TravelStream™ news feed for member much-eh on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/much-eh en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:50:07 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/much-eh/1/1214840880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/much-eh/1/1214840880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/much-eh/1/1214840880/tpod.html Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:50:07 -0400 Euro Trip 2008

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Split, Croatia

June 29, 2008

The handy laptop alarm never fails and I was the first one up. I packed up my stuff mostly the night before but did the rest of the small stuff and grabbed some Muesle aka Muslix and Milk too. We left a little after 6:30 and really cut it close getting to the bus station 5 mins before departure and the girls 1 minute before departure at 6:59 AM, not 7 AM. The bus had like no leg room but the views of the Croatian coastline were spectacular, I mean beaches everywhere, we must've passed 50 designated beaches on the way but you could swim anywhere! We saw the world's laziest snorkler laying on an air mattress face plunged in. The winding road and endless bays and mountains in the distance were awesome. David and I were practically asleep when an older croation pair who boarded later, insisted on their assigned seats when no one else was in theirs. So we got zero sleep and watched the distances hardly change, from 38 km to 25 km was over 30 mins, sighs....

So we go the main bus depot right along the ferry terminal. With some mild confusion I eventually found the teent tourist information and got city maps and directions to the bus depot. GPS enaged! Finding the hostel was pretty painless once aboard the bus as an older gentleman helped me find the intersection Voru -something and vlebitska, he said to follow him off here. This was great except he pointed us the wrong way down the intersection. We asked two ladies later and they almost argued about which way it was, pointing in opposite directions, I said how about in the direction of the water, "Ah super, woda!" then she said something in good English, pretty funny after all the fumbling around. Ok so backtrack and boom we find the street and the gf of the owner drives past as and asks if we are looking vila anka, I was a little dumbstruck but then showed her the address and said yeah that's his place come with me. She showed us in and soon the bf and a grandma came in. We paid and oh man here is where the language barrier got bad. I think we understood them well but the babcia (grandma) kept getting involved and we were all going to pay separate and then she started collecting all the money and pooling it. The owner yelled in Croatian for her to stop confusing things! Haha! Oh man! We asked about getting to the airport and arranged a ride for 150 kuna at 6 am on July 1st, no easy task with three ppl (gf, bf, and babcia getting lost in translation from our english to theirs)! It was all good and then we asked if there was space for our luggage in his car, and the babcia opens up the closets in the room and starts showing them to us, haha SO FUNNY!

Ok so after settling in for a bit we headed to the supermarkets 3 mins north of us! After a little bit of comparison shopping between 2 of them we arrived home with fresh bread, cream cheese with chives spread, oranges, beer, chocolate, water, nutella type stuff, delicje type cookies. Etc. We chowed down and then headed for town after more lazing around. I noticed the German mega supermarket (by European standards) chain LIDL on the main road to the centro (city centre) and David pointed out how happy the sight of food made me. We scoped out some sweet buys for dinner later on the way back! Nice! We also passed two Tommy's (like the one in Dubrovnik). High 5! So Oldtown Split was pretty cool looking and all but not too much to do. There was the old Roman ruins and 3000 year old mini Black sphinx that was brough there, the main promenade with polish concrete walkways and sunset boulevard type beautiful and lower to the ground palm trees. We did the walking tour but really there was not that much to see. We though we'd pay 5 Kuna to see the crypts under the masoleum and do something different. It was basically a small circular room with one altar with a statue of the Virgin Mary and some bells in the corner. There was even some construction/other random items being stored there. HORRIBLE! Haha, I guess you get what you pay for, although most of the cool attractions we have seen have been free and way way better than this. Well with nothing left to do we though we'd check out a Croation mcdonald's to see what was on this country's value menu! We couldn't find it but met a group of Swedish travellers and talked for a bit. We did some more walking around in vain and just gave up going back the main route to our apartment. David and I stopped at Tommy's for super cold refreshing orangata (orange soda), david's favourite Lasko beer, and some cherry tomatoes. Then at LIDL we got two big sticks of salami sausage, baguettes (30% off end of day discount I may add), pickles, mexican tuna salad,and good plastic cutlery. We hurried back and staked out some places to watch Spain take on Germany in case our crappy 13 inch tv and antenna failed us. We got back and set up the channel to the croation pregame show understanding every tenth word. The food was yummy. We ate so much. The game started and we watched 5 mins in but the ball was hard to make out amidst salt and pepper static. We adjusted the set some more and got some good picture. Germany did lots of passing early but Spain had the real chances with a header early on hitting the post and the rebound kick going wide. The Spanish passing was just brilliant as was their first goal in which the attack races around the defender one side to the other and almost impossibly chips the boal skimming over the goalkeeper to the left corner! We watched the rest of the game from bed, and well when I awoke it was the final whistle or something as the germans looked sad and spain celebrated. I don't know if there were any other goals but at this point I was so hot and sweaty in the room that I went for a cold shower. I guess there are more ppl here than I thought as there is constant traffic to the one shared washroom. Outside in the streets some croations are being boisterous and having a loud social gathering. The room has no AC! It is really warm, the shower did help. But I really needed to type at least type 2 days of journals and I have succeeded so I bid you goodnight! I think in desperation the earlier entries June 18 to low mid 20s will have to be quick summaries, probably the way they should be! Anyone at home reading, I miss you all and am so torn. I love it here, but I love it more at home with all of you! Only 6 weeks to go!!! Ciao ciao!

PS it's 12:44 AM, and I am sweaty again. People are being loud inside and out, I am sticking to the bed! = (

The place costs 11 CAD a night tho, and if one is to look at the silver lining, this are the comfiest pillows yet, not lumpy to the max like the last several. Gnite for realz. I think everyone else is having a hard time falling or staying asleep. Dobranoc!

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Dubrovnik, Croatia

June 28, 2008

Awoke to the sounds of birds chirping in our "apartment." I slept pretty well, except for awaking at 4 am to go to the washroom and take off the shorts I had fallen asleep in at 9:30-10 PM last night! All the walking and sun really wear you out. Apparently there was a thunderstorm last night and thankfully Ania unplugged my laptop as the outlets aren't grounded! Hi 5!!! I had some Muslix and actually quite good milk and some multi-fruit aka mostly peach yogurt. I decided to do some more prania and hang it on the clothesline outside the balcony overlooking the port, the bridge, the Konzume (and according to the sweet lady we stay with, everything else, as it is within 200 m!). We're all kind of just vegging, David's looking at maps, the girls were doing journals and crosswords. In the background is channel with unknown music and a video of the main street of the Old town within the walls, and we had some fun just watching the tourists and how they moved in the streets. We're planning to go to the beach near the old town but again are in no particular rush. David just pointed out that we haven't seen a single bum in this town, it's so nice! The rest of us vaguely remember seeing a beggar outside the city walls. I got the water bottles ready and we headed downstairs to see Jele and pay her and refill our water bottles with her filtered tap. We all had 200 Kuna bills so we needed 20 kuna change each which she had. It was kind of cool because she was enjoying a Polish type lunch, rosol (chicken soup) and pomidorowa salata (tomotoe salad). We thanked her for everything and were reassured that the water in our apartment was the same (her sink was full of dishes so we didn't want to interrupt her lunch anymore than we had).

Ok so after doing some more laundry and doing a hybrid sink and shower system, then clothesline it, David and I watched the Season One Finale of Dexter (episode 12) and man it was intense! Very dramatic and lots of finger tapping suspense! By this time the water had chilled nicely and the girls had had enough of napping. We walked to Lapada or the beaches beside the huge five star (presumably) resort. It was a pretty cool beach on smooth cliff rocks but had tons of nooks and crannies carved into it which some people used to store their belongins for the day. We hurriedly put on some suntan lotion and went for a cool swim. Getting in was a little hard on a the algae coated rocks but the water was beautiful clear and turned from a pale golden golden to turquoise to deep aquatic blue. This is much the same for the most of the Croatian coastline we saw on our way to Split the next day. Also there are beaches everywhere!!! David and I swam around the left side and discovered some cliffs where the local croatian boys were jumping from. I jumped first and tested the depth of a higher jump for some Aussies I think. I didn't think I was that reliable but I couldn't touch the bottom so I guess that was good enough for them. They jumped from almost twice the height I did but unlike our rock where the top was the furthest hanging over the sea, their rock required jumping out a few meters further to clear the bottom safely. It was pretty cool to watch their 15 m or so jump from the bottom. My ears made a loud pop from only 7or 8 m so I could only imagine how much it would hurt the legs, buttocks, and members (as they proclaimed after the jump). After some hesitation and what seemed an eternity just swimming in the waters below David finally jumped in doing a tucked running man. We swam further left around the cliffs to a public and private beach and climbed the stairs back to our sanctuary between the large cliffs in our own small bay, where the girls lay sunttanning with the resort in the background. We told them about the beach we discovered since it had sand and had a quick lunch of Wasa extra fibre thins and some beer! Yum! David and I then headed out for a hike up the SRD at an elevation of 408 m. It is some sort of abandoned station from the war we presume with a large radio tower and former gondola lift towering above the Old city. We were pretty efficient in finding the right paths but nonetheless the sweat poured from - well, every pore in our body. We stopped for water breaks along the way and finally found the entrance to the trail. It was a whole bunch of zigzags back and forth and a cross and roman numeral were on every cut across the very steep mountain, we didn't know what the significance was but assumed it had something to do with the war- very keen insight indeed. The top always seemed so close, and we always guessed the wrong number of zigzags than actually remained. The higher we climbed the more magnificent the view of Dubrovnik below! Totally worth it! We were welcomed to the top by a random cow just grazing there for no apparent reason! We walked through a tall abandoned fortress of sorts to the large cross that overlooked the city. Behind the mountain was more mountains and desert like terrain. At the cross we snapped tons and tons of pictures. We then took a prolonged rest in the shade behind the cross and enjoyed more beer! We really aren't drinking that much, please don't get the wrong impression. Everything we have is split in two! Communism is a great system! Anyways there is a winding car road that also takes you to the top so we sort of wish we took a cab like some other tourists! Later some private tour pulled up with some American teenagers. We asked the preppy tour guide who was wearing the pinkest polo ever and the largest sunglasses ever to take a pic of us, and I think the girls sort of made fun of our poses. It's all good, David and I are never ashamed to try a different pose or do something risque for the sake of a funny pic. Alright well after seeing a few groups head up and down, we decided to do the same. We ran down some of the zigzags and passed a zealous photographer (no, not me! Just kidding) who was really burning up the hill. Below the treeline and one zigzag away we saw a couple just heading up who asked us how far to the summit, we guessed an hour or so, but I said that they could quit at anytime and the views would still be sweet! The lady said her significant other never quits - poor girl... So David and I really made good time back to the beach(es) looking for Ania and Liz. With no sign of them we hurried back to the apartment stopping at Tommy's for some refreshments. We got a 2 L plastic bottle of Lowenbrau, an imported Bavarian beer from the Munich area that is super good and two bags of Paprika chips (seemingly the only flavour of "crisps" in Europe). It was our turn to cook so I quickly put on the water for the pasta and frozen mediterranean veggies which had a sauce with them too, so when we dumped them in we saved our broth for the noodles to get extra flavour. The leftover spaghetti from the night before burned quickly when heated and was promptly discarded! Haha, oh my details! Ok so basically David finished up while I showered and the meal was really good. We finished watching Beverly Hills Ninja and David was really amazed that I gobbled down a second bowl of pasta and then some chips, etc. I was out when Naked Gun 2 ½ was a little bit in and then ended but awoke at the same time David did and we watched some flick about Tim Allen changing his depressing life around when he gets beat up by a jerk who stole his tenure parking space. Oh and I ran around the apartment packing up all my stuff and made a loud crash once or twice= girls not happy. I was so proud of all the clean laundry folded and packed, and just being organized for once. Ok so back to Tim Allen- It was a pretty good movie but that girls got mad that it was too loud and that we were still up. The "compromise" was us sitting really close for the last 20 mins in front of the tv with barely audible audio. Haha, totally worth it! Tim Allen goes from being a schmuck to the cool guy at work... sweet!

Adios amigos and family!
Maciej
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Dubrovnik, Croatia

June 27, 2008

Sleeping on a boat is cool. Yesterday at one point David and I (bunk buddies) awoke to a rollercoaster like sensation as we were dipped up and down and side to side fairly substantially. We thought for sure that Ania would wake up and have a panic attack as she is deathly afraid of ferries and the first thing she does when she gets on is to check for life jackets (none in the room on Jadrolinja). I had to finish transferring the pics off the camera, and since it was interrupted last time I had to search for what was new and what had already transferred, I did so very meticulously because I would hate to lose any pics, it's a rotten feeling! I joined the gang a little later for breakfast but admired the hazy mountains outside illuminated by the brilliant morning sun. David and I concluded that it was the best breakfast to date. The typical bread, meet, cheese slices affair, but with those cool triangle cheeses and muslix and decent OJ and the best tea ever! We hurried back to the room as we were docking at any moment. While finishing packing a lady prompted us that the ferry would be leaving in 10 mins! So despite leaving the room later than the other three I made a quick exit through the car deck and waited for the others so we could clear customs. Ania was just overtaken with joy at the sight of another stamp in her passport book. It's getting rarer as the EU grows and borderfree travel ensues. I asked the rent a car lady for directions because her english was so great. It took her a while to think where Padre Perice was but she finally got her finger on it. We walked past the police station on the main street almost 2 km from the port with all our gear in tow (despite the Nikolina rooms reservation advertising 200 m from port for which Ania had prepared in her mind an angry entrance speech). Once we got to the Hospital I knew we were too far so David and I walked a street around and gave up since no one knew where this place was. We asked at the police station only to discover that the clerk was actually the neighbour of the lady we were staying with. Wow, talk about coincidence in a city of 55, 000 plus many more tourists when cruise ships bring in tens of thousands of them! So we made the walk back which was luckily downhill now, past the all to familiar yachts and farmer's market. We finally found the street which was a narrow walkway splitting into another, up many steps in the corner of the farmer's market. Quite a challenging find! Jele Kulas was our host here, and the place was spectacular. A beautiful garden welcomed us and the only thing more cheerful was the owner Jele. She quickly welcomed us in with rather good English and promptly sat us down and gave us some really cold and refreshing water and Biscotti type snacks. She offered us tea and coffee as well, but that's the last thing you want when its 30 C + outside. We told her the story of bad directions from the port and she wouldn't stop apologizing. She showed us the balcony and said see, look you can see the port from here. And every other landmark we told her apart she would say, you can also see that from here, everything is within 200 m! "Oh, I'm sorry", I'm so sorry." The place had a lot of character with a big display of wines, ornamental paintings, and the white embroidered table cloths and low coffee tables so characteristic of Poland and of Europe in general. The other Americans staying there hadn't vacated the apartment yet so we decided to visit the Konzume supermarket and find food to cook in our apartment kitchen. Jele was right that the food was expensive here. Some things costing much more than in Canada and at best on par with a Canadian convenience store. We split the cooking over two nights. Girls the first night and boys the other. So we planned for spaghetti the first night, and thosy tube noodles with a bit different sauce for the next. David and I also picked out 6 Croatian beers, bananas, cereal, milk, and hygiene products which are more expensive here (now we know why so many men stunk on the Greek Metro). I finally picked up some hair and body wash, and david needed some deodorant and menthols for his recent cough and congestion he had developed. Ok wow, way too much detail here. I probably am spending more time writing this than it took for it happen!

Ok so we got back and unloaded our groceries and finally got to our apartment. It was pretty sweet. Two single beds on either side of the room, and a queen for the two queens of our party : P

We had a nice lunch of pasztet (meat spread) which was actually Bologne! And some melba toast and extra fibre rich wasa bread ( I think 24 G fibre per serving! Amazing! It will keep our colons healthy for the trip!). We sliced up some tomatoe with it and enjoyed our first Croation beer actually spelled Fresssh! It was a bit too bitter but not too bad! Ok so it was around 2ish by the time we were ready to leave. We walked down to the currency exchange place but after overshooting it we finally found it and found the best exchange of 4.49 kuna per 1 CAD, with no commission. Then we walked to what was the bus terminal at the end of the port when I realized my charger for the Casio camera wasn't in my sling bag! I went back to the apartment and unloaded everything from the bag for fear it would fall out and ensured I didn't lose anything ( I didn't for once!). I also left behind the compact camera here in the process. Rejoined Team EAT aka NEEAT and learned we had to walk back the total opposite way to the bus terminal. We bought our tickets to split which were 115 Kuna discounted from 143 since it was a 7 AM departure (so early...sighs, but price first function second, right?).

Ok so we hopped on the 8 Kuna bus and hit up the Old town. The bus was so hot and sweaty and packed. Croatians were yelling at the bus driver to turn on the "Climata" aka the AC. Polish helps a little in understanding! The old town was even more beautiful than new Dubrovnik), clean, flowers everywhere! Super nice! There are bushes of flowers lining the main street of Dubronvnik too for the record. Mama, You'd like it here! We saw an ancient fountain from the 1400s I think that drew water from a well 11 km away and was a giant circle with faucets all around to drink or cool down from. We also saw the "Oldest pharmacy" which is misnombre as it is JUST Europe's third oldest. We walked amongst the narrow winding streets for a couple of hours. It was cool seeing the side of the town facing the water. That's where all the permanent residents live. There was a tiny park in the middle of this and some small soccer nets in the alley ways which would make for a sweet FIFA street type game. Everyone pretty exhausted and really really sweaty. I couldn't remember feeling hotter even in Greece and Italy. The walking in the morning exposed to the sun was brutal at least there was a fair bit of shade in old town. We were pitched some boat excursions to the three nearby islands and even were offered one with unlimited drinks and juices, etc and a lunch for 200 kuna or less about 45 bucks CAD. We grabbed some gelati to try to beat the heat. I got Pina Colada and Melon but David's Sour Apple, Liz's pisstachio, and Ania's Mango were all delicious. Reminds me of getting Gelati at Leo's in Winnipeg. Good times! ; )

We were able to climb the towers and walls around the city for 20 Kuna, making use of ISIC student discount from the regular 50 Kuna rate! Sweet! The views were magnificent! The old city is quite tiny but amazingly unique, there is nothing like it! At one point in the day it reminded me of Aladdin as a street rat because of the varying heights of buildings, the small alleyways, and even those umbrella or shades that he would slide down. It wasn't dirty or anything, so don't get that idea!

Ania was super thirsty so we tried hurrying to get some water. I took tons and tons of pics so I really hope they turn out. After descending to the walls Ania finally learned that David and I had some water left and gulped it hurriedly and we decided to call it a day around 7 PM or so. We hopped aboard the 1A back to our place, only a couple of km away. But with aching feet and legs, and beads of sweat dripping down every body surface the 8 Kuna was well spent. The girls quickly prepared some nice spaghetti with mediterreanean frozen veggies mixed in while the dudes drank Croation beer and watched Poland lose to the Dominican in volleyball and some 90210 in which a schoolbus travelled through a garbage truck with a drunk driver behind the wheel because of a higher "power." The rest of the evening was very laidback. I fell asleep before I could even type any words into my journal. The meal was really satisfying and the beds cozy.


This apartment is kind of cool! I can definitely see myself living like this... in the future! Don't celebrate yet Mama and Tata. I like it at home and can see a few more years there before I spring for total independence. It's comforting to know that I am capable of doing it - with women cooking for me! Just jokes! David and I will give it a go tonight (june 28th and the Iron chef challenge will be ON!). It was pretty funny tho. Because as I sat there drinking Croation beer and watching the volleyball game, I said Ah, this is the life. Zrob mi obiad kobieta! (Make me dinner woman!). Disclaimer: I am not sexist in anyway and was merely joking! We all shared a good laugh tho!

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Corfu, Greece

June 25, 2008

Awoke to Liz's alarm clock and I had no idea where it was coming from but apparently it near my nightstand and the whole time I was thiniking JUST TURN IT OFF!! I got up around 8 and still had to pack up as last night I fell asleep from sun and activity exhaustion yesterday (kayak). So I started gathering all my clothing from last night's laundry and took a shower with 15 mins to go before checkout (9 AM). When there was 2 mins to go I went into overdrive and just stuffed things in quickly and did a quick room check. Checked out and found out breakfast was not included for that morning but David and I were defiant and headed down anyways after one last OCD check of the room that I suggested. I threw the sheets off the beds and all over the room and David thought the maid suspected we were thieves raiding the room!Ok so anyhow, at the beach breakfast place we loaded up on our 4th SAME breakfast with small toast, cheese, deli meats, nutella, apricot and strawberry jams, and tea. I also wanted to try the yogurt since I was sick of eggs for the last 3 days! I was afraid they would ask for my pink registration card but they didn't and the delicious plain yogurt supplemented with the peach mix... yum yum. Ok well I headed back upstairs to the lobby area where it was air conditioned, after seeing the group off to the beach. I have this frantic desire to really catch up on this journal asap! Taking a little longer than expected but remember, success by the mile is a trial, success by the inch is a cinch! Ok so after some emails, travel blogging, and some general surfing, David joined me upstairs, for an episode of Dexter.

More to come... not all entries finished
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Corfu, Greece

June 22, 2008


Now I am waiting for the shuttle to Pink Palace from the Hostel Aphrodite! We were thinking at the beach man we need a cooler bag, well sure enough while buying a six pack of water for 1.50 euro we noticed a stack of 5 L heineken mini kegs with cooler backpacks!!! So sweet! I love it! It was only 16 euro or about 27 or 28 bucks, so easily way cheaper than here. We got two bottles of vodka for 5 euro each (approx 8 dollars) and an ouzo 26 for under 5 bucks CDN! Haha! This is for 4 ppl over 4 days! So I promise not to go overboard- parents don't worry I haven't had more than 1 or 2 drinks in a sitting! I do miss the cheap wine and cheese of Paris... mmm A bottle of wine and wheel of Brie Cheese for 5 bucks - does it get any better?
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Paris, France

June 17, 2008 Day 1 in Europe! *WARNING: I talked about little details too much in this entry, and will refine my blogging process as time goes on! I

promise!!!* Please don't tune out becaue the first few entries are subpar and lengthy!

Also note the funky formatting in use here. I think my time is better spent just pouring words onto the computer screen recounting the epic tales of European voyage. Just think of it as poetic- stanzas that terminate chaotically mid sentence. "Organized chaos"

Arrived in Paris, the city of L'Amour Toujours which we later discover is true with every second pair making out passionately in any restaurant, under the

eiffel tower, the subway, EVERYWHERE!!! So we the flight was pretty smooth! The inflight entertainment was awesome! They had those big touchscreens that had

like 20 different movies, 1000s of songs it seemed, tv shows, everything!!! I think I tried watching Vantage Point but since my headphone jack was busted and

because I was too tired and started falling asleep I got less than 20 mins in and went to sleep. I think I was asleep both for the takeoff and landing which

I never do! Upon landing we took a few pics to commemorate the first ones in a new continent! The airport had this weird cylinder building you had to walk up

from the landing gates and then the actual baggage pickup area of the terminal looked really old and rundown. It was really cool to hear everyone talking

French and to see all the French advertisements including this one that we saw everywhere that had half a business person and half that person being dressed

as a rockstar. And then this other one with two dudes in 80s style basketball clothing. Haha, I do remember weird things as I asked Liz and Ania if they

remembered seeing this (writing this on June 23). So we waited for our bags (which didnt go to oversized like in wpg after asking in English - later I would

struggle but speak only french at any and every opportunity) and apparently we weren't the only smart backpackers to put backpacks into rugged air canada

plastic bags, and I was standing over the ledge where the baggage first came out and anytime I saw plastic I was overjoyed but then only to have my hopes of

safe baggage destroyed as each one that passed by did not belong to us. Soon enough our bags came through and we loaded them up onto to carts and were off.

The ladies needed to use the washroom and the lineup was huge so we asked the security guards if there was another one beyond the luggage collection area.

Salle de Bains is a French Canadian term I think because now in hindsight I would always use it to ask and I got the Quoi? (WHAT?) blank stare from every

French person, The signs called say Toillette (pronounced TWA-LET). The french would continue to get better and better as it was used more and more, so I

wasn't shy like I would be - say in Canada, when asked to speak french and be put on the spot at Cora's (cough, cough... MEGAN!). Ok enough of the useless

details, this is not a good start to establish a devoted readership. We used the printouts that Ania made of directions to the hostel and knew we needed to

board some kind of RER train. I also read in the book that James Csupak aka Chewy, lent me that we could take a bus. We found out that the buses were 15 euro

which is pretty steep for a 37 km voyage to the neary city. So we kind of run around like the most naive of tourists asking vendors and workers in the

airport and outside at the bus step where to go, what to take, etc. I even tried talking to a taxi driver since a cab might've been cheaper split 4 ways. The

french was getting slightly better but at times I thought to myself ????? How you say????? I eventually learned that cabs today would cost at least 100 euro

to the city because of a strike or holiday in service? That's what another lady told me afterwards in a half Enlgish/half french conversation. So eventually

we found the right bus and boarded it! IT was brutally slow! We snapped some pics of a cool stadium and the Eiffel tower in the distant. Otherwise it just

dragged on and on! And finally we arrived in Garde de Lyon. This was our first experience backpacking and the first time we strapped them on for a journey of

more than a few m! I rocked the double backpack and felt like a pregnant women with the huge lump on my waist. It was also the first time the human GPS came

out and we did pretty well finding the place. Had the unfortunate experience of passing a dirty little square that was being cleaned and the street cleaning machine reaked of the rotten fruit and waste it was cleaning up. Waited in line for a bit at the front desk of the hostel but soon enough made the long trek to the fourth which was actually the 5th floor because in France the main floor is floor zero! After freshening up a bit and failing with the paris city free internet (figured it was the static IP I set back home in the McDonald's with free wifi the night before leaving paris) we headed out to walk the streets. We needed to pick up

some water so we did just that at the smallest grocery store you have ever seen run by a Chinese pair. We also saw some 2 euro sparkling white wine and

couldn't resist and so we were off again! We were a little confused as to where to go to the metro as we wanted to catch some of the city (due to the delayed

flight and long bus ride it was already after 5 PM!!!). Walking around for a bit we did a full circle to Garde de Lyon where our bus first dropped us off,

oops. I whipped out the dSLR pretty frequently and ironically I was a little tired of the excessive photos the group wanted to take but david insisted that

afterwards u always wish you had more. I used to take pictures fanatically but have just coaste the last few years, but soon I was persuaded and now snap 10

pics of the same thing all a little differently since the camera can fire up to 6 per second. So I am slowly learning to play with the settings and getting

more creative as the trip goes on! Alright where were we? I usually suck at directions but this trip I've been doing pretty well not to get as lost and we

found the Ledru-Rolin street with metros at either end. We didn't listen to David's idea of visiting the nearby supermaket there (man did we pay with hunger later!). Liz also noticed a needle laying on the street (and along with the many homeless ppl sleeping on streets that I noticed on the bus from the aiport), I think Paris is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever seen. I mean you see the cleanup crews with their yellow vests everywhere but it still smells and looks dirty!) At first figuring out the paris metro was a little bit daunting but a very animated and eccentric

ticket clerk sort of helped us out. On our way we went! We got off near the Louvre to begin our walking/metro evening tour. We followed the Seine by the

river and made our way to the main Louvre courtyard and there was some kind of fancy gala event going on with traditional french uniformed officers lining

the velvet curtains into the glass pyramid Louvre entrance. We were hoping to catch the discounted evening pass for a quick 2 hour runthrough but it was

reserved the aristocrats this night, in their fancy suits and evening wear. No worries tho. We continued past a cool arch into the Royal Gardens I think.

Took some really funny pics and continued up the way to the Obelisk and L'arc de Triumphe although it was many km's down to both but we snapped a few photos

in the distance. The walk up the wide fine gravel path was funny, David quickly pointed out all the romance in the evening air of the city of L'Amour

Toujours. Every second bench a couple going at it as though it was a contest. 1 is the loneliest number! = (

So we walked back to the Seine and across. Quite exhausted at this point and in need of some serious food. So feeling the Kebab desire we found a quaint

little place maybe 3 m wide and 10 m deep and were enticed in since the owner sliced us up a few pieces of the kebab roast and they came with fries so we

were sold. We watched the Euro cup match briefly. I honestly forget which teams were playing but I suppose it doesn't matter that much! Ok with some greasy

food filling our bellies we were ready to leave and the store owner charged us 5 euro each, and later i remembered the outside price saying 4.50 euro. I

guess he was just mad we didnt buy drinks. 50 euro cents can either get you nothing or go a long way in Europe. Depends what is cheap locally. Reminds me of

the Russel Peters skit, you save 50 cents here, 50 cents there, and you go to dollar store to buy yourself something nice...

Go team EAT! The original acronym was Europe Adventure trip, but NEEAT works too, Northern + Eastern European Adventure Trip!

Ok I quickly checked and it turns out the match was france vs italy as I thought, and fairly significant as we were in FRANCE! I took me a while to realize

why so many ppl were carrying drinks in the streets and crowding in cafe's and bars! I forget exactly where we ate our Kebabs but it was a restaurant

district on the way to Notre Dame Cathedral across the Seine from the Louvre and more East. Small streets, bustling night life! It was cool beans! I remember

as we walked along home to our hostel past the Notre Dame cathedral, I would check the score at the major bars to see how france was doing, first down 1

nothing and than 2 nothing to the Italians. The fans were so loud at every french chance or show of good defense. Really funny to watch! Haha and now with the whole dirty paris theme I remember the mini garbage truck going down the little street where we ate kebabs, and will affectionately refer to it as Kebab Alley now, changing those little green bags that are everywhere in paris hanging freely as opposed to actual garbage bins like most places. Wow I remember weird stuff. This is why I dread travel bloggin, I just go on and on. I will try brevity one day...

Ok so eventually we made it to Notre Dame Cathedral and a few photos later continued up the street past a massive throng of people pouring out of the church.

Not too sure what the occasion was.

By the time we got back to our hostel, really walking quite far in total. We were dead tired. I think I crashed from 10pm to 12am or so. I suddenly awoke

with the desire to communicate with those back home. Around the time of checking in earlier that day I heard Mcdonald's had free wifi so I walked there to

check it out but it was walkthrough only as the seated area of the "restaurant". I felt sketchy pulling out a laptop in a dimly lit Paris street late at

night. Got back to the hotel and fumbled around with the laptop for a while trying to set up an alarm clock as liz couldn't find hers! Eventually gave up and

went to bed!
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Flight to Montreal went smoothly, and was surrounded by Polish people
on the flight. Sat next to a girl from Poznan, Poland who went to high
school for a year here and worked 3 jobs too! I think her name was
Monika. Don't worry Megan, just friendly conversation! Besides she had
a pillow that had a collage of her boyfriend painted on it! It was
relieving to see because it seemed like she was trying hard to hit on
me, I guess she was just very outgoing! Anyways I spent most of the
flight watching Jumper! It was the perfect travel movie because the
main character has a house with 1000s of pictures of places around the
world he has jumped to. So he goes to London for the night and slips
out of a girl's house in the wee hours of the morning to go surfing,
and so fourth. I wish it wasn't a day of flying to go overseas, but
rather instant teleporting! That would be so sweet! Anywho, Got to
Montreal the plain, old fashioned way! And I tried catching the
Poland-Crotia game, but we had traversed into an"international zone" of
Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport and couldn't go back to the Timmy's,
close to where the game was being shown. The great thing about this
line is that it constantly shifts. So the airport is divided into maybe
4 or 5 departure gates and then sliding doors, and if a flight takes
off in that zone all traffic backwards is halted! So we could finally
get back at 6 PM to buy some cheap and delicious Timmy's drinks and
sammis. We had a funny encounter with the French security guard
patrolling the Canada-International zone shifting line... he said going
back would not be possible, and started to get all hostile when we just
asked a question, NO, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE! That is why they pay me? Do
you think I stand here for free? Haha, and the boys and girls happened
to approach him at separate times and we later met up again to learn
that he tells everyone that! SO FUNNY!

Anyways we were delayed
and delayed. And finally left almost 3.5 hours later than expected
after already waiting 3 hours for the layover. Haha, I asked if they
were giving out vouchers or something, and the lady said they only do
that for delays over 3 hours, so I remind her "we were supposed to
leave at 7:55, it is past 11:15 now!"

That's all for this day,
the entries will be more exciting I promise! I'll add some pics to this
and catch up because we are already up to June 19 sitting typing this
in the Hotel Aristotelis in Athens, Greece! Finally Free WIFI! You'll
hear about my fiasco getting to Athens soon! So there's a hook for you!

Love you and miss you all!
Maciej
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

June 16, 2008

Woke up @ 7 and still packed was packing some
things. Baked a pizza to take with me, and was just obsessively
checking to see what else I had forgotten or could bring. I tried to do
it right and pack light, but for me the norm for one or two week trips
had been to pack way too much clothes, some of which would not even be
worn. Said goodbye to the parents and I am sure I will be homesick.
They've helped me out a lot the last few days to make sure I am ready.
Mama, Tomek, Tata, and Piotrek, tesknie za was!

Arrive at the
airport 10:20 AM (20 mins late of the official EAT crew meetup since
the morning was spent looking for PSP AC adapters! Peter if you are
reading this, where did you put mine!? So I decided to go PSPless).
Anyways I was under the impression the flight was to leave at 11:45 but
it was actually 11:15, so by the time all was said and done with
checking in baggage and such it was quarter to eleven and boarding had
commenced. David had the heaviest bag and is now the princess of the
trip, while I claimed the lightest traveler award weighing in at just
over 14 kilos! The plans of breakfast with Megan at a sit down place
(Denny's,etc) which had turned into a quick Timmy's lunch, now turned
into a 2 minute bagel and green tea cramfest while Greg Skubisz
captured the magic on his shiny, new Olympus dSLR.

Saying
goodbye to Megan was hard. 2 WHOLE MONTHS!!! What was I thinking??? I
think Scooby might've yelled get a room at one point. Luckily we were
able to see each other through security and have a deaf conversation
throught the terminal glass! We also were the last to board the plane!
And so we are off!!!
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