Pizza is better in Italy

The weather was beautiful in Rome. The shining sun encouraged me to get out of my top-level bunk bed each morning. Although the bed squeaked and was a bit shaky getting up onto, I slept surprisingly well in Victoria Hostel. It was located two stops (about 5 blocks) from Termini Station, which is the central train station in Rome. A 50-something year old woman ran Victoria. It only had two rooms; one with six beds and the other (where I slept) had eight beds. It only cost about 18 euros each night for the bed, but the facilities were hardly accommodating. There was no air conditioning, so sheets were not needed during the warm nights.

The worse part of the hostel was actually the lady who ran it. We will call her the Nazi. Well, the Nazi would kick everyone out between 10am and 3pm, claiming that she used that time to clean. But, there were only 14 beds and the bathrooms had the same soap scum in the showers everyday so I doubt that she did much cleaning during that time. There were two bathrooms, one of which she locked at 11pm. And she allowed people to use the kitchen to cook, but then had a padlock on the refrigerator. The Nazi even made Elaine, a girl that I got to know in our hostel, sleep a night in the Nazi’s own bedroom because she overbooked. Needless to say, I tried not to spend much time at the hostel.

I stayed down the street from the Coliseum. It is an amazing structure that will be around longer than most structures built today. After taking a picture with a man dressed up as a gladiator, Laura and I went inside. The inside is just as remarkable as the outside. It hosted several statues and other pieces of art that helped tell the history of ancient Rome. I also spent some time inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Entry inside of the church was free but it cost a few euros to see the museum. Each was impressive. The fountains outside of St. Peter’s were beautiful, too. Michelangelo’s Pieta stole the show, though. The sculpture depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the dead Jesus in her lap after the crucifixion. Michelangelo completed the work when he was just 24 years old.

On one of the hottest days in Rome, Laura and I took an open-top bus tour. It was convenient because you could take pictures from the roof of the bus and you could hop off and on at points of attraction. We also visited the Repubblica, Piazza Barberini, Via Veneto, Tritone, Piazza Venezia, Piazza Navona, Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Ponte Sant’Angelo, Chiesa Nuova, Botteghe Oscure, Circo Massimo and Santa Maria Maggiore. Although we did not get off at very many sites, the day was exhausting.

After early evening naps, Laura and I mustered up the energy to go to Pub Crawls. We went on one each night we were in Rome. When we missed the Colosseum Pub Crawl on the first night, we just joined the Forum Pub Crawl. On the third night we tried the Spanish Step Pub Crawl but was disappointed because we would end up seeing the same group of people. Still, hopping from bar to bar where we were served free drinks and/or shots and got a free t-shirt to commemorate the event was not a bad deal for 20 euros.

After three and a half weeks of traveling around western Europe, I was looking forward to head to Amsterdam I could sleep in the same bed for more than three nights in a row.

 

The Franc is no joke

I say that because Switzerland is one of a few countries in Western Europe that has not changed their monetary system to that of the euro. Perhaps my internal currency converter was off, but I thought that everything in Switzerland was extremely expensive.

I came in on an overnight bus with Eurolines for about 50 euros, so the price was right. Laura and I planned on figuring out how to get to Italy once we arrived in Geneva. While waiting in line at the train station, we met Vanessa, who was also on her way to Rome. We decided that we would all try to get on the same train to Rome so we could enjoy the day in Geneva together. Vanessa was originally from Canada and grew up in Florida. Luckily, she was fluent in French since Geneva is the French-speaking area in Switzerland.

The weather was overcast and cool so sweaters came in handy on our trek through the city. At some point, it started drizzling but it did not last long. Fortunately, Vanessa had explored parts of Geneva the evening before, so she took Laura and I to the few points of interest that the city contains. One was a park (I did not catch the name of anything in Geneva) with a miniature castle-like structure in the middle of it. It was across the street from the water that hosted an impressive waterspout that continuously went off. We also passed by a cool clock made of grass and flowers. But, for the most part the city was pretty modern and looked like any other developed city with skyscrapers and department stores.

Before lunch, we scaled several steep streets in an effort to get a better view of the city. The view of the mountains against the blue sky was breathtaking. After witnessing the view, the three of us made our way to another park. I wrote in my journal; Vanessa did the same and read; and Laura took a nap. After relaxing, we found a pub and sat for a burger. It cost 15 francs (about $15USD) for a burger, fries and salad. The overpriced beef was somewhat disappointing, but at least my stomach was full.

There was not much else to see in the city, so after shopping, we sought out a movie theater. Sad to say, but Transformers II (another 18 francs) was probably the best part of my trip to Geneva. By sundown, we made it to the train for our trip to Rome. Luckily, it was a sleeper-cabin, so I got a bed and was able to sleep comfortably on the train.

More Geneva Pictures Here!

Looking forward to Italian sights, Italian food and Italian men!

The French aint got nothing on my fries

I knew that the French were not responsible for coming up the concept of french fries, but for some reason I thought that they would taste better in France. Uh, no. As rumor has it, the Belgians invented the fries/frites/chips/french-fried potatoes, so I probably should have visited Belgium if I wanted world-class fries. Despite my disappointment in their fries, France was one of my favorite places to visit.

I stayed in Paris at Oops! Hostel. Now, you're probably asking yourself why I would risk staying in a place named "Oops" but the pictures of the modern retro design drew me in as they would any trendy 20-something-year-old. Actually, Oops was quite nice except for the small bed that Laura and I had to share in our double room. Paris actually had the most expensive rooms out all of the places that I visited in Europe. Still, I was in Paris so could not complain. The hostel was located in the Latin Quarter, which has direct metro lines to the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. Nothing stayed open that late in the Latin Quarter, but by the time Laura and I made it back to our hostel from a day of exploring, we were too tired to do much of anything but sleep.

The Eiffel Tower ("ET") was just so nice that I had to see it twice. (Okay, that sounded much less cheesy in my head than it looks written.) The ET deserves a day and a night trip. I went to see it the first night I arrived in Paris but did not end up going up to the top because the third level was closed. I made my way back to the ET by day three and spent about an hour in line to get to the top. The view of the city was well worth the wait, although I enjoyed the view better from level two than from level three. Actually, the best part of the ET is going down on the elevator, which I have included below.

Most of my time spent in Paris was at the museums. I could have spent an entire weekend in the Louvre and not seen every piece of art on display. Musee D'Orsay was also an amazing museum full of pieces from Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Jean Béraudand Jean-François Millet. I had to fight my way to the front of the crowd to get my photo taken with the Mona Lisa. I think it is behind bulletproof glass. It was the most protected piece at the Louvre, as you had to stand behind a guarded wooden rail several feet in front of the painting. The Venus de Milo, the ancient Greek statue of love was also impressive. Arguably, the best part of the Louvre was the Cour Napolean (Courtyard of Napoleon). It is where the glass pyramid (that was featured in the movie The DaVinci Code) sits and is the entrance to the museum.

Notre Dame was equally impressive. The church is massive and the architecture -- inside and out-- is spectacular. After exploring the church on my third day in Paris, Laura and I had sandwiches from a street vendor. That day, we ended up switching hostels, too, because we arrived a day late and Oops! was booked to full capacity. The second hostel was Hotel Caulaincourt. It is named after the area that it is located in. While the room was nice, the area had less to do than the Latin Quarter.

On day four, Laura and I found ourselves at Les Catacombes de Paris. Apparently, at the end of the 18th century, the Council of the State pronounced the cemetery of Innocent as the root of infection for the district. They began removal and evacuation of the cemetery. From 1786 until 1814, the Catacombs, or underground tombs, were used to collect the bones from all of the cemeteries in Paris. All of the inscriptions inside of the tomb were in French or Latin so Laura and I had a tough time deciphering what they all meant but luckily we met Wendy, a young woman from Nevada who translated what was written inside of the tombs. Wendy told us that she was there visiting for the summer because she won a trip from her school. I was impressed that she had just finished high school (my 17 year-old little sister would not be brave enough to go hang out in France for the summer even if it was free).

So ends my time in Paris, France. It was an amazing four days. I met great people on the way to and from France and am looking forward to a day layover in Geneva, Switzerland.

Wet and Wild in Lagos

Lagos, Portugal is definitely a place you visit if you want to have a good time. Laura read about this little jewel of a city, and we hit it up before we left Portugal.

The weather was almost perfect for the two days that we were there. We stayed at a hostel called Rising Cock that was run by two brothers and their mom. Their mom was the "Mama" of the house and she made crepes (as many as you can eat) for the entire hostel. She also cooked lunch for boys who worked there. The set up was actually pretty sweet, although the rooms were kind crowded and a bit tight so hard to move around in. I shared a room with Laura and 4 other girls from England who had just graduated from University. They were nice, but messy. More than once, I found random stuff on my bed that probably belonged to one of the girls. Still, their drunk stories were quite entertaining so a fare trade for their immaturity.

Laura and I went on a Booze Cruise the first day. For 35 euros, we got lunch at Nahnahbah (the restaurant across the street from the hostel), all you could drink beer and sangria on a 3-hour boat ride and a sandwich at the end. Laura was peer pressured into doing a funnel of sangria and after was in chill mode for the boat ride. They also offerred gratis tours on a 10-person boat which I managed missing but Laura got to go and see the beautiful rock structures.

We spent our second day at the beach after walking around the pier. The views were amazing from almost anywhere along the shore. After laying out in the sun for hours, Laura and I took turns cooling off in the refreshing salt water. I even saw Rising Cock's Mama at the beach and she joined us in the water. This was one of my few encounters with a European beach, but I was not took surprised to find topless female sunbathers, men in speedos and most women in thongs. What was disturbing was the provacative bathing suits some little girls (under the age of 10) had on. Still, there was enough eye candy to distract my conscious from over analyzing the situation.

There aren't really clubs in Lagos. People mainly go out to bars at night. The party does not get started until midnight, so Laura and I did not leave our hostel until about that time both nights that we were in town. It was about a 5-minute walk to the area where the good bars are. On the way, we got stopped by 20-somethingers who were promoting for different bars. We were headed to one bar for a "free first shot" special when Levi, a promoter from Australia, intercepted us and brought us to Whyte's, that bar that he promoted for. When I asked Levi how long he had been in Lagos, it surprised me when he said a week. Apparently, Levi was getting his hustle on. He found a job promoting the first night that he was in town. We also met Jim Bob, from Nottingham, England, who promoted for another bar. He had been there for a few weeks and also got started working the same day that he came in. Job Bob explained that he got a commission on the amount of people who brought into his bar. I think that he also got to drink for free. As the night went on, we met more and more promoters in town for the summer who would flyer and promote to make money to live and play in Lagos for the season. I can respect their hustle since it was legit and its the summer so everyone is just trying to have fun.

Well, after becoming two shades darker, I was sad and excited to leave Lagos. Sad, because I met some really interesting people, got to rest and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery as well as go out and have fun at night. The excitement beats out the sadness though because Paris, France is my next stop!

More photos of Lagos, here! Disclaimer: Don't judge me.