TravelStream™ news feed for member jenfifi on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jenfifi en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:52:45 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/18/1214254260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/18/1214254260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/18/1214254260/tpod.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:52:45 -0400 Peru: Trekking the Salkantay Trail to Machu Picchu

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Lima, Peru

entry to come
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/18/1212785340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/18/1212785340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/18/1212785340/tpod.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:50:37 -0400 Peru: Trekking the Salkantay Trail to Machu Picchu

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New York City, New York, United States

entry to come
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1220406960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1220406960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1220406960/tpod.html Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:23:40 -0500 Tour de Europa 2007-BAR TRIP!

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Paris, France

We arrived in Paris this morning around nine after a much better night's sleep on the train due to working ventilation. We found our hostel next to the Lourve fairly easily although Chris got his first taste of a nasty Parisian subway attendant. People at our hostel were much friendlier and after storing our bags we headed out to see the Louvre. When we arrived we realized that because it was the first Sunday of the month the museum was free- which was nice aside from all of the crowds. The line wasn't too bad this early though and we got right in and started to explore. After seeing some of the famous statues we worked our way to the Mona Lisa room- where surprisingly they were allowing people to take photos of the painting where it was hanging behind thick protective glass. After working our way to the front and getting photos we exited- only to hear an alarm and an announcement to evacuate through the nearest exit right away! We were concerned, however no guard or other patrons of the museum seemed the slightest bit concerned about this and most people just went about their business. Eventually people did start to head toward the exit and madness ensued. Every exit we approached was a huge bottleneck of people and guards were yelling to everyon to go to another exit- where the same thing would happen. It took us almost an HOUR to evacuate the museum and we don't even know why we had to leave! Luckily Chris was able to retrieve his bag at the coat check before we left since we didn't know when they would let people back in again. Strangely, and annoyingly, we found that by the time we were able to exit they were letting people back inside again! It was very weird and we never really got any answers about the whole ordeal. Oh well, we had seen enough of the Louvre. From here we wandered around the neighborhood for somewhere to eat and settled on a place called El Pied de Cochon where we had wine, AMAZING French onion soup and some steak/lamb as part of their set lunch menu. We loved this place and ended up lingering for a few hours! We finally left and returned to our hostel to check in. The good news is that we got the last private double room- however the bad news was that the lift was broken and we were on the fifth floor! After walking up the five floors of winding stairs to the top of the hostel with our luggage we found our small room with bunkbeds, sheets to make our own beds, and a small sink with a shower in the hallway. We decided to take a shower and I was rudely surprised by a small shower with FREEZING water and no temperature adjustment, only a button you push and hold in on the wall for the duration of your shower! I was certainly awake now and so we headed back out and had dinner in the Latin Quarter followed by a visit to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up at night, which is definitely worthwhile. Unfortunately we got there a little too late to actually take the elevators up the tower but it was still great!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1189044060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1189044060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1189044060/tpod.html Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:15:58 -0500 Tour de Europa 2007-BAR TRIP!

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Today we are going home! We woke up, checked out, and then caught another bus (tube strike is still not over) to the station where we caught the Gatwick Express train to the airport. We considered taking one of the van shuttles to the airport from our hotel but later learned it was not worthwhile because all they do is take you to the train anyhow and it takes hours for them to do all the local hotel pickups. Once at the airport we needed to make sure that our luggage only got checked through as far as Philadelphia- although we had purchased a round trip ticked to London from Buffalo via Philadelphia we intended to go straight from Philly to New York City (after an overnight stay at Aunt Buffy's in NJ)to meet our movers. Turns out the airlines do not approve of skipping one leg of your flight because it would have been much more expensive for us to buy two one way tickets starting in Buffalo and ending in Philly. I thought his was stupid. The lady at check in informed us that she would pretend not to know that we intended to end in Philly and it did not matter because we would have to pick up our luggage in Philly to go through customs anyhow. So, all went smoothly at the airport and we were off before we knew it and back in the US on the same day! (Time change)

Well, it's been fun- time to take the train into NYC and meet our movers and all of our stuff at our new apartment in Manhattan-Ciao!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188871080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188871080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188871080/tpod.html Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:00:20 -0500 Tour de Europa 2007-BAR TRIP!

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Brussels, Belgium

This morning we checked out of our hotel around 9:30 and grabbed breakfast before meeting up with our 11:00am tour at Saint Michel fountain. We decided to go through FreeEurope tour, a free tip-based tour company which we also used for a walking city tour in Berlin The weather was freezing and kind if rainy but the group of 10 or 15 of us plugged on. Our tour guide Karen was really great- energetic and knowledgeable. She took us for views of the Eiffel and Arc du Triumph, the Neuf Bridge, the Louvre, Napoleon's tomb, the Grand and Petit Palaces and more. The tour was a little over two hours. After the tour we walked on our own to get a better view of the Arc du Triumph before heading up to Monmartre for some food and to see the Basilica there: Sacre Cour. When we got off the train at Pigalle we walked through the old red light district for a few minutes and snapped the obligatory picture of the Moulin Rouge windmill before walking uphill a bit to the Basilica. You can take a funicular tram to get up to the basilica but we were hungry and decided to admire it from below and then find a café for dinner. After a nice meal in Monmartre it was already time to get back to the hotel and get our bags to catch our evening train to Brussels! We had to return to Brussels tonight in order to go from Brussels to London in the morning because it is much much cheaper to book a round trip ticket between Brussels and London than to book a one way from London to Brussels at the beginning of the trip and then a one way from Paris to London at the end. (Because London is not on the Eurail we had to pay for these tickets). When we got to the station we decided to check to see if reservations were mandatory on this short train ride and to our surprise they were: $25 euro per reservation! From what we understood the most you should ever have to pay for a reservation fee on Eurail is $15 euro for a very long train ride so we couldn't really understand this. When we got onto our train it was amazingly luxurious- complete with a full free meal and beverage service on an hour and a half train ride! Unfortunately we had already eaten and we couldn't figure out why we had to take this expensive luxury train- perhaps t was the time slot we chose. Anyway it was quite nice. When we checked back into the 2Go4 Hostel in Brussels it was a great relief- brand new with sparkling clean private bathrooms just like we remembered it from out first stay here- and no bunk beds in this room either! When we got to the room Chris discovered that he had left his book- with our Eurorail tickets tucked inside- on the train! Luckily that was the LAST train ride during which he would have to use them! He didn't get to finish his book though. After a refreshing shower we wandered out to the little nightlife area nearby. Chris was hungry again so we stopped for some food which was horrendous- we haven't really found good cuisine in Brussels so far aside from the waffles and Belgian beer. I think we have been eating in tourist traps though- the area looks kind of like Little Italy. After that we went back to our favorite Delirium bar from last time for some people watching before retiring somewhat early for our early train tomorrow.

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London, United Kingdom

This morning was our last train ride between Brussels and London. We booked a different hotel in London this time called the Picadilly Backpackers Hostel which was right in Picadilly Circus- the Times Square of London. When we arrived in London we were rudely surprised by a tube (subway) strike which had pretty much brought the city to a halt and resulted in people getting in fist fights trying to stuff themselves onto the red double decker busses instead. We managed to figure out how to take the uses from Waterloo station to our hostel area without any fights though. The hostel had a great location and friendly staff but was the usual industrial layout of the large hostels with somewhat undesirable shared bathrooms which get dirty quickly and suffer from hot water shortage. After dropping off our luggage we grabbed some yummy Indian food for lunch. We decided to take a tour through London Walks through 1000 years of Westminster history. The tour was about two hours long and included a lot of great information about Westminster Abbey. We were even lucky enough to get to see the 8-12 year old boys who comprise the Westminster Abbey Boys Choir leaving their school dormitories and proceeding in a line to the abbey for the daily evening song! They were so cute and they all have to do a voice addition as well as playing two additional instruments! After the tour we returned to check in and take a nap and a shower before going out or the evening. Chris decided he wanted to accomplish two Indian meals in one day- and since England is now known for cuisine and it is somewhat economical, I agreed. We found another delicious place for dinner and then decided on a bar we went past which advertised two for one mojitos! We spent the remainder of the evening there relaxing on the couches and people watching on the dance floor.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188698100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188698100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188698100/tpod.html Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:56:23 -0500 Tour de Europa 2007-BAR TRIP!

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Barcelona, Spain

Oh no, our last day in Spain! Today we decided to take a little trip out of town to a small historic beach town called Tarragona, about an hour and a half outside of Barcelona. We decided to check out and leave our bags in lockers at the train station since our hotel was rather far from the station so we wouldn't have to go back there later. When we arrived at the station there were signs for lockers but the staff there told us they were closed for some reason. So, we had to take our packs on the train and head out. We left around 10:30 from Franca station and on the way there were serenaded by annoying music coming from some teenagers' cell phones- a trend we have been noticing in public a lot in Europe. When we arrived in Tarragona there were once again signs for lockers. However, we were then informed by the staff at Tarragona station that in fact ALL of the train station lockers in the entire country had been shut down by the government for security reasons! We had no where to put out huge bags. Our first solution was to try to rent a car for the day so we could drive around freely and keep our bags in the trunk. Hertz, however, quoted is 100 euro for only 6 hours with their cheapest available car, and Avis was closing at noon and wouldn't let us drop it off later than that. All we could do is head out into town and try to see if we could check them at a hotel or hostel. After trying several hotel and hostels who informed us that their luggage rooms were full- due to other travelers which had no bag storage at the train station- we were very discouraged. Along the way we kept running into one other couple with the exact same predicament. Finally, the four of us agreed that we would rent the cheapest room available and put our luggage there for the day. It worked out to about 12 euro each between the four of us to rent a double room at a hostel- which was actually comparable to the bag check we did at the train station in Florence. Once this was finally settled, with several hours of our day already behind us, we could finally eat lunch. We were so starving from this ordeal that we went to one of the first places we found and had a rather horrendous meal. Oh well, off to explore! Tarragona was the Roman capital in Spain and is older than the major cities. There are amazing Roman ruins here, supposedly the largest in Europe outside of Rome. For no admission fee we rendered through a beautiful huge Roman amphitheatre right along the ocean and then paid only 1.20 Euro each to go to the neighboring archeological museum which was great. From there we explored an old castle and part of the ancient city walls. This town was very charming but for some reason- we aren't sure if it is because it was Saturday or the European August vacation time- NOTHING was open. Almost every single cute shop lining the streets was totally closed up. We were able to find a grocery store where we picked up some "cava", a Spanish sparkling wine drink which is popular and I had been wanted to try. Of course they had no ice or cold drinks so we had t pay at a McDonalds for a cup of ice. From there we decided to walk to the beautiful beach to spend the rest of our afternoon. Getting to the beach turned out to be quite difficult- the town has literally build their railroad tracks between the town and the coastline so that you have to walk a long way to get to an underpass in order to get there. Once we were there it was beautiful- not to crowded, rather uncommercial, and the water was SO blue! As evening came we had to drag ourselves away to get back to the hostel to pick up our bags and then to the train station. The hostel where we were paying to keep our bags was very ironic in that it was the ONLY hostel we have paid for on the entire trip with AID CONDITIONING, not to mention it had a private bathroom and was brand new and remodeled. I wish we could have stayed here! Anyway, we got back on the train around 6 to make it back to catch our overnight train to Paris- which was the same kind of train we took to Barcelona only THANK GOD had working air conditioning. When we got on this train we looked at our schedule and realized that we had screwed up the dates when booking the last few nights of our trip- we had booked Paris for tonight and had to cancel a night on Brussels! WEe couldn't get a hold of the hostels on the train though so had to resign to taking care of it tomorrow and hoping for the best!

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Barcelona, Spain

This morning we had lunch in a cute neighborhood recommended by our guide called Born where we had a few more tapas on a nice patio. We had a hard time finding a place that was serving lunch yet at 12:30! After lunch we visited the Picasso museum, which had a very reasonable line and contained worked from as early as when Picasso was 12. I enjoyed this museum a lot although Chris was more into the pre-Cubism styles. After the museum We decided to try out an open air bus tour to get us around the areas of the city remaining to explore for the rest of the day. We went with Barcelona City Tours which was rather steep at 20 euro each but had busses every 6 minutes and headphones for audio information as you rode in many languages. Once again the weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed the ride and information on the various "modernista" architectural neighborhoods. We deboarded at the stop for the Gaudi park (same guy as La Sagrada Familia and various other funky modern building in Barcelona) which was commissioned to be a housing complex but eventually turned in a huge Dr. Seuss-like park. Admission is free and this is a great place to wander around or have an afternoon picnic with lots of entertaining street musicians and nooks and crannies inside. From here we got back on the bus and proceeded up even higher to the highest point in Barcelona. This too involved a transfer to a funicular- which was not free this time- which took us up to the high point which features a small amusement park with both modern and antique rides as well as an amazing church on the top of the hill. In the church you pay 2 euro to get on the elevator which takes you to dizzying heights to look out from the dome on the top. IT was very cool to stand amongst the giant statutes at the top of the church and look down on Barcelona. Once we got back down we took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy some vino blanco at a little café overlooking the hillside and the city. Suddenly the funicular seemed to be coming less and less often so we decided to walk down the hill to catch our bus- which eventually turned into a full run all the way down to the bottom! We left at about the same time as the tram and still beat it by far and got a great seat on the bus! When the bus got back to our starting point about an hour later at dusk we were starving and did not have the energy to seek out a recommended or especially authentic place to eat and ate at a touristy Italian place nearby which was very satisfying at the time! On our way home we bought some one Euro cans of beer from random guys on La Ramble and once we got home we spent a little time on our hostel patio before calling it a night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188525120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188525120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jenfifi/europe-2007/1188525120/tpod.html Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:53:16 -0500 Tour de Europa 2007-BAR TRIP!

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Barcelona, Spain

Today we visited the northern hill area of Montejuic for lunch which his accessible by train and then a connection to a funicular that takes you up the hill. We had a nice (but very tiny) lunch at the restaurant at the Fundacio Joan Miro museum here where you can sit overlooking the courtyard with some sculptures in it without paying admission to the museum. After lunch we took a fantastic cable car ride up the mountain even further to see some amazing views of all of Barcelona and the ocean as well. There is a pretty cool castle up here where you can wander around the halls and canons for free as well as some churches. Eventually we headed back down via cable car funicular and subway to get over to meer our afternoon bike tours. We decided on a 4 hour city tour through Fat Tire Bicycle Tours, which also operates in some of the other cities we have visited. For 22 euros per person you have a guide and a bike in a group of about 10-15 people. I really enjoyed this tour, which included an amazing city park with fountains, the fantastic work in progress by Barcelona's favorite Gaudi called La Sagrada Familia, an old castle which was the site of various massacres, a basilica, the Bari Gothic, and more. The guide gave a good mix of humor and history, although Chris wanted more historical information than he gave. Chris almost caused a huge skateboarding accident during this tour as well with his haphazard riding skills. The tour ended on the beach where we enjoyed some sangria and on the way home we stopped for some local bohemian street performances as well Overall I though it was a great afternoon - and the weather couldn't have been better (which seems like the case most of the time in Barcelona). La Sagrada Familia was really an amazing sight to see- although it is already over 80 years in the making and they don't think it will be completed until around 2040! It is the most unique and probably my favorite church we have seen in Europe. Once we returned to our room for a bit we found a highly recommended cerveseria (brewery) in our book to have some tapas. When we arrived at the Cerveseria Catalunya it was absolutely mobbed with people spilling out onto the streets waiting for tables. We were told it would be an hour but it turned out we only waited 30 minutes to be seated out on the sidewalk where we had incredible tapas from pork and cheese baguettes to roasted peppers with eggplant and goat cheese along with native Spanish beer! Yum!
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Barcelona, Spain

Our train last night was a Spanish train with nice dining facilities but very small sleeping cabins. I didn't mind the size- but there was no ventilation or AC whatsoever and the windows did not even open so it was EXTREMELY hot and almost impossible to sleep. After a restless night our really cute stewardess-lady woke us up for our free breakfast in the dining car which was hearty and super yummy. The train was running an hour late but we really didn't mind. When we arrive in Barcelona at Franca station around 10 we deboarded to find that there was no subway attached to the train station we were at. With only vague directions, we decided to take a cab to our hostel to be safe since it looked like it might be a very far walk and since Spain is relatively cheap. We showed the cabbie the address and 6 Euros later we were dropped off at 11 Carrer de Commerc which was a non descript building wit no sign After buzzing a bunch of people inside, someone on the street finally told us that we were at 11 Carrer de Commerc and our hostel was at 11 Junta de carrer de Commerc, which was apparently no where near our current location! Completely lost and unable to obtain a good map as of yet, we were forced to take another cab to get to the right location. Our hostel, Hostel La Terrassa, was under renovation and is somewhat new. We dropped off our bags since our room wouldn't be ready until 1pm and headed out to wander and eat. Our book recommended a place called El Quatro Gats which is a traditional "bohemian" café where Picasso used to frequent, displayed some of his original works, and even designed the menu! When we arrived they informed us that they didn't open for lunch until 1- which we later learned is pretty typical in Spain! The dinner menu here is quite pricey but this and many other cafes in Spain offer very economical fixed price lunch menus. We had a great meal which included a glass of wine, two courses, dessert, and coffee for about 14 euro each! I highly recommend visiting this place for the décor, service, food, and history! After lunch we were able to check into our room which was a small room with one double and one single bed, a private bathroom, a ceiling fan (yea!) and a tiny balcony overlooking a courtyard- all for only 68 Euro a night! This hostel also had a nice community patio area although their free breakfast service was not yet operating. Overall we had a very nice stay aside form the fact that you can't really sleep in since the construction and renovation guys start working in neighboring rooms around 9.

After a nap and a shower we headed back out into the streets of Barcelona and walked along the famous main street called La Rambla which extends through most of the city. Off of La Rambla is an amazing market called La Boqueria with huge stands full of tropical fruits and vegetables everywhere. Chris had a fruit juice puree and I ate a half of a papaya as we walked through! Our neighborhood, Bari Gothic, is the oldest part of Barcelona and full of fun little alleys and sidestreets. Avoid eating or buying on La Rambla if you want authenticity and to avoid tourist prices. After another stop at our hostel and spending some evening time on the hostel terrace we headed down to the Port Olimpic waterfront area which was developed as part of the 1992 Olympic Village. We wanted to eat diner here at a place recommended by our book but it stopped serving at 10 so we had some delicious seafood paella for two (a Spanish specialty) at the place across the square from it. This is a beautiful area with a boardwalk and lots of docks for small ships as well as an entire strip of vibrant open air nightclubs. Going here is not as inexpensive as a night out elsewhere in Barcelona, but is worthwhile even just to walk through and see the nightlife here. After some pricey drinks we scored a free entrance to a club called catwalk from a promoter working on the board walk and checked that out. True to what we had heard it was rather dead when we got there and didn't start filling up until about 2 which is when we decided to grab a cab home! (Subway runs until about midnight in Barcelona- later on weekends).

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