Concluded the trip around the world...

25 June 2006
Well I didn't travel around the world, but I certainly made my way around Europe hitting four countries (England, France, Italy and the Vatican) and seeing a total of about seven cities, plus a couple more from the back of Mike's car.

Rome was amazing. It is incredible how old that stuff is. I mean when I visited the Roman Forum I was walking where Ceaser once walked and where he was killed. It weird also that much of that stuff was just found only about 200 years ago and it is BC stuff. Crazy, we could be sitting on something really old and we don't even know it-well it isn't like the U.S. has that much history, but it is a cool idea.

After 22 days of traveling, living out of a suitcase, sleeping on shitting matresses and showering in what probably wasn't the cleanest showers I was ready to come home.

As I look backk on things it was a great opportunity to get away with two good friends and see a little bit of the big world we live in. Though there was ups and downs nothing could be taken away from all the history, stuff, momuments, men, beaches and other stuff we saw and did.

Highlights included Venice and watching the Italy v US World Cup game at a bar in Rome. I will be getting pictures up as soon as I move to Phoenix, so I'll let the blog know.

Good times, lots of gellato (so good though) and great oldies.

I have already started planning out another adventure overseas. Can't wait!!!

No comment

Can I pick you up in my water taxi?

17 June 2006
Venice was what I thought it would be and more. The one spot I marked as a must visit on this trip was Venice and it lived up to all that I read about it. Really the city is like nothing you have ever seen before. You have to take a vaporetti or water bus to get almost anywhere. We stayed out by the aiport and had to take a bus into town, but the places to visit and the downtown area is all on water-so very neat. It does look like the pictures you see and the images from the Italian Job and other movies you have probably seen set in this location. I want to go back.

In Venice we did the touristy stuff on the first day we arrived, then on the second day we went to Murano Island where they make glass, then on the third day we went to the beach on Lido island and got some sun. It was nice and the well the Adriatic Sea is much warmer than the Mediterranean and there was sand instead of Nice's rocks.

Rome is old and well we are at the end of the trip so we are getting a bit worn out of touristing. One more day and then the 14 hour trek home. I will tell you all about it when I am stateside from the comfort of my technological devices and sum up the EuroVaca 2006 in the upcoming days as I prepare to begin the packing of my apartment.

Sorry so short, but I am so tired from a day being holy at the Vatican.

No comment

Italy awaits and so does the end of the trip

10 June 2006
I am going to utilize the free internet in our Nice hostel to write one more blog before we head to Italy this evening.

Nice was nice, it was great cause we got two days to beach and a bit of shopping in before we head to Venice, but the city itself is not so French Riviera. We met some Aussies and Lauren met the toilet when she had too much bad Sangria and beer. It was the first really drunken incident of the trip and good thing it happened in the comfort of our own hostel. We stayed in this hostel that had a villa feel which was in an old monestary on the hillside about the beach. It was pretty nifty, but for those of you who have seen the movie Hostel, it has some errie similarities. And for a time some events that occured were too familair to the movie, which fyi is based on a true story.

With eight more days left in the vacation I am looking forward to a good shower and my bed (which would afford me a good nights sleep). This has been an amazing trip, but it has worn on me a bit I must admit. I knew coming in to it that I wouuld need a vacation after my vacation, which unfortunately I am not going to get.

I have made my plans and I will be moving from Lawrence on July 3, so anyone around the area should stay turned for a huge going away bash time and date.

We will spend four days in Venice and the rest in Rome before coming home on the 19th. Everyone will have to see my pictures as I hope they are as good as I think they will be. Let me know what you are up to if you get a chance and I will try to keep the blog posted.

Miss everyone...

No comment

France: Great pastries, rude people

09 June 2006
So we have reached the halfway point in the vacation and well things have been going well. After our stay in Canterbury and Cambridge with Mike Boyd and his family we took the Eurostar train to Paris and had four days there. Paris was nice, it was my second time there and I realized that for me Paris is a one time visit place. We did some different things than the last time I was there. The highlights included seeing a service in Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eifel Tower at night flashes little lights every hour for 10 minutes (it is georgeous and I think my pics are pretty spectacular) and seeing Denise Richards and Ritchie Sambora in the Louvre. Our hostel was really close to the Louvre so we hung out there at night, which was beautiful.

We actually have had our fare share of Hollywood moments. When we were in London we saw a premiere of Wah, Wah, a new British film, where the highlights of the stars included Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Nick Holt (from About a Boy-all grown up now) and Ian McKellen to name a few. We have seen lots of Da Vinci Code filming spots/places, so when I get home I am going to go and see the film to relive some trip moments.

After seeing the sights in Paris, Eifel Tower, Sacre Coure, Napolian's Tomb, Louvre, chocolate eclairs, baguettes and a few other things we traveled to Nice by train. Yesterday was our first day here and we layed on the beach and got some sun. Becca got a little burnt and we all got some sun (a little too much maybe in a few places we will see when the peeling starts). You can tell that Nice has had its hay-day, but they are trying to do some construction to spruce up the downtown. They have two areas a newer part of downtown and the old town, with little winding streets and shops (mainly touristy in nature), but the gellato is flowing and you could get any flavor you want (avocado to lilac are some of the more exoctic). The beach is little pebbles, so no white sand and I have been unsuccessful at convincing the other two to travel to a sandier place for the day. Tomorrow we take the night train to Venice and will have four days there before our last stop in Rome.

The trip has been fabulous and I will hate to leave, but look forward to my own bed a nice shower, not living out of a suitcase and seeing people back home. Miss you all and soon enough will be stateside...

1 comment

Seeing the entire southeastern part of the UK

03 June 2006
For the past few days we have been spending time with our friends in the UK and it has been lovely! Mike Boyd, who we goes to school in Canterbury and parents live in Cambridge. Yesterday we drove to Eastbourne in Sussex and saw these beautiful cliffs, in fact one of them Beachy Head, is the second most place where people commit suicide (very interesting point huh). The drive was lovely and we stopped at a few senic places that really can only be described by the pictures I took.

Today we were in Cambridge for the day and Mike's mom and sister Kimmy met up with us after Mike dropped us in town and we tooled around the medieval streets and saw the collges that make up Cambridge University. I felt so studious walking in the college halls. It is georgeous campus area and green spaces inside the university walls.

Tonight we are staying with Mike's parents' house and then head to Paris in the morning. We will be taking the Eurostar and it should only take about one and a half hours.

It has been great relaxing and feeling like an Englishman(woman). Seeing our friends Mike and Gary has been a lot of fun and eating horribly has been a part of the plan. It has been a bit cramped riding in Mikey's car, but I have seen so much that is unforgetable.

The blogging might become a bit more infrequent as I head off from having a computer around, but I will try to keep the blog up to date, so check back. E-mail me as I do miss everyone and wish you all could be here too.

Snogs and shags, Love yall!

No comment