TravelStream™ news feed for member tom_white_5588 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tom_white_5588 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:53:39 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1233380460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1233380460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1233380460/tpod.html Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:53:39 -0500 Exchange to CBS & surrounding journey

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Boston, Massachusetts, United States

31st:

Arrived - Luke in
Montreal

Went to Applebee's

Went out drinking with
Luke's housemates

 

1st:

Got up late

Superbowl - Cardinals
vs Steelers - close game, Steelers win. Ordered in pizza and wings

 

2nd:

Washing

Blizzard

Basketball at BC

 

3rd

Visited the city

Soccer

 

4th

The Liberty Trail

Shopping

 

5th

Harvard

Eric - blue ribbon
food

Celtics v Lakers Game
at bar with 500 beers

Frat party

 

6th

Morning with Eric  
Hockey Game at BC

drinking games at the
kennel

going to club - german
passport

 

7th

concord & Lexington

The Castle session

 

8th

celtics spurs

bus to ny
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New York City, New York, United States

24th:

Omri's for a rest day.


 

25th:

Moved into apartment

Shopping at Whole
Foods

Watch NBA

  Lisa & her mum arrived

Amy arrived back

Out for dinner at
Shake Shack

 

26th:

Tickets at Times
Square

Century 21 for
shopping

Chinatown - dragons
parade and fire crackers

Vietnamese for lunch -
pho

Brooklyn Bridge

Wall St

Phantom of the Opera -
Amy etc went to Perfect Crime

 

 

27th:

Max Brenner for
breakfast - 3 egg omelette with ham, cheese, roasted capsicum, onions, &
toast with chocolate sauce, peanut butter - declicious and so filling - Max
Brenner himself was there!

Attempted to get
tickets for a play at Times Square. Only Amy was successful with The Little Mermaid

David Letterman show

 

28th:

Late morning

Tickets at Times
Square

Sylvia's for lunch -
cornbread, smothered chicken, collared greens and macaroni and cheese for $7.99
- lunch special

American Museum of
Natural History

Back to apartment for
a rest

The Lion King

 

29th:

Staten Island Ferry - Statue
of Liberty

WTC site

Omiri Dinner

 

 

30th:

Central Park  & Zoo

Katz's deli

NBA store

MoMA

 

31st:

Bus to Boston




 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1232428200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1232428200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1232428200/tpod.html Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:12:12 -0500 Exchange to CBS & surrounding journey

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Tues 20th:

After catching the
Chinatown Bus to the centre of Philly, Amy and I caught the subway out to West
Philadelphia (born and raised...) to meet up with Vijay, Katie and Dave. We hung
around at Vijay's place for a while before going out for dinner. We went to a
really good Thai Restaurant, then went to get dessert at Ben & Jerry's (an
ice cream place). I decided to go all out and got a cookie Sunday with
chocolate ice cream, hot chocolate fudge, m&m's and Rheeses pieces (like
m&m's but filled with peanut butter instead of chocolate). It was sooo
rich, I felt kind of sick after it. 
I then went to stay with Dave and his roommates while Amy stayed with
Vijay and Katie.

 

Wed 21st:

We planned to get up
early and do some sightseeing in Philly as it was Katie's last day and she
hadn't seen any of the city while she had been staying with Vijay. Amy and I
got up and were ready, but Katie and Vijay decided to sleep in instead.

Anyway, Amy and I
headed off to catch the subway downtown to do some sightseeing. After picking
up a map, the first stop was to get some breakfast. There wasn't much choice
around so I ended up getting a gross McDonalds 'deluxe breakfast'. It didn't
taste anywhere near as good as it looked in the picture, but I didn't feel as
bad eating McDonalds as it is genuine 'American food'.

After breakfast, we
went and saw Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence was
signed) and did a free tour there. We then went and checked out the Liberty
Bell and took a few photos. We hung out there for a while, sitting and watching
the school groups roll through and waiting for Katie to come join us.

We went and did some
shopping while we waited. I went to Ross's, a place where they sell discounted
brand names, and picked up a nice CK shirt, a pair of jeans, and 2 jumpers for
fairly cheap. For someone who hates shopping, I think this is a pretty good
effort.

Katie then arrived and
we had a Philly cheese steak for lunch before going and seeing the Liberty Bell
again with Katie. We did a little more shopping and then went back to Vijay's
place to have a nap and then get ready for the night of fraternity events.

Amy bought candy

Frat house and bar

 

Thurs:

Recovery day

Breakfast roll

Explored campus

Philly cheese steak

Rest some more

Etheopian restaurant

 

Fri

Liberty Bell,
Independence hall, Penn's landing, Betsy Ross house, shopping with Omri

Koch's deli

Philly Cheese steak -
Pat's and Geno's

Drive back to New York
with Omri
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1232259600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1232259600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1232259600/tpod.html Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:21:51 -0500 Exchange to CBS & surrounding journey

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New York City, New York, United States

Day 1:

We had arranged to
meet up with Luke Mulcahy at Penn Station after we arrived back in New York, so
we caught the subway there to meet him. Luke was in New York for about 3hrs as
he had to wait for his bus to Washington DC after getting a bus down from Boston.
He was on his way down to stay with Tom Liu for the Inauguration and the
celebrations surrounding that.

We met him and then
went to a bar for a couple of drinks. So far I have had no trouble being served
anywhere despite being under 21. So much for the strict underage drinking laws
in the US. I guess I look old??? We had a couple of Budweiser beers - not bad.
After Luke went off to get his bus, we caught the subway up to 103rd
St and went to check into our hostel.

When we first checked
in, there was someone else occupying Amy's bed, so we went down to sort it out
and they ended up changing us to another room that had less people in it - free
upgrade! We then meet up with Dan, Chandrika, and her friends Laruen and
Candice. Sitting in their room I had a Colt 45 (Malt Liquor) beer and we talked
about what we had each been up to since we last saw each other in Rome.

After that, we went to
get dinner and then went back to the hostel to get some sleep.

 

Day 2:

Harlem --- Seinfeld
Diner - Tom's Restaurant --- Columbia University ---"Excuse me! Yeah that's
right - you didn't see me because I'm invisible. Read about that one in your
history books." --- Bought some new shoes --- Apollo Theatre - Harlem
Hallelujah

Times Square ---
tickets attempt ---ESPN Zone

Rockerfeller Centre -
met up with Dan etc, observation deck by day, dusk, night

Appelby's for dinner

 

Day 3:

Times Square to get
student tickets for Chicago.

Breakfast, Amy buying
a new phone

Madison Square Garden
for NY Knicks vs Chicago Bulls

Walked around  Manhatten Mall, Chinatown, Little
Italy, Soho, to the water to see the Statue of Liberty but couldn't see it.

Back to Times Square
to meet up with Dan etc for a bite to eat & then the show.

Chicago

Back to hostel

 

Day 4:

Lazy morning, internet
etc,

Bus to Philly 
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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

Day 1:

Arrived, checked into
the hostel, went to get some dinner at a Thai Restaurant, went and saw the
White House by night, went to sleep.

 

Day 2:

Capitol early in the
morning. Free tour.

Went into House &
Senate. Saw the farewell speeches of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

Supreme Court

Smithsonian Institute
- Air and Space Museum

National Archives -
Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Constitution

Hostel for a nap

National Theatre to
enter lottery to get discounted tickets to West Side Story - unfortunately
didn't get them.

Met up with Tom Liu
for dinner in Chinatown - really good & big.

Drinks at Sports Bar
at Verizon Centre (where Washington Wizards play), hoping to watch the game.
Found out the game was the next day.

Back to hostel.

 

Day 3:

Up late

Went to Georgetown to
meet Tom for a tour of Georgetown University campus & Georgetown itself.
Very impressive campus.

Went and saw all the
monuments - went up the Washington Monument, saw Jefferson Monument, FDR
Monument, WWII, Vietnam, Korea War memorials, Lincoln Monument.

Went to National
Theatre again to enter lottery again to try and get tickets. Again unlucky. Amy
and I were two of the only 6 people to miss out - ridiculous.

Dinner at a Japanese
Restaurant

Back to the hostel to
do some washing & get ready for early morning bus. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1231653180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1231653180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1231653180/tpod.html Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:56:51 -0500 Exchange to CBS & surrounding journey

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New York City, New York, United States

Day 1:

Omri picked us up from
airport

Pizza place - half
white, half red

Sleep

 

Day 2:

Subway into town

Ground Zero

Century 21

Docks

Commenced Omri's NYC
foodies tour!

Chinatown - I love NY
t-shirts 

Little Italy - hot
chocolate & cakes

Walked up Broadway,
stopping at food places

Lunch at Wendy's -
Americans all talked it up, turned out to be terrible

Empire State

Times Square

Rockafella Centre

Radio City Music Hall

Street meat dinner

Home

 

Day 3:

Tickets from Times
Square

M&M world

Serendipity 3

Dani's Candy store

Bloomingdales, Tiffany


Equus with Daniel Radcliff - really enjoyable, quite weird

Pizza slice @
Artichoke - spinach and artichoke

Bar

Cocktail Lounge

Taxi home 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1231291380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1231291380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tom_white_5588/1/1231291380/tpod.html Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:06:41 -0500 Exchange to CBS & surrounding journey

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

We were very lucky in
our visit to Rome as we got the best of both worlds. Throughout the days we
were tourists, doing the normal sightseeing that every other tourist does and
falling into the tourist traps that everyone else does. However we got the
added bonus of knowing some local Romans from our time in Copenhagen. As such,
every night we could experience Rome as the Romans do. They took us to
restaurants we would never have known about, bars that were full of locals
rather than tourists, and nightclubs that we would never had found even if we
had known about them. As such, we were able to enjoy two vastly different, but
intertwined, aspects of Rome.

Day 1:

We arrived at our
hostel at about 11am and, as it was too early to check in, we left our bags
there and went to do some sightseeing. First stop was the Colosseum.

We caught the metro to
a stop named 'Colosseo' and as soon as we got out of the underground station -
BAM! There it was. BAM! The Colosseum. Standing right there. It hit you as soon
as you got out of the station. It was amazing. I just kept thinking to myself
'Oh my god. This is incredible.' We walked around it for a little bit, taking
some photos of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine.

Before long, we were
approached by a lady asking us if we wanted to do a tour of the Colosseum. The
price was 22euro and the tour would include entrance to the Colosseum and a
guided tour of the Colosseum as well as Palatine Hill. We had no real intention
of doing a tour, but we talked her down to 15.50euro so we decided to do it.
Entrance to the Colosseum itself was 12euro so it was a bargain!

The tour was really
good. We got to get free photos with some people dressed up as Roman Centurions
in front of the Colosseum and the guide told us some really good stories about
the Colosseum, how it was made, what went on in there, and how some of the
outer rings collapsed. We then had some free time to look around the Colosseum
ourselves before the tour of Palatine Hill started. At this stage we were
really glad we took the tour as the tour guide pointed out some parts of
Palatine Hill and explained the history behind it. We would never have known.
We would have just walked through, looking at some cool ruins, not knowing what
they once were.

After the tour ended,
we checked out the Roman Forum as well as the Circus Maximus before heading off
to meet Alessandro, our Roman friend from Copenhagen, at the Piazza Navona. On
the way, we stumbled across the Pantheon as well as some other cool sights. It
is amazing how many famous sights you run into just wandering around Rome. The
city just has so much history attached to it.

Piazza Navona was
packed. It was the last day of the holiday season so there was a carnival type
market going on in the Piazza. There were sideshow games, food carts, arts and
crafts carts and more. In typical Italian style, Alessandro was about an hour
and a half late in meeting us. He would later make up for this by being a
fantastic tour guide over the next four nights.

At one stage while I
was walking through Piazza Navona before Alessandro arrived, I heard an
Australian accent say 'There's the other Contiki group, over there.' I kept
walking for a little bit, not thinking that much of it because there are
Australians all over Europe and I was following someone, but then I decided to
turn back to see if it was my cousin Dan's group that they were talking about.
Low and behold, I turned around and standing facing the other direction, with
his head about a foot above the rest of the crowd, was Dan. I went over and
bumped into him. He turned around, very surprised, and before he had time to do
anything I was greeted by Chandrika with 'Tom! How are you?' She's quick! I was
even taken aback. She must have seen me before I bumped into Dan.

It was great to
randomly run into them in the middle of Rome. Before they were rushed off by
the Contiki tour leader following a tight schedule, we managed to make plans to
meet up in the morning to do a tour of Vatican City.

Soon after, we met up
with Alessandro. After walking around for a little bit, we find a nice
restaurant to eat at. I had some delicious 4cheeses gnocci and we all shared
some desserts and a few jugs of house wine. It was a fantastic meal.

After that we were all
really tired (having gotten up at 3am that morning) so Ale drove us back to our
hostel.

 

Day 2:

Dan was really sick
and in bed today, so we organised with Chandrika and her 3 friends to meet up
with them to do a tour of Vatican City. It was the perfect day to go because it
was a Wednesday. Every Wednesday there is a Papal Audience. We met up with
Chandrika and Co just outside the metro station and they had already found a
tour to go on. 

Soon we were on our
way with the tour, passed through security, and before we knew it we were in
the Grand Banquet hall of Vatican City waiting for the Pope to make an
appearance.

The Pope made his
appearance and said a few words. Some cardinals then read out some readings and
it was time to leave. There was a lot to see in Vatican City.

For the next couple of
hours we toured through the Vatican City museum. There is an amazing amount of
artwork throughout the building. Until fairly recently, this was not open to
the public and was therefore for the exclusive enjoyment of the Pope. The tour
ended in the Sistine Chapel. Although we weren't allowed to take any photos
here, I took a few sneaky ones. The artwork here is amazing.

We then met up with
Barbara for lunch before heading on through the rain to see a couple more sites
along the metro line including a ruined old castle and another massive
Cathedral. We also got to see the walls that originally surrounded Rome. The
city now sprawls well beyond these walls of course.

That night, Ale took
us for some night sightseeing to see the Spanish steps and a few other sights.

 

Day 3:

It was a rainy day
today, but nevertheless we went off sightseeing again. Our first stop was to
see the Trevi fountain, from where we walked through the city centre, stopping
off to check out the Pantheon, the Piazza Navona, the Pope's old castle, and to
walk along the river.

After going back to
the hostel for a nap, we went out to dinner. Ale and Marcello arrived towards
the end of our meal and ordered Limoncello for us all. It was disgusting, but
very strong. From there we went to a club called Goa where we partied on in the
VIP section with unlimited vodka until 6am. After leaving the club we went to
this strange food cart that is only open during the night and had a delicious
burger type thing with everything on it including brocolli, sweet corn,
mushrooms, and more.

 

Day 4:

After having such a
big night, it was quite a slow day for us. We got up in time to see Barbara off
(she was catching a train home for her mum's birthday). We then went and
checked out the Catacombs underneath Vatican city where all the past Popes have
monuments to them.

Coming back from the
hostel, Amy and I had to go to the Laundromat, so Shin and Wen went and did
some sightseeing. After finishing our laundry, Amy and I went and met them to
do some night time sightseeing. We went and took some pictures at the
Colosseum, saw the Spanish steps, and went to the Trevi fountain.

Ale then came and
picked us up to take us to a truly Roman dining experience. We had some
delicious pepper and cheese pasta, carbonara, meat loaf, eggplant parmigiana,
and a creamy potato dish, along with a lot of nice house wine. It was a
fantastic meal, very rustic and informal. It felt like our first authentic
Roman meal.

After dinner, we met
up with some of Ale and Marcello's friends and went off to an Irish pub to have
a few drinks. We then went on a massive drive through the city with an
entourage of four cars to find the cities best tiramisu. Along the way we drove
past Alessandro's neighbourhood, seeing his house and where he went to school. Unfortunately,
by the time we arrived, the place was closed so we didn't get to try the tiramisu.
Instead, we continued on and went to a place on top of one of Rome's seven
hills where you can see a view of the entire city by night. It was freezing
cold but well worth it.

 

Day 5:

The next morning Amy
and I had to get up after only 2 hours sleep to get the train to the airport. I
was going to London, Amy to Copenhagen, but we would meet a couple of days
later in New York. On the train ride to the airport I had my feet on the seat.
A Roman police officer didn't like this much so he asked to see my passport.
For the rest of the journey to the airport he sat in the next cabin with my
passport. I had no idea what he was doing with it but he gave it back at the
end of the journey. I guess he was just trying to scare me. I'm not sure.  It wasn't the best way to leave what
was a wonderful experience in Rome. 
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Milan, Lombardy, Italy

We arrived into Milan
quite late, ordered some pizza, drank some alcohol, called some of our Holger
friends on Skype and then went to bed.

The next day we went
and saw The Last Supper by Leonard de
Vinci. Although we were only allowed to be in the viewing room for 15 minutes,
it was long enough to appreciate the fantastic artwork. The building that
houses the artwork (it is painted on one of the walls) was damaged during the
bombing of Milan during WWII and had to be partially restored, so the artwork
shows some signs of damage. Just being there, though, ignited discussions about
the artwork inspired by Dan Brown's The
da Vinci Code.

I was quite sick
throughout my time in Milan so I spent a lot of time lounging around Barbara's
apartment and sleeping. We did do some things though. This day we went
sightseeing in the city centre of Milan, saw the Duomo, a massive gothic
looking cathedral and got some delicious Italian pasty type things. Our friend
from Holger, Stefano, came to see us also. That night we all went to
'aperativo' - a bar in which you buy cocktails and then get unlimited free
finger food. After that we went out clubbing in Milan's night district.

The next day, I slept
until 3pm. We didn't really do anything this day, except go shopping and cook a
massive dinner.

The next morning, we
had to get up at 4.30am to go to the airport and catch our flight to Rome. It
was snowing, so the city looked beautiful as we walked to the bus terminal. 
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Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy

The trip from
Innsbruck, Austria to Bolzano, Italy was amazing. The scenery that we saw is
like nothing I have ever seen before. We drove past massive, snow covered
mountains, along roads that had ski fields running below them, and saw some
amazing snowy landscapes. I am really glad that we drove from Munich to Bolzano
rather than flying into Milan airport.

We arrived in Bolzano
at about 8.30pm and went straight to Barbara's house. It is ballin'. She lives
in the top two floors of an apartment block that is owned by her dad. The house
itself is really nice and the views from the windows of the surrounding
mountains are fantastic.

After meeting her
family and freshening up a little, we headed out for dinner with some of
Barbara's friends. The restaurant we went to was also really good. The food was
delicious, the wine superb, and I'm running out of superlatives! I think I'm
falling in love with Italy...

 

The next morning we
got up early (well, the girls actually had trouble getting Shin and I up, but
it was early enough!) and got ready to do a half-day of sledding on the
mountains before catching our train to Milan in the late afternoon. After a sweet
Italian breakfast and getting changed into ski gear, we headed up the mountain.
I had expected that we were just going to go to some hill covered in snow and
sled down it, but we ended up going up to a ski field, catching a massive
gondola up the mountain and then catching a single person ski lift further up
the mountain. At the top, there was a nice restaurant that we would later have
lunch at, as well as an awesome sledding track that winded down the mountain to
where the single-person chairlift could take us back up again. We did two runs
on the sledding track, with most of us flying off the side of the track at some
stage or another. It was a lot of fun.

We then went back to
Barbara's house and arrived to a fantastic lunch prepared by her mother. There
were several different types of ham, different cheeses, fresh bread, mini
pizzas and some delicious homemade Italian cookies.

After showering and
packing our bags we headed to the station to catch our train to Milan. In
typical Italian style, the train was 45mins late. 
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Innsbruck, Austrian Alps, Austria

After doing a
whirlwind tour of Munich in Barbara's car, we kept driving south towards
Barbara's hometown and through Austria. We made a stop off in Innsbruck,
Austria. Barbara had spent New Years Eve here so she showed us where all the
celebrations took place and also took us on a walking tour around the city. It
was dark by this stage and had gotten pretty cold so we didn't spend long
walking around but we did have time to check out the river, some of the
shopping streets, the main square, and also have an apple strudel before
continuing on our way south. 
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