Eurotrip '05: Rome

Sun, June 26, 2005 (Day 26)

Back on the train again. Man.. it seems like this is the only time I write anymore… but that’s mostly because we’re so busy during the days that when I come home at night all I want to do is crash.

Arivaderchi Roma! Just pulled out of Termini! Let’s recap. Arrived in Rome on Saturday (25th). Dropped off the bags at the Youth Station Hostel and headed straight to St. Peter’s Basilica, or San Pietro as it’s known here (the largest and most famous church in the world, at the entrance to the Vatican). So fuck us boys if we don’t get turned away at the door for wearing shorts. Stupid us thought the no-knees rule only applied to women. D’oh!! 1.5 hours later (due to a sorely lacking metro system) we returned. I’m glad I did. I was dumbfounded. The inside of St. Peter’s was so breathtaking I can’t describe it. I nearly lost it when I walked in though the front door and saw the cover of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons right in front of me (I happened to be reading the book at the time… so it’s cool when you can relate a cover photo to something real). Wild! Poked around inside there for a while. In our absence, Kay and Ginny had decided to climb the ungodly number of steps to the top of the dome. We decided we weren’t gonna bother with our heavy jeans on as such. Went out that night to see the Trevy Fountain (gorgeous) and the Pantheon (super old, former pagan church.. very cool as well). Unfortunately, I lost my bank card in the friggin ABM on Tritone street on the way to the fountain tho! Thank god for my second account with RBC or I’d be quite fucked for money.

The next day (26th) was the last Sunday of the month… and that means that there is no fee for entry into the Vatican. The downside: every man, woman and child shows up for it. We get down there at 9am thinking we’re fairly ahead of the game. Not as such. The line, nearly a kilometer long, stretches all the way from the Vatican entrance almost all the way down to St. Peter’s square. After 2 hours in the Roman heat in jeans we got in, and as I had hoped it was worth the wait. The roof of the Sistine Chapel was pretty spectacular. All the build-up all those years still didn’t really prepare me for how awesome it was going to be. Michelangelo’s “creation of man” being the centerpiece of the ceiling. Very awesome… and of course… no pictures, right Kay?

In the evening we headed on down to the Coliseum – equally stunning. We decided to spring for a guided tour, as it was only 4 euro on top of admission, and we got to skip the rather large line. The guide told us all about the history of the site… all the gory and bloody history. It truly is unlike anything this earth has ever witnessed. ‘So great, so terrible’ as the guide put it. Then we walked around the ruins for a bit. Unfortunately the main ruins were locked up for the day, but such is life. Eventually, we made our way back home to the hostel. All in all a good time in Rome. A few kicks in the balls, but that’s par for the course when you’re traveling. I really wish I had more time here. 2 days really wasn’t enough.. but unfortunately our ferry to Greece is waiting! We gotta go! Youth Station hostel was good.

The Dome of St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church on earth

Inside St. Peter's (Angels & Demons Cover)

Inside St. Peter's

The inside of the dome in St. Peter's

St. Peter's Square - the view from atop the dome

St. Peter's Square, Entrance to Vatican City

Awesome wall painting inside the Vatican museum

Amazing Vatican ceiling

Hallway through the Vatican museum

The Pantheon - over 2000 years old

Trevy Fountain at night

The Coliseum

Inside the Coliseum

The Colisium II

Roman Gladiator

Eurotrip 05: Update from Rome

Yo... Ive got 7 mins left on my internet, so this will be breif and lacking in punctuation because the keyboards in Europe are different.

Eurotrip 2005 has been going great!! So far we (me, Mike Ricketts, Stephen Northcott, Jen Ennis and Kay Gillis) have hit London, Paris (saw Weezer), Amsterdam, Dueselldorf, Gelsenkirchen (saw U2), Berlin, Hamburg (saw Coldplay), ZDAR Czech Republic, Prague, Vienna, Venace, Florance, and as we speak, Im sitting at the internet terminal in my hostel in ROME!!!!

I cant really begin to comment on much... Ive seen to much to talk about it all here. Lets just say, things are going really well... . a little too well :)
Were off to Corfu Greece in the morning, and from there were heading to Athens for a few days. Were looking forward to that, but its gonna be hot hot hot.

Anyway... just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that all is well. Im still checking my email from time to time, so feel free to drop me a line. From Greece, Steve, Jen and I will be heading back up through Italy, through the south of France (Nice, Monaco, etc), and then into Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Ibiza, plus one of jens friends is getting married and were going to the wedding). From there, we might be hitting Portugal, and hopefully also Ireland before heading back to London for return home on August 8th (at presenet).
Hope all is well! Take it easy, and Ill be in touch.
Reid

Eurotrip '05: Florence

Fri, June 24, 2005 (Day 24)

Well unfortunately, I’m a little behind once again… but lets see what I can recall about Florence. We got in about lunchtime on the 23rd. We head for the hostel with the Tuscan sun beating down on us in what was arguably the hottest weather we’ve experienced yet (we’ve been rather fortunate to have unseasonably cool weather up to this point). Dropped the bags at the Maria Novella and headed for the Duomo (the famous church – it’s the 4th largest on earth). Absolutely beautiful – so white! I honestly looked like one of those 3D puzzles. I’m pretty sure I’ve even see it before on a store shelf! Then, as we strolled around the downtown area, we just happened to walk down near a concert venue, and were invited inside for a free concert of classical music! How do you like that? It was great… the musicians were phenomenal. Our first night trying to sleep in the hot weather without A/C was pretty brutal. Think intense sweating with no sign of relief. I guess it was cool we got our own room tho.

The next day was much the same, except that June 24th is the regional holiday in Florence! (Think Regatta Day home, except bigger). We got to see a pretty cool parade which wound through the city. We headed down to see Michelangelo’s David, and then hiked up a large hill on the Southeastern side of the city to Piazza Michelangelo for some fantastic photos and views of the city. You don’t really appreciate how large the Duomo is until you see it from above. It dwarfs everything in sight.

We headed on back home, got some grub, met up with some American hostel-mates (Texas and DC), grabbed some local booze and headed on down to the main street along the north side of the river. We were told that this would be the best vantage point for viewing the Fireworks display that we were told would be pretty intense. They didn’t disappoint. I’ve never seen fireworks like that in my life. Man… the Chinese aint got nothing on these Italians! There had to be 7 or 8 finales! It must have lasted for near on an hour! Afterwards we moseyed on back to the hostel, as we had an early train to catch to Rome. Florence was beautiful. Oh, that Tuscan sun.

Duomo Cathedral, Florence, Italy

Duomo

Duomo

Duomo

David (looking for his pants)

Parade for the Feast of Saint John

Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

Feats of Strength!

Eurotrip '05: Venice

Thurs, June 22, 2005 (Day 22)

Greetings from Italy! Here I sit on the floor of the Venice train station as we wait for our departure to Florence. Venice was so beautiful! I can’t remember another time in my life when I enjoyed being lost so much. St. Marco square doesn’t even look real… it’s as though there’s a giant canvas in front of you, and all you can see is painting. We went for Gondola ride in honor of Ginny’s Bday. That was very cool!

Our first day (21st), we lucked into a 25euro each per night accommodations at Locando Novo, an absolutely beautiful 3 star hotel. By far, the nicest place we’ve stayed yet. Once we took our boat taxi down the main canal to the hotel and got settled, we decided to walk around for the afternoon and just get lost in the maze that is the city. Then, we hit the Gondola as I said, and went for a nice birthday meal for Ginny. Unfortunately, I think she and Steve went a little too overboard on the food, so they were ready to crash. Kay, Ricketts and I decided that we couldn’t very well let an evening in Venice pass us by, so we went for a stroll around. On the way home the full moon broke through the clouds. I swear I’ve never seen it so big in my life… beautiful.

The next day (22nd) was much of the same – Getting lost and loving it. The girls went off to shop, and we boys attempted to find a convenience store we found yesterday that had really cheap bottled water. After much searching (because we were too stubborn to go to a different store where water was slightly more expensive), we finally found it, only to be thwarted by Siesta!! For anyone who’s unfamiliar with the southern European way of life, Siesta is a 2-3 hour period in the middle of the day (say 1pm-4pm) where most all shops close down. It serves a dual purpose of not making people work during the hottest part of the day, as well as giving time for people to be with their families. I like the concept, usually. Eventually the store opened again, and we gladly stocked up on lots of H2O. Had a delicious Calzone for supper and walked around this beautiful place until we felt we’d seen everything. With exception to all the tourists who swarm in the day time, this place is really amazing. It feels very safe, and I think the true character really comes out at night, when all the tourists take off and the locals fill the streets with laughter and music.

Venice Canal

A wide road in Venice

Venice Canal

Heading home

Venice Canal

Gondola!

Gondola (Happy Birthday Ginny)

How romantic

The Gondola 5

Check out the Main Canal

Cab-boats jockeying for position

San Marco Square and a pigeon or two

San Marco from the southside

Main canal

Chillin on the bridge

I wonder if there's room at the Rizzo Bakery?

Eurotrip '05: Vienna

Tues, June 21, 2005 (Day 21)

Well, here I sit on the train, rolling through the Austrian countryside on the way to Venice. Been a little slack as you can tell.

Had a great time in Vienna, drinking Ottakringer and playing cards with fellow Canadians (Gord and Lil). Got out to see the sights yesterday… very beautiful. Don’t think I’ve ever seen so many churches in one place. St. Stephen’s was most notable, but the national gallery, library, volkspark and Parliament house were also quite impressive. Cooked up a big feed of pasta and meat sauce last night at the Hostel Ruthenstiner – that was awesome, even if half of it was in the sink (haha kay kay). We also somehow once again managed to luck into really cheap accommodations and we got our own room!! We’ve been lucking out pretty well with the hostels, I must say (with exception to the bostel). This place is very stellar – the owner is SO nice. He even sold Ricketts a beauty beer mug for mere pennies! Nuts! If I was leaving soon, I’d totally have me one too! Someday down the road when I visit Ricketts in Alberta, I’m drinking from that friggin glass! So, we were up at 05:00 for the seven hour train ride to Venice today. Frankly, I had no idea how far apart Vienna and Venice were. Turns out Europe is a little bigger than we once thought! Anyway, we’re heading through the Austrian countryside at the moment.. it’s so beautiful. It’s Ginny’s birthday today! Accordingly, we don’t have anywhere to sleep tonight! (First time yet we haven’t made arrangements ahead, I should add). Ah well, I’m sure we’ll be ok.

QOTD: “You can tell me the weather, but don’t give it to me!” – Ginny, to Northcott

“SCAT!!!” – Ginny, laying a 10, J, K all off-suit in a game of 31’s.

St. Stephen's Church

St. Stephen's Church

Chillin in Vienna

National Library

Vegetable Garden - in the post war era, food was so scarce that public gardens were turned to farmland

Volkspark

I wonder if they sell Vienna Sausages here?

Eurotrip '05: Czech Republic

Thurs, June 16, 2005 (Day 16)

6am rise today, headed to the haupbenouf (main station) for some McD's McMuffins and our 07:23 IC Czech Republic, via Berlin, Dresden, Prague & Parducbice, then a 1.5hr lay over, and to more hours to Stara Paca.. gonna be a long one: 11 hour travel day. Yikes. We're heading to a farm in the northern part of the country. That's where Vera lives. She's a good friend of Ginny's, and since we were in her neck of the woods, it was decided that we would pay a visit to her family's farm.

So here I sit, under the TV tower in Alexanderplaz in Berlin at the moment. This city really is a beautiful place. So... 2 hours in, had a coffee with breakfast, plus I always find it hard to sleep on the train for some reason... so maybe I'll take this time to catch up on a few thoughts, as mostly I've been writing about what I did, as apposed to how I feel about my situation.

First, let me start with my companions. Let me just say, I probably couldn't be traveling with a better group of people if I tried. We're a pretty easy-going bunch, and we're always looking out for each other... which is good, because left to our own devices individually, we'd probably be in an eastern european prison at this point. Now, I'm not saying it's all smooth sailing. It's like any situation where you get virtually tied to other people for some length of time. There are moments when things get just a bit hairy and everyone needs to just take a moment to themselves to relax. But those moments are few and very far between. All in all, Ricketts, Ginny, Northcott, Kay and I have been getting along quite well (as was expected). If anything, I think this experience will bring us closer in way few friends are. So yeah. Things are good.

Our time is flying by... things are starting to get blurry - but such is life. All I know is... this better be one hell of a farm at Vera's to warrant this long travel day!

QOTD: "Sub Machine! Sub Machine" - Helpful Czech guy on train, attempting to tell us to change trains, but scaring the living shit out of us (me).

"Where's the "YEAH"? The "Pump""? - Ginny, asking Vera where the exclamation point was.

Fri, June 17, 2005 (Day 17)

Last night was frigging amazing!! Vera picked us up at Stara Paca and drove us to her hometown of Zdar (the Z is pronounced like the “Je” in ‘Je suis awesome’). We had a Czech sausage roast over an open fire in her back yard and a few drinks. We sat by that fire and talked for hours... it was a great night. Almost like we were camping at La Manche back home or something.

This morning, Vera fed us a king's breakfast. I'm so stuffed right now. She's been so hospitable. After breakfast we went for a walk into the nearby town of Studanettes (sp?) for a few local beers (Nova Paca and Bernard, at 16 and 18 crown I might add. Somewhere around 70 cents Canadian). Then, back through the beautiful countryside to her home for some traditional Czech pork chops and salad - what a feast!

Kay had her Canadian flag with her, so we all signed it to give to Vera as a token of our thanks for her hospitality. We said our goodbyes (which was really very sad because we loved it there so much) and caught the 6pm bus to Praha (Prague) from Nova Paca. We tried to convince Vera to come to the city with us, but she couldn't do it unfortunately. It was sad to leave her behind, but c'est la vie.

We arrived in Praha, found the Levir hostel and its interesting proprietors right behind the metro station, dropped the bags and hit the streets. Eventually stopped into the "Cartoon Pub" as we dubbed it (lots of drawings on the walls). However, we had no idea that pubs close at 23:00 in Czech!! So we only got one round in and they called last call. WTF? Had a great night none the less. Vera, you're amazing. If you're reading this - Thank you so much. I feel like we really got to experience a piece of authentic Czech culture while in Zdar. The short time we spent there was arguably my favorite time on this trip thus far.

Sat, June 18, 2005 (Day 18)

Day in Praha. Got on the go by noon (we're a slack bunch), and hit the streets to find lunch. Given the exchange rate being as it was, we decided to treat ourselves a little bit. Ended up hittin this up-scale bistro... very nice. I had a stellar chicken and croquette meal for 200kc ($10CAD). Nice. Hopped on the metro and headed to the castle on the edge of town - VERY beautiful. The view overlooking the city was pretty spectacular... all those red roofs. I'll never forget that. Then we headed down to St. Nicholas church, and then to Charle's Bridge (pedestrian bridge), and on to the town square. It was a gorgeous day, nearly 30 degrees, but a bit of a breeze so we were good.

Hit the hostel and got changed for the evening, and then hit "Al Capone's Piazzaria" for supper. Frickin unbelievable. 130kc for a 12" pizza. Naturally, we got one EACH. We ate and drank way too much (beer comes in 500ml cans over here.. so 2 beers with dinner is a lot!). So full! Don't think our stomachs could handle it after 2 weeks of sandwiches and water. Headed back on down to the cartoon pub for a few more rounds. While heading home at 11:30, our hostel man informs us of a 24 hour casino in the metro station!! (Where was this advice last night!?) Naturally, we all had to take a shot of Absinth. We headed home. Then, Kay, Ricketts and I looked at each other and decided it was too early for bed. So back to the casino we go for some more beers and to shoot the shit. Got fairly sauced (the most since I've been overseas anyway). All in all, a great day and night in Prague. Wish we had more time here!! But it's off to Austria in the morn! Nite!

QOTD: "You know what I like? I like kissin." Drunken Kay, from a pothole in the middle of the road, walking home from the casino.

Ginny and Vera, Zdar, Czech Republic

Vera - what a host

Roasting dinner over an open fire

Over the meadow and through the woods, to the pub we go

So long Vera! Thank you!!

Prague Castle

View from the castle - all those red roofs

"Now... where did I leave my keys?"

The walk down from the castle

Main square, Praha

Looking back up towards the Castle from Charles Bridge