View from the room

Pretty nice for 25 euro a person. The building I am in has been completely remodeled recently so its got some nice features including the view.

Cinque Terre

This picture can't do this place justice. Crystal blue waters off the Italian coast. That smelly ass train was worth it.

We have a guest house at the top of Monterosso with an awesome view which ill post later.

Time to go swimming and check out the babes.

This post needs no picture...

Because pictures can't describe how f'ing gross it smells on this train.

HOLY $HIT people are f'ing rank on this train and I'm not even in Rome yet.

And I thought Paris was bad!

Last Day in Paris

Today was the last day in paris so I ventured off on my own towards the Obilesque near the Louvre, the Montparnasse Cemetary, and the Eiffel Tower (I needed day light shots). Took my time, got an icee, mailed some post cards and did some people watching.

Paris is a great city and I will definately come back again.

But on to bigger and better things! Two days in vacationy like italian riveria towns. Cinque Terre is going to be sick. All the other people we have met on the trip who have been have said NOTHING but good things about it.

On another note. Charles and I were lucky enough to get a T6 couchette with nobody else in it (cart with 6 beds). I just walked by the other rooms and they are PACKED with uncomfortable silences, frowns and old/ugly people. HAHAH bitches! Sucks for you!

Escargot

if you put enough garlic and butter on something, its bound to taste good.

Damnit

I took a 2 hour train from Paris to Caen to find out that ALL the car rental places are closed on Sundays, so I got real close to the D-Day beaches, but didn't go. So close :(

They had tours but it was wayyy out of my budget. The ticket conductor didn't say anything about my rail pass not having todays date. I wonder how many times I can pull that off and get free train rides....

Oh yeah, the tour de france is going on, but I kinda don't care.

Latin Quarter

Had dinner with some of charles friends last night in the Latin Quarter which is a more livelier part of Paris at night and we did it Parisian style! Two hour dinner, political/social debates, cigarettes an cheap wine.

The place we ate at was one of the best meals I've had so far in Paris and the waiter was super friendly to all of us which was a FIRST in Paris.

We also did a boat tour on the saines river before dinner, but it wasn't all that great because I've seen several of the things we pasted by.

The Louvre

Amazing, but wayyyy too much to do in one day, we only checked out the Denon wing. There are two other wings that are equally massive.

After the louvre, we took the metro to check out the Catacombs. THAT was a site to see, I have many pictures of that. Tons and tons of bones and skulls emptied out of the paris cemeteries 200 years ago. Insane stuff.

My feet are going to fall off

Arc De Triumph, Notre Dame + crypt, Pantheon + crypt. Took one afternoon thanks to the musuem pass (not having to wait lines). I have lots of real pictures (not these crappy camera pictures) and video to convert/resize when I get back.

Top of the Arc de Triumph

A phenominal monument all around. A bit hazzy today, but its not raining. Tonight we meet up with some friends at the eiffel tower and go see "les simpson: le film". There are two showings of the english version, so ill get to see it before you guys, yay!

Laundry

The girls at our hotel helped us out a bit, thankfully. I think after the 2nd day in amsterdam, I needed to the laundry mat badly.

Laundry is done, all cleaned up, time to go scope out montmartre...

It was bound to happen.

We got to our paris hostel and found out what a complete shit hole it was. We immediately said "no" and packed our bags, not knowing where the hell we were going to go now. Lucky, we got on the net and found a place in montmare (sp?) Which is where I wanted to be in the first place.

Met two nor cal girls in this place who have been in paris for 4 days, they seem pretty cool so we might hang with them tonight.

Tonights events include doing laundry and relaxing, we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow...

Leaving Amsterdam

So fun the last couple of days! The flying pig hostel is awesome, my favorite so far. The red light district was a funny scene, all the museums, coffee shops, architecture, stores and culture was great.

Off to brussells for a train to paris, should be there by noon.

Anne Frank House Part II

Very moving exhibit. Amsterdam has a lot of history, more than most people think. This is definitely a must if you come visit.

The Rjiks musuem was being remodeled, but you could see a lost of what they had on display still (no pictures). The Rjiks is actually my favorite musuem so far. It shows the Dutch culture in the golden age (ballas!)

Febo!!!

Is this place where you put euros in these coin slots to get your favorite dutch delight, but you don't know what it is exactly until you bite into it. I stayed on the safe route and got a chicken sandwich. Its as good as automated food can get

"They drown em in that $hit"

They sure do (fries and mayo)

Van Gogh

Great musuem! I'm so happy that I could go see the remaining collection of his artwork including one of his last famous paintings.

Off to Vondelpark!

I brought the sunshine to Amsterdam

Its was raining all night (first day in amsterdam) but this morning cleared up very nicely. Started shopping a little bit at first then headed down uptown but wasn't in time for any of the musuems. So we rented bikes and that became a much better nav. tool. Everyone one likes bad 80's glam/hair bands from the U.S, its awesome!

Anne Frank house

Yeah...no, tomorrow, then.

Amsterdam

Greeted with a wall of pot smoke, this place is suprisingly welcoming and a LOT cleaner than our last hostel. Bathrooms are nice. We haven't met our roommates but it looks to be 4 girls sharing a full size bunk bed (judging by the luggage).

I had a late and relaxed breakfast after a hectic run around in london trying to catch our flight (gatwick airport sucks) Three nights in amsterdamn is going to be really fun. Everyone seems nice, but its raining.

Once again...

Delayed at Gatwick at the moment... Why must they make me wait to sm...ell the tulips?

Waiting.....

Waiting to get to Victoria to take our train to Gatwick Airport.

La la la. Everyone has the new harry potter book.

The National Gallery

Honestly, paintings can only take you so far so this was kinda boring (to me), but don't get me wrong, this place was awesome and imaculate, if you ever go to London, do yourself a favor and go. The highlights were the biblical paintings of jesus's times (faith and gore).

Don't let the crowds fool you in the pictures, there were some students doing a show with instruments. Inside wasn't really that crowded at all.

I am museum'ed out for the day, time to take the tube back to the hostel and grab some grub.

Wagamama

Wagamama is a british chain of ramen noodle houses that I heard about on a frommers.com podcast. Its ramen without all the bad msg, sodium, etc. Sooo good. There are/is one/some in the states, but I've never seen them.

By the way, according to some weather sources, it was suppose to rain, but it has been great weather all day. I'm in a sleeveless shirt, shorts and sandals.

Next is the national gallery...

The British Museum

The British Museum had a little bit of everything. Artifacts from egypt, africa, early america, eastern/western europe, sooo much more, I couldn't do it in one day. Time for Wagamama!!!

Our hostel smells like cat piss

...And we have to climb 6 flights of stairs to get to it.

On the upside, 5 girls (canadian & australian), next to Hyde Park and a great neighborhood.

And I'm spent...

10 hours and 2 crappy airline meals later, we're finally in jolly ol england. We're in our hostel getting settled more to come soon...

Delayed

Wah wah wah wahhh

its time to leave!

Off to london