Heather and I backpacked Europe in the summer of 2010. It was a short trip and very fast paced. Here are some memories and quotes from the trip. This should be pretty boring for most, but I decided to post it anyway.
Trip to Europe
Trip Quotes:
"I don't know why American's have such a bad reputation"-Mandy after an American said how awesome it was that someone got away with murder.
"My eyes were burning in Arizona"-Canadian guy in reference to the heat
"You guys in the U.S. are crazy! One time I was on a Grayhound..." -Pub worker in London
"Where did he come from?!"-Heather about guy who was in our sleeping compartment on the overnight train to Venice (We went to sleep and it was all girls, he must have came in the middle of the night.)
"I'm dressed like a Gondola worker!"-Mandy (accidental)
"Let's go see if birthday boy still wants to buy us a drink"-Mandy in Venice
"Bailar!" "Do you girls want a free tour?" -Venetian men, after Heather was dancing to their music. (This was amusing because Mandy was trying not to encourage them after getting stared at, and Heather had no idea)
"I think those birds got the message!"-Man in Michelangelo's Square. (An American took off his shoe and started yelling loudly and chasing annoying pigeons. This was highly amusing to Heather and I who couldn't stop laughing)
"I know what I'd like to...gasp"-Mandy. Let's just leave it at that.
"That wouldn't not be gentlemanly of me"-Alec. Very charming Brit, indeed.
"All you do is hold it up in the air" -Alec in reference to Heather and I struggling to keep our umbrella up.
"Could you say that a little louder?"-Alec when Mandy said that American women were easy. We were in a Pub. (I quickly stated that I wasn't)
"The Wiah" "huh?" "The Wiah" "Huh?!" "The Wire"-Alec saying which American show he liked and Heather and I didn't understand until he said it by imitating an American accent.
"I told you already Josh!"-Mandy who yelled in her sleep and woke herself and Heather up in a hostel in Paris
"I found me a new boyfriend in the elevator"-Mandy in reference to a young guy that was pressed up against her on the elevator in the Eiffel Tower. (With little choice, it was packed, it was just a funny situation)
"Switzerland looks like Alaska and Colorado had a baby"-guy we met in a hostel in Switzerland
"I can tell they are Americans by their shirts that say 'The South Will Rise Again!'"-Same guy in Switzerland Hostel
"You are so beautiful we followed you"-guys in Germany. (I'm not sure they realized they sounded stalkerish)
"If the sickness doesn't kill the children and the thrusting man doesn't hurt them, the led paint is sure to"-guide in Munich in reference to both the Glockenspiel and the use of Led paint in the time period the old clock represents
"Phase 10, ruining friendships everywhere"-Mandy after a moment of tension in how to play Phase 10
"You and me, we are the same" -Parisian restaurant worker after touching Heather's stomach. Said to Mandy. We can't remember but we think it might have been in reference to the amount of food we ate and not the size of our stomachs. We hope not anyway.
"Gelato!"-Heather got excited every time.
"Are you single? Do you want a boyfriend for a day"-Information guide at the Vatican
"Do I come too?"-Heather after Mandy got asked on a date
"He told me he weighed 100 Kilometers"-Mandy. Just another verbal mix-up
"Let's write our Moms and tell them we love them"-Mandy after agreeing to go out with a guy she didn't know
"What perfume are you wearing, can I smell you?" "I don't smell anything"-Heather's date.
"When in Rome, DON'T do as the Romans!"-Mandy
"Don't fall in the hole?"-Mandy response to how American's say "Mind the Gap"
"I saw you in the bathroom" -Heather to the male employee when she lost her passport in the Rome Airport.
"We'll do that when we get to Italy"-Heather when we were already in Florence
"I think we're staying in a Woman's Shelter"-Mandy about hostel in Rome
"I thought if I poofed my hair it would fix my face, but it still looks the same"-Mandy
"Heather, it's 5:08!" -Mandy waking up in a hostel in Greece. We had to meet our taxi driver at 5:15.
"Stupid hat! Why did I buy this stupid hat!" -Heather after trying to shove her new cowboy hat in our rush to get out the door at the Greece Hostel
"I'm your taxi driver"-Man standing outside the hostel...without a taxi cab.
"That room key is mine, you are going to be sorely disappointed"-Mandy
"Heather can see me!"-Mandy
"The younger prettier versions of ourselves"-Mandy after meeting two gorgeous girls in Greece
"Dear..pause"-Heather "Did you forget my name?!"-Heather's Date
"I got kissed in Hyde Park, and Mandy got kissed twice!"-Heather in reference to drunken man who kissed us on the cheek.
Day one. May 30th. Up at 4:30 am to try to prepare ourselves for sleeping on the night flight. We had our traditional travel bagel and Coffee Bean.
May 31st. Arrive in London with barley any sleep at 7:00am London time ( 3pm AZ time). We had some issue's getting into London because we didn't know where or who we were staying with. Heather kept asking me "Who are we staying with?" "Alec" "Alec who?" "I don't know" "How do we know Alec?" "Through Mario" "Where is Mario from?" "Mexico" Clerk: "You don't know his address, you don't know who you are staying with, and you don't know his last name" I replied with "it sounds safe, right?" I at least got a grin, Heather's clerk was not very nice.
London
Situation: We arrived at 7:00am
London time with barley any sleep from our turbulent red eye flight. We had never met the guy we were staying with and had planned on meeting him at his work.
Lodging: We stayed with a friend of a friend’s. Alec, and his four roommates.
Sites: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Rochester Park, Kensington Gardens, lots of parks and much more.
Food: Fish and Chips, Creme of Tea, Love Bars, Cider and Guinness,
Summary:
We stayed with four charming and courteous men who pride themselves on being gentlemen.
They all four went to
Oxford.
They all had exceptional conversational skills and listened much more attentively then American men. They were very accommodating and asked us often if we would like a cup of tea.
The one who was a friend of a friend, Alec, took time out of his schedule to show us around
London and takes us to some pubs.
He had a great sense of humor and we really enjoyed his company.
We couldn’t get enough of listening to the British accents, which were told is much more charming to listen to then American accents.
We enjoyed hearing things like “mind the gap” “mate” “cheers” and so on.
We froze, it rained our entire stay, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
Belgium
Travel: Brussels, our first train experience. We went in the underwater tunnel.
Lodging: A Castle in a small village outside of
Hasselt.
Sites: Grand Place Square, Mannequin Pis, the Belgian country side, 2000 year old wall built in the
Roman empire, many small villages surrounding the castle.
Food: Belgian Waffles, Belgian chocolate (soooo good)Belgian Fries, Belgian beer (made by Monks), and home cooking by our host.
Summary:
The people we stayed with were wonderful.
We were not sure what to expect.
Their house (castle) was beautiful. Each room was fit for Royalty.
Our room came with robes and slippers, shampoos and lotions.
The wife (Madeline) spoke very little English and her husband (Arthur) knew enough to have some conversation.
Their daughter Angelique came and spoke English fluently, and took us out for dinner.
We had a great time at dinner and had a lot of fun with Angelique.
In the morning, Arthur took us on a dizzying, fast-paced tour of the
Belgium countryside and the surrounding villages.
We saw some beautiful buildings and landscaping.
There is a lot of fruit that is grown in their area.
The castle has a strawberry field next to it, which has some of the best strawberries I have ever tasted.
France
Travel: We waited for a long time in the Brussels train station for this ride. We misunderstood and had to take the long way to Paris. Then we waited too long to buy our tickets to Interlaken and ended up with a 3 hour layover in some unknown town where we passed slept in a grassy area.
Lodging: Hostile. I accidently booked four beds for one night instead of 2 beds for two nights! We ended up having to pay extra to stay in one bed rooms the second night. They gave us rolls for breakfast. The bakers were young guys who called us beautiful and taught us some French words. This was our first hostile experience so we were not sure what to expect. What we got was no light in the bathroom, no towels, and cold water. We didn't complain because we didn't know any better, but it did make for some laughter. The second night we had our own room (thanks to may spaceyness). It was a nice break, we had our own showers and hot water!
Sites: The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, St. Chappell (from the outside), Luxemburg Palace, Bastille (where we stayed), Notre Dame de Paris (from the outside)
Food we ate: Crepes, Croissant and a beer on the Eiffel Tower, Panini type sandwiches.
Summary: Paris was our least favorite place. I think because of the amount of ground we covered walking and the fact that we didn't really meet anyone there. The Louvre was my favorite place in Paris. The Eiffel Tower had a really long line. We waited nearly an hour before going up. There was a point when some young guy was pressed up against me for the elevator ride up. Later, when laughing about it with Heather, I dubbed him my new boyfriend. We also had a good laugh at a woman who misunderstood and got off the elevator too early. She turned around only to realize that she was the only one who got off and she had to wait to go up in the next elevator. The view was beautiful from the Eiffel Tower. We sat in the grass afterward for awhile and enjoyed the view. One of the funnier moments during out stay in Paris, was when I woke up in the hostile shouting " I told you already Josh!" Heather woke up and said "Huh?.." I said "Did I just say that out loud?" It is my only memory of talking in my sleep.
Switzerland
Travel: The train ride out of France was nice. We sat in First Class (required by the Eurorail pass). We had a good laugh when Heather went to the bathroom, forgot where we were sitting, and marched right past me an on to another train car.
Lodging: By far our favorite hostile. We met so many people. We had a hard time deciding to choose this hostile because it was mixed dorms, but there ended up being only one Korean guy who was really quiet. They offered a wonderful breakfast, beer, and internet. They also provided easy access to adventure.
Food: Thai food (recommended by the locals), Swiss Cheese, Swiss chocolate, wonderful sandwiches on the train (which I gave away to a South Korean girl who was too polite to say she didn't like it!), and of course, Swiss beer.
Summary:
Interlaken Switzerland was so beautiful! It was such a nice break from the cities that we had seen up to that point. The Alps were so stunning. We decided to try Paragliding (running off of a Mountain and floating in a parachute). It was fun! The instructors were really nice guys and fun to talk to. It started pouring and we decided to do laundry. We hand-washed our clothes and cut in front of these guys to dry them. (We felt pretty guilty). We met a guy from North Carolina who spoke of how obnoxious Americans can be by saying stuff like "The south will rise again!" We laughed pretty hard. We played Egyptian Rat Screw and Speed (card game) which was so much fun. We made friends with a really friendly Korean girl and taught her how to play Yatzee. She was adorable! After giving some of our Chocolate away I said to Heather "I have got to stop giving our food away!" It started pouring after awhile so we didn't get to see as much of the town as we would have liked, but we met some fun people at the hostile because of it. While waiting for our train out of Switzerland, I got caught checking out a guy on a porch. I was already embarrassed, but then he decided to come down to the train station and walk right past me. Ha ha!
Germany (Munich)
Travel: We had fun on this train trip. We played games. At one point Heather fell asleep and I got back at her for taking my picture while sleeping in France. After a few stops an Indian couple and their brother sat next to us. The guy was a good looking man who was fun to talk to. They owned a Tobacco company (you could tell they were very rich), and were going to Munich for business. Our train was really late but we made it eventually.
Lodging: When we got to our Hostile they offered us a private room for the same price. It was really nice. It also had free breakfast. They also offered internet in our rooms. The hostile had tons of art work on the walls from people who had stayed there.
Food: I had lots of beer here. We ate at a nice place with a walking tour group and had some good conversations with everyone.
Summary: Munich was beautiful and so much fun. Our biggest regret was that we didn't plan more time there. I missed a beer crawl! :( I also forgot that I had a friend living there that we could have meet up with. We took a free walking tour and had so much fun with the tour and the people. The tour guide was very informative and I left with respectful perspective on the way the Germans have picked themselves back up after the war. We went to a Beer Hall that has an interesting history. Men used to pee on the floor! Right at their table! The urine would drain out onto the street. They used to have pokers to let the guy next to him know that he was about to go, so it wouldn't splash. Yuck!! We had fun drinking here. We met some guys from Canada who were funny. We were unfortunately in a hurry, so missed out on a lot in Munich.
Italy (Venice)
Travel: We took an overnight train to our destination. This was fun. There were 6 of us in our train cart. It was really tiny, but a fun experience. When we fell asleep, it was all females, which I thought a relief. In the morning some cute guy hopped down, and walked out the door. It was funny.
Lodging: We spent an hour winding through the Venice streets with our 25 pound backpacks trying to find our hostile. This was the dumpiest hostel we stayed at. We didn't mind though. The worst part was we had to keep the window open otherwise it was too hot, but if we opened the window, in came the mosquitoes. I sprayed Off like crazy!! The bathtub made me laugh. It was in the middle of the bathroom. The shower curtain was on a pole that went all the way across the bathroom. It was broken and was held together by a pencil, which was also broken. It was all taped together with masking tape. Thankfully, it never fell on me!
Sites we saw: Well, the Venice Canal...obviously
Summary: We spent two nights in Venice. We ate a lot of Gelato. In spite of terrible hair, the Italian men boosted our egos. We roamed around without a lot of purpose. It was really hot, but fun to wind our way through the streets. I for some reason thought it brilliant to wear a striped shirt and dark pants. Yup, I looked like a gondolier worker. I'm not sure what I was thinking! It was interesting to see evidence of the city sinking. While I liked Venice, it is not somewhere I would ever want to spend more than one day. I can't even imagine spending my honeymoon there!
Florence
Travel: These were the nicest first class trains. Everyone was in business suits; they offered complimentary drinks and snacks.
Lodging: Our hostel was nice. We got our own room again. We had really loud teenagers on our floor, but other than that it was nice. The breakfast was really good!
Summary: We only stayed one night in Florence, but I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything when we left. We rubbed the pig's nose, so legend has it, we will be back anyway! Florence was beautiful!! We took another free walking tour. The buildings were so detailed! At one of the restaurants, Heather saw someone she knew! It was fun listening to Italian. It is such a musical language. One of my favorite things we did was go to Piazzale Michelangelo. The view was gorgeous and I had a drink up at a little restaurant there. It was wonderful! The only frustration was very aggressive birds. Thankfully, a loud American started attacking the birds with his shoe by chasing them and yelling. He finished it with "I think those birds got the message." Heather and I laughed so hard we couldn't stop. His family was so embarrassed! We went up to the top and listened to a band sing American songs. It was really fun!
Rome
Travel: First Class Train, same as Florence. Arriving in Rome was a pain because our hostel was really far away from the station. We had to get on a bus, which was cramped and awful.
Lodging: We stayed in an all women hostel. It used to be a convent. I think it may have been a shelter of some sort. We got our laundry done which was soo nice!
Summary: The first night we found food and went to bed early. We got up at went to the Vatican early (which did NOT pay off). We stood in a long line and listened to a million people ask if we wanted to go to the front of the line. At the beginning, some guard asked if we wanted a boyfriend for the day and proceeded to ask his co-workers for me. Every time Heather and I tried to escape he would say "Wait, hold on!" Eventually a good looking guy came up and asked if we wanted to get a drink later. Very hesitantly, I agreed. When we got in the halls of the Vatican, it was so packed that Heather and I basically scooted through everything as quickly as possible. St. Peter's church was beautiful!! My favorite church by far! The Basilica was also breath taking. Heather and I met the guy and thankfully, he brought a friend (she was worried she was ruining my date). They gave us a very uninformative, but very fun tour.. We eventually went to a bar and watched the American vs. Britain Soccer game. The next day, we got on a tour bus. Unfortunately, I lost my ticket and couldn't get back on! The Coliseum was by far my favorite structure. I just can't fathom a building that old where centuries and centuries of people have stood and sat. The ruins were also amazing.
Greece: (Santorini)
Travel: We took a plane from Rome to Athens and stayed in a hotel on a layover to Santorini. The hotel was like heaven. It was worth the amount I had to pay to stay! The blow drier, the free shampoo, the outrageously comfortable beds! It was amazing! The plane in to Santorini was fun. Heather lost her passport in the bathroom and gave us both a bit of a scare. Thankfully, we found it!
Lodging: Our hostel was adorable.
Summary: It was a private bedroom so Heather and I got to stay in our own room. The first night we found the black rock beach and played in the water. It was stunning. The next day we took an all day tour. It took us to the caldera of a volcano, swimming in hot springs, and then over to Oia to watch the sunset. We met some fun girls who we dubbed the younger prettier versions of ourselves. They were so funny! We had a lot of fun. The whole experience was just like the pictures. It was a great way to end our trip. It was like a beach vacation. The last morning we were supposed to meet our Taxi driver in front of our hotel at 5:15 in the morning. I woke up and yelled "Heather it is 5:07" We woke up and packed in a frenzy, laughing and cursing huge objects that we tried to shove in our bags (Heather's cowboy hat). We had no time for make-up and hair. We looked terrible! I was ready first so I ran outside and ran into a guy smoking a cigarette who told me he was our taxi driver. It was a bit confusing because there was no car. The mystery was solved, however, when his son rolled up in a car! :)
London:
Back to meet up with Alec for our last night. He took us to a pub where Jack the Ripper used to drink. It was fun seeing him again. After that we flew home and ate In and Out. Lots of fun!
