TravelStream™ news feed for member dmobley on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/dmobley en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 06 May 2008 22:16:24 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dmobley/1/1210105380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dmobley/1/1210105380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dmobley/1/1210105380/tpod.html Tue, 06 May 2008 22:16:24 -0400 Trip to Europe

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

2/19 3:01 pm

The train to Nice was pretty relaxed. I talked to a French businessman for a bit and we shared a few laughs. The train from Nice to Rome was a sleeper. I talked to the roommates for a bit. There was a couple from India and a guy from Japan. When he found out I was from Seattle he immediately mentioned Ichiro. I said oh yes and showed him my backpack which has a red sox symbol drawn on it. He was ecstatic and we talked about Diasuke and Okajima for a little bit. He reenacted Okajima's violent head snap when he pitches. After chatting I climbed up to my bed and slept like a baby.

We got to Rome at 9:45 am and I headed straight to the Coliseum. It is pretty enormous. There were a lot of people there and I had to wait in the longest line of the entire trip. I kinda wish we were allowed to go into the bottom part but that's okay.

I went to the Forum after that since it is right next to it. That's some old stuff! Cool pillars. From there it was off to see the Trevi Fountain. Too many stupid street vendors there. Oh well, it was still pretty awesome. I think my picture with me in it was too dark so I might get one tomorrow.

From there it was up to the hostel. At first I couldn't find it so I went to a little pizza place where I asked for two slices which turned out to be enormous. I ate most of the two pieces even though there were mushrooms on the pizza. I might accidentally eat them here but I knew those were there and I still ate it. So I looked at my reservation sheet and figured out that the hostel is one of many things in a building. So the lady buzzed me up and I got checked in. I've found that no two hostels are the same. After getting checked in I walked back to the train station and bought a ticket to the airport. I have to double check that is the airport that I leave from but I am fairly sure. Oh and I bought some souvenirs for folks. Okay time to look into using the internet.



2/19 7:59 pm

Haven't done much since the last time I wrote but I'm probably going to go to bed soon. I was able to use the internet and found that I am taking the train to the correct airport. After using the airport I went and bought stamps. Finding a drop box was a tougher task but I finally found one. Bought a few more souvenirs so now my pack is pretty much full.

Came back to the hostel after that and took an hour nap. I didn't want to get up but I made myself. I was going to find a spot where I could get a calzone but caved in and went somewhere easy. McDonald's should just hire me to do quality checks. I decided it is much harder when you don't know any of the language at all. Maybe it is a mental thing but I just feel weird, maybe ignorant, just pointing to things. The diet coke, or coke light as it is called here, tastes funny. Well I'm gonna go shave and possibly shower. If I do shower then I'll have to resort to drying off with a towel, something I haven't done since Paris since I rented a towel in Barcelona.



2/20 2:48 pm

Shaved and showered last night. When I came back to the room I watched an office on my ipod. While I was watching it an Indian guy came in and got in his bed. As soon as I stopped watching he started snoring, VERY LOUDLY! And it wasn't just a snore while breathing in...it was both breathing in and breathing out. Ugh. So it took me a while to get to sleep. Looks like his stuff is still here today so that stinks.

Woke up at 10 this morning and finally got up at 10:30. I headed back to the Trevi Fountain and got a good picture with it. Then I walked to the Pantheon. Free so that's good. Took a few pictures and went to Navona Plaza. The two fountains on the ends were cool but the middle statue was under construction..

From there I went to Vatican City. Well, just the St. Peter's Plaza part. It was enormous. There were a ton of street vendors leading up to the plaza but none in there. After hanging out there and taking a pretty terrible panoramic photo I decided I wouldn't check out the museums and would head up to the Spanish Steps. On the way there I saw Saint Angelo Castle on the Tiber River. It looked pretty old. From there I weaved my way up to the steps. Ugh more street vendors and they are more aggressive than the ones by the Vatican. I saw one pretty much force a Japanese teenager to give him his hand so he could tie a worthless piece of string to his finger. The Japanese guy got out of it right after he started though. These guys are selling junk that no one wants...rocks that make noise, balloons with flour in them with yarn for hair, phoney necklaces and cheapo posters of soccer players. The stairs were pretty cool except there was construction at the top which blocked a good picture of the church up there. I guess this isn't prime tourist season.

On the way to find food I walked past a group of Italian students and their leader who spotted a turd on the sidewalk, turned, pointed to the turd and said "Attenti!" and then every student mimicked her and said it to the next student in line. I laughed a little. I found a little pizzeria and had a calzone with ham. I just picked one on the menu that wasn't fungu or something like that because I assumed it was mushroom and just lucked out with ham. It was tasty but it took forever to get the bill. After I paid I headed back here to the hostel. Nap soon maybe?



2/20 5:43 pm

No nap. I just explored a bit. Walking around with the ipod out gets different looks. I made sure to keep a hand on it in my sweatshirt pouch pocket. I've got 18.79 euros left...hmmm if I can keep dinner to around 10 then I can afford the typical 8 euro McDonald's for breakfast at the airport. But what will cost only 2 more euros than McDonald's? Maybe I'll cave and do McDonald's both times...lame I know but cheap and tasty. Hmmm that sounds like one of their burgers...



2/20 7:32 pm

Just McDonald's for dinner J but I did try one of the local specialties. They are called panzerottis. They are little snacky things that look like mini calzones. Have all my things pretty much packed up. Leaving the bathroom stuff out so I can brush my teeth before bed and when I wake up. Kinda weird not meeting people at this hostel like I did at the last two places. It's just me, the Indian guy L


2/21 8:32 am

Woke up with my 6:15 alarm after a fairly good night's rest. I got in bed right at 8:00 and at 8:30 a new guest arrived and the lady had to show him the room so it was kinda noisy.

I wasn't planning on taking the train to the airport til 7:20 but I caught the one at 6:50. This airport is set up in a pretty efficient way. From the train you walk down a hallway to a set of TVs to see what gate you are at and head to the correct terminal to check in. At that check in I showed the lady my bottle of Lynx body spray (Euro Axe I guess) and she said it was a little too big but they might let it go through security since it was partially gone. I knew it was close to the 3 ounce limit but the only measurement was in mL so I couldn't convert that! So I get to the security checkpoint and of course the guy asks to search my bag and I pull out the bathroom stuff and he has me throw out the spray. Oh well.

I decided I needed some grub so I got a salami sandwich (yeah even though it was around 9 in the morning) and a sprite for 6,30 euros. Got a powerade after that for 2,70 more. Now I'm at the gate waiting to see board at 10:20 for the 11 o'clock flight. I might write in Chicago or maybe just close it out in Seattle.



3/6 1:31

Yeah I'm definitely closing it out in Seattle. After I got home everything was just rush rush rush so here's the rest.

The flight from Rome to Chicago was ridiculously long. 11 hours, boo. I only slept for maybe 15 minutes and was awoke by the pilot announcing that the smoke alarm in the middle bathroom had just gone off and if they found the person they would be fined. The movies they were showing were the Jane Austen Book Club or something, and Chicago. Not exactly my kind of movies but I watched Chicago. CBS shows came on after that and they were pretty good.

So we finally got to Chicago and I had to hustle to my next flight. It was quite the process. I had to walk down under the tarmac to customs. Wait in line there and finally get through. Find which terminal my flight was leaving from. Go through security again, where they all the sudden decide my zip lock bag is too big so I told them I'd just throw all of that away. A lady behind me said she had an extra though so I got one from her and all my stuff fit in the smaller one easily. It only took the airports 3 tries to notice my bag was (unintentionally) too big. Take a train to get out to those terminals. Grab McDonald's, yes again. Scarf that and board the plane. Phew I'm tired, hopefully that means I can sleep on the plane.

Negative. I got to talking with an older guy next to me who tells me that I should definitely do the Peace Corps after I told him my situation. But then again he was also on his way home from playing handball in Florida. He told me that if i wanted to see some world class handball go to blah blah blah in seattle on Wednesday because all the best players in the world would be there, so...Luckily this was a shorter flight because I felt like a sardine in there and my bag was just a little too big to fit under the seat in front of me, shhh. When we were getting close to Seattle he started guessing where we were by looking at the scenery. Got a little annoying. He was way off because he thought we would land an hour before we actually were scheduled for. He got a bloody mary mix during the last go around for drinks and accidentally spilled it everywhere and I got some on my pants. They had come so long without getting dirty but that's okay. (I had another pair with me on the trip, don't worry)

Got to Seattle right on time and I called mom and she drove in from the cell phone lot. And that brings to a close my Europe vacation. If you have any questions, just ask.
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Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

Continued where Paris left off...

2/16 9:40 am
Train ride went smoothly and I slept like a baby. They took our passports before bed but I didn't get a new stamp L. I think it is a European Union thing. From the train station I walked up to La Sagrada Familia which is under construction and has been for a long time. It was still pretty impressive but not impressive enough to walk around the perimeter. I'm gonna walk down to the Mediterranean here in a bit and just relax there until I can check in to the hostel. This breakfast place was pretty good. I ordered in broken Spanish. The orange juice was delicious! Fresh from the orange- I watched him squeeze it. The bacon was thick and extremely undercooked compared to what I was used to. I'm also not used to people being allowed to smoke inside but it must be alright here in Barcelona.

2/16 5:30 pm
The beach was pretty fun and there weren't many people there. Everyone was probably scared off by the old men in speedos. EWWW. I didn't sit near them for obvious reasons but when I did sit down somehow I got ton of sand on me. I was expecting some but we're talkin it was in my ear! Don't know how it got there but it was annoying. Walked down by the water without my shoes on and walked in the water for a little bit but it was pretty chilly.

From the beach I headed up to the hostel and was told that check in was at 2 and it was only noon. So I killed some time and came back.

2/17 11:00 am
Sorry for the abrupt ending but I will explain. So to continue, the rooms here are very nice. This is probably my favorite hostel so far. After checking in I walked down Las Ramblas until I hit the sea again. Walked past the statue of Christopher Columbus and to a huge mall that was on a dock. It was just the average mall so I walked around in it for maybe five minutes. Back on the pier I sat on the edge and looked out at the sea. I also noticed these huge fish swimming near the surface right in front of me. It was a little chilly and I had nothing else to do so back to the hostel to use the free internet. While I was doing my fantasy hockey the guy who sat down next to me asked if I spoke English. He said he'd noticed a lot of players on my team were Swedish as he was. We chatted for a bit and I tried to think of someone from Sweden who I knew...hmm all the hockey players are taken...Günther! At first he had to think about it and then he said it back and I knew he was on to something. He knew him alright! He said hold on and thought for a second. Then sang "Teeny weeny string bikini!" oh it was amazing. He said he was going to a soccer game soon and asked if I wanted to go too. I said sure and he said he had to call his girlfriend so I started writing. He was finished quickly so we were on our way.

Kind of a mystery getting to Olympic Stadium but we did it. Took the subway. Espanyol lost to Seville but the game was great. The game was pretty expensive as the ticket cost 35 euros and 13 euros for food and the subway. I'd definitely say it was worth it though. The Swedish guy, Karle, was a huge soccer fan so I felt like I was just tagging along but oh well. At the end of the game he decided that we should get some drinks and I didn't argue.

So we hit the bars near our hostel and yet again it was expensive. Watched Ronaldhino score on a penalty kick to put the hometown bar crowd into a frenzy. Another first happened as we were leaving one of the bars. Two black ladies asked us to pay for something that we definitely didn't want...yeah. Pretty shady. So we went into the next bar as quickly as possible and decided to stay there for a while. Stayed pretty late too, til 4:30. It's weird how everything here starts much later. As the night progressed I heard less and less English but Karle did thank me for being patient and letting him practice his English.

Woke up this morning at around 10 and listened to the Austrians talking. Didn't really bother me waking up that early but I'll probably need a nap later. Okay shower time!

2/17 9:00 pm
Today is the first day that has felt like a true vacation. I wasn't pressing to see things. I hung out at the hostel til about 12 then went exploring. I saw a big plaza but unfortunately it was under construction. It seems like a lot of things have been on this trip. Maybe they are prepping for the real tourist season. There were tons of pigeons in the plaza and they would land on people who were feeding them.

After the plaza I walked past some old church and castle thing. I got back to the hostel around 2 and watched 2 episodes of the office on my ipod. After that I took a 3 hour nap which was much needed.

Went to dinner around 7 in the Plaza Real which is really close to my hostel. I got the Fish and Chips. It was much different than the average fish and chips. For one, it wasn't breaded and still had scales on it. It was delicious but unfortunately there were quite a few little bones in it. I got gelato after dinner even though it was pretty cold outside. Strawberry, mmm.

Met the roomies a little better when everyone woke up. There are two Austrians, two ladies from London and a guy from Argentina. They're all very nice and stay pretty quiet. I'll probably turn in around 10 since I have a long day of train rides starting at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

2/18 12:10 pm
I was in the room at 10 but didn't get to sleep until 12ish. I stayed up talking with the roomies. Lots of Q&A. They all got a kick out of how I handled the prostitute situation and one of the ladies from London asked if it was a "Jollyboy." I told them I wasn't sure because I didn't get a good look at them.

It is a good thing I set the watch alarm this morning because evidently I turned off the alarm clock when it went off and went right back to sleep. Got up at 7:05 and still had plenty of time to shower and get out the door comfortably.

So far on the train I saw an old castle and some awesome views of the Mediterranean. The monitor at the station we are stopped at says we are 10 minutes late...hopefully we can make up some time because my next train leaves 20 minutes after we were supposed to have arrived. I don't want to deal with getting new tickets. Of course we would be late on my shortest layover.

2/18 5:34 pm
On my train that will be headed to Nice. I hope I got on the right one since there were two trains on the board headed to Nice. I think I got it right though. Luckily the train from Marseille to Montpellier was late too so I had no problem getting here.

Walked into town but in Marseille but only briefly. There were more bums here than I would have expected. Unfortunately I found a McDonald's coupon in the train station so I was forced to use it and of course I ordered too much food. How American of me! I guess it's okay since I didn't eat breakfast and lunch was at 3:30. Well it's 6:15 now and a railroad person just checked my ticket. Must be good. Oh and I think I hear a cat on this train...
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Paris, Île-de-France, France

Continued from where London left off.

2/14 9:55 am
Oops, I guess I didn't write at lunch. Yesterday was a very long day. The first thing I heard when I walked out of the station was "excuse me sir, do you speak English?" Unfortunately I looked, but didn't say anything. So she said "Tu parles francais?" I shrugged and luckily the gypsy left me alone. So I had to go to the bank to get some euros and for some reason my PIN wouldn't work at the ATM machine. Crap. So I'm gonna have to go inside and talk to someone. So I get in there and ask "Tu parles francais?" and luckily the guy did speak a little English, enough for me to get my euros.

So I was off to the Arc de Triomphe. I only got a little lost getting there so that was a big plus. Once again it was much bigger than I had expected. I took a few pictures and it was off to the Eiffel Tower.

I had caught glimpses of the top but was amazed when I saw the whole thing. Wow, it was pretty amazing and on such a beautiful, albeit cold, day. I decided I wanted to go to the top so I paid my 11,50 euros and waited in the short line (50 people or so). The view from the top was pretty awesome. The Arc de Triomphe's massive size was apparent from the top.

Back down and walking home past a few sights. On the way a gypsy tried to trick me but I kept walking. The guy walking next to me then asked if I spoke French and I said "un peut" so he told me to watch out for people like that and their gypsy tricks.

When I was getting close to the hostel I was surprised at how busy it had become. The hostel was right on the edge of where a ton of Moroccans hang out. It sounds like they're saying 5 euro. Kind of annoying.

So I checked in and settled into the tiny room for a two hour nap. It was hard to get up due to my lack of sleep but I knew if I didn't get up then I would have a hard time going to bed at night. So I got up and walked around looking for food. I found a pizza place and for 7,50 euros I got a pizza and brought it back to the hostel. I took it into a small common room where there were already three people hanging out. We started chatting and I learned that they were from Argentina, Australia and Austria. All A's, weird!

After finishing the sub-par pizza the Australian guy asked if I wanted to try a French beer. I said sure so we walked up to the store. When we got back there was another new face in the common room. She was Canadian and had a deck of cards. So we played cards and a couple of Dutch guys joined in later so we were all crammed into this tiny room playing cards. We played until about 1ish and decided we'd better get to bed. Oh the Australian told me that the Moroccans are saying Marlboro. Whether they were selling a pack or just a single we have yet to determine. So I headed up to my bed at the top of the triple bunk. When in bed I took my watch off for some reason and of course it fell down the wall. I said forget it, I'll get it in the morning.

The sleep was great and I feel somewhat refreshed. Today I'm going to see the Louvre. All my new friends are going to the Eiffel Tower so it's too bad it didn't work out to go with them. Oh well, I'm off to the Louvre. Au revoir and happy valentines day!

2/14 7:38 pm
Okay, so I headed to the Louvre on this pretty chilly Thursday. On my way I decided to try the French version of McDonald's - Quick. It was really tasty and much better than McDonald's. I lucked out and the lady at the counter spoke some English.

After Quick I got down to the Louvre at around 12:15 and for once something wasn't bigger than I had expected. Well, the museum and building were huge but the glass pyramid was not. Once again there wasn't much of a line so that was good and I headed in. In the museum it was just piece after piece and it was incredible. I saw the Venus de Milo statue and the Mona Lisa painting which, quite frankly, is kinda lame if you ask me. I don't know what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately I didn't grab a map when I went in so I got lost a few times and saw the same things quite a few times and others not at all. I was at the Louvre til about 2:30 and I was proud that I was there so long. I would've stayed longer if my feet weren't so tired but that's okay.

Finishing at the Louvre so early gave me the whole afternoon to do whatever I wanted to I decided the Sacre Coeur was close enough. It was kind of a festival atmosphere with a carousel and everything. There was a guy playing guitar and playing American songs...pretty poorly. When I was taking some pictures outside my battery light flashed and I decided I wouldn't go inside. That's okay, I was kinda tired anyway. So I headed back to the hostel and took another 2 hour nap and forced myself to get up.

Dinner time, but also crazy Moroccan time outside of the hostel. I decided I'd go to the closest thing...and the winner was - Quick! I got another English speaking person and ordered the fish sandwich meal. Delicious. Time to head back and repack my backpack.

Ugh checkout is at 9 in the morning L. Alarms are set for 8. Tomorrow should be interesting heading to Notre Dame and the Pantheon before my night train leaves to Barcelona. Checking out that early will give me a lot of free time tomorrow so hopefully it isn't cold again.

2/15 8:15 am
So as I was writing my last passage in the tiny room my friends from the night before trickled in. No Dutch guys this time but three German guys. The Australian guy wanted to go for a walk but two of the German guys wanted to go to the Discoteque! So we let them go and went on our walk. The Argentinean gal brought a Swedish girl who was staying in her room so we had an Australian, an Austrian, an Argentinean, a German, a Swede and me. What a mixed bag. It was funny listening to everyone's English.

So we decided to walk through the red light district to see Moulin Rouge. It was definitely interesting. I was surprised how clean the area was considering the things that were in the shop windows. After walking through there the guys bought some French wine and enjoyed in on the streets. An interesting concept. They convinced me to try some and it wasn't too terrible. We continued up to the Sacre Coeur because the view was supposed to be amazing at night. Sacre Coeur looked awesome but it was foggy so you couldn't see the city very well. We were up there for about 20 minutes before heading back to the hostel due to the cold weather.

Our mini room was taken so we took a little part of the hallway. We made fun of the Argentinean's inability to pronounce a hard g sound. It hit midnight and I said my goodbyes.

Woke up at 8 this morning and now I guess it is time to check out. So Notre Dame and the Pantheon today followed by the train to Barcelona tonight at 8:30. Long day so hopefully I will be able to sleep on the trains. I think they have beds.

2/15 2:12 pm
Unfortunately the events for today weren't extremely time consuming. Notre Dame was very cool. The stained glass there is enormous. For some reason most of the visitors were not following the no flash photography rule but I was. While not marked well, it was marked.

From there I walked to the Pantheon where a lot of famous French people lay to rest. The Curie's to name a few. That was all I had planned for the day so I looked at my map to see if there was anything else close and decided that the Bastille Monument would do. So walking there and to the train station took about an hour. Showing up at 1 is way too early for your 8:30 train. I found where I was supposed to go no thanks to some rude French lady. She was the only rude French person I've run into and seemed irritated when I asked her, in French, if she spoke English. Maybe she is just a grump.

I decided I'd get some Euros so now I won't need to get money for the rest of the trip...hopefully. That walking excursion to find the bank dot on my map took about 45 minutes. So here I am at good ole McDonald's...I know, I know, eat French food! It's too expensive here. This big mac meal cost 6,10 euros so over 9 US dollars. I might try to find an internet spot now. Bye.

2/15 6:44 pm
Here at the train station and have been for the past two and a half hours. When I left McDonald's I thought it would be easy to find an internet café. Not as easy as I'd hoped. It burned up some time finding one but put more miles on my legs. It was 2 euros for thirty minutes. At first I couldn't get logged in because on a French keyboard the numbers on the top are secondary to the symbols...odd. So I signed in and couldn't find the @ symbol so I had to ask and that burned up 5 minutes of my time. Glad to see we beat Oregon State and that Stanford lost.

So I got back to the station at about 4 and waited in the cold for about an hour. At 5:15 I walked in by the stores in the station and found a standalone heater. Unfortunately there were two bums hugging up against it so I couldn't get too close. Close enough to catch a wiff unfortunately. Some Spanish looking guy came up to me and asked me something in French and I told him I didn't speak it so I motioned for a lighter. I told him I didn't have one so he walked away only to return a minute later. "You want some weed white?" Surprised I said no and he left me alone. When he left I wondered if he said white or right like it was so obvious that this tourist guy right here wants some weed. I didn't have a lighter!

After that incident I figured I should probably go back where I was. While walking back there I saw a sign for a waiting room. YES, it's heated. I checked the weather at 3:30 and it said it was 36. It must be in the 20s now. Stupid food costs too much here. I just paid one euro for a lunch-sized bag of lays chips. Tasty though. Train leaves in an hour and a half, phew.

2/15 10:50 pm
Train came and I'm on it. I'm rooming with guys from Spain, Wales and Luxembourg. The guys from Luxembourg and Wales gave me tips about seeing Barcelona so that was cool. I got some food with the guy from Wales. Just a ham and cheese sandwich (very basic) with cheetos and a small can of coke (maybe 8 oz) for 6,50 euros. Ouch. The sandwich was plain white bread, one piece of ham, one piece of cheese. Kinda weak. I think I'm gonna hit the hay now.
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Bath, England, United Kingdom

2/12 9:20
Well if you know my schedule you would know that I should be on the bus tour...
First I will start where I left off. The lamb shank came with the bone in the middle which lucky would have enjoyed. The lamb tasted a lot like a roast which I've had plenty of times before. So after dinner I tried out the internet room. Sent some emails and saw that UW beat UCLA. After that I decided to check out the bar.

It was somewhat boring since I didn't know anyone. I watched as there was some quiz going on as well as some weird pool. There were seven yellow balls, seven blue ones and an eight ball. I gathered that it was just like stripes and solids. When no one was playing an Irishman asked me if I wanted to play. I told him that I didn't know how to play English pool and he said he didn't either. I beat him on a few technicalities and went to bed around 10.

I slept til 3 or so when the Spanish people returned. They kept me up for about an hour.
AHHHH it's 8! My alarms were set for 6! What happened?!?! No time for that. Just grab your stuff and go. There is no way I will make it across town in time for the 8:45 departure. Oh well, gotta try. So I start walking. Oh I'll catch a cab. Puh, if they weren't all taken! So keep walking and looking for a cab. Finally get one and its already 8:20 and the tour leaves in 25 minutes and we aren't close. I hope I'm not wasting my money. So the taxi costs 15 pounds (30 bucks) ouch and I get to Victoria Station at 8:35. The frantic search for the ticket office begins. Where is it?!?! I call the number I had written down using my credit card for the call (turns out it cost 2.35) which was a recording that I could hardly eve hear. So I hung up after 30 seconds or so. Ok I remember online something saying they had an office in the building next door. I run over there and go in the door right at 8:45. I tell them I know I'm late but I'm here for the 203 tour to Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath. What?!?! Cancelled?!?!?! No way, not after I have been through...and thanks for cluing me in. I was the only one to book it. I asked if there were any other options and they asked if I could come back tomorrow. Nope. Well hold on. They called their rival company and got me in with them for the same tour leaving in a matter of minutes! Sweet! So I head over there and we head out. Phew.

It took about an hour to get to Windsor. The castle was alright. It was pretty foggy there so my pictures aren't great. Inside it was interesting seeing all of the "gifts" from imperialism. Heading out to lunch we were blocked by the changing of the guard. It was a pretty boring event. So back on the bus and we're off to Stonehenge. Met someone from Mexico, Australia and England today on the tour. Oh and I ate a sandwich knowing there was a tomato on it. Be proud of me.

2/13 5:39am
Stonehenge was huge. Much bigger than I had imagined. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't touch it but that's okay. I almost bought a shirt but figured it would have been a little nerdy.

Next we went to Bath and it was pretty neat. I think it would be a must if I wasn't going to Rome but I figure it will be a warm up for things to come. I ended up buying a small alarm clock (for 9 pounds) because I have more important and expensive travels to come. I tried to sleep on the two and a half hour drive back to London but only had limited success. I got off at Hyde Park Corner and began walking towards Trafalgar Square.

It was about 8:30 when I got there. After taking a few pictures I was forced to listen to my stomach and headed for the most authentic food I could find...McDonald's. I have to compare it to ours right?

So at McDonald's I decided that I'd had enough walking and planned to take the underground. I headed over to the station only to be told that it would be faster to walk. So unfortunately I lugged my stuff to the hostel.

Once there I decided to charge my ipod which I have been using sparingly. Listening to some authentic British music now - Oasis. After getting the 40 minute, locked battery charge started I decided that I'd try to take a shower but I don't have a towel. I took the shower that I desperately needed and dried off with my dirty shirt. I figured it would be a little counter productive but it was fine. Also shaved using a cheapo razor and that wasn't much fun.

Time for bed! Got the ipod which was now mostly charged. Hit the hay around 10:30. Took 45 minutes or so to get to sleep and then I woke up at 12:00. Booo. Only took 15 minutes to fall asleep though. Woke up for good at 4:15 and laid in bed until 5 to test my alarm. Part of me wanted to sleep but the other part of me was paranoid about missing my train. So all the alarms went off (5 on the alarm clock, 5:05 and 5:25 on the watch) and I was up and going.

Headed up here to St. Pancras station and breezed through customs. Now I'm just waiting to board the train to Paris. I'll try to write around lunch time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dmobley/1/1210105020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dmobley/1/1210105020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dmobley/1/1210105020/tpod.html Tue, 06 May 2008 22:14:03 -0400 Trip to Europe

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London, England, United Kingdom

2/10 7:25 am
Here at SeaTac waiting for my flight. We should be boarding here in about a half an hour. So far this morning I got some Euros at a bad rate and also got breakfast here at the airport. The only thing I forgot to do before leaving was calling and telling the bank I would be using my cards in Europe. I tried this morning but they don't open til 8 so I'll have to do that in New York during my layover.

2/10 6:00 pm EST
On the plane here in NY and waiting for everyone to get seated. The last flight was pretty good but I was really hungry at the end. Since when are there no free snacks? So here in NY it was snowing a little when we landed but nothing was sticking. Once on the ground I hunted for food and fittingly enough my last American meal was McDonald's. Got that and some snacks to hold me over. I've heard several different accents and languages so far and will hear plenty more. This belt thing might be why my stomach is uneasy or maybe it's the excitement. Time to go!

2/11 11:05 according to Big Ben
I guess I will start off where I left off. The flight out of NY was delayed an hour once we were on the runway due to a traffic jam. I knew I would have to sleep on the plane so I tried to make myself. Unfortunately I only got about a half an hour and the rest was spent waiting patiently. The lady next to me had the right idea. She bought two little bottles of wine and she was out! I was jealous as she slept right through the landing. Oh I had coffee on the plane...first cup ever.

Once at the airport it was another new experience-Customs. Made me think of how quickly I got through compared to those who went through Ellis Island. So I got through and started to search for my train. Found it with a little help and was off to town.

After getting off at a stop and choosing not to catch a connecting train to my final destination for fear of getting lost on the wrong train, I walked into town from Paddington Station. On the train I was separated from my new friends by the morning commute but they said cheers as they got off at their stop. Oh, at the station I had a gross Burger King breakfast sandwich. It had link sausage on there but it tasted weird...oh and it had ketchup on there by default.

The first thing I noticed when I got off the train was how much I stood out thanks to my WSU sweatshirt. Must be an American huh. So I walked in through Hyde Park and saw Buckingham Palace but it was way too early for the changing of the guards so it was somewhat of a letdown.

Next I went to the bank dot on my map but accidentally went to the bank next door so I'm sure I will be charged a fee. Oh well, I have more pounds.

Then I took a tour of Westminster Abbey. It was huge! Amazing architecture! I thought it was odd that Darwin's remains are there and his birthday is tomorrow...

After that it was time for the good stuff. Big Ben and the Parliament. Didn't see any tour opportunities but got some good pictures. So now it is 11:25 and I am sitting near the London Eye debating about going on it. I'm leaning towards no but I'll be sure to write about it later. Going to the London Bridge after lunch. Cheers!

2/11 12:19
Stopped off for lunch near the London Bridge and realized the Tower Bridge is the cool one. That = more walking which is alright since tomorrow will be light. Oh and Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" just came on in here. Amazing.

2/11 18:33
Wow that was a lot more walking than I thought it would be. Probably should have worn these shoes in a little more than I did. Oh and my backpack is hurting my shoulders. The Tower Bridge was pretty awesome though. So I did that and walked back north in a zombie mode since I was so tired. I tried turning on my phone to see if there was an off chance that it would work but no and it won't let me use the alarm because it is "searching for service." Oh well. I guess I'll be relying on the watch.

So I huffed up to the hostel area. Couldn't find it at first but was more focused on finding a bathroom. Made it to Euston Station and had to pay to go but it was worth it. So I went back and found the hostel. Check in was easy and I went down to my room and my bed. Put my stuff in my locker and jumped into bed. I set the alarm on the watch but only vaguely remember turning it off. So I slept from about 4 til 6:15ish. Some Spanish people came in and started chatting but I was able to get some sleep. Got up and kind of explored the hostel a little. There is a bar and internet place which I will try and use. Now I'm at dinner trying the lamb shank...time to eat.
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