it's right for many people to just come across the border. However, this law doesn't solve the problem. If anything, it allows law enforcements to have more power on people and violates lots of our rights. You may ask "if a person does nothing wrong, then why should he/she be afraid to show ID?" Well, the question would be if a person does nothing wrong, why should he/she need to show ID? An ID (driver's license) does not prove that you are legal / illegal citizen. To prove it, you need a birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or a passport. I'm sure nobody carries that with them all the times. If you support this law, ask yourself this question: Do you want to carry all those papers with you when you walk your dog, take a walk in the park, go running...? If you don't then why do you expect others to do so? What if a group of high school US citizen Hispanic students gathering around, what ID would you expect them to have? Would you detain them?

If they implement this law in every state, ever time I get pulled over by a cop, the first thing I'll ask is "you, sir! show me your ID, badge, birth certificate / proof of US citizen". Until you do so, don't expect to ask for my ID.

I got another email from Delta airlines telling me that they have changed the time of my trip. WTF this is the 2nd change. Months ago I booked a trip for my parents to Puerto Rico and the same thing happened (this is Airtran). Basically we paid a higher price to book non-stop flights. By the time we're about to go, they say there's not enough seat for the flight and they moved us to a one-stop flight. If we wanted a one-stop flight, we would have booked it long ago at a lower price. They didn't reimburse the money because they said that the price at that time for the one-stop price is higher. Unfortunately I have to deal with these as long as I travel by airplanes.

Check out easyjet baggage policy:

Each passenger is permitted

• one standard piece of hand baggage to maximum dimensions of 56x45x25cm, and
• Up to 8 pieces of checked-in hold baggage to a maximum combined weight of 20kg. Each piece of checked-in hold baggage will incur a fee, which is payable online or at the airport at a higher charge. A fee per kilo for excess weight is charged at the airport prior to departure

So by understanding English, that means you are allowed up to 8 suitcases but all of them have to have a combined weight of 20kg. So on average each one is about 2.5 kg. You can have one piece that weights 20kg and that's it, no more. That is very misleading and people might think you are allowed to check in 8 pieces of baggage each weighting 20kg. Ryanair is even worse... I would never fly that shit. I don't go to Europe on a vacation with just my pair of shoes, okay!

Airlines are also talking about adding fees for restrooms and crap like that... yeah keep milking and lose customers!