Canals and glass blowing

Our whole purpose in stopping in Zurich was to take the scenic train through the Alps down to Italy.  It was worth it.  The Alps were gorgeous and imposing and really cool to ride through.  We took quite a few videos but no pictures (too much glare through the window).

In Venice we met up with Andy's parents who took a vacation to Italy in order to meet us on our trip. They bought a semi preplanned trip, with hotels, train, and half day walking tours of the cities set up already.  After checking into our accommodation and dropping off bags, we all wandered around Venice until we found a cute little dinner place with outdoor seating.  We all had variations of pasta dishes and then called it a night.

In the morning Jane and Bob went on their walking tour while Andy and I booked our hostels for Florence and Rome, then we conducted our own walking tour of Venice without a guide.  For lunch we all met up again and, at the recommendation of Jane and Bob's travel agent, ate lunch at Da Mamo (formerly known as Bora Bora).  It was excellent.  I had gnocchi with scallops and Andy had ravioli in a saffron sauce.  After dinner we each received a complementary chocolate dessert and a tiny chocolate cup filled with a melon spirit.

After wandering around Venice a little more, we caught a water taxi to Murano to see glass blowing.  There is a glass blowing factory that hosts free demonstrations of glass blowing.  First the glass blower makes a vase, showing one style of glass blowing where he actually blows into the glass using a large tube to form the glass.  The second technique was pulling the glass with tongs to make a horse.  It took him around 2 minutes to transform a ball of molten glass to a horse.  Just really amazing to watch.

For dinner we all made sandwiches at our hostel and then headed to Jane and Bob's hotel to hang out on the rooftop bar.  All in all a good day in Venice.

Fotodump Friday

From Broadway, England to Zurich, Switzerland:

Andy:

Katie looking at Broadway Tower.

 

Katie on her way to Hogwarts!

Our favorite (ok, only) dutch friend Brenda.

A beer in Italy. A preview of what's to come in the next few days.

Katie:

I just can't get over how cool Broadway tower is in pictures.

Andy riding a bike in Amsterdam.  Isn't he cute?

Amsterdam!

Sunset in Biarritz.

Andy sitting on some steps built 2000 years ago.  No big deal.

Good resemblance.

Zurich or How to Be a Professional Train Rider

When we started out in Edinburgh we had just over three weeks to get to Rome so we could catch a flight to Budapest (where we are now as I write this). Three weeks isn't a lot of time but we somehow managed to hit a bunch of national parks in England, squeeze in a side trip to visit our fabulous friend Brenda in Amsterdam, and travel the width of France like maniacs. We had heard Switzerland and it's Alps are beautiful but we just didn't think we would have time. Change of plans; tales of the scenic train through the alps and the Gotthard Pass made us reconsider skipping Switzerland so we ended up in Zurich for two nights.

We arrived by train from Lyon around 4pm and spent a few hours relaxing and soaking up the sun in a park near the train station. A good college friend of my brother, Morgan, lives in Zurich with his wife Marina, and they were gracious enough to host us for a couple of days. Around 7:30 we met up with Marina, headed to the store and had some pasta with a delicious tomato and cucumber salad (made by Marina). After dinner Morgan got home and we spent some time catching up and settling in.

Never fear, our second day in Zurich was much more touristy. We took the tram from Morgan and Marina's back to the train station and started our slightly improvised walking tour of the old city. Wandering around we passed a lot of "cute little shops"  (as Katie would say) and generally marveling at all of the old buildings. Zurich seems to have plenty of green space and we ended up in a park on a hill with really nice views of the rest of Zurich and the surrounding area. As you'll see from the pictures it wasn't a terribly clear day but we made the most of it.

My contract states that I am now obligated to tell you that for lunch we had pb&j and potato chips on a bench under a tree to shield us from the light rain. The previous day we had purchased a 24 hour public transit pass which included Zurich's river boat so in the afternoon we embarked on the voyage of a lifetime with what appeared to be an elementary school group. I can't say the first half of the trip was terribly enthralling, but I did wake up about halfway through as the boat was turning around in Lake Zurich to head back the way we came.

The highlight of the day was dinner back at Morgan and Marina's. Morgan threw together a really nice chicken and vegetable soup that we complemented with some leftover olive bread from Morgan's school orientation (another story entirely). We sat around enjoying the food and company, talking about where we have all been, where we wanted to go and how there's just too many places to see.

Colossal thanks to Morgan and Marina for their hospitality, their food and most off all their company.

Lyon

Our train ride from Biarritz to Lyon took 10 hours and we had just enough energy in Lyon to get groceries, make a pasta dinner and head to bed.  In the morning we had free breakfast at the hostel (cereal with milk and baguettes with either jam, honey, or nutella).

First on our "To see" list was the Roman theater. It's just hanging out at the top of a hill.  No entrance fee, no roped off areas, and built in 15 AD.

After we were done playing on the 2000 year old stone steps, we walked over to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.  It was very impressive and perched at the edge of a hill with sweeping views of the city and surrounding areas.  There is a path that wanders down away from the Basilica and around the top of the hill with more views and we walked around for an hour or so, trying to find our starting point for the day.

For lunch we decided to check out the daily market next to the Saone river.  It was mainly meats, cheeses and bread and we bought a small wheel of goat cheese, a loaf of bread and a couple apples.  Back at the hostel we ate our market finds on the terrace which had amazing views of the city.

After lunch and an afternoon rest, we headed out to find a mural painted on the side of a 7 story building.  After an hour and a half and miles of wandering, we never found it.  We did, however, wander through a nice part of town with small windy streets, impressive fountains in squares, and city hall.  For dinner we had pasta with a butter and vegetable sauce and met a couple of Americans, a Canadian, and an Aussie.  The guy working at the bar in the hostel gave me a free glass of beer while cooking in the kitchen, which was awesome!

In the morning we headed back out to see the mural with better directions.  Turns out we were too far away from the river before we started looking for the mural.  What do you think, worth the trouble?

For lunch we made scrambled eggs with onion and tomato. We ran a couple of errands after lunch (like picking up our train tickets and checking out the Apple store) then came back to the hostel to relax and make dinner (refrigerated microwave meals).

Biarritz

From Amsterdam we took a bus to Paris, where we had just enough time to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower before catching our overnight train to Biarritz, France.  Brenda had suggested Biarritz and it worked out well with the overnight train (skipping an expensive night in Paris).

When we arrived in the morning we were able to check in immediately (at 830 am!).  They also allowed us to have free breakfast of cereal and baguettes.  We napped for a couple hours then headed to the beach closer to the hostel.  It was a nice walk through a park with trees and a lake.

The beach was gorgeous.  Huge rocks off the coast and blue water as far as the eye can see.  We spent several hours just soaking up the sun.  On the way back to the hostel we stopped at the grocery store to make tortellini with a red sauce for dinner.  We hung out in the bar area and talked with fellow travelers before heading to bed.

Obligatory ice cream cone

The next morning we had more free breakfast and did laundry.  For lunch we made a pizza in a large fry pan because there were no ovens (didn't think to check before buying the pizza).  We took the bus to the main beach area, where we ran into Dan and Kate, two travelers we talked with the night before in our hostel.  The ocean water was cold and refreshing due to how hot is was outside.  We bought a cone of chocolate ice cream and walked along a path that went up the coast for a ways.

On our way back to the bus stop, we ran into Dan and Kate, again, and they pointed us in the direction of a closer grocery store.  We picked up supplies for dinner and our train ride the next day.  For dinner we heated up some frozen vegetables and added couscous.  We headed back out in time to see the sunset over the ocean with a bottle of wine.

Surfers at sunset

On our way back to the hostel we ran into Dan and Kate yet again, drinking in the park close to the hostel.  So we stopped and drank and chatted about life until midnight and then went to bed.

The lake at night, Jupiter on the left

Amsterdam!

From London we caught the Eurostar train to Brussels where we switched trains for Amsterdam.  We arrived in Amsterdam around 1pm and met up with Brenda (our friend we met in Cambodia) for drinks while she was on her break from work.  We didn't have a place to stay but one of Brenda's coworker's parents runs a bed and breakfast, so we stayed there for two nights.  The B&B was the same price as getting two beds in a hostel in Amsterdam.  Andy and I explored a bit of Amsterdam while Brenda finished work for the day.

Brenda met up with us after work and, after getting recommendations from the Rita the owner of our B&B, headed out to find dinner.  After wandering small cobbled streets for a while, we found Orangerie, a dark pub like restaurant.  Dinner was a goat cheese salad for me, and a veggie burger each for Brenda and Andy. Brenda and I split a half liter of house white wine while Andy had a pint of Grolsch.

After dinner we walked through the red light district. You are literally window shopping.  Prostitutes stand in full length windows in their sexy underwear under black lights, enticing you in (or in one window, sitting around a table and chatting with each other).  Most of the women didn't look very interested in us, probably because we were two women and a guy.

For our second day in Amsterdam, Brenda took the day off of work and we went on a bike tour, led by Brenda. It was a blast.  At one point we rode through a park and took a break at a cafe to get tea and pastries.  We stopped at the Van Gogh Museum while it was raining outside.  It is a really well done museum and totally worth seeing if you are ever in Amsterdam.

For lunch we ate at a Surinamese place (Suriname is a country in South America and used to be a Dutch colony).  We all split some vegetarian roti, a curried chicken dish with rice, and bawkjaa (or some spelling of that), which was white fish with fried potatoes.

For dinner we picked up vegetables and fish and made a stir fry with couscous.  Thus ended our time in Amsterdam.  The next day we had breakfast at the B&B and then headed to the bus stop for our next destination: France.

Broadway Tower and Oxford

In the morning we headed out to find Broadway Tower.  There was ridiculous traffic on M5 and it took us four hours to go what was supposed to be two and a half hours.  Broadway Tower isn't a huge international tourist destination.  It's not a castle, it's a folly, meaning it was built specifically for decoration without function.

After taking lots of pictures from many different angles, we headed down to the town of Broadway, specifically for a great ice cream stand in town Andy read about.  The town was worth the trip (even without the tasty ice cream).  A small two lane road leads into town which is lined with stone buildings built at least a couple hundred years ago and well maintained.  There were two people manning a bicycle ice cream stand and we bought a cone of toffee and a cone of strawberries and cream and were not disappointed.  We wandered around the town while eating our ice cream then left for Oxford when we were done*.

Once in Oxford we had to find a place to stay having not found a hostel online beforehand.  Luckily, Central Backpackers had two beds in a 12 bed dorm. We wandered around Oxford, saw Christchurch college (the great hall from Harry Potter was filmed there, although it was closed for the night), the Radcliffe Camera, and other small landmarks around the town.

Radcliffe Camera

For dinner we ate at Kebab kid and had some decent food, a veggie naan wrap and fish and chips.  In the morning we headed out to London to drop off the car.  It ended up being more of a debacle than we had predicted it would be, but it all got sorted out after a couple hours or so.  We picked up our train tickets for the morning, saw Kings Cross Station and platform 9 and 3/4 and made microwave dinners in the hostel (no kitchen).

*Technically, we stopped back off at Broadway tower because the clouds had started to clear a bit and we wanted better pictures.

Starting up Fotodump Friday for Europe

Okay, we now have enough photos we haven't posted on our blog to continue with fotodump friday!  Hooray!

Katie:

These advertisements were all over Spain.  Americans are known to the world by the size of their food.

This awesome astronomy park in Valencia but we didn't figure out what this cage was for.

A building with damage from the Blitz.  Really cool bit of history.

This guy was at Carnival in London.

Outside of our hostel in Windemere, England.  Makes me think of fairies and hobbits and the such.

A lot of the public walking paths in England were through private farmland so the fences were to keep sheep and cows and horses in their pens.

Andy:

I think this was up near Mont Juic in Barcelona. La Sagrada de Familia in the distance.

Katie and Laura!

One of the many cool buildings at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia.

Upgraded "do not enter" sign.

Parliament.

View from the terrace at the Windemere YHA.