EuroTrip 2.0 uncensored

Sagrada familia at night

aka07 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:42:56 -0700

Sagrada familia at night

Spain - Barca

aka07 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:40:12 -0700

Rebaixes!! Hasta 50-70% off!! Apparently, all of Spain closes down in August, so July is the major sale season (for Italy as well?) which is good for us, bad for our wallets and backs. Zara has become are best/worst friend along with Mango. A few others would also be on the list if the stores wouldn’t close at 9:30pm. Shopping is the cure for heat exhaustion and/or traveler’s fatigue lol.

A. Gaudi, Spanish Architect, is Barcelona and Barcelona is Gaudi. His masterpieces are the main attractions of the city from his first masterpiece, the Cathedral, to the refreshing Park Güell to the awe-inspiring Sagrada Familia. His style of architecture is striking, and bold like no other. Curvy railings, smashed tiles, windy spires, and shapes with many sides are some of his trademarks.

Finding our hostel was interesting in the dark since there is a huge gate enclosing it and only small sign on the side that was not illuminated. Safety seems to be a main concern in Barcelona and we were contantly scanning the masses for suspected pickpocketters.

On to the FOOD! Oh the joys of cheap bread lol. We would buy a large baguette in the morning and munch on it all the way till…lunch hehe. Walking so much works up a mighty appetite. In Spain, they have something called tapas which are little appetizer-style bites that they sell at bars. Some really tasty tapas that we had were veggie and chicken kabobs with patatas (crunchy mini fries) and an eggplant dish. The most memorable dish would probably paellas! I could describe it best as a very moist version of fried rice with seafood, pollo, squid ink, and almost anything else you can imagine.

And my favorite part…the beaches!! We were able to bake under the sun at a beach called “Barceloneta.” Blue water, beautiful sand, calm waves…doesn’t get much better than that. Personally, I liked the stony beaches of Nice better because it’s easier to clean up after, but it was still a great beach.

So after a few days in Barcelona, we had our first overnight train to Granada, in southern Spain. Here we go!

Champs-Elysses

aka07 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:02:53 -0700

Champs-Elysses

Southern France part Deux

aka07 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:01:20 -0700

Back to Marseilles, this was still France but felt worlds away from Paris. The intensity level was turned down 5 notches and the coastal breeze gave everything a more relaxed feel. It is the third largest city in France, but we didn’t get stampeded on during rush hour. The historic part of the city consists of a windy system of little alleyways and road that twist up and down a large hill and around the main port. We were able to get lost and wander around these alleys for a few hours and stumble upon a few cathedrals and historic buildings. The roads here are super narrow and cars are parallel parked on both sides in both directions, some separated by no more than 1 cm. We were also able to see the island of Monte Cristo from the Count of Monte Cristo. We had an hour or so at the train station to use wifi and take care of matters at home. This is the disadvantage of having 6 weeks of summer and spending 3 of them on the other side of the globe. Oh well, can’t do anything about it now :P.

Now, on to Nice (pronounced “niece”), France. Out of the 5 cities so far, I think Paris and Nice are atop the list. Gorgeous coastline, stony beaches, lively atmosphere, and the best ice cream ever? Doesn’t get much better than that. Granted, getting to and from the train station to hotel in the wee hours of the morning was a little shady due to the very active nightlife of Nice. But I still felt safe and people were more than willing to help when we needed directions. One of the highlights of the trip was definitely cliff *er* platform jumping into the Med. Sea! It was an adventure getting up to the platform and we had the pre jump jitters just looking how far the drop was, but J and I sucked it up and JUMPED! It reminded me of dropping into the ocean off the boat backwards for scuba diving. Adrenaline rush!!!

So after only one full day in Nice, which was quite nice :P, we were off to España!

Southern France Part Un

aka07 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:00:40 -0700

After backpacking through 5 cities thus far, I have acquired the utmost respect for all backpackers. We are getting used to waking up around 4-5 am to catch our early morning trains and reaching our destination at 11pm-midnight and trying to orient ourselves in a foreign city in the dark. Safety-wise, we have remained unharmed with the exception of a pickpocketing incident in Barcelona.

Before Barcelona, we stopped in the French coastal town of Marseilles along the way for a good 6 hours or so. We ate outside in a plaza-type area and had a delicious salmon dish and a bomb niçoise salad. Our first “sit down” restaurant experience in Europe was a success! Living on the cheap side here means lots and lots of bread/pan/baguette/”insert additional translation here”/etc. Hopefully all the walking around in circles and running thru train stations will burn off most of the carbs we’re eating…

Oh, interesting side note, in France they do not have water fountains. So, we have reverted to drinking bathroom sink water haha. J has a filter so that has saved us *er* them since I’m usually to thirsty for the filtration to work. Also, most of the public restrooms cost €0.50+ to use except our favorite place, McDonalds! The ones over here also have self service machines, free wifi, macaroons, and salads that come with olive oil and vinegar!

Arc de Triomphe. Awesome views of Paris from the top of this!...

aka07 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 16:43:02 -0700

Arc de Triomphe. Awesome views of Paris from the top of this! There are around eight or so boulevards that branch from this centrepoint.

Lost in Paris, Day Cinquè (5)

aka07 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:57:35 -0700

Despite a few transportation difficulties on our behalf, Paris left tons of lasting impressions on me. It is vastly different from any other metropolis that I’ve visited before such as NYC, LA, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, HK, Toronto, etc. Paris is much more than a big city with tall buildings and busy people sipping on espresso and eating a baguette. No, as you walk by each building and thru each road you feel as if you’re walking through the pages of a history book. All the buildings look centuries old, and there is not much of a skyline or skyscrapers. But Paris doesn’t need any of that. It has a charm and character that is unrivaled. We witnessed the blur of rush hour metro traffic but also enjoyed the serene atmosphere in the Luxemburg Gardens. In this way, Paris provides something for everyone to enjoy.

I almost feel guilty for only having 2 days to visit Paris, but I will definitely return one day. Also, technology has saved our trip (shoutout to Aubrey!). All of these iTouch apps are guiding us three blind mice :P. The French language is such a beautiful one to listen to, I feel ashamed when I constantly butcher it. I probably should have tried learning basic grammer rules before coming, since the pronounciation is often totally different from the spelling. But the French are so helpful and friendly and communication was not a problem at all.

So now, we continue on our dash thru Europe. A few more cities in France and then España!

Au revoìr!

Lost in Paris, Day Quatre (4)

aka07 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:55:45 -0700

Think we can conquer Paris, the “City of Lights” in just 2 nights? Psh…oh did we. All joking aside, Paris was just as it seems in movies, steeming with incredible architecture, history, art with a charm that took me captive. Of course, we had to do our duty as tourists and attempt to dash thru the endless highlights of Paris in under fourty-eight hours.

Sadly to say, I think we failed at that attempt. Day Un (1 in French) consisted of us waking up at 7 am and embarking our mad dash thru the metro and streets of Paris. We began with the solemn reverence of Cathedrale de Notre Dame (Our Lady Cathedral) and ended posing in front of the notorious Le Moulìn Rouge. Latin Quarter, Pantheon, Montparnasse Tower, Louvre, Luxemberg Gardens, Pompidou, Eiffel Tower, Champ-Elysses, Sacre-Coeur Basilica, and Arc de Triomphe were a few of the things we did in between :).

Oh, and FOOD! Baguettes and crepes made up the majority of my diet because they are so good and so cheap (€2-6). Maybe in 20 years or so when I’m no longer a poor student, I’ll try some real French cuisine :).

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aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:05:57 -0700

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aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:05:30 -0700

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aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:58:04 -0700

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aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:56:52 -0700

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aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:56:32 -0700

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aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:55:45 -0700

Journey to Paris cont'd (day 2+3)

aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:03:27 -0700

We are the 3 [weary-and-aching] Musketeers…After 2 days of The Amazing Race-style travelling we finally arrived in Paris.

[Side note, never take an airline you’ve never heard of (*ahem* Iceland Express) unless you are the ultimate adventure seeker.]

We sat thru long flight delays, stopped on the runway for an hour because the engine wasn’t starting up, and sat in the tinniest chairs in an old 757 with those fat TV’s in the middle of the isles from the 80s and 90s. But we arrived safely in Paris and the flight was dirt cheap so we can’t really complain all that much.

Now on to the digs…We are staying in a modern looking apartment/hotel fully equipped with a kitchen, flat screen tvs, and wifi. More pics to come once I figure out how to do this on my iPad!

The aparthotel is located in a smallish town next to the airport (30+ min from Paris) so we were able to wander around and find a cute little grocery store. Baguettes for only € 0.90 and soup for € 1.35, enough for 3 of us. Gotta love livin’ a true “coin-counting” backpacker’s life!

Unfortunately, We have just two full days in the “City of Lights” so the rest of the week will be another race to the finish line :)

As they say in French, Bonne nuit (good night)!

Beginning of the Journey (day 1)

aka07 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:37:00 -0700

We are finally going to Europe! I will do my best to keep this blog up to date, so as long as our hotels have wifi I hope I can keep that promise.

The majority of the day today was spent on a plane (ONT to PHL arrived at 4 am PST). I took B & J to my house outside of Philly where we had our 4 hours of relaxation/ chillin’ in the hot tub/ frantically repacking.

Then after filling up with several meals worth of food at a Chinese buffet, we went on our “catch our trains/plane” adrenaline pumping/ back breaking/ mad-dash-to-the-finish line adventure. This seems to be the way things work when I’m traveling (right Keri and Anna?).

So we are now catching our breath on a plane to Iceland and then to PARIS!!

In 5 days, I’ll be in PARIS!!! 3 girls embarking on an...

aka07 — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:53:00 -0700

In 5 days, I’ll be in PARIS!!! 3 girls embarking on an epic trip across Europe.

I took this pic a few days ago in San Diego and I was lucky enough to be in the right position at the right moment. If you have any inspirational poster ideas for me let me know. :P

But I think you can look at it as the setting of a life and the beginning of another.

Bye bye SoCal! It’s been real :D. I’ll be back soon enough.

But now, Europe is calling our names!!! Yeeee!

~Ari

EuRoPa!

jthekid — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:28:00 -0700

Life’s been grand. It’s been good. But guess what? We’ll be kicking it up a notch in a few days in el Europa! Better watch out for three absurd Asians on the loose!

~JJ

~Brit

aka07 — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:02:00 -0700

~Brit

As a wise man once said (Chow)…”So long, gay...

aka07 — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:46:00 -0700

As a wise man once said (Chow)…”So long, gay boys!!!”

EuroTrip 2.0 **uncensored**

Sagrada familia at night

Spain - Barca

Champs-Elysses

Southern France part Deux

Southern France Part Un

Arc de Triomphe. Awesome views of Paris from the top of this!...

Lost in Paris, Day Cinquè (5)

Lost in Paris, Day Quatre (4)

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Journey to Paris cont'd (day 2+3)

Beginning of the Journey (day 1)

In 5 days, I’ll be in PARIS!!! 3 girls embarking on an...

EuRoPa!

~Brit

As a wise man once said (Chow)…”So long, gay...

EuroTrip 2.0 uncensored