March 2009
2 posts
Hellga
Upon arriving in our hostel in Berlin two things were immediately noticeable:
1: Our hostel had a very obvious Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy theme. 2: Our roommate was a 50 year old German women who spoke no English.
These facts together made coming back to the hostel each night both hillarious and unsettling at the same time. Our roommate (Hellga, we’ll call her) ran away from her...
Prague
After taking the last night train of our European Adventure, we arrived in Prague tired and groggy. Night trains were the worst part (aside from Paris of course) of the entire trip. They left us worn out and cranky. It is next to impossible to get a good night’s sleep on a night train. Unless, of course, you are a smelly, snoring French man in a cabin with two light-sleeping Canadians. ...
February 2009
4 posts
Bern
Trying to get out of Barcelona was more then an ordeal. They have two sets of windows at the train station, one that organizes connections for you and another where you actually buy the ticket. The former can not see whether or not a train is sold out and the latter can not check how to get from Point A to Point B. This created a situation in which Nicole and i were forced to go back and forth...
BCN
After spending the night in our lovely Best Western hotel room in Nice, Nicole and i took a 13 hour train ride to Barcelona, Spain. Getting from Spain to France was a ridiculous hassle. For some reason the computers in French train stations don’t connect with the computers in Spanish train stations. After trying multiple times in Paris to get a ticket we finally got one out of Nice and...
The South of France
After a less then amazing time in Paris, Nicole (my new travel partner!) and i headed down to the South of France. Our first stop was Bordeaux, a small town famous for its architecture and its wine. And believe me, both were rather nice. We spent the day poking into shops and marvelling at the vast number of well dressed individuals. If there’s one good thing that can be said about...
The City of Lights
I really wanted to like Paris. As a hopeless romantic, movies like Paris, je t`aime and Amelie had me expecting a quaint beautiful city that i would fall in love with immediately. Sadly, this was not the case. Due to an unfortunate string of events my impression of Paris has been marked, assumably for ever.
My first day in Paris was spent seeing the three big sites for which Paris is known. ...
January 2009
4 posts
On British Musicals
While in London i met up with my British friend. She showed me around the city and told me all about what it’s like to be a Londoner. One thing that I find fascinating about England is their apparant lack of taste. Many people will angrily jump on that statement and quote bands like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, scribes like William Shakespeare or the comic genius of Mr. Bean. While...
A Good Pub is Hard to Find
While in the UK i have been on a quest to find the perfect British pub. There is nothing i enjoy more in this world then good, rich, warm pub food. Where else would i find such delicacies like fish and chips, sheaperds pie and bangers and mash then jolly old England. However, what i’ve found has not been exactly what i was expecting. While the food has been warm and delicious it’s...
First Stop - London
I have decided to start my European Adventure (which is its official name, by the way) in London for a number of reasons. To start with, it’s the only European city with direct flights from Calgary. Words cannot describe the deep rooted hatred i have for indirect flights. Changing planes in a different city is inconvenient, confusing and adds hours to an already long flight. Second, i...
Limbo
I have graduated.
That’s it. I’m done. I’ve spent the last 17 years of my life in school and now…
…well now something else happens. Everyone seems to know what the next step is for me. They call it “the real world,” they call it “life.” I hadn’t realized i had been in a magical fantasy land where books teach you things and essays...