I never woke up at 5:45 the next morning so easily y because I was so excited to see my parents. Little did I know the adventure that lied ahead of me. My flight was at 8:45 and I left the apartment at 5:40, the trip from the airport to the apartment was a little under an hour and a half. However, the trip from the apartment to the airport was just about 4 hours.
The train running from the main station to the airport was out; this equaled chaos. Everyone with suitcases was walking (or running) in different directions and I did not even speak the language. I finally found my way onto a train that would take me to a bus to the airport. After a mash pit getting onto the train (with my suitcase), getting onto a bus that dropped the very crowded bus off in the middle of the Paris ghetto with everyone’s luggage, standing on another bus not being able to move with a little kid pueking in front of me I made it to the airport a little before 10 am. The only reason I was not in tears after finding out the next flight was 12 hours later was because I meet a cute boy.
Apparently 15-20 other people missed the same flight for the same reason. So I spent the day napping, reading, making friends, and trying to nourish myself in a very expensive airport while keeping kosher for Passover.
By the way that was the earliest I had EVER left for an airport for my flight and the first time that I EVER missed a flight.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
What a Beautiful City
We were able to see the acropolis in the afternoon and once again I very much enjoyed the Greek food. The next day we saw some more sights including the original Olympic stadium and then was off to Paris!
After coming out of the metro and walking only one block to my friends’ Uncle’s apartment in suburbia, I could already tell it was one of my favorite cities; it was soooo pretty!
I could not even really tell you what we did the next day; but I remember telling her Uncle and him being very impressed with all that we did and how far we walked. We did of course make it to the Eiffel Tower and Muse de Orso. The next day I visited Arch de Triumph, Mona Lisa and Luxembourg Gardens (maybe a little too much time in the gardens). We went back to the Eiffel Tower at night to see it all light up which was beautiful. However, I was not able to climb the Eiffel Tower because the workers were on strike! Crazy, right? This only led me to the conclusion that I will have to return to the beautiful city.
After coming out of the metro and walking only one block to my friends’ Uncle’s apartment in suburbia, I could already tell it was one of my favorite cities; it was soooo pretty!
I could not even really tell you what we did the next day; but I remember telling her Uncle and him being very impressed with all that we did and how far we walked. We did of course make it to the Eiffel Tower and Muse de Orso. The next day I visited Arch de Triumph, Mona Lisa and Luxembourg Gardens (maybe a little too much time in the gardens). We went back to the Eiffel Tower at night to see it all light up which was beautiful. However, I was not able to climb the Eiffel Tower because the workers were on strike! Crazy, right? This only led me to the conclusion that I will have to return to the beautiful city.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
2 Overnight Ferries in 3 nights & Yummy Greek Food
The next day was our flight to Athens where we had to meet another friend in the airport and quickly find our way to the port for an overnight ferry to Crete. The ferry was not too bad, and I was able to get a few hours of sleep, but not too much more than the night before when I arrived home at six and woke up only a few hours later for our flight.
We walked around the town of Chania where the port is in Crete and then headed to another town where our hostel was located. After a two-hour walking tour of the area with our luggage, we finally found our hostel. It seems the paper with the street name that we had was spelled incorrectly when translated from Greek to English.
Our hostel in Crete was only 9 Euros a night- what a bargain! We also had to go outside to get to the bathrooms in the hostel that did not have towels to dry us off after a nice cold shower. That night however we figured we could afford a delicious Greek dinner on the beach. Greek food was definitely my favorite.
Our plan of laying out in the sun was ruined by rain the next day so we just hopped from café to café. Later on we were finally able to walk around some old ruins before catching our second overnight ferry. That morning I woke up and refused to wear anything but my bathing suit and a black dress with the hopes of making it to a sunny beach later on. That dream never came true but I did wear my bathing suit for what felt like (and probably was) a few days because of the overnight ferry. I woke up at 4:30 Athens after the ferry with a nice indent on my hip from the tie in my bathing suit digging into my skin.
We arrived at our hostel at 7 am with it still raining outside in Athens. Can you imagine how tired we were after 2 overnight ferries in 3 days??? Even though it we were tired and it was gross outside, we only had one and a half days to see Athens. At this point my sneakers were still soaked from the day before and my stylish black boots were so well worn that they basically had holes in the bottom and were not conducive to rain. This led me to buy another pair of black boots out of necessity.
I also joined the “bruise club” as we walked out of our hostel that morning; I slipped down the very slippery wet steps adding a nice bruise to my back in the poring rain. This was in addition to the bruises on my leg from carrying around my suitcase the past week and let me join my friend in the bruise club who had slipped down the entire flight of stairs in our Crete hostel (the one where you have to go outside to get to the bathrooms); she called it a “log flume.”
We were able to see the acropolis in the afternoon and once again I very much enjoyed the Greek food. The next day we saw some more sights including the original Olympic stadium and then was off to Paris!
We walked around the town of Chania where the port is in Crete and then headed to another town where our hostel was located. After a two-hour walking tour of the area with our luggage, we finally found our hostel. It seems the paper with the street name that we had was spelled incorrectly when translated from Greek to English.
Our hostel in Crete was only 9 Euros a night- what a bargain! We also had to go outside to get to the bathrooms in the hostel that did not have towels to dry us off after a nice cold shower. That night however we figured we could afford a delicious Greek dinner on the beach. Greek food was definitely my favorite.
Our plan of laying out in the sun was ruined by rain the next day so we just hopped from café to café. Later on we were finally able to walk around some old ruins before catching our second overnight ferry. That morning I woke up and refused to wear anything but my bathing suit and a black dress with the hopes of making it to a sunny beach later on. That dream never came true but I did wear my bathing suit for what felt like (and probably was) a few days because of the overnight ferry. I woke up at 4:30 Athens after the ferry with a nice indent on my hip from the tie in my bathing suit digging into my skin.
We arrived at our hostel at 7 am with it still raining outside in Athens. Can you imagine how tired we were after 2 overnight ferries in 3 days??? Even though it we were tired and it was gross outside, we only had one and a half days to see Athens. At this point my sneakers were still soaked from the day before and my stylish black boots were so well worn that they basically had holes in the bottom and were not conducive to rain. This led me to buy another pair of black boots out of necessity.
I also joined the “bruise club” as we walked out of our hostel that morning; I slipped down the very slippery wet steps adding a nice bruise to my back in the poring rain. This was in addition to the bruises on my leg from carrying around my suitcase the past week and let me join my friend in the bruise club who had slipped down the entire flight of stairs in our Crete hostel (the one where you have to go outside to get to the bathrooms); she called it a “log flume.”
We were able to see the acropolis in the afternoon and once again I very much enjoyed the Greek food. The next day we saw some more sights including the original Olympic stadium and then was off to Paris!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
No sheets or towel?
After one night of rest and a bit of laundry I was ready for my next adventure. I meet my two friends and arrived in Barcelona where we wandered around for a bit looking for our hostel. It was my first real hostile experience. One room, 10 beds, co-ed, and the best part: they were out of sheets. You can assume my jacket came in handy that night. We also had to wait a day to shower because we had not towel either. Walking around the inner city, we stumbled upon a beautiful look out at night.
Monday I walked down Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s main walking street and did a bike tour of the city. I also discovered my new favorite Spanish artist: Gaudi. He has beautiful churches and a park, which I think is one of my favorite places in the world. On our bus ride to the park, we asked two elderly ladies behind us if they knew the right stop for s to get off; before we knew it the entire bus was in conversation discussing where we should get off in addition to telling us how to get the bus back.
Tuesday I was able to get to the Picasso museum (which was not all that impressive) and the Christopher Columbus statue before heading off to Madrid. Pick potters were everywhere in Barcelona. We even caught a few getting very close to use and eyeing my friends bag. This is why I decided to carry a small purse over my shoulder, underneath my jacket so that you could not even tell I was carrying one. It definitely made my but look a little large, but my passport was not stolen!
We didn’t have towels at our hostel in Madrid, which meant our sheet doubled as a towel and sheet-wow we are creative! We walked around Madrid and toured a beautiful palace. The next day we spent a short 2 hours looking at the amazing art in the Prado (we missed Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon by only two weeks!) and had lunch in a huge, beautiful park. I spent the afternoon walking around and can proudly say I never shopped so much for so long without buying anything! That night was one of the only nights we went out on spring break and went to a club, “Capital” with 7 floors! A nice young man walked me back at about 6 in the morning, claiming I was leaving way too early.
Monday I walked down Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s main walking street and did a bike tour of the city. I also discovered my new favorite Spanish artist: Gaudi. He has beautiful churches and a park, which I think is one of my favorite places in the world. On our bus ride to the park, we asked two elderly ladies behind us if they knew the right stop for s to get off; before we knew it the entire bus was in conversation discussing where we should get off in addition to telling us how to get the bus back.
Tuesday I was able to get to the Picasso museum (which was not all that impressive) and the Christopher Columbus statue before heading off to Madrid. Pick potters were everywhere in Barcelona. We even caught a few getting very close to use and eyeing my friends bag. This is why I decided to carry a small purse over my shoulder, underneath my jacket so that you could not even tell I was carrying one. It definitely made my but look a little large, but my passport was not stolen!
We didn’t have towels at our hostel in Madrid, which meant our sheet doubled as a towel and sheet-wow we are creative! We walked around Madrid and toured a beautiful palace. The next day we spent a short 2 hours looking at the amazing art in the Prado (we missed Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon by only two weeks!) and had lunch in a huge, beautiful park. I spent the afternoon walking around and can proudly say I never shopped so much for so long without buying anything! That night was one of the only nights we went out on spring break and went to a club, “Capital” with 7 floors! A nice young man walked me back at about 6 in the morning, claiming I was leaving way too early.
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