Courtney's FINAL travel tip: It's all worth it... every penny, bruise, yawn, and pound gained is worth what I experienced.
I got to see the world with a dear friend of mine. I got to go to places I had only dreamed of. We researched for over a year, and we worked hard to make this a great and satisfying experience.
Here are some of my superlatives:
Best City: Paris. Jadore Paris!!! (I don't know if I spelled that right, but go with it!)
Best Scenery; Lucerne. By far, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen!
Best food: As a city, Lucerne. As a meal, the scallops were divine!
Best purchase: Not sure yet! I'll tell you if my box from Paris ever arrives!
Favorite Tour: Versailles by bike. I'd suggest this to anyone... even my 89 year old grandmother! (Although I don't know that she'd really enjoy it, I'd still suggest it to her!)
Favorite Landmark: VERY tough to say. Amsterdam: Anne Frank House. Paris: Either the Louvre, or the Eiffel Tower. Lucerne: Mt. Rigi. Rome: The Trevi Fountain (even though it was frought with danger, i.e. the possible pick pockets that were throwing these weird buzzing things in the air to try to distract you while they stole your stuff!)
I'm sure there are thousands of things I could rate but I just can't do it... everything was awesome and I need to start planning another vacation ASAP! Any takers?!?!?
I'm officially out of travel tips (until I get to take another trip when this list will be resurrected!)
Thanks for reading... and I'll have to think up something else to blog in the mean time... this was more fun than I expected!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
What am I going to do without my Nutella?
Courtney's Travel Tip #46: You know it's a sad state of affairs when you see that a priest has trouble getting through security at the Vatican.
Seriously, I'm not oblivious to the ways of the world and I know that people will do just about anything it takes to make a statement, but it's just telling when a man in his collar can't be trusted to get into St. Peter's without going through a metal detector.
And I will now step down from my soap box!
So we got to see the Vatican Museum yesterday, and once again our shopping got us into trouble! The tour guide told us that there was a service in St. Peter's Basicilla and we decided to go into the souvenir shop first. So we're shopping, doing our economic duty to Europe, and when we're finished, they won't let us go into St. Peter's because it's closed for that service that we could have gone to. Greed... it's a sin for a reason people!
Courtney's Travel Tip #47- I'm as macabre as the next person, but the practice of putting someone's corpse in a glass coffin and then pouring wax all over their body to preserve it for posterity is just plain creepy.
So we went to a total of 4 churches today. Santa Maria Del Popolo, Santa Maria Della Vittoria, The Pantheon, and St. Peter's Basicilla (since my greed caused us to miss out on it yesterday), and we kept seeing tombs, crypts, sarcophogi, and the piece de resistance (see I'm fluent in French already!)dead bodies preserved in wax!
It's a strange thing to look at someone lying dead in a box with their mouth open for you to see their actual teeth. I'm just sayin...
Courtney's Travel Tip #48- Beggars in Europe are much more dramatic than beggars in the US.
For those of you reading Caz's blog she may have mentioned this already, but the poor here are very dramatic. We figure there are a couple of rules:
1- Wait outside a church and hold out a plastic cup. Doesn't matter which church, there are tons of them so you are bound to find one that is not already taken.
2- If you have some sort of handicap, use it to your advantage.
3- If you can afford a dog, make sure to have it out for all to see. People are more likely to give you money if you have another mouth to feed!
4- When all else fails, just lay face down in the middle of the sidewalk and someone is bound to drop money into your outstretched hands.
Now some of these are not new techniques, but as with a lot of things, there is an art and a finesse to things in Europe that we just never mastered in the US!
So after our Angels and Demons tour (the book and movie are now both on my post-trip pop culture list!) we decided to go to lunch. Now, I'm just speaking for myself, but it is kinda funny when you've eaten your tortellini lunch, and you're in the back of the restaurant and you glance into the back room and see... a freezer filled with microwave Italian meals. Yep... I paid good money to have someone microwave some tortellini for me and serve it as my meal. The saving grace of this transaction, I only paid 5 bucks for it and so I don't feel TOO cheated.
BUT... since I skimped on lunch... I got to have...
Courtney's Travel Tip #49- Gelato is even better when they put Nutella in it!
I've had an obsession with Nutella since I got here. They have it everywhere. They even have these super jumbo tubs of it that come with a handle so you can carry it. And it's so good when it hits your lips. Nutella in crepes, Nutella in ice cream, Nutella FLAVORED ice cream. I'm a happy girl when I gets a hold of some of that chocolatey goodness. It truly is a phenomenon that you will need to experience if you ever get over here.
Courtney's Travel Tip #50- Having just gone off on a tangent about Nutella, I'm officially fooded out.
Someone check the temperature in Hell because it may be below 32 degrees down there! I've officially sworn off food. I'm not one to say no to the things I want to eat, But I just can't do it anymore. Half of this blog has been about food so y'all know what a fan I am... but I don't know if you could pay me to eat a plate of pasta for the next few weeks. I ordered dessert tonight because it was my last night and you would have thought that it was brussel sprouts or liver. I think we may have offended the pocket-sized overly hyper waiter when he saw that we just couldn't finish it.
Courtney's Trave Tip #51- You may develop stress fractures in your feet if you come to Rome. But as my old coaches would say.... Just walk it off!
I am limping, bruised, and physically exhausted. I'm not complaining at all! I loved (almost) every minute of it, but I may have to see a doctor when I get back to make sure that there isn't any actual damage! But Rome does not have the world's best public transportation system so if you do come here expect to walk... for miles... and miles. You'll see every single sight you could possibly want to see but it is going to be tiring and somewhat painful.
Courtney's Travel Tip #52- I can't wait to come back....
*** POST TRIP: What I SHOULD have said: Was I can't wait to come back to EUROPE... a lot of people read this as I wanted to come home. Well forget that! Who wants to come back home to work, and stress, and diets, and the gym? I want to stay on Vacation forever. I figure I just need to get someone to read these blogs and they'll see how good I am at it!
Seriously, I'm not oblivious to the ways of the world and I know that people will do just about anything it takes to make a statement, but it's just telling when a man in his collar can't be trusted to get into St. Peter's without going through a metal detector.
And I will now step down from my soap box!
So we got to see the Vatican Museum yesterday, and once again our shopping got us into trouble! The tour guide told us that there was a service in St. Peter's Basicilla and we decided to go into the souvenir shop first. So we're shopping, doing our economic duty to Europe, and when we're finished, they won't let us go into St. Peter's because it's closed for that service that we could have gone to. Greed... it's a sin for a reason people!
Courtney's Travel Tip #47- I'm as macabre as the next person, but the practice of putting someone's corpse in a glass coffin and then pouring wax all over their body to preserve it for posterity is just plain creepy.
So we went to a total of 4 churches today. Santa Maria Del Popolo, Santa Maria Della Vittoria, The Pantheon, and St. Peter's Basicilla (since my greed caused us to miss out on it yesterday), and we kept seeing tombs, crypts, sarcophogi, and the piece de resistance (see I'm fluent in French already!)dead bodies preserved in wax!
It's a strange thing to look at someone lying dead in a box with their mouth open for you to see their actual teeth. I'm just sayin...
Courtney's Travel Tip #48- Beggars in Europe are much more dramatic than beggars in the US.
For those of you reading Caz's blog she may have mentioned this already, but the poor here are very dramatic. We figure there are a couple of rules:
1- Wait outside a church and hold out a plastic cup. Doesn't matter which church, there are tons of them so you are bound to find one that is not already taken.
2- If you have some sort of handicap, use it to your advantage.
3- If you can afford a dog, make sure to have it out for all to see. People are more likely to give you money if you have another mouth to feed!
4- When all else fails, just lay face down in the middle of the sidewalk and someone is bound to drop money into your outstretched hands.
Now some of these are not new techniques, but as with a lot of things, there is an art and a finesse to things in Europe that we just never mastered in the US!
So after our Angels and Demons tour (the book and movie are now both on my post-trip pop culture list!) we decided to go to lunch. Now, I'm just speaking for myself, but it is kinda funny when you've eaten your tortellini lunch, and you're in the back of the restaurant and you glance into the back room and see... a freezer filled with microwave Italian meals. Yep... I paid good money to have someone microwave some tortellini for me and serve it as my meal. The saving grace of this transaction, I only paid 5 bucks for it and so I don't feel TOO cheated.
BUT... since I skimped on lunch... I got to have...
Courtney's Travel Tip #49- Gelato is even better when they put Nutella in it!
I've had an obsession with Nutella since I got here. They have it everywhere. They even have these super jumbo tubs of it that come with a handle so you can carry it. And it's so good when it hits your lips. Nutella in crepes, Nutella in ice cream, Nutella FLAVORED ice cream. I'm a happy girl when I gets a hold of some of that chocolatey goodness. It truly is a phenomenon that you will need to experience if you ever get over here.
Courtney's Travel Tip #50- Having just gone off on a tangent about Nutella, I'm officially fooded out.
Someone check the temperature in Hell because it may be below 32 degrees down there! I've officially sworn off food. I'm not one to say no to the things I want to eat, But I just can't do it anymore. Half of this blog has been about food so y'all know what a fan I am... but I don't know if you could pay me to eat a plate of pasta for the next few weeks. I ordered dessert tonight because it was my last night and you would have thought that it was brussel sprouts or liver. I think we may have offended the pocket-sized overly hyper waiter when he saw that we just couldn't finish it.
Courtney's Trave Tip #51- You may develop stress fractures in your feet if you come to Rome. But as my old coaches would say.... Just walk it off!
I am limping, bruised, and physically exhausted. I'm not complaining at all! I loved (almost) every minute of it, but I may have to see a doctor when I get back to make sure that there isn't any actual damage! But Rome does not have the world's best public transportation system so if you do come here expect to walk... for miles... and miles. You'll see every single sight you could possibly want to see but it is going to be tiring and somewhat painful.
Courtney's Travel Tip #52- I can't wait to come back....
*** POST TRIP: What I SHOULD have said: Was I can't wait to come back to EUROPE... a lot of people read this as I wanted to come home. Well forget that! Who wants to come back home to work, and stress, and diets, and the gym? I want to stay on Vacation forever. I figure I just need to get someone to read these blogs and they'll see how good I am at it!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Crossing the street in Rome
Courtney's Travel Tip #41: When the tour guide tells you to cross the street whether cars are coming or not... that should be a sign that she's a little off.
And by "off" I mean she told us to go ahead and cross any street in Rome and just don't make eye contact if a car is coming at you. Uh... tour guide lady, what happens if you make eye contact?!?! Do they consider it a direct challenge and run you over or something? Nothing is more frightening than trying to dodge your way across a 4 lane highway in the middle of traffic. It's like frogger trying to get across these streets only without extra lives if you get flattened by a smart car. (Although I'm convinced that I'd win the battle if it came down to me and a Smart Car.) I came up with a good strategy though... let Caz go first! (Sorry Caz, I know that's not right but you are a much braver woman than I when it comes to these streets!)
Courtney's Travel Tip #42: Tour guide lady is not lying when she says that she shouldn't mention a certain fact about women being executed in the Colosseum because it's too graphic to hear.
So we're touring the Colosseum with this self proclaimed pagan who got kicked out of Sunday school for sharing too much information with her students. I won't get into the gory details, but let's just say that Romans are incredibly creative when it comes to means of execution. But come on lady... you can't dangle a piece of information in front of a bunch of tourists and then say, "No I don't think I can tell you because it's too much!" She even made it worse when she told us that people have gotten sick when they heard what used to happen to these women. You can't do that to us. Of course we want to know now! (and all of you want to know too... don't you... See, I did the same thing as tour guide lady!)
So we got to see ruins and all sorts of ancient things. I even defied death by using my cat-like reflexes to dodge some falling boulders while on the top level of the Colosseum. (That should actually read: "I was standing still and a small chunk of marble fell from above and shattered in front of me," but for some reason my crazy computer kept changing the story to read that I almost died... hmmm... I should get that looked at.)
So after touring ruins and even getting to sit down and rest our weary selves on some 2000+ year old columns, we finished our first tour of Rome and made our way over to a restaurant for lunch.
Now I don't know if any of you have ever been to Rome but there are "Gladiators" all over the place. They're so authentic, in fact, that they are wearing sweat pants and loafers under their plastic garb and try to charge you to take a picture with them. Once again, if this is a successful business venture, then I'm in the wrong line of work.
Courtney's Travel Tip # 43: If you need to buy shampoo and conditioner in a foreign country and you look at the lables of two bottles and NONE OF THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT then you're not buying shampoo and conditioner.
Subrule # 43: If the word SHAMPOO is anywhere on these bottles then you are buying SHAMPOO, not- I repeat- NOT conditioner.
When we were in Paris I ran out of shampoo and conditioner. I figured the local supermarket would be a good place to get my supply. So I went there, picked out two bottles that looked like they were for the same brand and bought them. Came back and mid-shower realized that I had just washed my hair with shampoo twice because I did not buy any conditioner. Upon closer review of the two bottles in question, I realized that I just bought two of the same exact thing. (Hence rule #43, if the words on two things are the same, then it's the SAME THING!)
Fast forward to yesterday. We found the Trevi Fountain and decided to get some shopping in at the stores in the area. I went into another store to buy conditioner (the hotel in Switzerland provided us with some so no need to buy it there). So here I am, all proud of myself because I was able to ask the clerk for the orange bottle in Italian, and ready to make my purchase when Caz does what I can't do and READS the label. Yep... you guessed it. SHAMPOO. (Hence subrule #43, if it walks like shampoo and talks like shampoo... it ain't conditioner!) I almost did it again. Now I know that's a lot of time to make all of you read about my shampoo buying debacles but I'm here to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to you! You're welcome!
Courtney's Travel Tip #44: Gelato is good.
That's all... Gelato is good.
We walked for MILES today... literally we walked. And walked. And walked. We walked up, down, sideways, backwards. We saw the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum, The Wedding Cake (a large monstrosity of a building that looks like... you guessed it... a wedding cake!), the Trevi Fountain, and finished at the Spanish Steps which we walked down, and then back up. Then we finished up with a walk up hill to our hotel. But I'm proud of us because we did it all on our own and got to see everything on our lists all in one day! Who knew we were so determined? Yeah... we didn't know that either. We pretty much stumbled on a lot of this stuff!
Courtney's Travel Tip #45: Bread is expensive!
When you come to Rome, they charge you for bread at your meals. Even if you don't eat it, even if you say "No pane. Grazie". After three meals here (well 4 since we technically ate at two different restaurants for dinner last night), we're still trying to figure out how to refuse the bread that they keep giving us and we keep getting charged for. I don't want your bread Roman dude!
And by "off" I mean she told us to go ahead and cross any street in Rome and just don't make eye contact if a car is coming at you. Uh... tour guide lady, what happens if you make eye contact?!?! Do they consider it a direct challenge and run you over or something? Nothing is more frightening than trying to dodge your way across a 4 lane highway in the middle of traffic. It's like frogger trying to get across these streets only without extra lives if you get flattened by a smart car. (Although I'm convinced that I'd win the battle if it came down to me and a Smart Car.) I came up with a good strategy though... let Caz go first! (Sorry Caz, I know that's not right but you are a much braver woman than I when it comes to these streets!)
Courtney's Travel Tip #42: Tour guide lady is not lying when she says that she shouldn't mention a certain fact about women being executed in the Colosseum because it's too graphic to hear.
So we're touring the Colosseum with this self proclaimed pagan who got kicked out of Sunday school for sharing too much information with her students. I won't get into the gory details, but let's just say that Romans are incredibly creative when it comes to means of execution. But come on lady... you can't dangle a piece of information in front of a bunch of tourists and then say, "No I don't think I can tell you because it's too much!" She even made it worse when she told us that people have gotten sick when they heard what used to happen to these women. You can't do that to us. Of course we want to know now! (and all of you want to know too... don't you... See, I did the same thing as tour guide lady!)
So we got to see ruins and all sorts of ancient things. I even defied death by using my cat-like reflexes to dodge some falling boulders while on the top level of the Colosseum. (That should actually read: "I was standing still and a small chunk of marble fell from above and shattered in front of me," but for some reason my crazy computer kept changing the story to read that I almost died... hmmm... I should get that looked at.)
So after touring ruins and even getting to sit down and rest our weary selves on some 2000+ year old columns, we finished our first tour of Rome and made our way over to a restaurant for lunch.
Now I don't know if any of you have ever been to Rome but there are "Gladiators" all over the place. They're so authentic, in fact, that they are wearing sweat pants and loafers under their plastic garb and try to charge you to take a picture with them. Once again, if this is a successful business venture, then I'm in the wrong line of work.
Courtney's Travel Tip # 43: If you need to buy shampoo and conditioner in a foreign country and you look at the lables of two bottles and NONE OF THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT then you're not buying shampoo and conditioner.
Subrule # 43: If the word SHAMPOO is anywhere on these bottles then you are buying SHAMPOO, not- I repeat- NOT conditioner.
When we were in Paris I ran out of shampoo and conditioner. I figured the local supermarket would be a good place to get my supply. So I went there, picked out two bottles that looked like they were for the same brand and bought them. Came back and mid-shower realized that I had just washed my hair with shampoo twice because I did not buy any conditioner. Upon closer review of the two bottles in question, I realized that I just bought two of the same exact thing. (Hence rule #43, if the words on two things are the same, then it's the SAME THING!)
Fast forward to yesterday. We found the Trevi Fountain and decided to get some shopping in at the stores in the area. I went into another store to buy conditioner (the hotel in Switzerland provided us with some so no need to buy it there). So here I am, all proud of myself because I was able to ask the clerk for the orange bottle in Italian, and ready to make my purchase when Caz does what I can't do and READS the label. Yep... you guessed it. SHAMPOO. (Hence subrule #43, if it walks like shampoo and talks like shampoo... it ain't conditioner!) I almost did it again. Now I know that's a lot of time to make all of you read about my shampoo buying debacles but I'm here to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to you! You're welcome!
Courtney's Travel Tip #44: Gelato is good.
That's all... Gelato is good.
We walked for MILES today... literally we walked. And walked. And walked. We walked up, down, sideways, backwards. We saw the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum, The Wedding Cake (a large monstrosity of a building that looks like... you guessed it... a wedding cake!), the Trevi Fountain, and finished at the Spanish Steps which we walked down, and then back up. Then we finished up with a walk up hill to our hotel. But I'm proud of us because we did it all on our own and got to see everything on our lists all in one day! Who knew we were so determined? Yeah... we didn't know that either. We pretty much stumbled on a lot of this stuff!
Courtney's Travel Tip #45: Bread is expensive!
When you come to Rome, they charge you for bread at your meals. Even if you don't eat it, even if you say "No pane. Grazie". After three meals here (well 4 since we technically ate at two different restaurants for dinner last night), we're still trying to figure out how to refuse the bread that they keep giving us and we keep getting charged for. I don't want your bread Roman dude!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Fondue is a Fon-definite
Courtney's Travel Tip # 37... (Well it feels like 37 by now!) When you can do fondue you must do fondue...
I swear I'll be surprised if I don't have to pull a Kevin Smith and buy two seats on the flight back from this little trip. I'm eating so much junk AND topping it all off with three course dinners every night. So when Fondue is an option, we not only had the cheese for an appetizer, we then went on to eat a main course and then finish up the gluttony with chocolate fondue for dessert. I don't need to have an appetizer AND a dessert with every meal do I? Apparently I do!
Courtney's Travel Tip # 38: You know you and your friend have spent too much money when a Swiss shop keeper tells you that your purchases equal her profit margin for the day.
I tested the shopping gods. I whined, I cried, I took their names in vain, and I came out the next day cursed. What was my curse you ask? To buy everything in sight without any regard to my bank account. So me being the big baby that I am complained all Sunday about not being able to shop, and then the flood gates opened. It was like coming out of the desert into an oasis. Or like a heroin addict getting one more hit. I saw it, I bought it. I wanted it, I now own it. And that was all BEFORE the massage I had scheduled at 12:45. So before most of you were out of bed and into work for the day, I had spent the treasury of a small country. One like Myanmar or Thailand. But thanks to me the Swiss economy is not in danger of collapse.
Courtney's Travel Tip # 39- Apparently when you go to Japan you're supposed to learn Japanese, or something like that...
So we just wanted take-out to bring back to the hotel after a long day of shopping. All we wanted was Thai food (but that place was closed because apparently there is a law against working on Mondays in Switzerland), so we went to the sandwich place next door. Somehow we offended the clerk just by asking whether or not a sandwich had meat on it. He felt the need to tell us that we needed to learn the language and if he were going to go to Japan he would learn Japanese. Uh dude... you're not going to Japan. You work the counter at a sandwich shop, and if you can afford it on a sandwich artist's salary then I'm in the wrong line of work! (Okay okay... that was mean, but I only say that because he was honestly one of the rudest, most patronizing men I've ever met!).
Courtney's Travel Tip #40: John Travolta and his whining about a $5 Milkshake in Pulp Fiction can shove it... I paid 2 francs for tap water last night!
Since we're stubborn Americans, we decided not to spend our $20 in his take out shop and to really drive home the point that we were unhappy by going to the exhorbitantly expensive Chinese restaurant down the street (as evidenced by the fact that they charged me 2 francs for tap water). This is where we met the 2nd rudest and most patronizing man in the universe. Only this one was sitting at the table next to us. He got really upset when the waitress brought him Wan-tons instead of Wan-Ton soup. He made sure everyone in the restraurant knew that he spoke PERFECT English and Italian and that he did in fact ask for the soup and not the fried wan-tons. Now I don't know why he thought that perfect English and Italian could get him what he wanted. According to the rude patronizing guy down the street, we need to learn Japanese to place a food order in Switzerland (even though we were in a Chinese restaurant.) Don't worry... you're not the only one confused about the events of last night and I was actually present at each of these encounters!
And the sad thing is... I'm still not 100% sure what language they speak in Switzerland!
But I do know what they speak in Rome... and now that we're here I'm ready to brush up on my Spanish skills! They do speak Spanish right?!!?!?
I swear I'll be surprised if I don't have to pull a Kevin Smith and buy two seats on the flight back from this little trip. I'm eating so much junk AND topping it all off with three course dinners every night. So when Fondue is an option, we not only had the cheese for an appetizer, we then went on to eat a main course and then finish up the gluttony with chocolate fondue for dessert. I don't need to have an appetizer AND a dessert with every meal do I? Apparently I do!
Courtney's Travel Tip # 38: You know you and your friend have spent too much money when a Swiss shop keeper tells you that your purchases equal her profit margin for the day.
I tested the shopping gods. I whined, I cried, I took their names in vain, and I came out the next day cursed. What was my curse you ask? To buy everything in sight without any regard to my bank account. So me being the big baby that I am complained all Sunday about not being able to shop, and then the flood gates opened. It was like coming out of the desert into an oasis. Or like a heroin addict getting one more hit. I saw it, I bought it. I wanted it, I now own it. And that was all BEFORE the massage I had scheduled at 12:45. So before most of you were out of bed and into work for the day, I had spent the treasury of a small country. One like Myanmar or Thailand. But thanks to me the Swiss economy is not in danger of collapse.
Courtney's Travel Tip # 39- Apparently when you go to Japan you're supposed to learn Japanese, or something like that...
So we just wanted take-out to bring back to the hotel after a long day of shopping. All we wanted was Thai food (but that place was closed because apparently there is a law against working on Mondays in Switzerland), so we went to the sandwich place next door. Somehow we offended the clerk just by asking whether or not a sandwich had meat on it. He felt the need to tell us that we needed to learn the language and if he were going to go to Japan he would learn Japanese. Uh dude... you're not going to Japan. You work the counter at a sandwich shop, and if you can afford it on a sandwich artist's salary then I'm in the wrong line of work! (Okay okay... that was mean, but I only say that because he was honestly one of the rudest, most patronizing men I've ever met!).
Courtney's Travel Tip #40: John Travolta and his whining about a $5 Milkshake in Pulp Fiction can shove it... I paid 2 francs for tap water last night!
Since we're stubborn Americans, we decided not to spend our $20 in his take out shop and to really drive home the point that we were unhappy by going to the exhorbitantly expensive Chinese restaurant down the street (as evidenced by the fact that they charged me 2 francs for tap water). This is where we met the 2nd rudest and most patronizing man in the universe. Only this one was sitting at the table next to us. He got really upset when the waitress brought him Wan-tons instead of Wan-Ton soup. He made sure everyone in the restraurant knew that he spoke PERFECT English and Italian and that he did in fact ask for the soup and not the fried wan-tons. Now I don't know why he thought that perfect English and Italian could get him what he wanted. According to the rude patronizing guy down the street, we need to learn Japanese to place a food order in Switzerland (even though we were in a Chinese restaurant.) Don't worry... you're not the only one confused about the events of last night and I was actually present at each of these encounters!
And the sad thing is... I'm still not 100% sure what language they speak in Switzerland!
But I do know what they speak in Rome... and now that we're here I'm ready to brush up on my Spanish skills! They do speak Spanish right?!!?!?
Sunday, March 14, 2010
One more thing...
If you're me you eat the brownie. Who cares that you're in Amsterdam and a stranger offered it to you... it's a FREE BROWNIE!
To-boggan or Not-to-boggan... that is the question
Courtney's Travel Tip #14: If you want to keep a blog you should probably keep up with it on a daily basis or risk making all of your friends angry when you post one that is WAAAAY too long.
So where were we... oh yeah Versailles. It was cold. You got the gist of that right? But we got crepes, a bottle of wine, some fresh baked baguettes and it was all worth while! So we rode around the grounds, got a history lesson from our vagabond of a tour guide, and finally settled down for a picnic of wine, cheese, grapes, and bread. (And let me just say that I conducted my entire cheese buying transaction in French! It was a personal victory for yours truly!) So after the picnic, we finally got to tour the house, and as you expect, it's a huge grand place, hall of mirrors, lots of large ornate rooms, big beds. Yada, yada, yada! You'll see the pics. I fancied myself somewhat of an artist that day. Once you see them you'll agree that I should probably keep my day job.
Once we got back into Paris from Versailles, it was just a matter of whether or not we could stay awake! Both of us were tired and just wanted to get warm.
Courtney's Travel Tip #15: Don't even THINK of getting a fast meal in Paris. It does not exist. And in fact, if you even attempt to ask for fast food, expect a snooty "We don't have that" kind of answer.
Nuff said!
Courtney's Travel Tip #16: I TRIPLE DOG DARE any of you to go to Paris and try to mail something back to the US. Go ahead... see what happens!
Because I'm still not sure what will happen to all of the things I supposedly sent back home. Caz did laundry, I did the mailing. The transaction went something like this:
Me: "Bonjour, parlez vous Engles?"
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh? Anyone Parlez Engles?"
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh, I'd like to send to the US" (Pointing at two bags full of souvenirs and gifts)
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh... Crap"
After that it was a bunch of pointing and blank stares on the part of both myself and the French Postal Worker. I'm still not sure if the package will make it to Orlando, and for all I know it will end up at the French Postal Worker's house (as part of her evil plan to get her grubby little fingers on our stuff!)
Courtney's Travel Tip #17: When a bunch of West African men come running at you full speed with hundreds of Eiffel Tower key chains on a giant rings... don't panic, they're just running from the police.
And that was our experience at the Eiffel Tower! We're leaving the tower, and all of a sudden we hear a massive jingling noise and see about 20 men running at us with their key chains a'jangling. We look over and see a bunch of police men clearing out the area under the Eiffel Tower. I guess I was right to NOT buy 7 key chains for 1 euro... I knew I made that decision for a reason!
Courtney's Travel Tip #18: Wholesalers suck.
All we want to do is shop. Is that too much to ask! We wanted to shop in Paris. Not hard you say? Wrong! We found our way into the wholesale district. We can't spend money shopping to save our lives! Now that we've made it to Lucerne, all the shops are closed on Sunday and Monday. WHY GOD?!?! WHY DON'T YOU WANT US TO SHOP?!?!?!?
Courtney's Travel Tip #19: If you want to feel awkward, just eat dinner in Switzerland and see what happens when the bill comes.
Long blog short, we're not sure if we're supposed to tip or not. And every meal we have is a personal battle as to whether or not to leave a tip and how much. If anyone has travel tips of their own on this subject I'll be glad to accept them!
Courtney's Travel Tip #20: Toboggans are deadly.
Guess what! I climed a mountain today! Okay, so we rode a train up most of it, but we had to walk the last 170 meters. But I was at the top of an Alp today. Yep, it was amazing!
And then came the toboggans... We thought we'd be all sporty and adventurous but keep it somewhat safe. Well I'll tell ya.... Swiss people have death wishes! They have these crazy steep runs without anything on the side of the mountain to keep you from flying off the side. Then you LET Florida girls ride a toboggan without any sort of bunny hills?? WTF Switzerland?! Let's just say that we went down the first set of runs and dragged our toboggans down the remaining half of the mountain. I'm not kidding... HALF OF A MOUNTAIN. But I got my snow day and that's all I cared about!
Tomorrow is the long awaited massage... I can't even begin to tell you how glorious that is going to be!
So where were we... oh yeah Versailles. It was cold. You got the gist of that right? But we got crepes, a bottle of wine, some fresh baked baguettes and it was all worth while! So we rode around the grounds, got a history lesson from our vagabond of a tour guide, and finally settled down for a picnic of wine, cheese, grapes, and bread. (And let me just say that I conducted my entire cheese buying transaction in French! It was a personal victory for yours truly!) So after the picnic, we finally got to tour the house, and as you expect, it's a huge grand place, hall of mirrors, lots of large ornate rooms, big beds. Yada, yada, yada! You'll see the pics. I fancied myself somewhat of an artist that day. Once you see them you'll agree that I should probably keep my day job.
Once we got back into Paris from Versailles, it was just a matter of whether or not we could stay awake! Both of us were tired and just wanted to get warm.
Courtney's Travel Tip #15: Don't even THINK of getting a fast meal in Paris. It does not exist. And in fact, if you even attempt to ask for fast food, expect a snooty "We don't have that" kind of answer.
Nuff said!
Courtney's Travel Tip #16: I TRIPLE DOG DARE any of you to go to Paris and try to mail something back to the US. Go ahead... see what happens!
Because I'm still not sure what will happen to all of the things I supposedly sent back home. Caz did laundry, I did the mailing. The transaction went something like this:
Me: "Bonjour, parlez vous Engles?"
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh? Anyone Parlez Engles?"
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh, I'd like to send to the US" (Pointing at two bags full of souvenirs and gifts)
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh... Crap"
After that it was a bunch of pointing and blank stares on the part of both myself and the French Postal Worker. I'm still not sure if the package will make it to Orlando, and for all I know it will end up at the French Postal Worker's house (as part of her evil plan to get her grubby little fingers on our stuff!)
Courtney's Travel Tip #17: When a bunch of West African men come running at you full speed with hundreds of Eiffel Tower key chains on a giant rings... don't panic, they're just running from the police.
And that was our experience at the Eiffel Tower! We're leaving the tower, and all of a sudden we hear a massive jingling noise and see about 20 men running at us with their key chains a'jangling. We look over and see a bunch of police men clearing out the area under the Eiffel Tower. I guess I was right to NOT buy 7 key chains for 1 euro... I knew I made that decision for a reason!
Courtney's Travel Tip #18: Wholesalers suck.
All we want to do is shop. Is that too much to ask! We wanted to shop in Paris. Not hard you say? Wrong! We found our way into the wholesale district. We can't spend money shopping to save our lives! Now that we've made it to Lucerne, all the shops are closed on Sunday and Monday. WHY GOD?!?! WHY DON'T YOU WANT US TO SHOP?!?!?!?
Courtney's Travel Tip #19: If you want to feel awkward, just eat dinner in Switzerland and see what happens when the bill comes.
Long blog short, we're not sure if we're supposed to tip or not. And every meal we have is a personal battle as to whether or not to leave a tip and how much. If anyone has travel tips of their own on this subject I'll be glad to accept them!
Courtney's Travel Tip #20: Toboggans are deadly.
Guess what! I climed a mountain today! Okay, so we rode a train up most of it, but we had to walk the last 170 meters. But I was at the top of an Alp today. Yep, it was amazing!
And then came the toboggans... We thought we'd be all sporty and adventurous but keep it somewhat safe. Well I'll tell ya.... Swiss people have death wishes! They have these crazy steep runs without anything on the side of the mountain to keep you from flying off the side. Then you LET Florida girls ride a toboggan without any sort of bunny hills?? WTF Switzerland?! Let's just say that we went down the first set of runs and dragged our toboggans down the remaining half of the mountain. I'm not kidding... HALF OF A MOUNTAIN. But I got my snow day and that's all I cared about!
Tomorrow is the long awaited massage... I can't even begin to tell you how glorious that is going to be!
Friday, March 12, 2010
"I think I might lose a finger today"
Courtney's Travel Tip # 11: Bikes + -1 degree weather = possibility of losing digits.
Now I exaggerate (who's shocked!!!). That negative degree weather was not in farenheit. But farenheit or no farenheit, high 20's while riding a bike is still freaking cold!
Yesterday was our bike tour of Chateau Versailles. Now don't let the name fool you... this is not a Chateau, it's a grand palace bigger than anything I've ever seen. But we'll get to that in a bit.
First let me backtrack to where we left off. I think the last thing I was able to put in was Sacre Couer. So on to the Arc de Triumphe and Champs Elysse we went! At the Arc I had my first real "National Lampoon's European Vacation" dejavu moment. The Arc is literally in the middle of a street that insurance companies WILL NOT insure you to drive in. It's in the fine print that if something happens to you while driving it, you're screwed. So imagine two girls trying to figure out how to WALK across a street that is too crazy to insure. We walked around it. Tried a metro station. Came out of the entrance of the same metro station that we originally arrived in, and voila... right in front of us is the underground pathway to the Arc. I definitely was thinking of Chevy Chase saying "Look kids... Big Ben! Parliament!" as he got stuck in the circle the whole time. But we got there without killing ourselves so mission accomplished.
Courtney's Travel Tip #12: If you want to hear American music, come to Europe. Nothing is more bizarre than sitting at a sidewalk cafe called "Unisex" for an afternoon coffee and hearing Sweet Home Alabama playing on their speakers.
Courtney's Travel Tip # 13: The audio guides at the Louvre SUCK! We went to the Louvre from the Arc de Triumphe and got the audio guides so we could figure out what the hell we were looking at. Now the art- AWESOME. The audio guides, didn't work at all! Caz had trouble with her headphones and the batteries died on mine. Now you would think that this is not a huge problem except that the Louvre is one of the biggest buildings I've ever been in and getting back to the same place twice impossible. I want to say that we had to use Caz's compass at some point to figure out where we were! But it was still a fun experience and I can now say I saw the Mona Lisa. Yep... saw it, walked right on. Not much to say about it.
So on to our original travel tip about the bikes and cold weather. Let's start at the beginning... Yesterday morning we got ready for battle. I am not kidding, I was wearing 4 shirts AND a coat. We walked through the Champs de Mars (the park in front of the Eiffel Tower) on our way to the bike office and I think there was some hesitation on both Caz and my parts as to whether this whole thing was a good idea. When I say cold, I don't even know how to describe it. I'm a Florida girl, and when you find that your nose is running and you don't even know it, I think that pretty much sums up how we were not quite prepared for this.
Our tour guide was a wandering guy from Wisconsin. I think he might have said he was homeless, but I'm not sure if he was serious or not. He did keep offering us his clothing to wear though and seemed to have all of his worldly posessions in his bike saddle bags.
THEN we got on the bikes. So not only were we riding in 20something degree weather, we were riding through the streets of Paris. It was like warfare. We all had to regroup at each stop light and strategize on how to get to the next one. Taking a bike on a train... NOT EASY! But we made it out there (in one piece but I think that just might have been because my blood froze and I couldn't have broken if I wanted to!)
It was all worth it when... we got crepes! Yeah, I know you expect me to say when we saw Versailles, but the crepes make everything better! (Or maybe it's the nutella!).
BUT... once again, my 30 min is up. REFER TO: Travel Tip # 10!
Now I exaggerate (who's shocked!!!). That negative degree weather was not in farenheit. But farenheit or no farenheit, high 20's while riding a bike is still freaking cold!
Yesterday was our bike tour of Chateau Versailles. Now don't let the name fool you... this is not a Chateau, it's a grand palace bigger than anything I've ever seen. But we'll get to that in a bit.
First let me backtrack to where we left off. I think the last thing I was able to put in was Sacre Couer. So on to the Arc de Triumphe and Champs Elysse we went! At the Arc I had my first real "National Lampoon's European Vacation" dejavu moment. The Arc is literally in the middle of a street that insurance companies WILL NOT insure you to drive in. It's in the fine print that if something happens to you while driving it, you're screwed. So imagine two girls trying to figure out how to WALK across a street that is too crazy to insure. We walked around it. Tried a metro station. Came out of the entrance of the same metro station that we originally arrived in, and voila... right in front of us is the underground pathway to the Arc. I definitely was thinking of Chevy Chase saying "Look kids... Big Ben! Parliament!" as he got stuck in the circle the whole time. But we got there without killing ourselves so mission accomplished.
Courtney's Travel Tip #12: If you want to hear American music, come to Europe. Nothing is more bizarre than sitting at a sidewalk cafe called "Unisex" for an afternoon coffee and hearing Sweet Home Alabama playing on their speakers.
Courtney's Travel Tip # 13: The audio guides at the Louvre SUCK! We went to the Louvre from the Arc de Triumphe and got the audio guides so we could figure out what the hell we were looking at. Now the art- AWESOME. The audio guides, didn't work at all! Caz had trouble with her headphones and the batteries died on mine. Now you would think that this is not a huge problem except that the Louvre is one of the biggest buildings I've ever been in and getting back to the same place twice impossible. I want to say that we had to use Caz's compass at some point to figure out where we were! But it was still a fun experience and I can now say I saw the Mona Lisa. Yep... saw it, walked right on. Not much to say about it.
So on to our original travel tip about the bikes and cold weather. Let's start at the beginning... Yesterday morning we got ready for battle. I am not kidding, I was wearing 4 shirts AND a coat. We walked through the Champs de Mars (the park in front of the Eiffel Tower) on our way to the bike office and I think there was some hesitation on both Caz and my parts as to whether this whole thing was a good idea. When I say cold, I don't even know how to describe it. I'm a Florida girl, and when you find that your nose is running and you don't even know it, I think that pretty much sums up how we were not quite prepared for this.
Our tour guide was a wandering guy from Wisconsin. I think he might have said he was homeless, but I'm not sure if he was serious or not. He did keep offering us his clothing to wear though and seemed to have all of his worldly posessions in his bike saddle bags.
THEN we got on the bikes. So not only were we riding in 20something degree weather, we were riding through the streets of Paris. It was like warfare. We all had to regroup at each stop light and strategize on how to get to the next one. Taking a bike on a train... NOT EASY! But we made it out there (in one piece but I think that just might have been because my blood froze and I couldn't have broken if I wanted to!)
It was all worth it when... we got crepes! Yeah, I know you expect me to say when we saw Versailles, but the crepes make everything better! (Or maybe it's the nutella!).
BUT... once again, my 30 min is up. REFER TO: Travel Tip # 10!
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