New Year´s in Porto, Portugal

We took a night train from Madrid, Spain to Porto, Portugal. We were awoken in our seats by the train ticket-taker at 7am and told our stop was coming up soon. We grabbed our stuff, slipped on our shoes, and got off at the tiniest train station ever in Porrino, Spain. The station itself wasn´t open, but the guy behind the counter in the cafeteria told us our next train into Porto would be there in an hour, and gave us some coffee to get going. Three hours later, we pulled into Porto. Almost immediately, a local noticed us looking lost and pointed us in the right direction as we searched for our metro stand. Another stranger, over-hearing the conversation, verified that the first was correct. We dropped our bags at the cheap hotel we´d rented (a treat for New Years) and walked to the town center. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm, few clouds and no wind. We grabbed some great views of the old city center from a bridge, then made our way in. The city was very pretty, gritty, and cramped together, all very homey. After lots of looking and picture-taking, we had to get in a power nap before New Years Eve, due strictly to the uncomfortable night train. Later, we went in search of a good dinner. Come to find out, you have to make reservations in Porto, too. We wandered for a long time, rejected at many different restaurants, until we found a cafeteria-type place with tables. It was actually pretty good, and gave us our first experience with the Francesina. The Francesina is a sandwich, made up of about 4 pieces of bread and 4 kinds of meats and sausages, covered in melted cheese and then drenched in a spicy tomato soup. It is served in a bowl, and is fantastic. After, we went to a square where some guy on a stage was singing Portuguese tunes. As New Years approached, a local noticed that we had no raisins and so he gave us each 12 (according to the VisitPortugal site, you eat 12 raisins, each a wish for the upcoming 12 months, we found out the next day). The people counted down from 10, in Portuguese (Em and I tried a little), and of course champagne corks popped all around us. Another older guy noticed we had no champagne, and promptly gave us some of his. Point of story: the locals are absolutely fantastic in Portugal.

The next day, the entire town was shut down for New Years Day. We searched for hours, and finally found a cafe that was serving some food. Since it was cloudy and rainy, we spent the rest of the day in the hotel room watching a movie on cable (Steven Segall) and reading books.

We went to a Museum of Wine and Port (Port wine comes from a region very near Porto) and then walked to the ocean. Once again, a bunch of time spent watching the waves crash on the pier. That night, we finally had the nice New Year´s dinner we had searched for several days prior.

Our last day in Porto, before taking another night train back to Spain, we toured a Port wine company. The tour was fun and informative, the best part being the tasting at the end. After lounging around (and drinking some full glasses of port that no other tour-takers had claimed), we made our way to the train station. Back at Porrino 3 hours later, the same cafeteria worker asked us about our New Year´s and gave us more coffee. We jumped on the night train (in sleeper bunks this time), and made our way to Barcelona.

Photos HERE.

Madrid and Segovia, Spain

We arrived in Madrid after a very long train ride from Bayonne. At our hostel, in the old town center of Puerta del Sol, we found that they had moved us to their brand new hostel a few blocks away. It was quite nice with free internet and a clean kitchen we could use, woo hoo!

We spent about an entire day finding Mike´s insulin pump company branch on the outskirts of town, talking security into letting us in, and having the receptionist help us track down a guy Mike´d emailed a few times. It was a mess, but he did get more diabetes supplies in the end, so a success in the end. That evening, we went with a group from the hostel out for beers and tapas. We didn't know what the tapas that we chose was, we just knew that it had garlic in it. It was called garlic gula. When it arrived, it looked like little worms on toasted bread but we gave it a go and it was really good. We found out later that it is made of Alaskan cod, and is a substitute for much more expensive baby eel. We talked with our dorm mate, a PhD student at Cambridge (originally from Virginia) studying molecular biology. Nice guy, but a complete dork, he earned the (between us) nickname of Bio-Geek.

We tried to go to the world renowned Prado Museum, but with the Christmas/New Years holiday, the lines to get in were about 2 hours long. Since the weather was warm and the sun shining we found ourselves on a park bench for several hours that afternoon, soaking up the sun. Later, wandering around the plaza near the hostel, we did some people watching. For some reason, everyone was buying crazy wigs (think rainbow mullets down to the waist crazy). Young and old, looking silly in the streets.

One of the days in Madrid, we took a train to Segovia for a daytrip. We had no map and wandered around the city for a while, which at first glance appeared to be dead. We finally found the Roman aqueduct from the 1st century AD, which the city is famous for. The aqueduct runs through the center of the city and used to provide fresh drinking water for the people. We also checked out the city's palace and the main cathedral. It was a really neat little city with a lot of character. The aqueduct is amazing; there is no mortar used in the arches, just shaped stones.

At some point, we also checked out the Madrid palace and Cathedral, and ate grilled sweet potatoes and corn on the cob from a street vendor. The final day, we ended up back at the park we´d been to earlier, this time to nap on the grass. It was Sunday, and the park was packed full of locals and tourists, so we fit in. We left Madrid that evening at about 10:30 pm on a night train bound for Portugal.

Photos, HERE.

Bayonne and Biarritz for Christmas

We decided to stay at a Bed and Breakfast in the little town of Bayonne, France, for Christmas and we arrived on Christmas Eve. The owner was a very lively French woman named Sylvie. She spoke very little English but that did not stop her from spending 25 minutes showing us around our room and pointing out everything there was to do in Bayonne. She was very excited about the bowling, encouraging us to go because they had a great sound system with great music.

After she left, we were almost like little kids in a hotel room. An entire room to ourselves, with a shower and a tv. It was like Christmas. Well, it was Christmas. We ate our salami, cheese, baguette, and drank the wine all the while watching Gremlins and The Simpsons in French. (side note, the last night we were in Paris, we walked into our room to find that we had new room mates. The room was quite fragrant and we assumed that the new people weren't that into bathing or had passed some serious gas. No big deal, I just opened the window and then went to take a shower. When I got out, I found Mike laughing. He had figured out that it was our stinky cheese that we had left there in the morning that had made our room smell so badly.) Back in Bayonne, we ate some of the stinky cheese with our noses somewhat plugged. It was good but strong.

Christmas day, we got up and had breakfast with everyone else at the B&B. One of the other guests spoke English (actually an English teacher in France) and Sylvie pretty much forced this guy to sit by us. He was very nice and ended up offering us a ride into Biarritz, the coastal town next to Bayonne. We accepted and they took us up to the light house and then dropped us off next to the beach. It was spectacular, mostly because it was so warm and sunny and there was no wind. There were people surfing and by late afternoon, there were a few brave souls getting into the water. The area was full of rocks and the ocean crashed into them and this made for some wonderful pictures. We spent most of the day soaking up the sun, watching the waves get bigger as the tide came in and the ocean got angrier. After having tapas for lunch, we indulged and bought some delicious desserts from a pastry shop that boxed them up and tied on a little bow. Mike and I walked down the street, found a little bench in the sun and promptly ate them. Mine was covered in powdered sugar and Mike kept making me laugh so I, too, was covered in powdered sugar. Biarritz was a great little town next to the ocean that came alive at night with people strolling along the boardwalk, enjoying the lights and the water. Not a bad way to spend Christmas. Next day, we had breakfast with Jean Michelle and his girlfriend, Sandrine (the couple from the day before) and then we were off to catch our train to Madrid.

Photos HERE.

City of Lights

We went to Paris on the high speed train from Munich, yeah thats right, the train was up to 320 km/hour. That´s 198.8 mph for all of you who don´t want to google it. It was pitch black out, so we couldn´t see much, but we could tell that we were going really fast. I think we entered Paris with a little trepidation based purely on rumors of the country (and the people). But by the time we´d left, we´d been treated pretty well. We found the hostel, which has been one of the more "interesting" ones thus far. It was located in a neighborhood that would make our dads cringe and our moms cry. The room was small, with barely enough room to turn around, the hostel was dirty, and I feared for our lives if there were to be a fire. And we had 5 nights booked in this lovely place! However, we decided to grin and bear it. We spent little time there because there was so much to see and do in Paris! It was also much sunnier and warmer than Germany, which was one of my favorite parts.

Our first day in Paris we wandered our way to Notre Dame and found Paris´ oldest bridge, The Pont Neuf, both of which are located in the oldest part of the city, an island in the middle of the Seine River. While we were touring through Notre Dame, we heard our names and realised that our dorm-mates from Munich were now in Paris. Definitly a surprise to get recognised in Paris. We then attemted to check out the catacombs and found them closed for renovations! We did check out the Latin quarter and the Pantheon and then took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. The tower was huge and not exactly beautiful up close. But we walked to the second platform (they make you pay another 11 euro to actually go to the top) and the view was pretty amazing, especially as the sun was setting over Paris. We walked through the adjacent gardens and took some lovely photos of the tower all it up at night.

The next day we checked out a free walking tour that our Munich friends had mentioned. Upon leaving the hostel that morning, the hostel workers asked us if we wanted to do a free walking tour and we decided, nah, we´ll go on this other one that was recommended to us. Ironically enough, a few minutes after we arrived at the tour meeting place, the guy from the hostel shows up and it turns out that he is the tour guide! It was a really good tour of Paris and we learned a lot of the city´s history. We saw the palace that now houses The Louvre with it´s glass pyramid, the Tuileries (the former palace gardens), the obelisk which is located where the guillotine used to stand, and the Arc de Triomphe where the body of the unknown soldier lies. This is also the location of the world´s biggest roundabout with 12 streets leading off of it. After the tour, we grabbed some crepes for dinner. Mine filled with nutella and bananas and Mike´s with ham and cheese. We then headed to the Louvre because under 26´s get in free on Friday nights. I was too old, poor me, it stinks being a cradle robber. And I do feel discriminated against because Europe hates people 26 and over, stupid age limits! But we did get to see the Mona Lisa! And, it was really small and she does make you wonder what is on her mind? The tourists were thick like mosquitoes, so after pondering for just a moment, we moved on. We also saw the Venus de Milo and the lavishly furnished apartments of Napoleon III. The museum is overwhelmingly huge and we finally gave up in defeat and headed back to the hostel.

The next morning, we went to check out the grave of Jim Morrison in the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, which has over 800,00 people buried in it. It was a small, simple grave that had been turned into some sort of shrine and now has gates all the way round, two gaurds, and flowers overwhelming it. People can be creepy. We tried to go back to Notre Dame to see the piece of the cross and the crown of thorns that the tour guide told us about but they are only on display on the first friday of the month from 1-4. Another Paris opportunity missed. But we did find another used book store with English titles, which is always fun. We also tried to unsuccessfully to see the original Moulin Rouge, but two of our room mates went to the show and had a good time; they also paid 89 Euro apiece to go the 11:00 pm show. Ouch.

The next morning, we found a parade of people playing Christmas music on horns and marching down the street in Santa hats. This inspired us to buy our Christmas dinner in the little wine, cheese, and fruit shops lining the streets. That afternoon we went to Musee D´Orsay, which is in a former train station. We both enjoyed many of Monet and Pissaro´s works, as well as many others. After the museum, we enjoyed some fondue. We dipped meats, potatoes, and bread into beer cheese and it was delightful. Next morning, we said Au revoir to Paris and made our way to Bayonne for Christmas.

Photos HERE.

Amsterdam

Bikes, canals, illicit substances, red lights, museums!

Amsterdam was great, with beautiful architecture and canals cut all throughout the city, more places to eat and drink then you could shake a stick at, and of course, all the other stuff that makes Amsterdam, Amsterdam (like MUSEUMS, jeez, what do you guys think I meant!). We spent a lot of time just walking around, learning that you don't necasarily have to participate in all of Amsterdam's seemingly-illicit activities to have a good time; watching crowds of people walk the red light district is entertaining in and of itself.

We also got to see the Anne Frank house and the M.C. Escher museum. The Anne Frank house was interesting, and had us wishing that we'd re-read the book in the last few years to remember more of her tragic story. Even without remembering all of it, the house did a good job of portraying what living for a couple of years in the same few rooms, constantly in fear of your life, might feel like. The Escher museum is located in De Haag, about an hour away from Amsterdam by train. It was neat, as they had almost all of his works on display there, along with some interactive displays where you could try to get inside one of his "impossible" prints.

Photos are located HERE. They are rated PG-13, so I (personally) wouldn't open them at work. Enjoy!

Calais, France and Brussels, Belgium

On the 21st, Emily´s birthday, we went by train from London to Dover, England. There, we planned to catch the ferry into Belgium, where we would catch a train to Brussels.

In Dover, we were told that it was impossible to be a foot passenger to Belgium (cars and motorcycles okay, no foot passengers, though). So, we were forced into going to Calais, France, where we were told that it would be impossible to take a train to Brussels that evening. We found a cheap hotel, and went out to a nice meal to save Emily`s birthday from being a disaster.

The next day, we were finally able (after several delays) to take the train to Brussels. That night, we went to a Belgian chocolate shop where we enjoyed delicious, expensive chocolates (and I told Emily that this could easily spell death to a diabetic), and later drank some Belgian beer. Delicious. All and all, an atypical Thanksgiving, but we weren`t complaining.

The next day, on our way to the train station, we also walked by a (supposedly) famous statue of a fountain that featured a naked little boy urinating. I kid you not, the name of it is Mannekin Pis!

Photos from Brussels HERE.

Scotland Pictures

Pictures of Scotland, click here.

Ireland photos posted

Go HERE. Enjoy!