Day 14
Since I know your all pretty much sick of hearing about that all american breakfast... i decided to save you today and sleep in :) ! Even though it was free, we decided it was better to miss for everyone's sake (the things we do). Our flight was at 7:30pm so we booked a shuttle bus at 5:00pm from central station ---> which would take us to the airport for 6:00 pm.
We arrived at 12:30pm at the Vatican Museum and payed 15 or 20 euro's/ person (ouch). I don't even think we can explain in complete what we saw here! we had to do it extremely quick since it takes 3 hours to walk through, without really even stopping! which means we only would get out in time for us to take the underground back to central station to catch our shuttle. So we walked very quickly through the museum, which takes minimum 1 whole day to go through! Inside the museum the stuff ranged from: statues of greek/roman mythology, mosaic's of great size, painting/sculptures of ceilings and walls throughout the museum, maps of Europe/waterways/heavens/cities in Italy/etc (all these were painted on the wall down a corridor atleast 0.5km long), pottery and other treasures. The highlight to whole museum was the Sistine Chapel
What is the Sistine Chapel?
It is first of all, the last works of Michelangelo (1475–1564) (who went nearly completely blind while painting the room, from splashes of paint that went into his eye during his works), but the main purpose of the chapel is to bring the new Pope into power.
We didn't have much time to appreciate the room, especially since the chapel was beyond fire regulations, as it had more people then air in the room. It was much much smaller then we had thought or imagined and therefore didn't impress us as much as we had hoped. However it is a chapel and is meant to be smaller then your average church.
After the Museum, we once again looked at the time and had to run to make our shuttle. It was 4:15 and we were on the other side of the city. Third time in a row we are running for a bus/train or plane to get to our next location! We made the shuttle by 10 minutes or so, but if we would have missed one subway tram we would not have made it... Lucky us once again!
We arrived at the airport and waited till 7:30 when we found out our plane was delayed one hour. So we waited till 8:30 and jumped on a bus that took us to our plane (this was very cool). The flight was with Central Airwings (polish airline), and was really smooth. At the end of the flight everyone clapped for the pilot ----> which Ola has been trying to convince me of for 6 years. I have never seen it before, ONLY IN POLAND! (those polish are strange)... It was actually kind of nice. Once we landed we waited again 45 minutes for the luggage to actually arrive and then add an extra 15 minutes for our luggage to come through (one of the last ones, yet we were the first to check-in). Ola is very happy now! we're in Poland..... We found her Uncle (Tomek) and his girlfriend (Ania) waiting for us at the gate. He brought Ola some beautiful flowers. They then drove us to her grandfathers (Tadeusz - Ted) in Lodz, 2 hours from Warsaw where we landed (they also live in Lodz). We said our quick hello's/goodbye's and went to sleep! (that is at 2 am)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Rome Day 13
Day 13
Another All-American Breakfast mmmmmmh!
We left with our American/Belgium friends to show them abit of Rome in fast pace... They only had 2 days and wanted to see as much as they could. Since this was our last day, we still had two places on our list as well: The Vatican museum and St Peter's Basilica. We started off walking the ruins of Rome again and into the Pantheon (we told them to see the Coliseum and Palatine tomorrow, as we didn't have the time). We then had a nice lunch at a small Pizzeria near the Pantheon. It was delicious! We then headed to the St. Peter's Basilica where we waited for 45 minutes in the scorching heat and then finally got denied access because of shorts and t-shirts................ thats what would have happened if it wasn't for our handy guide that told us we needed long pants. So we got in and started off by going down into the crypt, where all the previous Pope's were buried. There was a little section in which many were mourning / paying there respect to John Paul II. It was a simple grave and very elegant. We then got out and went into the Basilica which was stunning. Every corner was filled with details and perfection. In the basilica there was also the monument for every Pope, which seemed to be placed directly over there graves in the crypt. Not much we could say about its appearance, it is more something you must see. Not even the pictures were able to capture its true beauty. After wandering the Basilica for about 45 minutes we headed to the cupola "the peak" of the Basilica. We climbed up 500+ stairs (which ranged from steep to tight to narrow and much more). When we finally reach the top we got to witness rome 360 degrees. We also got to see the altar of the basilica from the top view. From here we could even see the coliseum which was at the other end of the city (thanks to having the other couple with us, we finally could take some photo's with both of us in them). Afterwards we headed to Trevi Fountain, where we sat and had an ice cream. The fountain was one of the nicest we saw all trip. We then headed back to the hotel, wehere our friends ate Mcdonalds (YUCK! Darrin has a pact not to eat McDonalds while on this trip!). We decided to go vegetarian and made ourselves a nice garden salad... Slowly missing protein...
need MMMM....EEEE....AAAA.....TTTT [ BTW this spells: Meat ]. Around 9pm the four of us headed to look for a local pub (note this is a Sunday). we walked 1 km south to find out the pubs were 2 km north of our hotel! so we walked back 3 km to reach the closest OPEN pub. We then sat, and drank cheap but good alchol! After the night was done 1am or so, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Another All-American Breakfast mmmmmmh!
We left with our American/Belgium friends to show them abit of Rome in fast pace... They only had 2 days and wanted to see as much as they could. Since this was our last day, we still had two places on our list as well: The Vatican museum and St Peter's Basilica. We started off walking the ruins of Rome again and into the Pantheon (we told them to see the Coliseum and Palatine tomorrow, as we didn't have the time). We then had a nice lunch at a small Pizzeria near the Pantheon. It was delicious! We then headed to the St. Peter's Basilica where we waited for 45 minutes in the scorching heat and then finally got denied access because of shorts and t-shirts................ thats what would have happened if it wasn't for our handy guide that told us we needed long pants. So we got in and started off by going down into the crypt, where all the previous Pope's were buried. There was a little section in which many were mourning / paying there respect to John Paul II. It was a simple grave and very elegant. We then got out and went into the Basilica which was stunning. Every corner was filled with details and perfection. In the basilica there was also the monument for every Pope, which seemed to be placed directly over there graves in the crypt. Not much we could say about its appearance, it is more something you must see. Not even the pictures were able to capture its true beauty. After wandering the Basilica for about 45 minutes we headed to the cupola "the peak" of the Basilica. We climbed up 500+ stairs (which ranged from steep to tight to narrow and much more). When we finally reach the top we got to witness rome 360 degrees. We also got to see the altar of the basilica from the top view. From here we could even see the coliseum which was at the other end of the city (thanks to having the other couple with us, we finally could take some photo's with both of us in them). Afterwards we headed to Trevi Fountain, where we sat and had an ice cream. The fountain was one of the nicest we saw all trip. We then headed back to the hotel, wehere our friends ate Mcdonalds (YUCK! Darrin has a pact not to eat McDonalds while on this trip!). We decided to go vegetarian and made ourselves a nice garden salad... Slowly missing protein...
need MMMM....EEEE....AAAA.....TTTT [ BTW this spells: Meat ]. Around 9pm the four of us headed to look for a local pub (note this is a Sunday). we walked 1 km south to find out the pubs were 2 km north of our hotel! so we walked back 3 km to reach the closest OPEN pub. We then sat, and drank cheap but good alchol! After the night was done 1am or so, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Rome Day 12
Day 12
We woke up again for our All American Breakfast! it was as great as the day before... But it fed these hungry travellers none the less. We then went back to our room, prepared some nice hearty sandwich's and headed off onto the famous rome transportation system!
Buy a Roma Pass - 20 Euro's (all you want transport for 3 days - n0t 72 hours, and gives you 2 free museum entrances)
We started off by going to see the Pantheon, a large old temple that was changed into a church. This one room massive structure is built in a dome shape with a large circular opening at the top without any means of closing. With this taken into account, what happens if it rains you may ask? Well along the floor there is a draining system (26 holes to be exact, I may be slightly off... so not exact). The one thing we cannot answer is, what if it rains during mass...
After the Pantheon we headed over to the largest park in rome ( not exactly sure of its name). As we entered through the main gate, in broad daylight and right in the middle of the open grass, a young couple was showing some of their true public affection... We quickly walked into the park and went on our way exploring the many different piazza's and fountain found here. It was a very nice walk which landed us at our next stop, in the heart of the park: Borghese Museum. This museum had two floors; the first one consisted of many statues and mosaics with different themes in each room (example: Hercules room). The second floor consisted of paintings from the 1,300's - 1,500's A.D along with porcelain statuettes. All in all the museum was well done, a bit short but full of interesting history and objects. Upon exiting it started to rain heavily. Out of nowhere a man selling umbrella's tried to swindle us into buying one, many other had already purchased an umbrella, but Ola and I decided to get soaked! We started heading out to Rome's National Museum. Within 30 seconds to 1 minute the rain abated and we saved 10 euro's (hehe all those suckers who bought umbrella's)! On our way to the museum we stopped at piazza Della Repubblica - a large fountain near central station. We stopped here to have our sandwich's and feel the ncie cool mist coming off of it, it was now very hot. We then made our way two blocks downwards to the museum. Inside we bought our tickets (as we used all of our free entrances at the other museums, but the roma pass still gave us 50% off [6.50 euro each savings]). This museum had three floors: the basement had a massive coin collection - with complete sets starting from around the beginning of A.D to the present - including the Euro's made specifically for Italy. Each display had magnifying glass that moved so u could see the details on the coins... None but two of these magnifying glasses worked (they were electronically used with a keypad, which were broken). So we see that the entrance fee definately didn't pay for those hehe. After that we headed to a second room in the basement which displayed the mummified remains of 6 year old girl and her sarcophagus. There was also a video on the procedure of mummification and how to conserve it. It was a bit eary, so we didn't stay in there too long! The first floor/main floor was like all the other museums, it was filled with statues and head of statues, mostly outlining the different styles/era's. There was also a few pieces of the calenders the Romans used in the past and the holiday dates in which they followed.
Roman Calender
What was very cool to see, was the Romans system of dates is almost identical to the system we use today. (they had 364 days a year + 1 day / 4 years [leap year]) ---> one of the emperors changed it to this sytem when the mathmeticians of the time found this to be correct. For 1 year before this system was introduced the emperor played with the days in order to catch up to the correct pattern! HUH? if your that interested look it up!
In the center of this floor was a garden, it was very nice except for the fact the water probably hadn't been filtered since the roman empire! On the second and final floor were statues of Athletes. here is the order in which they were displayed:
Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Apollo, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Hercules, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete's, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete
(all statues) you get my drift! But it was still fun to look at all the different stances/poses they had! After this museum we were right next to central station, so we hopped onto the underground and then the bus and headed back to the hotel. Ola took a little nap, while Darrin surfed the net and msn, on the one and only computer for 1,000+ room hotel! At 9:30 pm our friends from Venice arrived. They were exhausted and hungry so we decided to find a local pub and pick up some grub! Ola used her italian to order (ohhh ahhh). We then went back to the hotel and went to sleep.
We woke up again for our All American Breakfast! it was as great as the day before... But it fed these hungry travellers none the less. We then went back to our room, prepared some nice hearty sandwich's and headed off onto the famous rome transportation system!
Buy a Roma Pass - 20 Euro's (all you want transport for 3 days - n0t 72 hours, and gives you 2 free museum entrances)
We started off by going to see the Pantheon, a large old temple that was changed into a church. This one room massive structure is built in a dome shape with a large circular opening at the top without any means of closing. With this taken into account, what happens if it rains you may ask? Well along the floor there is a draining system (26 holes to be exact, I may be slightly off... so not exact). The one thing we cannot answer is, what if it rains during mass...
After the Pantheon we headed over to the largest park in rome ( not exactly sure of its name). As we entered through the main gate, in broad daylight and right in the middle of the open grass, a young couple was showing some of their true public affection... We quickly walked into the park and went on our way exploring the many different piazza's and fountain found here. It was a very nice walk which landed us at our next stop, in the heart of the park: Borghese Museum. This museum had two floors; the first one consisted of many statues and mosaics with different themes in each room (example: Hercules room). The second floor consisted of paintings from the 1,300's - 1,500's A.D along with porcelain statuettes. All in all the museum was well done, a bit short but full of interesting history and objects. Upon exiting it started to rain heavily. Out of nowhere a man selling umbrella's tried to swindle us into buying one, many other had already purchased an umbrella, but Ola and I decided to get soaked! We started heading out to Rome's National Museum. Within 30 seconds to 1 minute the rain abated and we saved 10 euro's (hehe all those suckers who bought umbrella's)! On our way to the museum we stopped at piazza Della Repubblica - a large fountain near central station. We stopped here to have our sandwich's and feel the ncie cool mist coming off of it, it was now very hot. We then made our way two blocks downwards to the museum. Inside we bought our tickets (as we used all of our free entrances at the other museums, but the roma pass still gave us 50% off [6.50 euro each savings]). This museum had three floors: the basement had a massive coin collection - with complete sets starting from around the beginning of A.D to the present - including the Euro's made specifically for Italy. Each display had magnifying glass that moved so u could see the details on the coins... None but two of these magnifying glasses worked (they were electronically used with a keypad, which were broken). So we see that the entrance fee definately didn't pay for those hehe. After that we headed to a second room in the basement which displayed the mummified remains of 6 year old girl and her sarcophagus. There was also a video on the procedure of mummification and how to conserve it. It was a bit eary, so we didn't stay in there too long! The first floor/main floor was like all the other museums, it was filled with statues and head of statues, mostly outlining the different styles/era's. There was also a few pieces of the calenders the Romans used in the past and the holiday dates in which they followed.
Roman Calender
What was very cool to see, was the Romans system of dates is almost identical to the system we use today. (they had 364 days a year + 1 day / 4 years [leap year]) ---> one of the emperors changed it to this sytem when the mathmeticians of the time found this to be correct. For 1 year before this system was introduced the emperor played with the days in order to catch up to the correct pattern! HUH? if your that interested look it up!
In the center of this floor was a garden, it was very nice except for the fact the water probably hadn't been filtered since the roman empire! On the second and final floor were statues of Athletes. here is the order in which they were displayed:
Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Apollo, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Hercules, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete's, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete, Athlete
(all statues) you get my drift! But it was still fun to look at all the different stances/poses they had! After this museum we were right next to central station, so we hopped onto the underground and then the bus and headed back to the hotel. Ola took a little nap, while Darrin surfed the net and msn, on the one and only computer for 1,000+ room hotel! At 9:30 pm our friends from Venice arrived. They were exhausted and hungry so we decided to find a local pub and pick up some grub! Ola used her italian to order (ohhh ahhh). We then went back to the hotel and went to sleep.
Rome Day 11
Day 11
We woke up nice and early to catch our free All American Breakfast! YUPPIE! the eggs were utterly disgusting and the bacon was definately mystery meat... Darrin still ate it for protein mmmmmm! After our hearty breakfast, we picked up our bags and headed out to Rome. This trip took us about 45 minutes where we ended up right next to the coliseum - but before we even go there lets take a quick look at the travel surroundings in Rome specifically the "tube, metro, underground railway system"... Now if you want hot sweaty, disgusting close rubbing sensations..... this is the place to be. You get all of that for your 1 euro worth of a ride! Now if that doesn't please you, you can have free of charge attitude! Besides all of this the ride was near perfect - just a bit bumpy in an old smelly / graffitied up trams.... Now we arrived, ALIVE, at the coliseum a wonderful piece of ancient Rome. As we walked by we decided to start off by going to the Palantine.
What is the Palantine?
This location is where the first evidence of roman civilization was found. They have done excavtions here that lead back to around B.C and have many of these treasures... Not only was this the place of great excavations, it was also the hill in which the temples / Palaces and villa's of the emperors were located. This hill was known as Capital Hill and from there the city grew. We got to see the remains of whole buildings they brought up from beneath the ground. This is truly unbelievable the possible creations the Roman Empire had and all the monuments that surrounded it.
The name ROME came from the legend of Romulus and Remus, two boys who were raised by a wolf just on the bottom of the hill. There were many varations of the legend, but these two boys were thought to be the ones that started the beginning of Rome... Just as a quick fun fact ---> Romulus killed his brother Remus to gain entire power rather than sharing it.
This place was very stunning and has much history to it. It is a must see in Rome and we have many great pictures! After the Palantine we headed over to the Coliseum (created in 80 A.D), the place of Gladiators, Slaves and Lions - oh my! The Coliseum has about an hour or so wait to get in, the palantine had about a 5 minute wait ---> trick: the ticket from the palantine is also good at the coliseum (vice versa)... So we got to bypass this entire line-up hehehe! Inside this enormous structure you see the remains of what was one of the biggest event area in Rome. Surprisingly it was only running for two centuries as a combat field for slaves and gladiators... as it was then seen as savage so it was used for different things (a cemetery, and then a fortress called "Frangipane" and finally a sort of cava for the construction materials)
"in 313 after Christ, the Imperator Constantine proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the empire, obviously forbidding the executions of Christians but also the combats between gladiators and the hunting spectacles."
This massive structure has had much damage to it and is very hard to make out certain details. After many photographs of the ancient ruins, we went to a small exhibition they were having within the coliseum on Eros.
Who is Eros?
Romans were very into worshipping of many different gods, Eros was one of these gods.
In fact Eros was thought to be the most powerful of all gods, including Zeus himself. Eros had the ability to seduce any mortal and non-mortal that he wished. He also had the ability to take any form that he desired, wether animate or inanimate. This gave him the ability to attract anyones desires as well as not reveal himself to them. They may not even realise that they had been affected by Eros's power/charm. Through the years, Eros became multiple personalities, such as; Amor and Cupid!
After this exhibition we headed out of the coliseum to the main road through the ruins of Ancient Rome (Foro Romano). This lead us to the Marcus Aurelius square and the Museum of Capitolini. By this time Ola and I were exhausted, but it was too stunning to stop! We decided to go into the museum and unravel its mysteries within! Mostly potrayed ancient marble/stone statues that were excavated in parts or whole. It was also done in a way that showed the fashions of the different era's within the roman empire (example: the different female hairstyles). It also had the original statues of Marcus Aurelius ---> watch Gladiator the movie if you don't know who this is... and if you don't and have to watch the movie shame on you! We learned however that the movie is waaaaaaay off in the end. Marcus Aurelius was actually the emperor of Rome at one time and one of the greatest in history. We have many photo's of these statues, that we'll save all of you some reading time! In the museum we also saw the original foundation of the Jupiter temple, and from what we saw on the model... the temple was huge!
After this museum we headed back to our hotel leisurely walking through the streets of Rome to the famous underground system.
We woke up nice and early to catch our free All American Breakfast! YUPPIE! the eggs were utterly disgusting and the bacon was definately mystery meat... Darrin still ate it for protein mmmmmm! After our hearty breakfast, we picked up our bags and headed out to Rome. This trip took us about 45 minutes where we ended up right next to the coliseum - but before we even go there lets take a quick look at the travel surroundings in Rome specifically the "tube, metro, underground railway system"... Now if you want hot sweaty, disgusting close rubbing sensations..... this is the place to be. You get all of that for your 1 euro worth of a ride! Now if that doesn't please you, you can have free of charge attitude! Besides all of this the ride was near perfect - just a bit bumpy in an old smelly / graffitied up trams.... Now we arrived, ALIVE, at the coliseum a wonderful piece of ancient Rome. As we walked by we decided to start off by going to the Palantine.
What is the Palantine?
This location is where the first evidence of roman civilization was found. They have done excavtions here that lead back to around B.C and have many of these treasures... Not only was this the place of great excavations, it was also the hill in which the temples / Palaces and villa's of the emperors were located. This hill was known as Capital Hill and from there the city grew. We got to see the remains of whole buildings they brought up from beneath the ground. This is truly unbelievable the possible creations the Roman Empire had and all the monuments that surrounded it.
The name ROME came from the legend of Romulus and Remus, two boys who were raised by a wolf just on the bottom of the hill. There were many varations of the legend, but these two boys were thought to be the ones that started the beginning of Rome... Just as a quick fun fact ---> Romulus killed his brother Remus to gain entire power rather than sharing it.
This place was very stunning and has much history to it. It is a must see in Rome and we have many great pictures! After the Palantine we headed over to the Coliseum (created in 80 A.D), the place of Gladiators, Slaves and Lions - oh my! The Coliseum has about an hour or so wait to get in, the palantine had about a 5 minute wait ---> trick: the ticket from the palantine is also good at the coliseum (vice versa)... So we got to bypass this entire line-up hehehe! Inside this enormous structure you see the remains of what was one of the biggest event area in Rome. Surprisingly it was only running for two centuries as a combat field for slaves and gladiators... as it was then seen as savage so it was used for different things (a cemetery, and then a fortress called "Frangipane" and finally a sort of cava for the construction materials)
"in 313 after Christ, the Imperator Constantine proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the empire, obviously forbidding the executions of Christians but also the combats between gladiators and the hunting spectacles."
This massive structure has had much damage to it and is very hard to make out certain details. After many photographs of the ancient ruins, we went to a small exhibition they were having within the coliseum on Eros.
Who is Eros?
Romans were very into worshipping of many different gods, Eros was one of these gods.
In fact Eros was thought to be the most powerful of all gods, including Zeus himself. Eros had the ability to seduce any mortal and non-mortal that he wished. He also had the ability to take any form that he desired, wether animate or inanimate. This gave him the ability to attract anyones desires as well as not reveal himself to them. They may not even realise that they had been affected by Eros's power/charm. Through the years, Eros became multiple personalities, such as; Amor and Cupid!
After this exhibition we headed out of the coliseum to the main road through the ruins of Ancient Rome (Foro Romano). This lead us to the Marcus Aurelius square and the Museum of Capitolini. By this time Ola and I were exhausted, but it was too stunning to stop! We decided to go into the museum and unravel its mysteries within! Mostly potrayed ancient marble/stone statues that were excavated in parts or whole. It was also done in a way that showed the fashions of the different era's within the roman empire (example: the different female hairstyles). It also had the original statues of Marcus Aurelius ---> watch Gladiator the movie if you don't know who this is... and if you don't and have to watch the movie shame on you! We learned however that the movie is waaaaaaay off in the end. Marcus Aurelius was actually the emperor of Rome at one time and one of the greatest in history. We have many photo's of these statues, that we'll save all of you some reading time! In the museum we also saw the original foundation of the Jupiter temple, and from what we saw on the model... the temple was huge!
After this museum we headed back to our hotel leisurely walking through the streets of Rome to the famous underground system.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Just quick information
We are actually on day 4 in Poland... Which is about 8 days behind our blog posting... Just wanted to let everyone know, we are trying to catch-up. We are currently in Lodz Poland at Ola's Grandfather's (dziadek) house and having a great time... Ola has recovered from the egg!
We plan on still going to Warsaw, Krakow ---> then to Amsterdam, Holland! We'll keep you informed and get the blogs rolling!
We plan on still going to Warsaw, Krakow ---> then to Amsterdam, Holland! We'll keep you informed and get the blogs rolling!
Day 10 - Leaving for Rome
Day10
- We woke up at 8:30 am, because we had to catch our 11:24 train. 9:30am we got to the breakfast area, where Ola did not eat an egg and had nothing but Tea.... Darrin Enjoyed an egg thoroughly infront of her mmh mmh mmmmmhhhh. During Breakfast we met another couple: Winda and Jake. Winda is a Singer from Belgium and Jake is an American that is living in Germany working for the army in transportation. After talking with them for 20 minutes we found out the would be in Rome in 2 days and gave us their hotel name and number. Since we like winging stuff we decided we may as well stay at the same place. We then headed out to the boats to catch a ride to the train station. While on the boat we decided to check the time, and realized because of being side tracked, it was now 11:00 and the boat ride takes 35 minutes. Which means we will be missing our train.... So Darrin came up with a plan to get off the boat at the beginning of Mainland Venice and RUUUUUN through the whole city in less then 13 minutes... All this while carrying our big backpacks and running through the directionless winding streets of Venice which you never know if your heading north, south, east or west..... Of course because of the egg Ola was not feeling well, so Darirn ended up carrying two backpacks 75% of the way while running (not jogging RUNNING)... All this to say, we amazingly caught our train while the engine was starting and two minutes to spare and find our seats.... The train ride was 3 and a bit hours before finally arriving in Rome. We then had a 45 minute treck to our hotel, which was not in the center of Rome as indicated, but in the middle of nowhere! Since Ola was sick and it was 4pm we decided to rest up and just start early the next day.... CNN I love you!
- We woke up at 8:30 am, because we had to catch our 11:24 train. 9:30am we got to the breakfast area, where Ola did not eat an egg and had nothing but Tea.... Darrin Enjoyed an egg thoroughly infront of her mmh mmh mmmmmhhhh. During Breakfast we met another couple: Winda and Jake. Winda is a Singer from Belgium and Jake is an American that is living in Germany working for the army in transportation. After talking with them for 20 minutes we found out the would be in Rome in 2 days and gave us their hotel name and number. Since we like winging stuff we decided we may as well stay at the same place. We then headed out to the boats to catch a ride to the train station. While on the boat we decided to check the time, and realized because of being side tracked, it was now 11:00 and the boat ride takes 35 minutes. Which means we will be missing our train.... So Darrin came up with a plan to get off the boat at the beginning of Mainland Venice and RUUUUUN through the whole city in less then 13 minutes... All this while carrying our big backpacks and running through the directionless winding streets of Venice which you never know if your heading north, south, east or west..... Of course because of the egg Ola was not feeling well, so Darirn ended up carrying two backpacks 75% of the way while running (not jogging RUNNING)... All this to say, we amazingly caught our train while the engine was starting and two minutes to spare and find our seats.... The train ride was 3 and a bit hours before finally arriving in Rome. We then had a 45 minute treck to our hotel, which was not in the center of Rome as indicated, but in the middle of nowhere! Since Ola was sick and it was 4pm we decided to rest up and just start early the next day.... CNN I love you!
Day 7, 8 and 9 - Venice
Day7
We arrived in Venice around 1:30pm from the 2hour and a bit train ride from Brescia... We are abit restless wanting to see more of Italy right now! We get to the station and walk outside, to our amazement the so called bus number are not what we thought... These buses are very different indeed, they 're actually boats, and taxi's are smaller boats. We purchased a 1 way ticket (6 euro's each) to Lido, one of venice's islands just out of the main Island. We arrived at our hotel about 30-40 minutes later, checked-in and quickly ran out of there. With our stuff safely stored we now headed back to the "bus system". Here we had time to look at special offers (which we should have done when we got to the train station but didn't - would have save 12 euros [20$]). They have something for people under thirty called Roaming venice, it costs 4 euros and gives u discounts at almost every museum and site, as well as instead of paying 30 euros each for a 72 hour boat pass, we only had to pay 18 euros... So total cost of passes (22 euro's each and half museums!) So we got our passes and landed at Zaccaria stop, this is where Piazza San marco is and most of the life of the city. We decided to skip the museums for the first day and just get lost in the millions of alley ways and side streets in venice (no cars or vehicles are in the streets of Main Venice... everything is by foot or boat). We spent 3 hours+ walking through everywhere checking out all the cool little shops and a few of the churches. The masks that are everywhere in Venice stores are amazing and all differently designed. We stopped at this little restraunt at 8:30 pm to have some dinner, we decided if we are going to have one romantic expensive dinner, it may as well be in Venice. We ordered a bottle of wine (whihc was fantastic) and each had a pizza (ola had the Tuna and Darrin had a Salami) - This was the best pizza we have ever had. We ate pizza in Italy two more times, but nothing compared. After walking for the entire day, we headed back to our island and dropped by the local store to buy bread, drinks and sliced meats/cheese to make sandwich's for the next 2 days. Off to our room to play some cards (crazy eights) and straight to bed.
Day 8
Ola wasn't feeling so hot, so I decided to let her sleep in a bit... I watched CNN news, the only channel in english anywhere in Europe (exept english countries) - I was really up to speed my whole trip on everything worldwide hehe.... at 11pm I pulled Ola out of bed, as we only had 1 more complete day after today to sight see and Venice may be small, but there is still alot to see.
We started off by going into the museum of Ducale. This place brought us into the old Palace (Palazzo) of the Doge - An elected official for life that represent the state.
What is a Doge?
{The Doge once elected was the doge till he died - like the pope (except not religous icon). His duties were to attend all counsel meetings and courts procedures. He had to move himself and his family into this palace and live there everyday. He also could not leave the city without a special permission letter from the counsel, and he had to be escorted where ever he went. He was considered the speaker/symbol of Venice, but actaully did not have any more power than anyone else in an assembly, exept for the fact he was the symbolic figure to the people.}
In the palace, we saw many of the pillars, statues and original structure of the building. We also saw many of the art work on the ceilings and walls that were typical of the time. It brought us through the living quarters, into the armory, the court houses and even into the underground prisons - all accesible from the palace. *this is our top choice of museums to see - if you could only see one. It has a little of everything and is very large (took us 4 hours ++ and abit to walk through this gigantic place, but Ola and I really take our time reading everything, so probably 2-3 hours normally) Because we started so late it was about 5pm and we hadn't eaten. We grabbed our packed sandwich's and ate in the middle of San Marco Square. We then walked around abit, checked out a few more museums, as well as this little exhibition on Music (mostly violins and other string instruments). We got back to our hotel at 9pm so we could get an early start for our last day.
Day 9
Up at 7:45 and eating breakfast by 8:30 (we did it, nice bright and early start :)! )
*important point for later on - I tried and egg and said "this tastes funny" Ola tried it anyways and argues that it doesn't... With me telling her not to eat it, naturally she does anyways!
Okay backto Day 9...
we started off by going to the correr museum. When we arrived we found out that our tickets from Ducale also included here... We left our tickets at our hotel - 30 minutes away... so we could A. Go back and get them which will take 1 hour out of our day or B. pay 7.50 euro (10$) each and just buy new tickets.... After 3-4 minutes of thinking we decided to buy the tickets... The man at the counter who watched us discuss the whole thing gave us two free tickets and let us go in.... This museum included: spacious rooms filled with wall/ceiling art work, many sculptures and libraries in their original states. It was also linked to the National Archeological Museum - which had many painting and large armory section and many pottery/coin and other misc objects found during excavation. After 2-3 hours we were done and headed off to the largest cathedral in Venice - Santa Maria della Salute (three stops from Zaccaria - called Salute) unfortunately it was closed till 3:30pm so we took a bite to eat (sandwich's) on the stairs and then headed a few blocks down to Peggy Guggenheim Collection (museum of arts). It was filled with many famous artists and even had the burial site of Peggy Guggenheim herself along with her 12 dogs that she had during her life {GROSS} but whatever.... 3/4 of the way through the museum ola started feeling sick
***** REMEMBER THE EGG?*****
this little part is my payback hehe
... So we left and headed back to the hotel, where Ola was extremely sick all day and most of the night! Cannot say i didn't even have a little smirk on though, even though i was the one taking care of her! I felt so bad for her I let her win at cards.... (Ola even today believes she won fair and square). -------> CNN news once agains was fun while she slept mostly... and Darrin watched reruns of news every 30 minutes :)!
We arrived in Venice around 1:30pm from the 2hour and a bit train ride from Brescia... We are abit restless wanting to see more of Italy right now! We get to the station and walk outside, to our amazement the so called bus number are not what we thought... These buses are very different indeed, they 're actually boats, and taxi's are smaller boats. We purchased a 1 way ticket (6 euro's each) to Lido, one of venice's islands just out of the main Island. We arrived at our hotel about 30-40 minutes later, checked-in and quickly ran out of there. With our stuff safely stored we now headed back to the "bus system". Here we had time to look at special offers (which we should have done when we got to the train station but didn't - would have save 12 euros [20$]). They have something for people under thirty called Roaming venice, it costs 4 euros and gives u discounts at almost every museum and site, as well as instead of paying 30 euros each for a 72 hour boat pass, we only had to pay 18 euros... So total cost of passes (22 euro's each and half museums!) So we got our passes and landed at Zaccaria stop, this is where Piazza San marco is and most of the life of the city. We decided to skip the museums for the first day and just get lost in the millions of alley ways and side streets in venice (no cars or vehicles are in the streets of Main Venice... everything is by foot or boat). We spent 3 hours+ walking through everywhere checking out all the cool little shops and a few of the churches. The masks that are everywhere in Venice stores are amazing and all differently designed. We stopped at this little restraunt at 8:30 pm to have some dinner, we decided if we are going to have one romantic expensive dinner, it may as well be in Venice. We ordered a bottle of wine (whihc was fantastic) and each had a pizza (ola had the Tuna and Darrin had a Salami) - This was the best pizza we have ever had. We ate pizza in Italy two more times, but nothing compared. After walking for the entire day, we headed back to our island and dropped by the local store to buy bread, drinks and sliced meats/cheese to make sandwich's for the next 2 days. Off to our room to play some cards (crazy eights) and straight to bed.
Day 8
Ola wasn't feeling so hot, so I decided to let her sleep in a bit... I watched CNN news, the only channel in english anywhere in Europe (exept english countries) - I was really up to speed my whole trip on everything worldwide hehe.... at 11pm I pulled Ola out of bed, as we only had 1 more complete day after today to sight see and Venice may be small, but there is still alot to see.
We started off by going into the museum of Ducale. This place brought us into the old Palace (Palazzo) of the Doge - An elected official for life that represent the state.
What is a Doge?
{The Doge once elected was the doge till he died - like the pope (except not religous icon). His duties were to attend all counsel meetings and courts procedures. He had to move himself and his family into this palace and live there everyday. He also could not leave the city without a special permission letter from the counsel, and he had to be escorted where ever he went. He was considered the speaker/symbol of Venice, but actaully did not have any more power than anyone else in an assembly, exept for the fact he was the symbolic figure to the people.}
In the palace, we saw many of the pillars, statues and original structure of the building. We also saw many of the art work on the ceilings and walls that were typical of the time. It brought us through the living quarters, into the armory, the court houses and even into the underground prisons - all accesible from the palace. *this is our top choice of museums to see - if you could only see one. It has a little of everything and is very large (took us 4 hours ++ and abit to walk through this gigantic place, but Ola and I really take our time reading everything, so probably 2-3 hours normally) Because we started so late it was about 5pm and we hadn't eaten. We grabbed our packed sandwich's and ate in the middle of San Marco Square. We then walked around abit, checked out a few more museums, as well as this little exhibition on Music (mostly violins and other string instruments). We got back to our hotel at 9pm so we could get an early start for our last day.
Day 9
Up at 7:45 and eating breakfast by 8:30 (we did it, nice bright and early start :)! )
*important point for later on - I tried and egg and said "this tastes funny" Ola tried it anyways and argues that it doesn't... With me telling her not to eat it, naturally she does anyways!
Okay backto Day 9...
we started off by going to the correr museum. When we arrived we found out that our tickets from Ducale also included here... We left our tickets at our hotel - 30 minutes away... so we could A. Go back and get them which will take 1 hour out of our day or B. pay 7.50 euro (10$) each and just buy new tickets.... After 3-4 minutes of thinking we decided to buy the tickets... The man at the counter who watched us discuss the whole thing gave us two free tickets and let us go in.... This museum included: spacious rooms filled with wall/ceiling art work, many sculptures and libraries in their original states. It was also linked to the National Archeological Museum - which had many painting and large armory section and many pottery/coin and other misc objects found during excavation. After 2-3 hours we were done and headed off to the largest cathedral in Venice - Santa Maria della Salute (three stops from Zaccaria - called Salute) unfortunately it was closed till 3:30pm so we took a bite to eat (sandwich's) on the stairs and then headed a few blocks down to Peggy Guggenheim Collection (museum of arts). It was filled with many famous artists and even had the burial site of Peggy Guggenheim herself along with her 12 dogs that she had during her life {GROSS} but whatever.... 3/4 of the way through the museum ola started feeling sick
***** REMEMBER THE EGG?*****
this little part is my payback hehe
... So we left and headed back to the hotel, where Ola was extremely sick all day and most of the night! Cannot say i didn't even have a little smirk on though, even though i was the one taking care of her! I felt so bad for her I let her win at cards.... (Ola even today believes she won fair and square). -------> CNN news once agains was fun while she slept mostly... and Darrin watched reruns of news every 30 minutes :)!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Day 6 - Flight to Italy
Day 6
We woke up at 5:30 and quickly got ready to leave for 6:00 to catch our 8:15 flight an hour away ride. To our luck about 10 minutes from the airport, there was an accident which happened about 10 cars infront of us. This delayed us 50 minutes and started to worry us about making our flight. We got to the airport for 8:00 am and had just made the check-in, which they had allowed 20 minutes later then normal. Thankfully we got to our gate at 2 minutes before departure... Now came the 3 hour flight on Ryan Air (not very comfortable and was abit uneasy), we slept most of the way and arrived in Milano safely. We jumped on a coach to Brescia a little town in between Milano and Venezia (Venice) where we decided to spend the night before leaving by train the next morning. It was a quaint little town with not much to do, especially since it was Sunday and EVERYTHING was closed. After the lazy day of walking and sleeping we found a internet point in order to book our hotel in Venice (3 star for 80 euro's - very good place/deal)
We woke up at 5:30 and quickly got ready to leave for 6:00 to catch our 8:15 flight an hour away ride. To our luck about 10 minutes from the airport, there was an accident which happened about 10 cars infront of us. This delayed us 50 minutes and started to worry us about making our flight. We got to the airport for 8:00 am and had just made the check-in, which they had allowed 20 minutes later then normal. Thankfully we got to our gate at 2 minutes before departure... Now came the 3 hour flight on Ryan Air (not very comfortable and was abit uneasy), we slept most of the way and arrived in Milano safely. We jumped on a coach to Brescia a little town in between Milano and Venezia (Venice) where we decided to spend the night before leaving by train the next morning. It was a quaint little town with not much to do, especially since it was Sunday and EVERYTHING was closed. After the lazy day of walking and sleeping we found a internet point in order to book our hotel in Venice (3 star for 80 euro's - very good place/deal)
London Day 3, 4 and 5
Day 3
Our day started at 10:00 am because we had to wait for ela to come back home to lock up... Everyone had left early for exams and work and therefor we had to wait for the first of them to come home so they can see us out and lock up... We started our day with jumping on the train and metro back to london... We took the tube to a place called Bank, where it had the national bank of England which was huge! We then continued our journey to St. Pauls to check out the cathedral there. We then hopped back on the tube towards the "ducklands" or canary wharf (the name of the station). It was where we saw the largest building in England and the second largest in europe.... (50 floors) which seemed as high as every other building in Montreal, but in comparison to most other buildings we saw there, it was magnificent :)... After seeing the "sky scraper" and had a little picnic in a park, we headed on over to tower hill (tube station) to go visit the London Dungeon. [on a side note: these museums and sites are very expensive 15-25 pounds per person (2.25 dollars = 1 pound)... we were very fortunate that Tomek had 2 for 1 coupons... If u want you can also spend 10 pounds at a local Tesco to get one of these coupons... so u still save money and get some food :) ] The london Dungeons was a walking tour that brought you through London's history. It outlined the prison torture chambers, court systems (where Darrin got told he had a little affair with a horse... i was to be executed) , the famous murderers (ex: Jack the ripper), the black plague, the great fire and finally we all got hung for treason! After this wild adventure we headed over london bridge to look through some of londons scenery. We found two cool buildings; one was a Lloyds tower (insurance firm) which looked very futuristic with open glass elevators everywhere on its outside, and the other was a office building in the shape of an egg (alothough to britains, it looks like a cuccumber... wierd) After all this we decided to go back to Heathrow and hang out with the gang. We had a nice evening bowling (where Darrin showed them how to play the game, Canadian style - for all those who are lost... i kicked their bottoms).
Day 4
Ola slept in as to usual... But darrin followed. We were extremely lazy and only hauled our butts out of bed at 10:30 leaving the house an hour later... We arrived in London at 12ish and headed over to Madame Tussauds (wax museum)... The one and only day we forget the camera :'(... The pieces of works were stunning, they looked as though the people were real and right there with you... They varied from Tom Cruise to some English star we don't know... and even had sports icons, scientists (albert Einstein), political leaders and much much more, A must see! but bring a camera. it is about 60 canadian dollars a person (25 pounds) - so u should buy 10 pounds at tesco just to get the 2 for 1 coupon! We had spent so much time here we lost track and had to run to reach our destination.......... The theatre! Our nice hostess's and host's purchased us 2 tickets to see the musical: Fame. It was a very enjoyable production about young aspiring indivduals who wanted to be in the "show bussiness". After the show we headed back, had a bite to eat (cooked by Clive) and went to sleep.
Day 5
We headed to Windsor, about 45 minutes from Heathrow or a 25 minute train ride. We went with Ela and Kasia who were our tour guides for the day. We had a lovely time and saw the castle in which the queen spends most of her days. We strolled through the village/town and checked out all the stores and sites... We saw a very expensive wedding as well, as everything in this town is very pricey. An average size home in Montreal goes for 800,000 pounds here (about 2 million dollars) don't even get started on the cost of an apartement (3000+ pounds a month). Then we headed back home and cooked dinner for the family. Our way of thanking them before leaving to go to Italy. We then sat around all night and Ola made a whole bunch of cocktails for the family. We finally got to sleep at 1 am when we had to get up by 5:30am to catch our flight!
Our day started at 10:00 am because we had to wait for ela to come back home to lock up... Everyone had left early for exams and work and therefor we had to wait for the first of them to come home so they can see us out and lock up... We started our day with jumping on the train and metro back to london... We took the tube to a place called Bank, where it had the national bank of England which was huge! We then continued our journey to St. Pauls to check out the cathedral there. We then hopped back on the tube towards the "ducklands" or canary wharf (the name of the station). It was where we saw the largest building in England and the second largest in europe.... (50 floors) which seemed as high as every other building in Montreal, but in comparison to most other buildings we saw there, it was magnificent :)... After seeing the "sky scraper" and had a little picnic in a park, we headed on over to tower hill (tube station) to go visit the London Dungeon. [on a side note: these museums and sites are very expensive 15-25 pounds per person (2.25 dollars = 1 pound)... we were very fortunate that Tomek had 2 for 1 coupons... If u want you can also spend 10 pounds at a local Tesco to get one of these coupons... so u still save money and get some food :) ] The london Dungeons was a walking tour that brought you through London's history. It outlined the prison torture chambers, court systems (where Darrin got told he had a little affair with a horse... i was to be executed) , the famous murderers (ex: Jack the ripper), the black plague, the great fire and finally we all got hung for treason! After this wild adventure we headed over london bridge to look through some of londons scenery. We found two cool buildings; one was a Lloyds tower (insurance firm) which looked very futuristic with open glass elevators everywhere on its outside, and the other was a office building in the shape of an egg (alothough to britains, it looks like a cuccumber... wierd) After all this we decided to go back to Heathrow and hang out with the gang. We had a nice evening bowling (where Darrin showed them how to play the game, Canadian style - for all those who are lost... i kicked their bottoms).
Day 4
Ola slept in as to usual... But darrin followed. We were extremely lazy and only hauled our butts out of bed at 10:30 leaving the house an hour later... We arrived in London at 12ish and headed over to Madame Tussauds (wax museum)... The one and only day we forget the camera :'(... The pieces of works were stunning, they looked as though the people were real and right there with you... They varied from Tom Cruise to some English star we don't know... and even had sports icons, scientists (albert Einstein), political leaders and much much more, A must see! but bring a camera. it is about 60 canadian dollars a person (25 pounds) - so u should buy 10 pounds at tesco just to get the 2 for 1 coupon! We had spent so much time here we lost track and had to run to reach our destination.......... The theatre! Our nice hostess's and host's purchased us 2 tickets to see the musical: Fame. It was a very enjoyable production about young aspiring indivduals who wanted to be in the "show bussiness". After the show we headed back, had a bite to eat (cooked by Clive) and went to sleep.
Day 5
We headed to Windsor, about 45 minutes from Heathrow or a 25 minute train ride. We went with Ela and Kasia who were our tour guides for the day. We had a lovely time and saw the castle in which the queen spends most of her days. We strolled through the village/town and checked out all the stores and sites... We saw a very expensive wedding as well, as everything in this town is very pricey. An average size home in Montreal goes for 800,000 pounds here (about 2 million dollars) don't even get started on the cost of an apartement (3000+ pounds a month). Then we headed back home and cooked dinner for the family. Our way of thanking them before leaving to go to Italy. We then sat around all night and Ola made a whole bunch of cocktails for the family. We finally got to sleep at 1 am when we had to get up by 5:30am to catch our flight!
Friday, June 15, 2007
London Day 1 and 2
First Day:
Came from airport with no hitches, smooth ride and everything went as planned. We came to Ela's house (my mom's friend in London) and met her two kids: Kasia and Tom. Kasia proved to be a very helpful guide and helped us plan a lot of our stay there. So we arrived at their house around noon and we were so exhausted we decided to just hang out at their place and plan our next couple of days. Come evening, we met the last member of the family Clive (Ela's boyfriend) and went out with him and Ela to a nearby pub, the english way, (White Hart) and Darrin got to taste some nice beer : London Pride and Discovery. Ola had a bacardi breezer :P.
Day Two:
We still had a bit of jet lag and woke up quite early, which gave a bit of a head start for our adventures. We went to the train station and took it to their metro system called the "Underground" or "Tube" which at first was very confusing but came out to be more organized than Montreals. One thing about them is that they're only half the time underground, otherwise it's a regular train. We set off to Westminister Abbey and then followed our way to the parliament and Big Ben. We headed over to the London Eye (which is a giant ferris wheel) which gives you the view of almost the entire city (to put things in perspective, it's a 30 min ride). We then we walked the Princess Diana Memorial, Trafalgar Square and then visted this museum ( can't remember name, will fill in later). It was stunning and showed lots of beautiful paintings (Ola was quite impressed with Darrin's focus skills). We walked up to Buckingham Palace which to our dismay wasn't that great compared to the rest of the buildings we saw that day. We returned to our lovely base camp and recieved greatfully a semi english/polish meal. Then we crashed, ready for Day 3.
Came from airport with no hitches, smooth ride and everything went as planned. We came to Ela's house (my mom's friend in London) and met her two kids: Kasia and Tom. Kasia proved to be a very helpful guide and helped us plan a lot of our stay there. So we arrived at their house around noon and we were so exhausted we decided to just hang out at their place and plan our next couple of days. Come evening, we met the last member of the family Clive (Ela's boyfriend) and went out with him and Ela to a nearby pub, the english way, (White Hart) and Darrin got to taste some nice beer : London Pride and Discovery. Ola had a bacardi breezer :P.
Day Two:
We still had a bit of jet lag and woke up quite early, which gave a bit of a head start for our adventures. We went to the train station and took it to their metro system called the "Underground" or "Tube" which at first was very confusing but came out to be more organized than Montreals. One thing about them is that they're only half the time underground, otherwise it's a regular train. We set off to Westminister Abbey and then followed our way to the parliament and Big Ben. We headed over to the London Eye (which is a giant ferris wheel) which gives you the view of almost the entire city (to put things in perspective, it's a 30 min ride). We then we walked the Princess Diana Memorial, Trafalgar Square and then visted this museum ( can't remember name, will fill in later). It was stunning and showed lots of beautiful paintings (Ola was quite impressed with Darrin's focus skills). We walked up to Buckingham Palace which to our dismay wasn't that great compared to the rest of the buildings we saw that day. We returned to our lovely base camp and recieved greatfully a semi english/polish meal. Then we crashed, ready for Day 3.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Italy
arrived in Brescia, Italy. No time to comment, but more will come about UK and our upcoming plans!
Just quick itinerary:
-one night in Brescia
-off to Venice for 3days/2 nights
-to Rome till the 18 of June
-fly off to Warszawa (Warsaw, poland)
Just quick itinerary:
-one night in Brescia
-off to Venice for 3days/2 nights
-to Rome till the 18 of June
-fly off to Warszawa (Warsaw, poland)
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
UK!!!
So we've arrived in Heathrow with no hitches in ride, it was actually a very smooth ride. My mother's friend picked us up, so we've got a place to stay. We haven't decided yet where we're going or what we're going to do but we'll plan it out. We've actually had some trouble trying to call from cell to Canada, because apperantly you need 2 extra digits and something. but we'll figure it out... so no plans yet, but we'll update soon :)
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