An Update

I have decided to make a separate page with the posts regarding the Eurotrip. This will let me keep things more organized. I haven't altered the posts in any way, so I know the pictures sort of mess up the text, but that's no big deal. The first post is on the bottom, so go at it and enjoy. Go ahead and email me with any questions or comments as well.
Cheers!

The Near Disaster

Like I mentioned before, the Milan airport is actually in Bergamo, 1 hour away. Fortuneately some smart entrepeneurs recognized that this can cause problems and have organized shuttle buses from the Central Station in Milan (seen in the picture) to the airport in Bergamo. I boarded one of these buses so as to get to the airport about 2 hours before my flight was to depart. I stood in line to check in and thought it was a bit weird that 9:55 and 16:00 were both listed as times for the flight to leave, but I just assumed that this meant it was also the same desk that was to be used for the 4:00pm flight later on. Before I go any further, it should be known that RyanAir's slogan is "The On-Time Airline" and they actually have really god statistics for arriving within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time. Also, I had changed my flight to London to leave from Milan instead of Torino because I did not want it to get dealyed because of fog and because it was easier to get to. So, imagine how I felt to find out that my flight to London had been delayed by 6 HOURS due to snow on some other runway in the country the plane was coming from. I could not believe it. Of all the planes it had to be the most important one since I was catching the flight to Australia the same day at 9:15pm. I would have arrived in London at about 5pm, taken a 1 hour train to the centre, then another 20 minutes to get to the hostel, then another 20 minutes to repack, then another 2o minutes to get to the train station that has the express train to Heathrow which in the end would have put me extremely close to missing the check in for the flight to Australia. So of all the amounts of time it could be delayed, it had to be 6 hours, not 5 or 4 or 1 which would have all been at least barely feasible.
Since the my entire trip had gone along so smoothly so far, I just dismissed this as a minor problem since everything works out fine for me anyways. I did exactly what TV has taught me to do and I had myself put on the standby list for a different flight into a different airport in London. Oddly enough I was the first person on stand by for this flight which makes me wonder what all the other people in front of me were up to. They could have all been put on this list and then not had to wait 6 hours in a crappy little airport, (but one with a view as seen in the other picture).
Anyway, I ended up getting on the other flight to London no problem and even managed to score a window seat for the cloudless flight over the Alps. Now I had all the time in the world to chill out in London for awhile. I made my way to the hostel where I originally stayed and my bags were all still there in a closet where I left them. I mailed a package home with souvenirs, grabbed some food, killed time in an internet cafe and watched some Olympic curling action with some Australians. They could not believe people play this game and made fun of it the whole time. "Boring as bat shit" was my favourite term they used to describe it.
Took the long train to Heathrow to save 20$ or so and checkin went well there. Then the delays start up again. 20 minutes at first. Then another 20 minutes. Then there was something not working on the plane and they had to get us a new one and transfer everything over to it. So another 2 hours delayed.
I settled in for the 12 hour flight to Singapore and once again had noone interesting sitting next to me to talk to. Nice thing about the long haul flights is that everyone has their own TV. I ended up watching several movies and TV shows, often watching one movie once and using it to sleep to the second time. It was dark a lot of the time but the sun came up as we flew over India, and it was exactly like you would think: brown ground, brown water and stinking of curry. Except I think the curry smell came from the vegetarian meal of the guy in front of me.
I ended up not getting up at all for 12 hours which made the stopover in Singapore a nice break. I walked around and checked out some shops. Most cameras and stuff like that was the same price as home. With the exchange, an iPod is only 3$ more there than it is here, though I don't know what the tax is, if any, in Singapore so maybe its better. Malaysia is the place to go tor the cheap stuff I'm told.
Got back on the same plane with lots of the same people and had an 8 hour flight into Melbourne. Once again I watched more movies and did not get up once. Flying over Australia was not exciting at all, once again, it's just like you are led to believe: nothing but flat red ground as far as you can see. I don't have a picture of it because there is really nothing to see.
The Melbourne airport was also much smaller than I would have thought and also very much in the middle of nowhere. Whatever. I was in a bit of a daze at this point and was for the rest of my first day in Australia, which I'll get to in the next post.
Cheers!

Special Report: Torino 2006

Torino is about a 2 hour train ride from Milan, making Milan a great place to stay since prices were not inflated at all and it was better than our original plan of just winging it and hoping to find a random place to sleep. I had not been watching all the special reports on TV about the city itself so I really had no idea what to expect. When we arrived there was definitely a buzz in the air but nothing special. We stepped out of the train station and other than flags on lightposts and the odd volunteer walking around you wouldn't know the Olympics were in town. Our first task was to find the hockey tickets that were supposed to be sent to a relatives address in Holland. (The Canadian website was sold out of the cheap tickets so I ordered them from the European one). Went into a hotel and asked for directions to the stadium. It turns out NBC had rented out that entire hotel and I have to say NBC just owned Torino, I saw people with NBC badges all over the place, at other hotels and boarding coach buses to be taken to the mountains. We just sort of walked up to a "biglieteria" near the stadium and right there just happened to be a booth named "undelievered tickets". So that worked out well, turns out the tickets were there in a tattered envelope that looked like it had travelled more of Europe in the past few weeks than I had. It was pretty exciting to get these tickets since it was at that point the only thing that hadn't worked out perfectly on my Eurotrip.
Our next mission was to find Canada House since I heard a rumour there was free beer and food for Canadians. What a site that was; a log house sitting in the middle of an Italian square. I asked the old guy hosting at the front door where the free beer was and he said it was against Canadian law to give away beer. I then asked another lady near a kitchen where the Tim Hortons coffee was and she said she forgot to bring it but we could help ourselves to ice tea in the fridge, score! I have to say though, they were sure giving off an exagerated view of Canada with the log house full of aboriginal paraphenelia AND a mountie. (On another side note, a Dutch exchange student I know in Canada was being asked by his friends back home if he had gotten a picture with a mountie yet). I have to say though, I felt very much at home there sitting in a log chair on a balcony watching everyone get their pictures taken with the mountie so I guess they did a good job.
We also went to the main square in town where the medal ceremonies take place and eventually they closed it down since a ceremony was going to take place and all the people were shuffled into the streets surrounding the square making them jam packed with people all jostling to get out of that area. There was also a sponsors village where everyone had buildings where their stuff was promoted. Not many freebies at all though, other than these blister band-aids which actually came in very useful.
Next up it was time to queue for the hockey game. We had to first line up for the security check that goes into Olympic park. I don't know what has been said on the news about security but we managed to bring into the park and stadium most things that are banned, such as food, harmful containers and a swiss army knife. We were some of he first into the Olympic park so we had a solid photoshoot with the stadium, the rings and the flame.
The Palasport Olimpico was pretty impressive. It was a lot smaller than I thought which makes for a great atmosphere. The gold medal games there are going to be awesome. The lighting was very bright and all the seats were clear making for a cool effect. I think since I bought the tickets on the European website we were the only Canadians in our section pretty much. We were decked out in red and white which I guess was a bit of an attraction for some since people came down and took pictures of us and with us. Then one girl brought us each a rose, I don't know exactly why.
So how about that hockey game, you all know by now that Canada won 16-0 which was must have been hard for the Italians to watch, but also for us. Our cheering subsided as the game progressed because of all the eyes burning into our red Canada shirts. Just a little bit awkward. Funniest thing I saw was when the goal judge behind the Canadian net came out of her booth after the end of the first period and made a going to sleep motion with her hands to her friend. We were sitting 3 rows back from the space separating the fans from the glass so we saw all the interesting behind the scene going ons. (Katie is waving from our seats in the picture). For example, did you know that the CBC camera man has a spotter to point out interesting things going on in the crowd for him to film. This reminds me of the random cheerleaders that were in the stands. What was up with that? Every time a song came on they all did a little dance and sat down again. And their outfits were the weirdest randomest colours. Were they on TV as well? I've never heard of this before.
In the end I think we hit up all there really was to see in Torino. Really cool to see it all in person and I don't understand why more people from Europe don't go to the games since it so close and easy for them to do so. Definitely easier for people from all over Europe to get to these Olympic games than anyone from Eastern Canada can get to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Next entry will retell how almost everything was ruined for me and how I almost didn't make it to Australia.

How to Visit High Fashion Shops in Milan

After a quick visit to Bergamo I took the train to Milan, which I should mention is very cheap to do in Italy. After arriving I knew the general direction of the hotel I was staying at. (note: there are no hostels in Milan, only budget hotels, which means 1 star). No big deal finding this one and the owner was very friendly and knew me by name during tho whole stay. He pointed out the main attractions, which isn't actually very much and I set off. Here's a great ice breaker I used to meet the girls I hung out with all afternoon. I first overheard them talking english with an American accent and then simply asked "what brings you english speakers to Milan". And then of course we are instant friends because we both speak good english in Italy. Turns out they are trying to find the high fashion street and I knew where it was. I wasn't planning on visiting it because I would look like a tourist visiting those stores alone with zero intention of buying anything and these girls had that look that says they are right at home in these stores. So I accompanied then down the street and shopped at Gucci, Versace, Chanel, Armani etc... I ended up being a valuable asset to the team providing comments on which handbags were "cuter". (By cuter I mean I asked them which one they would get more use out of, or more value for the 400Euros or so that the cheap ones cost). If you think that's a lot of money, there was a nice Gucci handbag for 50% off for 2,100Euros, but I have to say, it was very nice leather.
We then headed over to the Duomo which I think is about the 4th biggest church in the world. And what do you do at such an attraction? You climb onto the roof! It offered great views of the city and it is where I made the picture that I know have as my desktop background.
We had another greeat experience after that at a bar we went into for a drink. We were a bit surprised that this 1 drink cost us 9Euros each but then we noticed all the snacks on the counter and helped ourselves. We were told not to though, but then the lady brought a plate of ham and cheese quesidillas which wasn't even on the counter to snack from. The lady also then brough out olives and fresh balls of mozarella cheese. Fine with me. We just hoped we wouldn't be charged too much extra for it all. And we weren't, not a cent more. I think that this experience was not uncommon and that it happens all over Italy though I haven't confirmed that.

On Sunday, after Katie had arrived from France, we made the 40 minute trip to Lake Como which I guess could be the Muskokas of Italy. Many people have cottages on this lake including George Clooney. And I could see why, with snow capped mountains shooting up on all sides it was very impressive. We were told to take a boat tour and ride the funicular to the top of the nearest mountain. So here are some favourite shots from each of those. This sailboat made for a great picture. And of course I know you all want to see another picture of me so here I am I think about 500 metres above the town that is visible in the background which I think is quite possibly the same town in the background of the sailboat picture.

In the end northern Italy was a great addition to my Eurotrip since I saw and learned so many new things among the other good times that were had.

So check back again soon for a report of sorts on the Olympics in Torino and my experience as a spectator at Canada's almost embarrassing 16-0 win over Italy in women's hockey.

Ciao!

Italian Language Skills

After visiting Paris I flew into Bergamo which is about 1 hour away from Milan. RyanAir keeps their costs down by using the next closest airport to the majot city in case you didn't know. I was alone for that day so I figured I would hang out in Bergamo for the fun of it. It was no problem to find a bus at the airport, but I had zero idea where my hostel was. All I had was an address and instruction to take bus #6. Got off at what I thought was the central bus station and there was no sign of bus#6. No big deal, I'll just ask someone. Not as easy as I thought it would be. In France, Holland, England, and even Spain on a previous trip I knew the language, so I was in effect, in the most foreign country ever. They had zero idea what I was talking about. The first few people I asked knew zero english. But I will admit it was naive on my part to just assume everyone knew english, man I felt like a tourist. So I found a #6 bus and figured I had a 50/50 chance of getting on in the right direction and that I would just see the hostel and get off. First of all, I rode the bus in the wrong direction for like 15 minutes. Then I got one what I thought was the right bus and the bus driver told me to get off and find bus #3. Very confusing with his broken english, though knowing spanish and french I found was a pretty big help. I spotted a guy with a backpack and asked him what hostel he was going to. Turns out there is only one in town so that was easy. Took the bus to the very end of the line and then still had to walk a few minutes to get to it. What an ordeal after 3 hours of sleep and flying etc... And what was I greeted with? "Your room will not be ready until 2pm, here is a map, I suggest you go visit the city". At least it was proper english.
The town of Bergamo is actually very impressive. It is in the north of Italy so the alps were a constant backdrop and the old city of Bergamo was on a small mountain. Here is a picture of a ragged me contrasted against a gorgeous Italian mountain town. It was pretty much your stereotypical Italian mountain town to. A very good first impression of the scnenic aspect Italy has to offer. I walked around the town and had an Italian pizza for lunch. And guess what I had for dinner? The hostel is so far from town that me and another guy ordered pizza for supper to! Here is what Italian pizza looks like. I think I ordered a 4 meat pizza which included big chunks of hot dog. Carne is the same in spanish as Italian meaning "meat". Also, all Italian Pizza has a very thin crust making it not filling at all.
I went to bed early to recover for the train trip to Milan. I learned a new fun Italian word to: Biglietteria, meaning ticket booth I guess. Really fun to say too, sometimes just to pass the time when I'm walking around I just keep saying "biglietteria".
This post has become long so I will save Milan and Lake Como for the next post.
Ciao! <----(the extent of my knowledge of Italian before I arrived)

The Legend of the 0.90Euro cent Wine

If you don't much about France, chances are you know it is at least famous for wine. This makes you think that they produce a lot of it, which they do, which according to the laws of economics means it is probably inexpensive. Well we went to the grovery store to rustle up some cheese and baguettes and found the cheapest wine in the store, and there it was, a bottle of wine for less than 1Euro. Since it was such a novelty we bought 3 bottles which even after the rate of exchange to Canadian Dollars, was still cheaper than the cheapest bottle at the LCBO. And props to the French on this one, it was also far better tasting than its Canadian cousin. Also since I was only visiting France for a short time I had to get the most french experience possible out of it. So here is a picture of me with a baguette and a beret sitting in front of a french style window overlooking the a very french looking building which happens to be the Poitier city hall.

After a short visit to the university town of Poitier, I had to catch a flight the following morning to Milan from Paris. But hey, why not visit Paris first? I left in the early afternoon so I could check out the sites for old times sake since it had been 5 years since I was last in town. I had to catch a shuttle bus to the airport at 5am so I figured I would find a cheap place to stay nearby the departure point. Nope, not in Paris; the cheapest place was 60Euro which wasn't worth it for 3-4 hours of sleep. So I set off to find a place to leave my bags while I toured. Out of luck again, so I sucked it up and set off for the sights. I managed to hit the Eiffel tower in daylight and at night, the Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Pont Neuf and more and fit in at least a quick photoshoot at each location. I randomly ran into a Chinese lady who was taking pictures with a tripod. I made some idiot comment about it and got a friend out of it. We hit up a lot of the sites at night and shared tips on night time photography. I asked her what she was studying and she said she had been done school and working for 6 years now. I said she looked much younger (which she did) and I've never seen anyone so flattered before. Check out a few of the night shots I got out of it all. Paris was definitely much more picturesque than London.

Once it got late I figured I would head back to the square the buses left from and just lay in the street. No other choice really, plus I had long underwear with me so no big deal. I walked the Chinese lady back to her hotel and there happened to be free internet in the lobby, so I decided to kill some time with that. It got later and the receptionist started closing all the curtains and then the lights. He said I could stay a bit longer but then he pulled some sheets out and went to sleep on the couch. So I simply waited until he was snoring and I picked out my own couch and slept well for 3 hours. Woke up at 4:30am, thanked the guy for his hospitality and took a cab to the bus stop. Done and done, I was off to Milan.

Check back for a report on my Italian language skills or rather the Italians' lack of English skills.

Aurevoir!

The Ulterior Motive to Being Friendly

As much as I don’t like to think it, I am pretty much a tourist right now. I think some people are able to identify who is and isn’t a tourist pretty easily. In my case, I don’t think my Canadian Olympic toque helps me blend in very well.
When I arrived at the Central station in Amsterdam, I needed to lock up my backpack for a few hours so I went and found the lockers. I was fiddling with the locker and could have easily figured it out in another 20 seconds but a guy came over and was very eager to help me out. I tried to pay for the locker with my Euro debit card and he said it couldn’t be done and that I had to make change, so I did, assuming this guy worked for the train station. Everything gets nicely locked up and I thank the guy and then I get a strange feeling from the way he is looking at me. “Maybe because I help you, have money for me to get a coffee”. I knew it! And I couldn’t tell him I had no money, I JUST made change. No big deal though, he DID help me and I had no good excuse not to, so I gave him a couple coins.
Here’s another hot tip if you are in Amsterdam: don’t walk around reading your map. Amy and I stopped to get our bearings and another guy comes over and asks us if we need help to find something. I decline, I am in Geography, I know maps, but he insists and we let him help us. We weren’t totally sure he was going to ask for money but I was ready. “
Ik heb alleen een creditcard ben net in Amsterdam aangekomen” (I only have a credit card, I just arrived). But Amy reached into her pocket and pulled out a few cents, but then he had the nerve to ask if that was all and then to ask me if I was sure I had nothing else. A couple other people tried to help us out, but we were able to brush them off a bit easier.
Speaking of friendly people, how about those prostitutes? I was walking through the red light district to meet up with Amy and everything seemed tame since it was, afterall, the early afternoon. But then I was walking past a building and heard a loud knock on the window, made me jump. There was a line of windows and all the nice ladies were smiling and waving me over, but as sincere as they seemed, I still had a feeling they were only after my money.
I don’t have any pictures of any of the friendly people I met, but this wouldn’t be a post without some pictures.
You may have heard rumours about urinals in the streets in Amsterdam. Well here they are.
I figured that noone would use them in the middle of the day, but no, in this very picture there is a dude using one on the opposite side.
And of course here is a classic Amsterdam building picture. The interesting thing here though is the fact that these buildings are slowly falling over, which I guess in itself is a bit of an attraction.
So there you have it, keep in mind that clicking on the pictures will bring them up bigger in a new window.
Next I travelled to the “Green Heart” of Holland and toured a brand new nature reserve which is a bigger deal than you might think.
Cheers!

The Transportation Dozen

When you undertake a whirlwind trip around Europe, you are bound to end up using a few different modes of transportation. Over a 24 hour period I ended up using around 12, although I know I am pushing it counting some of them. Here they are in order of first usage, you be the judge:

1. Double Decker bus in London
2. Subway in London, aka "The Tube"
3. Magic to pass through platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross
4. Coach Bus as a shuttle to Stansted Airport near London
5. Airplane (Boieng 737-800, with RyanAir)
6. City Bus to train station in Eindhoven
7. Train from Eindhoven to Rotterdam
8. Water Taxi from Maritime Museum to Hotel New York
9. Tram from Hotel New York to train station
10. Automobile from Hoek Van Holland to relatives house
11. Bicycle on a quick tour of s'Gravenzande
12. And of course, my own two feet were widely used

All of these went down between 9pm on February 1st and 9pm February 2nd. It is a dull achievement, but I was amused by it, as I often am with these sorts of things.

After a quick visit in s's'Gravenzande, I went to Amsterdam for the afternoon to meet with Amy who is also on her way to Australia and we came across some very "friendly" people. Check back for that story.

Tot de volgende keer!!!

Efficiency in London

Well when you have less than 48 hours to tackle a huge city, efficiency is key. After my last post I took off to I forget where because I was sidetracked in a subway station by 2 pleasant girls asking me of all people for directions. Chatted for a minute and realized we were somewhat after the same thing: an quick tour. So we set off together for the Tower Bridge which is very well lit up at night. Made for the best picture, with me in it, of the trip so far, have a look:

Took a while to capture the Tower Bridge from all the angles. We then headed over to Big Ben and the Parliament buildings which I had a harder time capturing properly on camera because of conflicting light sources, but here it is anyways:

Since it was suddenly after 12am, we scheduled a morning meeting to complete the tour. Next day we hit up "the Buck" where the Queen lives and this is where I captured another "must have" picture from London, me and a real "Bobby". When I asked to have a picture the one guy said no, then a girl I was with played the "pretty please" card (way to work it Carolina!) and bingo, this is what I got:

Well the tour continued right on, Abbey Road, Trafalgar Square, Hamleys Toy Store, Oxford Circus, among other places, and then on back to the hostel to gather myself for the 4am bus to the airport for my flight to Eindhoven, Holland.

Check back soon for a report on the Transportation Dozen!!

Cheers!

The Queen's Swans

So I'm in London. Kind of weird. I just jumped on a plane, and then within an hour of landing I had taken a train and I was in downtown London. It's so easy, why don't we all do it more often? Well my hostel, the Astor Hyde Park, is right on the edge of Hyde Park, Londons's equivalent to Central Park. My room wasn't ready, so I walked the park, took me over an hour from one side to the other, it's huge. Strangest thing I came across was what looked like Canadian Geese, the only difference was these ones had bad teeth. I asked a guy what Canadian Geese were doing here and he had no idea (probably because it was a dumb question) but he said they belonged to the Queen, which I found interesting.
Then I came across Hyde Parks equivalent to the creepy guy from Home Alone 2 who feeds the pigeons in the park. So I just asked him if the rumour was true that the birds in the park belong to the Queen. Turns out only the swans belong to the Queen, every one in England as a matter of fact. She even has royal swan keepers. About 20 years ago, a Saudi Arabian guy kicked a swan and killed it and the Queen was pissed, but the guy ended up getting extradited to his own country where the King there punished him, though the birdman didn't know how. "Says a thing or two about those damn Arabs now dunnit?" said the birdman. I politely agreed for fear that he would throw breadcrumbs all over me and have me attacked by pigeons.
Then I jumped on a double decker bus to kill time, rode it all over, £4.90 gets you unlimited bus and subway rides for a whole day.
When my room was ready, I obviously crashed for 4 hours and now I'm ready to get back at it.
I think some night photography on the Thames is in order, and I'll share those results with you when I am able.
Ta ta for now!

A Quick Hello

Hey everybody,
Well this is my blog and will be for the next year or so.
This trip has been, oh, 4 years in the making and now I'm about to head out to the airport.
I'm not going straight to Australia, but turning my stopover in London, England into a 2 week fast paced, high enery, Eurotrip. 2 days in London, 5 days in Holland, 3 days in France then 5 days in Italy where the highlight will be taking in some Olympic action.
Details of those trips will be posted here soon enough.
Alright, I am outta here!
Cheers!