It's hard to find time to blog when you're traipsing all over Europe!
17Jul2008 Road trip! We left in the morning, destined for Austria. We didn't have reservations, so we were just winging it. We stopped at Rothenburg around lunchtime because Rick Steve says it's worth a stop. It was. In addition to the fact it is an incredibly well-preserved medieval city, it had two other things going for it. A school band was visiting from Iowa and playing in the main square, which generated great ambient music as we roamed the town. Secondly, they have Sneeballs (see Rick Steve's description in the previous link). We bought a box of four and got a fifth one free.
We continued on to Fussen where we hoped to visit the Neuschwantein Castle. We arrived at 5PM, just as the last tours were going through. Since we didn't have reservations in Austria, and it wasn't a long a drive to Venice, we decided to stay the night near Fussen. The first B&B we randomly chose to go in and ask, had a fine room for 80€ which included breakfast. We had the whole floor which boasted a room with 4 beds, a toilet (down the hall), sink (down the hall the other direction), shower/sauna/sunbed, and recreation room.
We had dinner across the street at a Greek restaurant, then enjoyed several activities before bed: Kate and Jeff walked around the picture-perfect landscape, and while Kate took a second loop, Jeff joined Megan in the sauna/sunbed area. We all watched a bit of German TV before retiring.
The next morning, we had breakfast of buns with combinations of meat, cheese, cream cheese, and jam. We arrived at Neuschwanstein a bit late, so the first tour we could join would be 1:35PM. We decided to forgo the tour and just walk up to and around the outside of the castle, which was well worth it!
Around 12:30PM, we drove up into the alps and south toward Venice. As we drove past Venice, toward Cavallino, we encountered traffic jams. It was Friday night and we were headed toward a popular place to stay for those going to Venice for the weekend. Also, it was Feast of the Redeemer, which included fireworks on Saturday night and churchgoing on Sunday. So, it was reasonable to expect traffic jams. They probably cost us an extra 3 hours to get there.
Once we got to the Lido, we just started asking at campsites for vacancies. The third place we stopped had a site. Our spot was beside the bathroom, which was good for us as it provided light for us as we attempted to set up the Lehnert's tent in the dark, without instructions. Within an hour, we were able to set the tent up even though we were tired and found we didn't have the tent pegs. Toward the end of the setup, Kate, Liss, and Megan went and bought dinner: pizza!
19Jul2008 Touring Venice. We got up and drove to the end of the Lido to park and get the boat to Venice. We didn't notice the name of the boat, the name of the boat company, or the names of the pickup or drop off locations which made it difficult when the time came to go back. At least we didn't get off at the wrong stop (wrong island, in fact) like some people did!
We stopped for a bite and a sip on the edge of the main square, and then did what Rick Steve's suggested: we got lost in Venice. We hit many "wet-ends" (dead ends ending in canals), but otherwise rarely went the same place twice. We had lunch at a café and eventually made our way to the railway station. This is where the new bridge is located. It didn't appear to be open yet. Then we took a Grand Canal boat back to Piazza San Marco and found the Gallerie dell'Accademia. We were looking for something cooler and quieter to do, so we had a tour around the paintings. It was a neat experience to view old paintings of places you had just seen.
When we came out, people were gathering for the fireworks. There were thousands of people: standing along the bridges, eating along shoreline, and dancing on boats. It was getting late and we had some difficulty in finding a place to eat that was reasonably priced. We finally found one, but the waiter came out twice to tell us what they *didn't* have. After a marginal meal (J had lasagne, E&K had "burgers", and M had a sandwich), we walked away without tipping. It was around 10PM, we had had enough that day, and none of us were into fireworks, so we looked for our boat back. As I mentioned, none of us had noticed the name of the board, the boat company, or the pickup or drop off locations. We had a heck of a time finding a boat that would accept our return ticket and take us back, but thanks to Kate, we did it.
Oh, by the way, as we were waiting to board a boat back, there was our waiter! We all avoided eye contact :-D
We watched a few of the fireworks from the beach at the campsite, and let out a few oohs a aahs, and went to bed.
20Jul2008 Venice to Thonon. We packed up the tent and headed for Thonon-les-Bains. We had lunch near Milan at a roadside café (nice buffet!). When we arrived in Thonon, Annie and her family weren't home, so we got baguettes at a local bakery and ate in a park. We walked to Kate's old school, visited at Kate's old house (where she got a tour!), then went back to Annie's. Kate visited while we set up the tent.
21Jul2008 Thonon to Bad Honnef. We had breakfast at Annie's (complete with chocolate!), packed up the tent, and then headed out. We stopped near Bern and tried to connect with Kurt so we could visit in Liechtenstein, but we could not contact him, so we headed for home. We stopped in Colmar, France, because Rick Steve loves it so much. It was worth the stop! We walked around taking lots of pictures, grabbed some dinner at a grocery store, and headed for home. As we drove, we felt better about cutting our driving tour short and going right through to Bad Honnef: it had gotten quite rainy.
22Jul2008 Rest day. We slept in. We heard about the Lehnerts' accident when we got up. :-( Kate and Jeff shopped for more groceries. We all got somewhat caught up with our picture uploading and blogging.
23Jul2008 Cologne. We went to Cologne from 11-5. We found wonderful (but expensive!) parking and walked in and around the area of the cathedral. The cathedral itself was very impressive: more impressive than Notre Dam in Paris (to come). We ate our packed lunch in one of the squares adjoining the cathedral, and then did a bit more shopping. We all stopped for beer and wine before heading back.
24Jul2008 We went to Paris. I drove KLM to the train station. I then drove back to the Lehnerts' and ran to the station. We caught the 9:03AM to Cologne. Switching to the 10:14AM to Paris was easy … shortly after our first train left, our next one came in on the same track. There were 3 stops between Cologne and Paris: Aachen, Brussels, and Liege. It was cool to track our progress on our GPS; we would otherwise not have known we were hitting speeds of 300kmh!
It was hotter in Paris than we expected … we were all somewhat overdressed. The walk from the train station to our hotel was also a bit longer than expected. Once we found it, the hotel didn't exactly welcome us … the front door wouldn't open! I guess it was a quiet period of the afternoon and the front desk person had closed up and fallen asleep at the desk. Within a few minutes, he woke and let us in.
The elevator held only 3 people, so we went up in 2 groups. The room was small for 4 (about 15'x16', including bathroom), but clean. There was a telephone, 13-inch TV, and one unused power outlet. There was no wireless Internet … the "free Internet" was a single computer in the lobby that is clearly marked "for adult use only". They keys on the keyboard were also all messed up as it was a French keyboard.
We went out for dinner at restaurant at the end of our block. Jeff had Carpaccio de Boeuf (which came sliced very thinly, and was raw!) and some French fries (how French is that?!). Kate had a fishy rice salad (she figures it was raw too!). Liss had a ham and cheese omelet. Megan had a large salad with chicken and bacon. After 500ml of wine and two soft drinks, the bill came to €59 (about $95), plus tip.
We wandered down to Notre Dame Cathedral and around the old part of town before meandering back to our room at 11:30PM. We didn't mean to meander, but it's easy (and entertaining) to get lost in the streets of Paris. During our meander, we saw a jazz band playing on a bridge (complete with octogenarian dancer) , bought some ice cream, toured Notre Dame, touched Kilometre Zero, bought some cool drinks, crossed another bridge full of drinking/smoking picnickers, and caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in its twinkling glory.
25Jul2008 We explored the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumph. We took the metro to Trocadero Square, turned the corner, and were met with the sight of the Tower … and a million sellers of Eiffel Tower trinkets. We took a few pictures from ground zero, then joined the lineup for the stairway option. We walked up 328 steps to Platform 1 and explored around that deck for nearly 30 minutes. Then we walked up another 372 steps (for a total of 700) to Platform 2, explored a bit, then waited in line for the elevator to the top. At the top, we were about 1000 feet (300 meters) above ground level. It was a bit hazy, but we could see all of Paris from up there!
My favourite line I heard up the Tower was an 8 year old Irish boy whose mother was trying to point out the miniature version of the Statue of Liberty below. He didn't quite hear, so asked "You mean you can see America from up here?!".
We watched the Eiffel Tower video and saw the pictures and hologram on the way down. Once down, we walked to a patisserie, bought lunch, and ate it across the street from the Museum of Modern Art. Then we walked up to the Arc de Triumph. As we started to walk along the Champs Elysees, Megan's feet were giving out, so she and Kate took the subway back to the hotel. Liss and I completed the famous street (down the North side) all the way to the Louvre. Along the way, we noticed the streets were prepared for the completion of the Tour de France, but we didn't know when. After walking past the Louvre, we caught a glimpse of the Grand Palais and hopped a metro home.
When we got back, we got online for a short time. Long enough to answer a couple of emails and determine that the Tour de France was finishing in Paris at around 5PM on Sunday. We will rearrange our schedule to be there for that!
We had a picnic on the floor of the hotel with crackers, cheese, sausage, yoghurt, juice, wine, and cookies. Then we caught up on some reading and blogging before going to bed.
26Jul2008 (Sat) We asked that morning if our breakfasts would be free (as stated in Rick Steve's France 2008), but they said no. Oh well, I guess we'll be buying our breakfasts from the store down the street. It turned out that we could feed the 4 of us for breakfast and lunch (13€) for less than the cost of 2 people for breakfast (2x7€10). Still, we'll be telling Rick Steve that they wouldn't honor their offer.
We came up with an option that would allow Kate and I to have time on our own, while the girls had time on their own in relative safety: we all took the metro to Galleries Lafayette and left them to shop for a few hours. Meanwhile, Kate and I walked to the Place de la Concorde, along the Seine, and up the Champs Elysees. We stopped for drinks, then headed back to meet the girls. We were to meet them between 1:30 and 2:00PM, and we thought we left enough time, but we didn't arrive at the prescribed spot until 2:03PM. After an earful from Liss, we continued on toward the Eiffel Tower.
We stopped along the way to get lunch. Megan had a baguette from a stand in the park, and the rest of us enjoyed some McDonalds. We walked to the Eiffel Tower and took a Seine tour. It's a great way to see the sights along the river while resting your feet!
Next, we hopped the metro to Montmartre. We walked up the hill as the sun was setting, walked in and around Sacre Coeur, and then found a restaurant with affordable crepes for dinner. We each had our own colourful soda with dinner and shared one sweet crepe for dessert. After wandering around trying to find a toilette, we went back to the restaurant and the girls explored around back until they found their toilette. We did a bit of souvenir shopping until I ran out of steam (around 11PM) and we headed back to the hotel for the night.
27Jul2008 We all went to Versailles. We followed the instructions in Rick Steve's France 2008, but when we got to one of the recommended stations (Gare d'Austerliche), they told us we would have to take the Metro to Javel to get the train to Versailles. The good news was that the "Le Passeporte" tickets were less than expected (63€ instead of 100€).
We took the cross-town metro to Javel and got on the train to Versailles, only it didn't go to Versailles. Thanks to helpful travelers around us, we figured out we had to switch trains in Rive Gauche. When we got to the town, it felt like a great pilgrimage to the entrance to Versailles.
Our tickets didn't give the girls audio guides, so we paid for two more of these players that tell you what you're looking at. The buildings were impressive, as was the art and furniture in them. Even more impressive were the gardens: miles and miles of gardens (can you believe: 2000 acres of it), complete with trees, shrubs, flowers, grass, ponds, and fountains. We walked all the way to the far corner where Marie-Antoinette had her own little getaway.
The girls' energy started to peter out, so we headed to the entrance/exit. There's no way you could explore all the buildings and gardens at Versailles in one day. The buildings and gardens were much bigger than anticipated, so we didn't head back to Paris until after 6PM. The Tour de France finish was around 5:15PM, so we will have to be satisfied that we were "staying in Paris when the TdF 2008 finished" even though we didn't make it to the finish line in time to be present. I'm glad we bought our TdF 2008 souvenirs the day before.
28Jul2008 Kate and I woke the girls at 8:45AM and went in search of a grocery store. We picked up 2 yoghurts, 4 apples, Babybel cheese, and some Nutrigrain-type bars. Kate took it back to the room while I went in search for wireless. I haven't found a single unprotected wireless hotspot on the whole trip, and that morning was no different. (Everywhere I try, I can typically see 6-12 encrypted access points, and sometimes an unencrypted but paid service: PontNeuf).
We finished packing and took the subway to Gare Nord. We were about 90 minutes early, so we sat sipping $5 café-au-lait (Kate) and two $5 Cokes (J,M,N), while Liss had a $5 side of fries. We hopped the train and it left right on schedule. We made a fast change in Cologne, but ended up in a rail car that was sweltering hot. We made it to our stop at about 6PM---happy but sweaty--then walked home.
Kate and I walked down to the grocery store and stocked up. We relaxed to Flushed Away which didn't really keep our attention.
29Jul2008 Resting day. It was rainy.
30Jul2008 Outlet store day. We drove to Roermond in the Netherlands, about 160 km from Bad Honnef, arriving about 12:30PM. We shopped for 45 minutes, then stopped for (packed) lunch. Then we shopped again and met up around 3:30PM. Then one final shop and we left around 4:30PM. We had dinner, then Jeff and Kate walked up and down Drachenfels from/to Rhöndorf.
Shopping summary:
- Kate: skirt, shorts, 2 T-shirts, and Body Shop lotions and potions
- Jeff: boat shoes, lightweight hiking boots, and socks
- Megan: ski jacket and Body Shop lotions and potions
- Liss: Body Shop lotions and potions
31Jul2008 Cleaning day. Cleaned, Liss and Megan walked to Hit and bought chocolate presents, and then (after dinner) Kate and Jeff walked to Leyberg lookout.
01Aug2008 Packing, final cleaning, and welcoming Lehnert's home. The Lehnert's flight was delayed due to a Lufthansa strike, so they didn't get in until nearly 8PM. We had a meal for them, then Martin took us out for some bat-watching, then we talked until very late.
02Aug2008 K&M head home. We took Kate and Liss to their flight. Jeff returned the Lehnert's rental van and put Jeff & Megan's bags into storage. Megan and Jeff went and chose their Eurail pass: they decided to get the 5-day, 3-country pass for Germany, Italy, and France. It was only an extra 17€ to upgrade both tickets to first class, so they did that. (In retrospect, we should have bought a 4-country pass that included Switzerland … it's much faster to travel from Milan to Frankfurt via Switzerland than via France.)
The two started off toward France, but at their first stop (Mannheim) they were feeling the effects of staying up with the Lehnerts and getting up early to take Liss and Kate off to the airport. So it was there that they decided to return to Bad Honnef for the night.
Once they got on their next train (to Siegburg), Jeff signed up for a one-month T-mobile wireless account. This service is on some trains and in some other areas, so it should help keep in touch. He used it immediately to contact home and to call the Lehnerts (via Skype) to ask if it was OK to stay there another night. They agreed and offered to pick them up at the train station.
It turned out that the train went to the smaller train station in Bad Honnef, so Megan and Jeff walked toward the larger station at about 7:30PM. Martin had perfect timing: he saw us as we were nearing the larger train station on foot, so picked us up and drove us back to his place. Martin gave us a bite to eat (a potato, noodle, and pork dish with a salad), then we headed to the neighbours who were having a welcome-home party. We talked and drank wine outside until it started to rain, then we went in (to Christophe & Christina's) and played a karaoke game on the PS2. We must have left well after midnight, but then we talked once we got back. It was after 2AM when we got to bed … so much for resting!
03Aug2008 We received word that Liss and Kate got home safely. The travel gods stayed with them as they were able to get from landing at 6:45PM to getting aboard the 8:00PM ferry! Jeff called and spoke with Liss and Kate … it was important to hear their voices.
Jeff then tried again to contact relatives in France. He had emailed all the email addresses he had for France, and tried to phone the one phone number he had. As of noon, there were no answers to the emails, and the phone number yielded an "invalid number" message.
The travel gods must have all gone with Liss and Kate. Megan and Jeff had a late breakfast with the Lehnerts … we got talking so didn't head to the train station until 12:21 and just missed the 12:26 to Koblenz (they got there in time to hear it pull away). So Martin and Janis drove them to the Koblenz train station (45 minutes each way). We missed the connecting train there by a few minutes, so we got the next train toward Mannheim.
The plan was now to head to Dijon, for no reason other than it is apparently a nice area of France and it is toward Italy. All the train hops were longer than anticipated, so we were trying to abbreviate our route through France. We would have loved to see the west coast of France, but it would involve sleeping on a train (which would be OK), or sleeping in a train station or two (not OK by Megan). We also have not heard from any of Mom's relatives in France (although I didn't give them much time to respond).
As we rode the train, we read about Beaune. Martin had recommended it, and so does Rick Steve. According to my printed train schedule, we will miss the final train from Dijon to Beaune by 15 minutes. We will see what a taxi costs … it would be worth it to wake up in such a beautiful city (although I'm sure Dijon would be nice too).
We stopped in Strasbourg and had dinner: a couple of wraps at a middle-eastern style café. We didn't have enough time to eat them there, so we took them on the train. Our next stop was Besançon where we had about 30 minutes to stretch our legs. We asked if there was any way to get to Beaune by train that night, but the answer was "no".
Jeff wanted to find WiFi long enough to get emails, so we wandered across the street from the train station to a hotel that advertised free WiFi. We couldn't get online from the street, but then Megan suggested we stay there. They had a price of 43€ posted on the front of the hotel, and it looked clean and modern, so we checked in.
The night desk guy was something to behold. He was thirty-something, wearing a plain grey sport coat and beret, and his moustache was well waxed. Every time I spoke, he put on a blank smile and said nothing. I didn't know if he didn't understand English, or if his brain was just in neutral. It turned out to be the latter.
He asked for both of our passports, which I'm sure was not necessary: I expect he was just curious if this 14-year-old girl was my daughter or my girlfriend. I paid for the room and for breakfast, and then asked about the WiFi. Again the blank look. I think I detected a shrug.
When we got to the room, there was an open WiFi signal, but it was not online. (Skip the rest of this paragraph and the next if you want to miss my technical solution!) I connected to the router and could tell it was a Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT (my favourite router running my favourite router software), but I didn't know the password. I tried a few combinations I thought were the default password, and after a few tries I got in! I reset it remotely, but still it did not go online. Maybe the modem needed to be reset.
I went to my way friend and offered to fix it. He didn't seem to know where any of the equipment was, so I asked to poke around behind the desk. I found a ton of equipment (two modems, two Cisco routers, a small PC, UPS, switch, but not a wireless router). I decided not to touch any of it. I went back to the room, and then I noticed both the internal and external address ranges were on the same subnet! I changed the internal subnet to 192.168.10.1 and it worked! Score 1 for the Nerd!!
It was nice to catch up on a few emails, and Megan appreciated catching up on Facebook. Then I researched the rest of our journey. It was Sunday night, and we needed to get to Rome and then back to Frankfurt by Friday. We wouldn't have much time to explore along the way, but I found a route that would allow us 2.5 hours in Nice before continuing to Italy. That should at least give us a taste.
The rest of the trip plan would go something like this: 3 hours from Nice to Genoa, nearly 3 hours waiting in Genoa, then 11:53PM-5:48AM to Rome. We would have all Tuesday to explore Rome, then we'd stay overnight. Early Wednesday, we'd travel to Milan via Florence and Pisa, hopefully stopping for some time at each place. Not sure if we'd stay in Milan, or hop a night train toward Frankfurt. Thursday, we would have to make it all the way to Frankfurt as we fly back on Friday.
This brought up a point: we only had 5 travel days on our Eurail pass, and they were running out quickly:
- Sat: Frankfurt to Bad Honnef via Mannheim
- Sun: Bad Honnef to Besançon via
- Mon: Beacon to Genoa via Dijon and Marsailles
- Tue: Genoa to Rome, arriving early AM
- Wed: Rome to Milan via Florence and Pisa
- Thu: Milan to Frankfurt
Hmmm, looks like we'll have to buy train tickets for one of the days. We would likely have to pay extra for a sleeper car on Tuesday, so we'll just buy tickets for that leg.
04Aug2008 Besançon to Nice. Breakfast on Monday was very rushed. I got caught up MSNing with Dad and Kate (also fixing Dad's PC remotely) and that didn't leave us much time for breakfast. And what a breakfast it was: a brown cereal which turned out to be chocolate, raison toast which turned out not to have raisons but chocolate spots, and hazelnut spread which turned out to be chocolate. They were out of juice, and we were out of time; we ate and dashed across the street to our 7:42 train.
It was a quiet ride to Dijon, where we changed trains for Nice. Got settled in our seats and then someone bumped us with their reservations. Got settled in the next seats forward when we were bumped again. This time we stayed, but we found ourselves behind a family of five where two of the children (a 4 year old girl and a 6 year old boy) were more than just a little spoiled and more than just a little vocal. At one point (when we were sleeping), I thought the little girl had had boiling water poured on her, but it was just behavioural screaming. They still received their travel gifts from their Mom.
When we got to Lyon, we were bumped again, right into the next car. The train was filling up (August is vacation time for all of France), but we found seats together. The next kicker was when they checked our Eurail pass, they asked for a 40€ "reservation fee". The conditions of the pass state that they can do this. I'm not sure if it's at their discretion, or just because the train was quite full.
As we got to the coast, we saw lots of yachts. Big yachts. Monaco was cool: from our perspective, it was just a train stop in a tunnel, but I could imagine the flow of money just beyond the rock wall.
We arrived in Nice just before 4PM, and our train to Genoa was just after 6PM, so we had 2 hours. Jeff asked if he could buy tickets from Genoa to Rome or at least reserve two spots in a sleeper car, but the answer was "no", we would have to do that in Genoa. When he asked if Genoa would be open, she said she didn't know. Not sure what her computer was for, but obviously not for information or booking.
We checked our bags (for 6.50€) and walked down the main street to the beach. The main street was lined with stores and there was a big Galleries Lafayette department store. A very modern streetcar travelled up and down the middle of the road. The main plaza was impressive with statues and fountains. We could see Castle Hill, but unfortunately would not have time to explore it (there isn't a castle there, it was leveled more than 200 years ago).
Then we got to the beach. Thousands of people taking up nearly every corner of the pebbly beach. Some in the free sections, some in the paid sections, and 2 pair up in the parasails. A few women were topless, but not many. Megan changed into her bikini and we found a spot on the beach. Megan went for a dip up to her neck and then Jeff went in up to the bottom of his shorts. The water was wonderful: clean-looking, blue, and the perfect temperature. After our momentary dips, our time was up. We headed back to the station (along a different route) and got our bags.
The train took us into Italy and as far as Genoa. This was the third time that day that the conductor looked at the Eurail pass, but didn't stamp it, so I guess we won't have to pay for our sixth travel day after all. When we got to Genoa, the ticket booth had just closed, so we would just have to hope for available sleeper spots.
The train to Rome arrived about an hour early. We were hesitant to get on, but jumped on at the last minute. We did not take the time to search for a first class or emptier car. Once onboard, we waded through the throngs of people and finally stopped in a 6-person room with only 1 person in it.
It wasn't a true sleeper car, although the seats (with some effort) would fold into pseudo-beds. There was no air-conditioning, and it was quite a rickety car. We were told we couldn't fold the seats down to sleep as the train was too crowded. We got very little sleep on the 5-hour (11PM-4AM) journey.
05Aug2008 Roma. We were very groggy when the train arrived in Rome at 4AM. The station said "Roma Ost" … I knew it wasn't the main station in Rome, but I didn't know if the train would be stopping at the main station, and there wasn't anyone helpful (or any useful information on signs or maps) to tell me. The train pulled away and it was no longer an issue.
We wandered to the front of the station. We soon realized we had no paper map of the city (none posted), no reservations for accommodation, and not even a translation book. Rick Steve's Europe didn't say much about Rome. What we did have was a charged and working GPS, a cool/quiet Rome morning, and 4 relatively-healthy feet. We wandered past some sleeping homeless people toward the sights (and hotels).
We wandered from 4AM until 8AM, past the Coliseum, the Vittorio Emanuele II, and the Castel Sant' Angelo. We stopped at about 4 hotels, but each one quoted prices of 150-160€. We couldn't find one single example of affordable accommodation. We stopped for a snack of croissants, juice, and an orange to sustain us, but by the time we got to the area of the Vatican, we were ready to accept any opportunity for accommodation as long as we could check in immediately. All could accommodate us, but none immediately.
Until Hotel Bramante. They were a block or two from the Vatican, 140€ (which included wireless Internet and breakfast the next day), and they could take us immediately. They were a very clean, classy, and friendly lot as well. He said the prices twice carefully, and I accepted. We went to the room, and while Megan checked out the free stuff (soaps, shampoos, slippers, etc.), I noticed the lavish room and the lavish price on the wall: 240€. I went downstairs to triple-check the price, and it was still 140€. Expensive, but appropriate for the situation. This is one fine hotel.
I told Megan to go ahead and have her shower, and I went downstairs to check my email. I went back up, had my shower, and we both crashed for a couple of hours.
After our nap, we ventured out, dressed appropriately for the Vatican. Within a block, we found a fairly classy restaurant with reasonable prices: 10€ for pizza or pasta. We had one of each and then headed to the Vatican Museum. We could justify the time/money because we missed the Louvre (and it was very hot outside). We filed through, viewing old art, new art, Egyptian artifacts, and the Sistine Chapel. We capped it off with slushies (3€ each!!).
We wandered to the square in front of the Basilica, then stopped quickly back at the room to change into cooler clothes. We wandered to the Trevi Fountain, past some shops, and checked out "Time Elevator": a 3D simulator designed to educate you on 2750 years of Roman history. The show looked cheesy (cheap computer graphics) and it didn't fit into our schedule/budget, so we kept going. We figured we barely had the energy to walk through the Coliseum and ruins there, so headed that direction. After a 2km detour around the park that contained the ruins (which was closed), we got to the Coliseum (which was also closed).
It was after 8PM, so we grabbed the subway back to the area of our hotel and then found a good restaurant for dinner. Jeff had a single piece of deep-fried zucchini and a single piece of chicken with a small amount of salad, topped of with a big glass of Italian red wine. Megan had a green salad and put some of Jeff's chicken on it, then finished with lemon gelato served in a scooped out lemon skin.
We wandered back to the hotel and picked out a book each from the book exchange area. Megan went upstairs for another shower while Jeff planned the next 2 days on the computer.
06Aug2008 Rome to Milan. We caught the 9:30AM and got to Milan at 2PM. We found the metro and bought 24-hour tickets for 3€ each. The metro took us within 750m of our hotel which we found easily with the GPS. The hotel was 65€ as advertised, breakfast included, but the Internet (wired or wireless) was 7€ for an hour or 15€ for 24 hours. Sounds good. We showered up, got caught up on emails, and headed out around 5:30PM.
The skies let loose with thunder, lightening and rain just as we were leaving the hotel, so we borrowed an umbrella. We took the metro for just one stop, and got out to explore. We quickly found Sforza's Castle and then started our tour of the high-fashion shops. We started with Via Dante which brought us to Piazza Duomo. We forewent the rooftop view, but I expect it was closed anyway. There was enough at street level to keep our interest. Prada and Gucci were just closing their doors at 7PM, but enough was open to keep it interesting.
We had dinner (lasagna and spaghetti) and continued walking. Things were pretty much closed now, but still interesting. We could still window shop and see monuments in the dark. The rain started to let up, so we bought gelatos and wandered the walking area until after 9PM.
07Aug2008 Back to Frankfurt. We enjoyed our free breakfast, checked out, and hiked toward the metro. We got out two stops later and walked to the train station in hopes of finding some last minute gifts. We got distracted when Megan found some awesome boots. We bought one more gift item before arriving at the train station just 10 minutes before our train left for Basel.
The train ride was very costly. They missed us when it came to the reservation fee, but when we got to the Swiss border, they charged us 180€ to get across the country. In retrospect, it would have been much cheaper to get a 4-country select pass: about 70€ more than a 3-country select pass.
We got to the Frankfurt Airport and caught the shuttle to the hotel. The free shuttle was great, but the hotel was a bit of disappointment: the wireless internet was down, the room was hot and muggy and didn't have air conditioning. We used the hotel PCs (which were lacking MSN) and then read.
08Aug2008 Going camping, the long way. We got up soon after 7AM, packed, and went down for breakfast. Nice spread, but they were missing croissants! We walked down to the local mall, which wasn't too exciting, so we continued toward town. Then it started raining; hard. We got back to the mall and lingered in the dollar (Euro) store until the rain lightened up. Then we walked back to the hotel and checked out.
The shuttle was leaving at 11AM, so we got on-board, but found that they double-booked our seats, so got a ride in a Golf. When we got to the airport, we retrieved our bags and shuffled stuff so we had three checked bags and two carry-ons between us. We were still quite early for our flight, so we stopped and spent our remaining Euros on a sandwich for Megan (Jeff ate an extra bunwich for breakfast).
As we were arriving at Heathrow, there was an announcement for those travelling on to Vancouver to meet someone at the top of the ramp. He walked the five of us to security, I guess hoping it would somehow save us some time. We got to the gate as it was boarding.
After the rushing about, the airplane sat an extra 30 minutes before backing out … something about loading bags. We each watched three movies on the flight: Megan watched "What Happens in Vegas", "Be Kind Rewind", and the new "Narnia" while Jeff watched "Son of Rambow", "Redbelt", and "Kung-fu Panda". It was "Vegas" that Megan enjoyed best, and Redbelt that Jeff enjoyed best.
We arrived in Vancouver half an hour late. We jogged to Customs, got through quickly, then waited about 30 minutes for our bags to appear. It was going to be really close for the 8:15PM ferry. We got to the terminal at 8:08PM (on 08/08/08, no less!), and they let us walk on the ferry via the car deck. Now that was close.
On the ferry, we called Gord to arrange our pickup in Nanaimo, Megan had her snack Jeff kept from the flight, and the two played Rummy. Gord and Kate picked them up from the Duke Point terminal and took them to the Vancouver Island Wright Family Reunion at Living Forest campsite. After an enjoyable reunion, everyone got to sleep in their own beds on the night of 10Aug2008.
Trivia:
- 8 countries visited: UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and The Netherlands
- Over 2400 km covered by car, roughly double that by train
- Trip duration for Kate and Liss: 26 days
- Trip duration for Megan and Jeff: 32 days
Pictures to come!!!
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