Barcelona started off really badly but it made up for it the longer we were there. Our first night there we had to take a night bus, which should have only taken an hour at most. We missed our stop though, so the driver pointed us in the direction of another bus stop that would get us back to where we needed to be. The bus that came however drove right by us and didn't stop. This was at 2am! So the next bus that came 20 mins later was our original bus driver, who basically just shook his head at us like 'you've got to be kidding me with these two...'. We totally didn't get back to the hostel until 4:30am.
After that fiasco things got much better. Barcelona is definitely a city I could live in. It was easy to get around, I understand enough Spanish to know what people were saying to me, and when I didn't I had Jill to translate. The weather was really nice so we walked around most of the days we were there. We saw the Gaudi house La Pedrera and we saw La Sagrada Familia, the cathedral that to this day is still unfinished. We also took a Tapas Y Flamenco tour, where we got to have an arrangement of local tapas specialties at a local restaurant and then see a flamenco performance at a local club. The music was awesome and the dancer was unbelievable!
My favorite thing though was learning to make sangria and paella. Jill and I got a private lesson at a local restaurant. The sangria was super easy so I'll be drinking that all the time when I get home. The paella was fairly involved and complicated but it was soo good that I'm going to have to attempt it at home. And Dad, you'd be proud - it was seafood paella with prawns, squid, fish and mussels and I actually ate and enjoyed them all!
After hanging out in Barcelona for a few days we headed south to Morocco! We took the ferry over to Tangier from southern Spain. When we got off a man named Cherif approached us and offered his guide services. Apparently it's not safe for two girls there alone..... I pretty much hated Morocco. The men were vulgar and looked at Jill and I like we were on the menu. They would follow us, make cat calls in Spanish because they figured we were from Spain, and openly make suggestive gestures... It just really creeped me out. I truely didn't feel safe at any given moment, even with our guide. All in all it was highly over-rated and I don't recommend it to anyone. That being said, there were some good points like scoring some cool things like spices and blankets, and we rode camels along the beach. My camel was Sabrina and Jill's was Ali Babba and they were sweethearts. It was pretty fantastic!! We also got some cool henna tattoos on our arms. Now that we're in France people give us strange looks because of them but cest le vie!
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]]>It's official - Jill and I are cowboys lol! After spending two days in Rome, visiting the Vatican and Trevi Fountain and mangia-ing lots of pizza and gelato, we headed to a small town about 2 hours south of Rome called Sora and we hung out on a family run farm for a couple of days. The farm is run by this guy Antonella and his mother and father and assorted volunteers. For those JWU people reading this - picture Spencer and you have a good idea of what Antonello was like.... For those non-JWU people, just picture a crazy, dirty hippie. Voila!
The first day on the farm we had a traditional European breakfast; bread, cheese and meat, coffee and my favorite thing yet, homemade pumpkin jam. So yum! After breakfast we hiked into town to get some supplies. We stopped at the pharmacy where we met Giuseppe and Mario (or Luigi Mario.... we're still not sure what his actual name is), two little old Italian men. They speak no English and we speak no Italian but they thought we were the best thing since sliced bread. They invited us to lunch the next day which was just too funny to pass up, but more on that later...
When we got back to the farm we headed to a ranch with Antonello and Gunther (a volunteer from Austria) and Christine, one of the other guests for some horseback riding. My horse was all white and her name was Mary. We rode for about an hour throuh the countryside. Along the way we forded a river twice that was deep enough that we all got very wet and very cold! The only casualty to the river was my sunglasses when Mary stumbled - a small price to pay to have not fallen into the water myself!
On the drive back to the farm Jill tried her hand at driving a stick shift. Unfortunately, the police didn't think she was doing a very good job and they pulled her over after about 10 minutes lol. It didn't help that she only had one shoe on (the other was soaked from the river still) but luckily Antonello somehow talked the officer out of giving her a ticket. We think that's what happened anyway. We really have no idea what was said since we speak no Italian.
When we got back to the farm we got cleaned up and then it was time to learn how to make egg noodle pasta. I'll totally try to recreate it when we get home. It was super easy, just a little time consuming. Very yummy though! We toasted our accomplishments with farm fresh limoncello by the fire. It was a pretty perfect day all in all lol.
Our second day on the farm began at 5am with a trip to the local sheep farm to learn how to make Peccorino and Ricotta cheeses. It wasn't a factory set up, it was literally a cellar-like room with a fire, a sink, a couple calderons and the sheep milk and rennit (don't look this up if you have a sensitive stomach). Once the curds were ready the farmer's wife put them into the forms and then Jill and I pressed the cheese in the forms to create the wheels. It's a super easy process but my stomach hasn't recovered enough to eat Peccorino or Ricotta just yet!
We spent most of the day on the farm soaking up the sun and seeing the property. Then we headed back into town for our lunch date with the litttle old men. We were totally hoping there would be grandsons present but alas, no. Giuseppe cooked us pasta and we spent the afternoon trying to figure out what they were saying and laughing over the situation in general. It was a very interesting afternoon to say the least...
We headed back to Rome the next afternoon. Antonello basically assaulted Jill when we said our goodbyes. Apparently he had a little crush on her lol. We got to Rome later that night so we kept it pretty lowkey. The next day we did some more sightseeing though at the Colisseum. We caught a train to the port in Civitavecchia to catch the overnight ferry to Barcelona, which is where we are now.
I'll write again in a couple days when I've had more adventures in Spain!
Italy remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Carnivale in Venice was AMAZING!! It was coincidence that we were there for the first day and it couldn't have worked out better. We saw the flying of the Angel in St. Mark's Square. I've got video so you can all see when I get home but basically they lowered someone dressed as an angel on a cable from this tower in the middle of the square. It was the coolest thing! Everyone was dressed up in masks and there was balloons and confetti.... the coolest experience ever! We went on a gondola ride and Jill got a lesson in being a gondolear from our driver Alessandro (who is Mr. May in the Venetian Gondola Calendar..... not even kidding).
All in all it was the best time! I wish I had time to elaborate but my internet time is running out.... I'll try to elaborate soon!
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]]>Well, it has been a crazy week! It took a 15 hour ferry and a 5 hour train/bus ride but we got to Athens on Wednesday. We met this girl Amanda from Arizona along the way, who was just finishing up her travels and getting ready to head back to Doha, Arabia for school. She is studying Arabic and advised us never to go there lol. We all were heading to the same place, Athens Backpackers, so we buddied up. When we got to the hostel, we immediately fell in with our roommate Matt, and Aussie who is studying law in Graz, Austria. Unfortunately, Amanda had to leave the next day so we headed to the Acropolis (basically our back yard) and got some Gyros (the first of MANY). The Acropolis at night is truly something to see!
Once Amanda left we became a tripod. We stayed in Athens until Friday and explored the city. We had a picnic at the Acropolis (Angela - I have some sand from there for your Mom) and we met up with Jill's friend Alex who lives in Athens with her husband. We also shopped the Plaka and basically got to know every Gyro stand and side street in and around the Acropolis. Anyone who wants to go, just let me know!
On Friday the three of us took a 6 hour ferry to Santorini. I wish I could get photos uploaded because it was absolutely gorgeous!!! We rented quads and explored the island. There was rain, hail and finally sunshine before we got to Oia, which is where you will find all the white and blue houses on the hills that Santorini is known for. I'm not going to lie, driving on the cliffs was hella scary in the dark but getting to see the sunset in Oia was well worth it. The rest of our time in Santorini was filled with wine, gyros and Matt and I getting caught in a down pour.
We stayed in Santorini for 2 days and returned to Athens via ferry on Sunday. Jill managed to leave her daypack in Santorini somewhere but her passport and train pass were on her so all in all it wasn't such a disaster. We stayed in Athens for one more day before leaving for Patras, Greece. We were expecting to take a ferry to Bari, Italy from Patras but there was a ferry strike so we had to go further north on the Italian coast to Ancona, which was 6 hours longer than it took to Bari (21 hours on the ferry total). We finally made it to Roma yesterday though! Today we saw the Trevi Fountain and tomorrow we'll be going to the Coliseum and the Vatican before departing for a no name town in southern Italy where we'll stay on a farm for two days and learn how to cook Italian food, speak some Italian, go horse back riding, tour a cheese-making shop and drink LOTS of vino! I'll do my best to post an update when I get back to Roma after our farm experience!
Greece!!!! remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Today's Hijinx remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>It's been a long three days of travel (with the exception of Carnivale in Venice) but we'll be do king in Greece very soon! We're very excited, not only to be in Greece finally but to also be hours away from a shower and clean clothes!!!!
I've been trying to get photos uploaded but it's not working unfortunately. I'm going to try one more thing but if that doesn't work I'm sure what I'll do.... I'll keep you posted though and I'll do a full post about the past few days soon.
Docking in Patras, Greece soon remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>After leaving Berlin on Thursday we headed to Innsbruck, Austria. Jill was starting to feel better and I was just coming down with a head cold. The train ride took 8 hours all together but we met two really nice girls on our connection from Munich. One of the girls, Linda, is from Florida and working as an au pair in Munich. She and her friend gave us some tips on Austria and since Linda previously lived on Italy she gave us insights on what Italian cities to add to our lists.
We spent the night in Innsbruck and watched Austrian soap operas I'm the morning which we made up our own story lines for. For example:
"You can't marry her! I'm pregnant with our love child!"
After we checked out of the hotel we headed to Garmisch, Germany. It was snowing and the train ride through the mountains was really peaceful and pretty. You could see people cross country skiing along the train route in the valleys. Garmisch itself was really quaint, definitely the leiderhozen Germany you expect to see as a tourist. The murals on the buildings depicted fairy tales and biblical scenes. It was defintely like out of Hansel and Grettle.
While in Garmisch we attempted to go to the summit of the Zukspitze however due to weather conditions they weren't doing and trips to the top. I should definitely get credit for trying though! I took pictures at the base to prove we were there LOL.
And basically that is what has been happening the past few days! We're in Salzburg now, and are planning on exploring Vienna tomorrow. Italy is up next though so I'll write again once we're there. Oh, and I promise to get some more pictures and hopefully video up tomorrow morning!
Zukspitz Attempted remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Heading to Garmisch remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>We stayed at Charlie Rockets hostel, which felt a lot like a frat house. There was a smoky bar down stairs that didn't close until 4am and they played music from the 80s and 90s. We lasted about 1 beer there (Steen Brugge) before calling it a night. So far it's my least favorite of the places we have stayed.
In the morning we got waffles with fruit and chocolate sauce for breakfast. And to drink, we had hot chocolate that I swear must have been made by God himself. It was soooo good!! After breakfast we headed to the train station and headed south to Brussels.
Brussels is another gorgeous city. When we got off the train we walked a few blocks and found ourselves in the most beautiful, hidden square. We stayed there for a bit and then headed for the hostel to put a game plan together. Just after settling in we met Eric and Fabian, two brothers from France that were staying at the hostel as well. They invited us out to the apparently world famous Delirium Cafe, where they serve over 1000 beers. It was a total melting pot of European cultures. Everyone spoke different languages but almost everyone here is tri-lingual so we didn't have any trouble talking with anyone. And yes, Rachel, they are very good looking and we have pictures to prove it. I'll do my best to get those posted soon lol.
After a few beers, we headed back to the hostel. Fabian convinced us that Germany should be next on our tour, so while the guys went to bed, Jill and I went down stairs to figure our new plan out. While we were talking about Germany a guy named Ben overheard us and offered to help. Ben is from Cologne,Germany so he gave us the whole low down on Germany from an insider's POV. I told Ben about the 'To Do' list so he offered to take us to the place where Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany meet. So that is what we did today. Ben drove us to Cologne and we stopped on the way to be in 3 places at one time. For those who are counting that is one more than was required!! And yes Rachel, Ben is very good looking and we have pictures with him also, in both Belgium and the Netherlands. And we drove on the autobahn - 135mph!!!!!
So that is where we are right now, in Cologne at the Station Hostel. Tomorrow we're going to head to Belgium so I'll update again in a couple of days!! Pictures sooner though with any luck!
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]]>We spent Thursday and Friday in London. We left the airport and immediately headed for Trafalgar Square. Jill, being from California, was wearing flip flops and was the talk of the visitor's center. Everyone there was funny and most importantly helpful and they directed us to a hostel not far from the hot spots.
After getting settled at the hostel we went out for some fish and chips. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting but it wasn't awful!! We spent rest of the night checking out the Camden Town area of London.
Day two was much more eventful. It started off with me fainting in the shower at the hostel. Apparently that's what happens when you combine dehydration with a humid shower stall. No worries though, I only ended up with a minor sprained ankle. No head injuries luckily. I definately learned my lesson though for sure - always keep a bottle of water with me!
After the fainting incident we dropped our bags off at the train station and went sightseeing around the city. We saw Big Ben and Parliament, and we took the tour of Wesinster Abbey which was amazing. My favorite part of the Abbey was the Poet's Corner section. I couldn't help but notice though that the memorial for Jane Austen was smaller in size than that of the male writers and poets. Not very fair if you ask me.
It was a rainy, overcast day - shocking for London, I know - so rather than head over to the 'eye' we went to the London Tower and saw the Crown Jewels and the execution place of Anne Boleyn. The jewels were amazing. There was a diamond in one of the pieces that AFTER being cut down was 106 carats. My favorite of the jewels were the Crown Jewels of India though. They sparkled more than the rest. It is such a juxtaposition that they are kept I'm such a dark and foreboding place though.
After leaving the tower we went exploring the Notting Hill neighborhood and had dinner. We didn't make it back to the train station in time to pick up our luggage though so we ended up sleeping in the clothes we had on our backs. Luckily the hostel we stayed at had free towels and soap/shampoo so we were at least able to shower in the morning thank god!!
Ok I'm off to dinner but I'll post again when we are on the way to whichever country we end up I'm tomorrow!!
London: Part One remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>In France and heading to Belgium! remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>When I first told Rachel about my plans for backpacking Europe she informed me that I was "ruining" her life. She said I was intentionally hurting her and that I obviously didn't care about her, blah blah blah. Once she got over the dramatics though, she decided that, if she couldn't come along with me, she would just have to send me with a list of tasks to accomplish while I was there. And thus was born the concept for this blog.
As I complete the things on my list I'll update this blog with the photos and stories that go along with them. The full 'To Do' list is below for reference. In addition, I'll title each entry with the specific 'To Do' that it involves.
So, on that note..... Welcome to 'Been There, Done That'! Be sure to leave comments on the entries so we can keep in touch. The adventure officially kicks off on February 4th!
Rachel and Aunt Melanie's European 'To Do' List For Me:
1. Take a pic of a SMOKIN' HOT GUY in every country you go to. There is a catch - you have to be in at least 4 of the pics.
2. Go up the Zukspitz on a mountain bus. BE PREPARED!!
3. Update your blog at least every three days.
4. Pictures, pictures, pictures!!!!
5. Ride a camel. This one should be interesting!!!!
6. Be in two places at once.
7. Don't go home with someone you don't know... very important!
8. Buy a pair of shoes in Milan..who am I kidding those things are really expensive...at least try them on!!
9. Visit the Hanberry Hotel in Athen Rye, Ireland.
10. If you get to Ireland for St. Paddy's Day take a pic of a drunk Irish guy that has red hair.
11. If that guy asks if you want a drink, you can have one, but that is all.
12. Don't sleep in a train station. That's for your own good!
13. Take a ride on the "eye" in London, when you are there remember this list and your favorite cousin Rachel, who gave you this list, yet you left her in lowsy Mass.
14. Attempt to talk a foreign language.
15. Do not go to the "red light district" in Germany!!!
16. Visit Hallien, Austria, and call me when you are there.
17. When you are in Italy visit the leaning Tower of Pizza... Remember our trip to Maine... haha!!
18. Always remember to wear your vest.. you would freeze if it wasn't for me ... haha!!!
19. Introduce yourself to your long lost Hanberry relatives.
20. Aunt Melanie says bring back nice presents!
Photographic proof is necessary for every item on the list. For every item on the list that does not have photographic proof, you go down a rank in mine and Aunt Melanie's rank book!! Thank you for your cooperation. Enjoy your trip!!
My Punishment For Ruining Rachel's Life remains copyright of the author kgately, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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