Berlin, Amsterdam and Vimy w. Sarah Newton

So Sarah and I went on our last trip together over the week that I had off for Easter and we went to Berlin, Amsterdam and Vimy.

Sarah arrived here on Thursday April 13th and I still had class the next day but I got to leave early and good thing or else we would have missed our flight. We took the train to Paris and got to the Paris Orly Sud airport and actually ended up having to wait around for a little while because our flight got delayed about a half hour. So we took our flight to Berlin and got in about 530pm. I had it all planned out how to get to our hostel (which was actually pretty far from the city centre) so we took that route and as we got off the last bus to the street we had to be on it started to rain and I went to get the umbrellas out of Sarah's black bag and realized I had left the bag on the bus. The bag that had all of our tickets and Sarah's identification and passport and really everything important. So I chased after the long gone bus and well long story short we got the bag back.

I was so sorry that I bought Sarah dinner at this greek restaurant and luckily the menu had pictures because none of the waiters spoke English and of course we knew NO German. So we finally got back to the hostel and it was a cute little place, seriously surrounded by woods but the bathroom was well interesting. It was clean which was good but the shower was almost like a locker room shower where it was one shower with several shower heads... very nice... needless to say when we showered we did it very very fast before anyone else could come in. The next day we did this 4 hr walking tour with a very good looking tour guide and it was actually really good. I thought I might be bored since well I hate history and find most of it pretty boring but this was cool and we got to see a ton of stuff, including: where the big Nazi book burning was and the empty shelves that are supposed to represent all the books that are gone, an Easter bunny giving out chocolate, Nazi airforce building, Nazi residences by Hitlers bunker, the new Jewish memorial which when you walk along it is supposed to make you feel lost, confused, depressed, lonely, all the things that the Jews felt during the war, Brandenburg gate, the Berlin Wall, the hotel where Michael Jackson almost dropped that baby (not really part of the tour but a bonus to see), checkpoint charlie, and a bunch more. During that tour Sarah and I met these three guys from Jersey who were on exchange in Florence, Italy so we had lunch with them and ended up meeting up with them later when we did the pub crawl.

Before that though we went to this museum which was kinda boring but had some cool stuff. It was mainly old Greek and Turkish stuff so not that interesting for Germany anyway.

So that night we did a pub crawl which included 4 pubs and one club at the end. We hung out with our "italian" friends there and met a whole bunch of other cool people. It was a really fun and night and one really fun thing was we stopped in this alley and the tour guides poured shots into our mouth and did this coming out of some of the bars too... but it was a great night. Sarah and I were drinking this beer called Berliner and everytime we drank it we would go "yea Berlin" like from Eurotrip if you've seen it... it was our saying for the Berlin portion of the trip.
The next day we were off to Amsterdam and the flight went well since I got to sleep most of it. I still dont like flying (but I have two flights next week cuz I'm coming home!!). The first night in Amsterdam we just had dinner and then went right to bed since we were so exhausted which was a good plan so we could actually stay awake for the next couple days. The next day we did the Anne Frank House and had to get down to the Heinekin Experience so we took a canal bike which was just a paddle boat but I seriously think that was my favourite part of the trip. We were going to go to the Van Gogh Museum but just went to the Heinekin Experience instead which was really really fun. The brewery was really cool to see just cuz they have all this fun stuff set up for you to do and you get three drinks and a gift there which is a really nice glass. But yah, we had a great time there.
Oh yah, our hostel in Amsterdam was CRAZY! The rooms are apparantly all different and "artistic" and ours was I think meant to trip you out. One wall was all orange, another was black with orange and another was white with black. It was strange but we liked it. I really liked the orange chairs that were in there. But this hostel was better because we had our own bathroom... much better...

So that night we went out to the red light district and walked around a little and I swear got hit on a million times by only black guys, it was strange and they were all pretty nasty. The best one was actually our last day there, about 1pm outside McDonalds on this busy busy street and was like "hey, do you like sex? I'll f*ck you real good" and Sarah I were just like "no thank you" and walked away laughing hysterically. But back to the red light district. It was bizarre there. You really do window shop for prostitutes there but the thing is most of the them are soooo ugly!!!!! So we didnt stay there long cuz it really wasnt that interesting. But we hit some coffeeshops and had a pretty relaxing night and that was basically it since we didn't do a lot the next day other then take a train back to Lille.

On the Wed. of our trip we went to Vimy to see the Vimy Ridge monument but well it was closed for refurbishing. I did know that but we still went to see the little museum thing and the ground is crazy. Sarah really liked it there being a history major but again me not that big into history but it was still good to see. What we did though was take a train to Vimy and when you get off the train its seriously nothing there... like this half burned down building. So we started walking into the town and met up with these old guys who ended up driving us there, but it wasnt the old man who drives Canadians to the memorial. So we did Vimy Ridge and then the old man ended up coming there and drove us to Lens which is a town not to far away where we had to get a connected train. There I had the BEST crepe ever... it was with vanilla ice cream (which is amazing in france, french vanilla get it, it took me awhile to realize it), caramel and shaved almonds. sooo good.

Then on the thursday Sarah left, and I got a few days to relax before starting my final class!

Now its one week till I come home which is very exciting... I guess I'm kinda sad to leave here but way too excited to come home to really care too much right now.

Trip With Andy - Paris, Marseille, Nice, Venice and Rome

I am finally posting again as I just finished another trip. My boyfriend Andy came to France to visit me for two weeks and we went to give different cities. When he first got here we just hung around Lille for a couple days and then did a couple day trips to Paris because we bought Eurail passes so it was easier to just do the hour train ride a couple times a day from Paris to Lille and back than stay in a hostel for a night or two.

Paris:

We took a train on the Wed. morning to Paris nord and then took a subway to the arc de triomphe. So this was the first thing we saw in Paris and it was really cool. Then we walked down the Champs d'Elyssés pretty much all the way to the Louvre but we didn't go there the first day in Paris. The first day we basically walked all around Paris. Looking on the metro map we realized that we had seriously walked almost everywhere. We had lunch in a little restaurant and it was pretty good and then we went to the Eiffel tower.




I have to say that I thought it was kinda ugly during the day but when we went back at night after having dinner it was gorgeous!

Its all lit up and for a little while they have all these flashing blue lights through it. I have a ton of pictures of the eiffel tower so just click in my "See More Pictures!" link to see all the many pictures from this trip. So then we ate a crepe (mmmmm) from a street vendor and then went back to Lille. Our second day we went to the Louvre and suprisingly to us there was no line. This was at like 10am too so we were shocked because we had heard about how long the lines there could be. We didn't spend as much time there as we would have liked but we saw the three most important things - The Mona Lisa, Winged Glory and the Venus de Milo.



















Then we had lunch (we ate italian for like every meal) and went to Notre Dame. The outside was beautiful but the inside was just ok.

I also notice that in a lot of these "tourist" churches they sell things inside which I don't really think is right in a church but oh well.



Then we went to the Pantheon and went to this graveyard called 'Le Pere Lachaise' which has Jim Morrison and Chopin's graves. So we visited those.

Then we went to Sacre Coeur to get a view of all of Paris and these crazy black guys made us these string bracelets and then tried to charge us 10euro each for them so we were like screw that and threw them back at them. As soon as they started making the bracelets we knew exactly what was going on but they wouldnt let us get away...By then it was getting later and we had a 6am train to Marseille in the morning so we went back to Lille.

Marseille:

In Marseille we stayed at this nice little hotel called Hotel Kyriad and it was pretty nice, average but nicer than a typical hostel. It was definetely not as warm there as we had hoped but we still had a good time. Rested mainly in the afternoon and walked around a little. We walked down this street called La Caniebiere which is supposed to be this long street that is great to walk down but I thought it was just filled with crazy people, construction and ugly buildings. So we went to the Vieux Port instead and that was much nicer. Tons and tons of boats filled the harbour and it was really nice at night.

So after an INCREDIBLE dinner (we ate soooo well and soooo much on this trip) we just sat outside on a bench at the port. We also walked around a little more at night and after climbing up a little we found this random carnival by the sea... we didn't go to it but it was kinda strange and hidden. The next morning we left for Nice.

Nice:

Nice was another relaxing afternoon and night. We stayed in Hotel Paradis which was one minute from the beach. The beaches there are not sandy but filled with rocks but we still walked along it at night and Andy skipped rocks while I found some nice ones to take home with me. The way the beach was and the stairs it reminded me of that Mr. Bean episdoe where he goes to the beach and there is a guy sitting there and he needs to change so he changes with his pants on and then he finds out that the guy was blind... so I took a picture of that.

Nice wasn't as pretty as I thought it would be but it did have some nice Palm trees and we had a lot of fun walking around again until we got lost for like an hour because of this one street that just kept going up and turning and had no streets turning off of it. But we did have another amazing meal, it was actually the best pizza we have ever had... soo much cheese and such good sauce and just mmmmmm!!!




Venice:

We were in Venice for a very short time because we got there at 6pm and left around 10am the next day but that was really all we needed. Our hotel there was the best. Hotel Centrale in Mestre.

It was the cheapest place we stayed in and definetely the nicest with this wicked breakfast that was basically all deserts. It had a busstop right outfront to Venice Venice and it was also near the train station so it was perfect. We went downtown right away and well its only tourists that are there. No one lives there and people get paid a lot of work there but its only tourists. So we found a restaurant and our waiter was such a jerk. By the end of our meal we had a different waiter and he was great and we actually rode on the bus back to Mestre with him. It was our first night in Italy so I had spaghetti and it was pretty good. We then just walked around and drank a little bit of wine and had a great time just looking at the canals and walking down the streets. So we had a few relaxing days of basically doing nothing but then came Rome...

Rome:

In Rome we stayed at the Stargate Hotel and we stayed in a different room each night because of something to do with the water but it was ok... the hotel itself wasn't the nicest but it was just fine for us. Since we got there later in the day we went and had dinner and then went and saw the fountains - Trevi fountain and Fountain Tritone.

Trevi fountain was beautiful and there were soo many people around but the other fountain, well it was kind of a let down. The next day we went to Vatican city and saw St. Peter's square and went in the church and went up to the dome (had to climb over 500 stairs!) but we got a great view of Rome from there.














We also went and saw all the pope's tombs and I got a picture of JP's.

And I had to take a picture of the Swiss guards...

We were going to go to the Vatican Museum that day too but it was closed by the time we wanted to go so we went back to the hotel and chilled for a little bit and then went to the Colesseum and saw it at night and then had the best meal we had all trip (except maybe for that pizza). I had this nice tomato, mushroom risotto and Andy had 4 cheese gnocchi... oh man.... Then we had a drink or two... of Absinth at this nice bar and the waiter loved us.

The next day we went to the Vatican museum and again we were scared of the line because we saw how it was the day before and we were getting there around noon but I think we only waited a maximum of like 15 minutes to get in. Andy was in awe the entire time we were in the museum at all the paintings and everything. I liked it all but I thought it was a little boring. The sistene chapel was very nice though and I can understand how someone could sit there all day long and stare at it.

We went back to the colesseum in the afternoon and went inside. Now I thought that was really cool to see. We then took an overnight train from Rome to Paris and got back to Lille the next day around noon.

So we had a very busy and amazing trip and you can see all my pictures on the 'See More Pictures' link, there are lots.

Wales and Scotland with Sarah Newton

I just had a two week break where I spent most of it with my friend Sarah Newton in Wales and Scotland. She is on exchange in Wales right now (Lampeter) so I went to visit her for about 5 days and then we went to Edinburgh in Scotland together.

Ok, so on Feb 15th I took a train from Lille to London Waterloo (yes I went through the chunnel and nothing special because well its just dark...) and then I had to take the tube to Paddington station and then take another train from there to Cardiff in Wales where Sarah's friend Michael picked me up and we took yet another train to Camarthen (sorry Will no idea how to spell that) and then Sarah and her friend Will picked me and Michael up there where we proceeded to go grocery shopping and eat at McDonalds which was Sarah's treat so who was I to complaign. Lampeter was pretty nice. Sheep EVERYWHERE, but I guess that's what you get with Wales. It was a small town, not unlike Campbellford and well everyone knows everyone so I got some funny looks because well no one knew me... I was fresh meat. I met a whole bunch of people like right away and they were all really awesome so I can certainly understand why Sarah does not want to leave at all. Over the next few days we went out a lot (to the one bar that they have lol) and had some fish and chips, the towns specialty I guess and went to a football and rugby game which were well a little boring for me but still fun. So here are some pictures of me and Sarah from those nights we went out... air guitaring bar and grill style, dipping on the dance floor and before we went out....

So on the Monday we were driven by Sarah's friends Liz, Kate and Tor to Aberswith and that is definetly not spelled right but meh, and from there we took a train to Birmingham and then took a plane to Edinburgh with Flybe (nice cheap flights). In the airport was this amazing pink cow....

We had a lot of fun with it while waiting for our bags... then it took us a while to figure out how to get to our hostel but we finally did and this is it:

So we just went to bed the first night we were there because we got there so late. The next morning we went into town and the first thing we did was go to the castle which was beautiful. It was huge but we didn't actually get to see a lot of it but it was still really cool.

Scotland itself was also really really pretty....
After the castle we had a little lunch and then did a whiskey tour. We thought that we would be getting nice and drunk from this but no not the case. We did do a taste test at the beginning and were taught how to properly drink whiskey and were given special glasses. Then we learned about the different scotch whiskey areas in Scotland and learned how they make it which was pretty cool. We also took this little barrel ride that showed the history of whiskey and the mannequin people were really really creepy and Sarah thought that the dog was going to bite off her leg... Also that day we walked around a little and I think my favourite thing we did was this thing called Mary King's Close. It was a tour through an old old close, which is like this alley way thing, and learned about how poor people lived back then and the plague and it was just really really interesting. Our guide was all in character and stuff too so it was really awesome. Then we went and had a nice dinner at some Italian place and then went and saw the movie Walk the Line, and I realize that it is pretty much out on video at home not but they get movies late over here compared to Canada and the States. So this is me and Sarah at the movies...

Then Sarah and I just went back to our rooms almost missing the last bus that goes to our hostel and watched our new show called No Angels which is like a British Sex and the City almost.

The next day we went to this Hans Christian Anderson exhibition which was sooo much fun!!! It was clearly meant more for younger people but it was Sarah and I so of course we had a blast. We got to colour and dress up and learn about the fairy tales and Hans Christian Anderson's life and do all these activities so we spent a long time there.

Next we went to this thing called the Edinburgh Dungeon... it was the scariest thing we could do because we didn't think, or well I didn't think I would be able to handle the millions of ghost tours that were happening. So we went into this dungeon and it was really interesting. At first we were in a judges chambers and were all sentenced to the torture chamber because one person was sentenced as being a witch and another was charged with crossdressing. All the actors there were really good and the torture chamber guy was hilarious and reminded me of a Jeff Murphy kinda guy if you know him... We learned about ancient torture devices and were shown how some work and learned about body snatching and how people would murder in order to sell the body to medical students or dig up bodies to sell them to medicine. We also took a little boat ride there in complete darkness and that was probably the creepiest part of the whole thing but it was really fun.

Then we had an all you can eat chinese buffet for lunch which was sooo good and only 6 pounds. Then we did more walking around and some shopping and stuff until we went and saw Grease on broadway which was soooooo good.

Then we went back to our hostel and drank a lot of scotch and did some anchorman quotes and videos... scotchy scotch scotch i love scotch, there it goes, down into my belly mmm mmm mmm... BAXTER! so had some interesting photos in the morning then... Then we went to the airport first thing the next morning as we both had flights to catch. On my flight to London the people I was sitting beside were Canadians too so that was kinda cool, but they were from Nova Scotia. Then I had to take a whole bunch more trains throughout London to get to the Waterloo station and another one back to Lille... oh and one funny thing I saw in a train while we were in Scotland was an ad for Jerry Springer the musical. We wanted to go see it but it was already over and apparantly its won a whole bunch of awards and stuff...
So that was my trip... and as always I have TONS more pictures on my pictures link. My next trip will be in two weeks when Andy comes down and we are going to Paris, Nice, Venice, Rome and Barcelona!