On Friday we basically spent the entire day on several trains trying to make it to Switzerland. We had fallen asleep really early the night before completly forgetting to make our hotel reservations for Switzerland (there are no Marriotts where we were going to be). So here we are on the train with no clue of where to stay. I knew that we wanted to stay in either a town called Interlaken or a town called Murren. We kept debating back and forth on which one to stay in, but my gut feeling kept telling me to go to Murren even though it was late at night and a farther trip. So we got on the train to Murren and it ended up being a much longer/complicated journey than we anticipated! The train conductor told us to get off the train and go to this bus station to wait for the bus to Murren. As we were walking that way, another woman headed in the same direction told us that she was headed to Murren as well and would show us the way. She was a God send!! Turns out her name was Sue and she was from England. Her family had vacationed in Murren for the past 8 years and now that her kids are grown, she and her husband are moving to Murren! So we get on the bus which then drops us off at the cable car. Yes, the cable car. That is the only way to get to Murren (we had no clue). We end up having to take 2 cable cars up there and by the time we get there it's about 10:30pm. The hotel we wanted to stay at was already closed. Lucky for us, the entire town takes less than 10 minutes to walk and Sue knows everybody here so she walks us around the town until we find an open hotel where Sue talks to her friend and gets us a room. When we wake up in the morning, we look out the window and find we are surrounded by the Swiss Alps!! It is beyond gorgeous. And not to mention, expensive. It costs us $30 everytime we want to go down and up the cable car. I only have a couple more minutes to write...so I will sum this up. We end up walking to these beautiful waterfalls which is an amazing walk through the village amidst streams, mountains, animals, etc. During this walk we see people parasailing through the Alps!! I immediately knew that I wanted to do it but figured it was out of our price range. Well, long story short, it wasn't and we did it! We parasailed through the Swiss Alps! It was so amazing. The best part for me was the take-off. We hiked up this mountain and then basically ran off the side of it until we started floating. Awesome!
It is cold here....right now below freezing. And the whole town is basically closed since almost everything closes from November - mid December, so we're right on the edge of that. It is very quiet here....and everyone we have met has been SO nice.
Alright, gotta go, our new hotel does not have internet access but the first one we stayed at does so we have crashed them to use their internet!!
We uploaded new pictures on our site, check out lazan.smugmug.com
See you all soon!!!
dimanche 21 octobre 2007
Germany
I think the last time I wrote, we were waiting in Brussels for a train to Munich, Germany. We finally boarded the train which also had a 2 hour lay-over in Koln (or Cologne) Germany before heading to Munich. In Koln, we found something familiar...Starbucks!! The Starbucks was right next to this beautiful, gothic cathedral so it was an ideal setting. I didn't want the caffeine since I knew we'd be on the sleeper car in the train soon so I ordered a decaf mocha. Well, turns out they must not have understood me because it was definitely caffeinated! The sleeper car in the train turned out to be a small "room" with 6 bunks in it. Lucky for us, we were the only ones in it. I didn't fall asleep until around 3am because of the coffee!! Which ended being okay because I got to listen to about 3 full Jewel albums on my iPod and some Fiona Apple too. Listening to Jewel while falling asleep made me feel like I was in high school again!! It was awesome though...I will never grow tired of her music and talent, I know it will always be soothing to me. After finally falling asleep I still kept waking every 1/2 hour or so and had this uneasy feeling that we were going to crash. Rationally I knew that we wouldn't, but since my mind was so over-tired, I wasn't thinking rationally. Anyway....
We arrived in Munich a little after 7am. I wasn't too interested about going to Munich, but I had to give since Darren gave in on Paris. The main thing that Darren wanted to go to in Munich was the concentration camp memorial in Dachao, Germany. The trains were on strike in Munich too for a short time (what the heck) so we took a cab there instead. The memorial was very interesting and I feel as though I learned so much. It was honestly difficult to process the severe inhumanity that existed there so I don't think that I fully did process it...too painful. After visiting Dachao, we went to downtown Munich and walked around the shops there, ate, things like that. At this point I am really feeling like we have been spending sooo much time in "transit". Packing, unpacking, this train to that tram to this bus, wait wait wait, take a subway, walk, wait wait wait, you get the idea. It's hard to ever be "settled" because we are in a constant state of figuring out where to go next, which train to take, etc. And a whole lot of waiting around! Munich was pretty cool....glad I saw it...probably wouldn't go back. Can't get into the whole art/museum/architrecture thing. I feel bad about that like I SHOULD be into it, but I'm not so I'm not sure that I can change it.
Next stop....Switzerland!
We arrived in Munich a little after 7am. I wasn't too interested about going to Munich, but I had to give since Darren gave in on Paris. The main thing that Darren wanted to go to in Munich was the concentration camp memorial in Dachao, Germany. The trains were on strike in Munich too for a short time (what the heck) so we took a cab there instead. The memorial was very interesting and I feel as though I learned so much. It was honestly difficult to process the severe inhumanity that existed there so I don't think that I fully did process it...too painful. After visiting Dachao, we went to downtown Munich and walked around the shops there, ate, things like that. At this point I am really feeling like we have been spending sooo much time in "transit". Packing, unpacking, this train to that tram to this bus, wait wait wait, take a subway, walk, wait wait wait, you get the idea. It's hard to ever be "settled" because we are in a constant state of figuring out where to go next, which train to take, etc. And a whole lot of waiting around! Munich was pretty cool....glad I saw it...probably wouldn't go back. Can't get into the whole art/museum/architrecture thing. I feel bad about that like I SHOULD be into it, but I'm not so I'm not sure that I can change it.
Next stop....Switzerland!
mercredi 17 octobre 2007
Brussels...an unexpected stop
First of all I just want to say that everytime I open this blog it's a new adventure in trying to figure it all out in a different language. I don't even know what language it's in right now...German??
We had sort of an unexpected change in plans but it's not like this trip was really planned out to begin with so I guess the unexpected change was well, expected. I'm not much of a planner, I mostly just deal with the re-active instead of being pro-active. I'm not sure what benefit that gets me but it certainly isn't apparent in this situation.
Our "plan" was to get breakfast, make train reservations for an overnight train from Paris to Munich, Germany and then spend the day in Versailles, France visiting the castle and grounds there. Well, last night we had a piece of paper in our hotel room telling us that there was an upcoming train strike in all of France that would start on Thursday. We kind of laughed at our luck since we had planned to leave France Wed. night. Well, this morning the concierge at our hotel informed us that the strike would actually start tonight at 8pm. Since the train we wanted to take left around 11pm, our plan was completely shot. They also told us that the train station would be complete chaos and that we should probably go there as soon as possible to get any reservation at all. When we got there it was difficult, to say the least, to try and figure out where to go since it was so chaotic and everything was in a different language. Everything in between that and where we are now is a big mess and a long story of buying tickets, switching tickets, switching destinations, coming up with new ideas and switching again, etc. I guess all that needs to be said is that we finally ended up deciding to take a train to the closest country that had available tickets (which ended up being Brussels, Belgium). We took the chance that Brussels would have an overnight train to Munich which is does and we did get tickets for (phew). So here we are in the the Brussels train station waiting for our overnight train to Munich. Unfortunately for us, Belgium isn't even mentioned in my "Europe for Dummies Book" which talks about all of the best places in Europe to visit. Hmm. And no matter where we go in this station we can't seem to get away from the annoying, drunk, nasty people who won't shut up! Oh well. I have had a lot of time to read which is something I was lacking before so that's good. We're actually still "on schedule" it's just that we had to spend the whole day on the train or waiting in the station instead of visiting Versaille. Stupid French train strike!!! :) I guess if this is our biggest inconvenience of the trip, I'll take it. And I'm trying to remind myself that regardless of everything, it's still a break from doing dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, making dinner, changing diapers and dealing with whining kids!! And I can NEVER complain about a break from that!
Oh yeah and the bathroom here you have to PAY for. There are these little doors and you have to insert a 50 cent Euro piece and then the doors magically open to you so that you can use the bathrooms. Weird!!
On another note, if you want to see some pictures from our trip you can go to lazan.smugmug.com.
We had sort of an unexpected change in plans but it's not like this trip was really planned out to begin with so I guess the unexpected change was well, expected. I'm not much of a planner, I mostly just deal with the re-active instead of being pro-active. I'm not sure what benefit that gets me but it certainly isn't apparent in this situation.
Our "plan" was to get breakfast, make train reservations for an overnight train from Paris to Munich, Germany and then spend the day in Versailles, France visiting the castle and grounds there. Well, last night we had a piece of paper in our hotel room telling us that there was an upcoming train strike in all of France that would start on Thursday. We kind of laughed at our luck since we had planned to leave France Wed. night. Well, this morning the concierge at our hotel informed us that the strike would actually start tonight at 8pm. Since the train we wanted to take left around 11pm, our plan was completely shot. They also told us that the train station would be complete chaos and that we should probably go there as soon as possible to get any reservation at all. When we got there it was difficult, to say the least, to try and figure out where to go since it was so chaotic and everything was in a different language. Everything in between that and where we are now is a big mess and a long story of buying tickets, switching tickets, switching destinations, coming up with new ideas and switching again, etc. I guess all that needs to be said is that we finally ended up deciding to take a train to the closest country that had available tickets (which ended up being Brussels, Belgium). We took the chance that Brussels would have an overnight train to Munich which is does and we did get tickets for (phew). So here we are in the the Brussels train station waiting for our overnight train to Munich. Unfortunately for us, Belgium isn't even mentioned in my "Europe for Dummies Book" which talks about all of the best places in Europe to visit. Hmm. And no matter where we go in this station we can't seem to get away from the annoying, drunk, nasty people who won't shut up! Oh well. I have had a lot of time to read which is something I was lacking before so that's good. We're actually still "on schedule" it's just that we had to spend the whole day on the train or waiting in the station instead of visiting Versaille. Stupid French train strike!!! :) I guess if this is our biggest inconvenience of the trip, I'll take it. And I'm trying to remind myself that regardless of everything, it's still a break from doing dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, making dinner, changing diapers and dealing with whining kids!! And I can NEVER complain about a break from that!
Oh yeah and the bathroom here you have to PAY for. There are these little doors and you have to insert a 50 cent Euro piece and then the doors magically open to you so that you can use the bathrooms. Weird!!
On another note, if you want to see some pictures from our trip you can go to lazan.smugmug.com.
mardi 16 octobre 2007
Paris Day 2!
Well it is super late at night so I am going to update this quickly. Today we basically spent the day sight seeing all throughout Paris. Of course the first thing that we did was go and visit the Eiffel Tower which is exactly how you would imagine it....amazing and beautiful. We then bought a tour bus pass and took a tour of the whole city...which was perfect. We got to see everything without having to figure out how to get there ourselves!
The best part was when we went to a little area of the city called Monmantre (probably spelled it wrong there...). Anyway it was this cozy little village built around a huge cathedral. It had tons of little shops and restaurants (one of which we ate dinner at). The cathedral is high up on the hill and has amazing views of the city. It also didn't hurt that there was a very talented guy on the steps of the cathedral playing his guitar and singing in all languages...very cool. Before turning in we decided to check out the Eiffel Tower at night. It was so cool....half of it was lit up in yellow and the other half green (maybe because of all the Rugby activity going on here??) And then every 1/2 hour or so all of these white strobes would go off making it even more beautiful. We decided to go all the way up to the top which was kind of like going up the Sears Tower except you can see everything all the way up there so kind of scary. It was higher up than we expected!!
Well I think the plan is to visit Versaille tomorrow and the castle there and then maybe take the overnight train to Munich. Not sure though....this train thing can be a little confusing!
The best part was when we went to a little area of the city called Monmantre (probably spelled it wrong there...). Anyway it was this cozy little village built around a huge cathedral. It had tons of little shops and restaurants (one of which we ate dinner at). The cathedral is high up on the hill and has amazing views of the city. It also didn't hurt that there was a very talented guy on the steps of the cathedral playing his guitar and singing in all languages...very cool. Before turning in we decided to check out the Eiffel Tower at night. It was so cool....half of it was lit up in yellow and the other half green (maybe because of all the Rugby activity going on here??) And then every 1/2 hour or so all of these white strobes would go off making it even more beautiful. We decided to go all the way up to the top which was kind of like going up the Sears Tower except you can see everything all the way up there so kind of scary. It was higher up than we expected!!
Well I think the plan is to visit Versaille tomorrow and the castle there and then maybe take the overnight train to Munich. Not sure though....this train thing can be a little confusing!
lundi 15 octobre 2007
PARIS!!
Yay, we are in Paris!!! Darren did not want to visit Paris (or France at all for that matter...) but I insisted that since we were so close we HAD to come here. We spent a good part of the day travelling by train to get here, but it was worth it. Our hotel (Marriott of course!) is right on the Champs-Elysees, so it is beautiful. We saw the Arc de Triumphe tonight and it was beyond amazing. Just a side note, I tried to upload pictures from Amsterdam but I think something is messed up with the website. Either that or I am confused because everything on blogspot is written in French so I'm doing my best to remember how to read it!! Here are my initial thoughts on Paris:
- reminds me of NYC as far as it being a big, crowded, traffic-y, shopping, crazy city!
- it is BEAUTIFUL....all of the buildings are amazing...nothing even can compare in the U.S.
- As of yet, the stereotypes of French people are holding firm....rude, don't use deodarant and the women don't shave! (the only reason I am saying that is because I had to go to FOUR drugstores before I found one that sold a razor for women!)
-Regardless, I am still loving Paris so far...plus it's fun since this is the foreign language I am most familiar with.
I'll try to upload pictures again tomorrow night.
Bon Nuit!
- reminds me of NYC as far as it being a big, crowded, traffic-y, shopping, crazy city!
- it is BEAUTIFUL....all of the buildings are amazing...nothing even can compare in the U.S.
- As of yet, the stereotypes of French people are holding firm....rude, don't use deodarant and the women don't shave! (the only reason I am saying that is because I had to go to FOUR drugstores before I found one that sold a razor for women!)
-Regardless, I am still loving Paris so far...plus it's fun since this is the foreign language I am most familiar with.
I'll try to upload pictures again tomorrow night.
Bon Nuit!
Amsterdam (a couple of days past...)
Hi everyone!! Well I had intended to start this blog a couple of days ago but it just didn't seem to work out that way, so here I am. We are actually in Paris (!) right now, but we spent the last 2 days in Amsterdam, Netherlands so I want to write about that first before I forget it all! Hopefully it will work to connect our camera too so that I can upload some pictures, but no guarantees there. I'm not sure how I am going to convey my thoughts on this blog...might just depend on my mood or whatever.
On Amsterdam....first of all, I guess I never really imagined that I'd ever travel to Holland or the Netherlands or the land of the tulips, clogs and windmills, whatever you want to call it. Either way, Amsterdam (called the NYC of the Netherlands) is nothing like windmills or tulips. Amsterdam is very much a laid back city filled with canals, street side cafes, shops, markets and of course the famous "coffeeshops" which aren't at all famous for selling coffee. "Coffeeshops" really exist to sell marijuana...and then some coffee on the side. The Dutch (as we now have learned) are very open, tolerant and happy-go-lucky types of people. I guess marijuana isn't truly legal in Amsterdam, but it is "tolerated" in coffeeshops and you won't really get hassled about it on the street either. The coffeeshops are pretty much exactly what you would imagine they would be, people of all types sitting around in a dark, kind of creepy like setting smoking their "tolerated" weed. Violent crime is virtualy non-existent in Amsterdam, so there you go...I'm not going to argue with the relaxed environment. There is also one other thing that I failed to mention that is also famous in Amsterdam: The Red Light District. For those of you that don't know, this is an area of the city that is pretty much devoted to all things sexual. If you can imagine it, it exists. As simple as that....let your imagination go wild. Prostitution is also one of the other things that the Dutch allow and they don't hide it either!! Scattered through-out the red light district are large windows where prostitutes "market" themselves for "business". Strike a deal, the curtain closes and 15 minutes later you walk out feeling...well, whatever it is one would feel after being with a prostitute! Not that we would know, we just witnessed it many times. And they have all "flavors" to choose from, they don't discriminate!! It was very strange to see it all out there like that. It was like an 18 year old male fantasy come true!
Some other random thoughts on Amsterdam:
- I could immediately tell that I was NOT from Amsterdam because I was not wearing boots and I was not riding a bike. EVERYONE in Amsterdam rides their bike EVERYWHERE and all the women wear boots.
- Everyone here is SO fashionable. Wow, you can really tell I'm from the good ol U.S. of A. And not the New Your City U.S. of A....the midwest version. Ugh. Not that I'm fashionable there either, but you get my drift.
- Amsterdam is the king of all things transportation. When you cross the street you have to, at all times, make sure that you do not get hit by a car, the tram, the bus, a motorcycle and OF COURSE, those damn bikes. If I never see a bike again, I'll be okay with that. It's like bikes rule the city....they ALWAYS have the right of way. And they have parking ramps made not for cars, but you guessed it, bikes. Well, good for them, they're environmentally friendly.
- FEBO. FEBO is the lowest form of fast food. It's a fast food chain that sells it's food out of coin operated machines!! And they're everywhere and always busy. Must be the munchies...
- Public urinals. Yes, they have them, yes, it's disgusting and yes it kind of all makes sense at the same time. It's like an open-air Biffy....for men only (thankfully).
I think that just about covers our experience in Amsterdam. In all honesty, Amsterdam was a very cool city to visit and the locals were super friendly (unless we were in the way of them riding their bike) LOL
On Amsterdam....first of all, I guess I never really imagined that I'd ever travel to Holland or the Netherlands or the land of the tulips, clogs and windmills, whatever you want to call it. Either way, Amsterdam (called the NYC of the Netherlands) is nothing like windmills or tulips. Amsterdam is very much a laid back city filled with canals, street side cafes, shops, markets and of course the famous "coffeeshops" which aren't at all famous for selling coffee. "Coffeeshops" really exist to sell marijuana...and then some coffee on the side. The Dutch (as we now have learned) are very open, tolerant and happy-go-lucky types of people. I guess marijuana isn't truly legal in Amsterdam, but it is "tolerated" in coffeeshops and you won't really get hassled about it on the street either. The coffeeshops are pretty much exactly what you would imagine they would be, people of all types sitting around in a dark, kind of creepy like setting smoking their "tolerated" weed. Violent crime is virtualy non-existent in Amsterdam, so there you go...I'm not going to argue with the relaxed environment. There is also one other thing that I failed to mention that is also famous in Amsterdam: The Red Light District. For those of you that don't know, this is an area of the city that is pretty much devoted to all things sexual. If you can imagine it, it exists. As simple as that....let your imagination go wild. Prostitution is also one of the other things that the Dutch allow and they don't hide it either!! Scattered through-out the red light district are large windows where prostitutes "market" themselves for "business". Strike a deal, the curtain closes and 15 minutes later you walk out feeling...well, whatever it is one would feel after being with a prostitute! Not that we would know, we just witnessed it many times. And they have all "flavors" to choose from, they don't discriminate!! It was very strange to see it all out there like that. It was like an 18 year old male fantasy come true!
Some other random thoughts on Amsterdam:
- I could immediately tell that I was NOT from Amsterdam because I was not wearing boots and I was not riding a bike. EVERYONE in Amsterdam rides their bike EVERYWHERE and all the women wear boots.
- Everyone here is SO fashionable. Wow, you can really tell I'm from the good ol U.S. of A. And not the New Your City U.S. of A....the midwest version. Ugh. Not that I'm fashionable there either, but you get my drift.
- Amsterdam is the king of all things transportation. When you cross the street you have to, at all times, make sure that you do not get hit by a car, the tram, the bus, a motorcycle and OF COURSE, those damn bikes. If I never see a bike again, I'll be okay with that. It's like bikes rule the city....they ALWAYS have the right of way. And they have parking ramps made not for cars, but you guessed it, bikes. Well, good for them, they're environmentally friendly.
- FEBO. FEBO is the lowest form of fast food. It's a fast food chain that sells it's food out of coin operated machines!! And they're everywhere and always busy. Must be the munchies...
- Public urinals. Yes, they have them, yes, it's disgusting and yes it kind of all makes sense at the same time. It's like an open-air Biffy....for men only (thankfully).
I think that just about covers our experience in Amsterdam. In all honesty, Amsterdam was a very cool city to visit and the locals were super friendly (unless we were in the way of them riding their bike) LOL
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)