Matt and Jac in Europe

England

2006-10-20T19:32:00.000-04:00

Finally, a mere three months after our return from Europe, this photo journey is coming to an end. And there was much rejoicing.

There weren't as many quality pictures at this point in the trip, as we were getting weary of being shutterbugs and just weary in general. There's especially a distinct lack of much from London, but we were only effectively there for about a day and a half.

Here's the shores by Tintagel, the reputed birthplace of King Arthur. There's all kinds of legends around this area. Cool.

Here's the view from the Glastonbury Tor. Lovely.

And here's the Tor itself, with the ruins of St. Michael's Church at the top. When King Henry VIII dissolved the monastaries during the English Reformation, the local abbot was hung here for refusing to turn over the abbey to the king.

You are looking at an architectural marvel known as the scissor arch in Wells Cathedral.

Here's lovely downtown Winchester. It's a smallish city with lots of charm.

Let me tell you, the Guinness assuredly tastes better in England.

Here's an impressive root system at Avebury.

London's famous Millennium Bridge across the Thames.

We wound up spending our last night in Europe at Heathrow Airport. Luckily, our camping gear made what could have been a pretty crappy night OK!

Thus ends the Matt and Jac Europe 2006 photo extravaganza!

France

2006-10-06T00:37:00.000-04:00

Shoot. Time really does fly. Europe is such a fading memory already, even though we only got back a month and a half ago. These photos focus mostly on Paris, the crown jewel of our French experience. We also stopped in Strasbourg, Normandy and Brittany, but there weren't many pictures from them. That's too bad, becuase they had their unique charm.

Caution: There's a lot of pictures in this one! Vive la France!

Les Champs-Elysees. This is a great example of a world-class street in a world-class city where you can stroll the streets without a care in the world - as long as you don't look at the price tags!

Jac loves Art Noveau. Here she is at one of Paris' famous Metropolitain entrances. These apparently kicked off the Art Noveau movement.

And here's a beautiful Art Noveau room at the Musee d'Orsay. Tres organic.

I wonder if anybody's done this before...

Paris was an art tour de force. Here we are entering the Louvre via its iconic glass pyramid.

But not all famous Parisian icons are in galleries.

A short walk away from the Moulin Rouge is Monte Martre, one of the more charming parts of Paris with a great view of the city.

Here we're wondering if the Pompidou modern art museum will actually have anything that isn't messed up.

Jac thought that this pink room was pretty fun.

I thought that this shadow sculpture was pretty fun. Otherwise, most of it was well beyond messed up.

This is my kind of art: a beautifully crafted prayer in stone. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is stunning. I'm more pleased in an artistic sense with this picture than with any other I took on the trip.

This was certainly one of the highlights of the entire trip. A bunch of us planned to meet at the base of the Eiffel Tower for a picnic of wine, cheese, bread and chocolate that lasted all night for some. Truly magnificent.

The Eiffel Tower is ridiculously photogenic. I took a ton of experimental photos of it during the lightshow and this is one of the best results. This was not done by photoshopping (other than some color tweaks).

Finally, we leave Paris for Mont St. Michel. This, believe it or not, is an abbey. One that happens to be heavily fortified as there were extensive wars between Brittany and Britain. They fought so much that they have the same name. It used to turn into an island at high tide - until a causeway was built in more modern times.

This is a really fun shot from inside the Abbey at Mont St. Michel. You might not notice at first, but that's a giant mirror and I'm taking a picture of our reflection.

And here we are, embarking on our voyage across the English Channel and bidding adieu to France. It was lovely.

Well, that leaves us with only one country to go. Hopefully England will make its appearance before Christmas!

Zürich

2006-09-11T23:54:00.000-04:00

<insert obligatory apology for not updating in too long here>

That unpleasantry out of the way with, let's throw up some pictures of our short stay in Zürich, the capital city of world banking. Let me tell you, this place definitely felt rich. The prices everywhere reflected this, as this was one of the most expensive parts of our stay.

It also was the time where Jac and I celebrated our first anniversary. We stayed in a hostel/hotel called "Martahaus" and thoroughly enjoyed a night's reprieve from camping! To make things even sweeter, that happened to be the night of one of the two torrential downpours we experienced on the whole trip. While my fellow travellers were beseeching the Lord's mercy, I just reached over and closed the window. :P

On with the show:

Here's me standing in front of the Martahaus Hotel where we stayed for the night of our anniversary, right in the heart of old town Zürich.
This is fast food - European style. This place was run by a major grocery retailer called Migros and it operates solely as a take-away eatery. The only difference is that the food is actually good, (somewhat) healthy and made fresh. These things are everywhere and this is how the locals eat on the go. You'll never see any suckers other than tourists paying around $10 for a Big Mac combo. Idiots. And note that Europeans even do a good job of design even though Migros is Switzerland's largest grocery chain. Could you imagine Superstore or Safeway making quality space like this? We demand too little...
Here's a fun little sight less than a block away from our hotel: The Polybahn is a funicular that runs up the steep hill from the old city to the University. And it comes right out of the building and up and over the street! It sure was surprising the first time we saw it.
Here's a night shot looking into Zürich's old city. The twin "saltshaker" domes of the Grossmünster can be seen on the right. Christian history buffs may be interested to know that it was where Ulrich Zwingli preached his Reform message.
And here's me, enjoying some delectable Swiss fondue to celebrate our anniversary. It was incredible.

Deutschland

2006-08-27T20:30:00.000-04:00

Germany was great. For the first time on the trip, I could actually communicate with the locals to a limited degree. It's not like I needed to--Germans typically speak excellent English--but it made me feel better after a few weeks of frustration in Italy.

And two words: bratwurst and beer. I had the most heavenly bratwurst of my life at some market in Munich, and beer was to be had in abundance. We were only there for a painfully short three days, visiting only Dachau and Munich. Hopefully future trips will spend longer in Deutschland...

Enough out of me. On with the pictures.

The gate leading into Dachau, which roughly translates to "work makes you free." How sadly ironic, considering that the moment they walked through that door, they were far from free.
A view into the camp through a barbed wire fence.
One of the ovens where they cremated the dead. Dachau was not a death camp like Auschwitz, but the forced labor and malnutrition—not to mention the cruelty of the SS—still claimed many lives. The juxtaposition of the flowers and the oven said a lot to me about hope. This was a hard place to be.
But all is not gloomy in Germany. Here's a whimsical stereotype: the oompah band player in a Munich market chugging back the beer—at 10am! These guys were everywhere in downtown Munich, probably due to the World Cup quarterfinal between Germany and Sweden that was being played that day.
Here was the courtyard of the Hofbräuhaus during the game. Crazy football fans.
The Hofbräuhaus was only quiet because everyone was watching the game in the courtyard. Otherwise, this place is a giant, beer swigging hall of boisterous good times.
Speaking of beer, they believe in liters in Germany. Here's Jac and I looking somewhat wearied from the heat but happy at the prospect of hoisting a stein. Did I mention that I love Germany?

Anyways, there's a little taste of Germany. Unfortunately we didn't get too many shots of the city proper. We got photo fatigue every so often on the trip and the city seems to have been one of its victims.

Next up, Zürich.

Italia Tre

2006-08-19T21:21:00.000-04:00

Ah, here we are again. I'm not quite procrastinating, I'm just making something useful out of my necessary study breaks... right...

Well, here we go with the last batch of Italy pictures. After the Amalfi coast, we made our way through Assisi (hometown of St. Francis), Ravenna and Venice, our last Italian stop. We were in Italy for nearly three weeks. It wasn't nearly long enough, but that was the refrain of the whole trip.

This is the chapel of San Damiano monastery, where St. Francis heard the Lord say to him "rebuild my church." Francis initially took this literally and started to work on the walls. He later learned to understand metaphor!
Class is in session outside of San Vitale in Ravenna. San Vitale was completed in 548, making it one of the oldest existing basilicas in the world. Lots of early church and state political stuff tied up in this place too!
Some very cool looking marble columns inside San Vitale.
Here's me standing on a bridge over one of Venice's innumerable canals. Venice is a ridiculously photogenic city, and its a crime the amount of stuff that I'll have to leave out of this post. Maybe I'll revisit the city later on, but we've gotta keep this thing moving.
The stereotypes are true: there's gondolas everywhere. We learned that they've never actually been a truly local form of transportation - it's always been all about the tourists with these babies.
So of course, we had to ride one. Come on, it's Venice! How can't you?
This is the kind of stunning view you get from the gondola. It was so tranquil and just plain lovely in these minor canals.
You can guarantee that you won't find this sign anywhere else...
And finally, just to prove that there is land in Venice, I present this view from the top of the Rialto Bridge, one of Venice's main bridges. As you can see, Venice is a thriving tourist trap.

Well, that's it for Italy. Next stop, Munich.

Italia Due

2006-08-18T17:38:00.000-04:00

In my last Italia post, I neglected to provide some photos from our stay in Florence that it would be a shame not to share. That out of the way with, we will continue to our next Italian stop on the lovely Amalfi coast.

Here's our group enjoying a lovely Italian dinner at our Florence campground/resort. It was a delectable multi-cheese lasagne that I could happily eat every day for the rest of my life.
Speaking of food, here's how the Florentines do gelati. You're not going to find that on Corydon! It was incredible.
This is a cool-looking street in Siena, a city close to Florence. They were Renaissance-era rivals until the plague killed off a good chunk of the Sienese. Today they're mostly renowned for the color of their bricks which inspired the color "burnt siena."
Jac got this candid shot of this cute girl eating gelato in Siena's main square.
We visited the ruins of Pompeii, with its nemesis Mount Vesuvius looming in the background.
We had a great tour guide in Pompeii, who showed us little gems like this: a phallus pointing the way to the city's red light district. The more things change...
Here's Jac standing on the water by our campground in Sorrento, looking uber-cool and model-like. Sorrento marks the approximate beginning of the Amalfi coast.
Pictures can't do justice to the experience of careening along the high roads and sheer cliffs of the Amalfi coast. This is the type of incredible view that awaits you there.
And this might give you a sense of the roads we were on. My life passed before my eyes multiple times. It was great!

Well, that's it for this time. This is taking a long time to comb through and edit everything! It helps that I should be working on an essay and that this is a convenient distraction. :)

Italia Uno

2006-08-12T00:56:00.000-04:00

Italy will be too big for one post, so here's part one.

Our journey begins at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Here's Jac in the courtyard between the wings of the gallery.
Here's the Ponte Vecchio, Florence's only bridge to survive WWII unscathed. It dates from the 15th century.
The infamous Medici family ran Florence for centuries. Their offices were in the current Uffizi gallery (Uffizi literally means "offices") but they lived on the other side of the river. After an assassination attempt, they got paranoid and built a covered walkway from home to over the Ponte Vecchio and ending at the Uffizi (where this picture is taken from) so that they'd be safer. Nice to know paranoia isn't a modern invention...
We stopped in the hill town of Orvieto en route to Rome. It had some spectacular views from its walls into the valley below.
You get used to seeing parking like this in Rome. This picture doesn't do one thing justice though: there's usually a lot more scooters around.
Here's a panorama from the top of St. Peter's Basilica overlooking the Vatican and Rome. It's still hard to believe that we were actually there. Click on the picture: it's a bit bigger for more clarity.
Here's another panorama of the Pantheon in Rome. I would be amiss if I didn't inform you that the panorama process has made the space seem much smaller than it actually is. This place was simply breathtaking. It was built around 2000 years ago and it took nearly 1500 years before a comparable dome was built.
Here's Jac standing under the Pantheon's oculus. (that's architecture-speak for "hole in the ceiling")

Well, there's the first bit of Italy. Hopefully there will be less time between the last update and this. Thanks go to Karin for reminding my lazy ass to do this.

Carcassonne

2006-07-21T17:46:00.000-04:00

We crossed through the south of France to transit from Spain to Italy. Our only real stop was the medieval walled city of Carcassonne, one of the top tourist attractions in Europe. (We also spent a night in Nice, but it hardly counts since we got there late and left early on our way to Florence.)

Here's the view of the walled city, or "La Cité" as it's known locally.
What do you do outside a walled city? Chill.
La Cité was cool, but the "new" city beneath it was way more fun. We stumbled into a square where there was flamenco dancers, free wine sampling and a plethora of patios.

Spain

2006-07-20T13:07:00.000-04:00

So, here's the first batch of pics from the beginning of our trip in Spain. There's no way that we could post a comprehensive pictorial review, so my idea is to go country by country with selected shots. Enjoy!

Here's the beautiful Madrid Airport, our first stop in Europe.
Now this is what I call a classroom! Our first presentation took place at Valle de los Caidos. Turning around, we see...
...a stunning basilica and soaring cross. The really notable part about this basilica is that...
...it's cut into the mountainside.
Madrid has some beautiful streetscapes and...
...some great streetside cafes. This was the best sausage I'd ever had (until Munich).
From Madrid we ventured out to see the walled city of Avila...
...and the ancient Roman aqueduct at Segovia. This thing was built with no mortar whatsoever nearly 2000 years ago and they were still using it up to about 50 years ago.
Next stop was Barcelona, home of one of Jac's favorite architects, Antonio Gaudi. Here's an autostitched panorama of his still unfinished Sagrada Familia...
...and here's me lounging on a tree that was appropriately growing in this organic looking arcade in his brilliant Parc Guell.

That's it for now... Next stop will be the south of France.

A first glimpse

2006-07-19T16:06:00.000-04:00

Here's a first glimpse at some pictures from Jac. (Matt has some more on the way).

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So, since I am procrastinating responding to my post-trip overflowing inbox,
I made a game for those of you who also need something with which to procrastinate.
Here's what you do: match each above photo with its title. You will notice the photos are numbered.
The first person to comment with the right answers wins. Wins what, you might ask?
Well, if you win, you can tell us what you would like to win.

A) Munich's water substitute
B) Paris underground
C) Worn from kneeling
D) Florence's main transportation
E) Terrorizing the locals in Piazza San Marco, Venice
F) Amalfi the hill town
G) Venice needs shade
H) Nature takes over
I) Many celts lived and died here
J) The Louvre filled with light
K) The most public of art galleries
L) Monastic reflection at Mont St. Michel
M) The habits of tourists
N) beach-combing in Cornwall, England
O) St. Peter's Square, Vatican City

bon chance!

We're Back

2006-07-18T22:34:00.000-04:00

We've been back in Canada for a little over 24 hours now. Jet lag's not too bad, but I am about to drag my sorry behind to bed. 11:30pm local time in St. Stephen feels like 3:30am in London.

My ambition for the next couple of days is to do a whole lot of nothing, followed by slacking off and vegging out. In between I might track down some pictures to throw on here. If you ask nicely ;)

"ahhh, stereotypes...." or, "the euro game"

2006-07-14T16:13:00.000-04:00

i am rather surprised that great britian is so americanized. the brands, the people, the corporations, all very similar whereas every other country was so different.
i guess language has a lot to do with things.

anyway, since matt likes to write intellectual and pertinent posts, i suppose i will do the opposite, just to mix it up a bit.

there is a certain game our group likes to play in our times of waiting for the trains and such.
we call it the euro game. basically, through brilliant deduction and astute analysis, you must find clues to decipher whether a person is a european, or an american. (paris is an excellent place to do this, as is anywhere in germany or italy. usually its a no-brainer.
NOTE: this game does not apply to england -- its too americanized here)

here are a list stereotypes that are very often true. shall we say, some clues for the game:

CATEGORY 1 : WOMEN

1. europeans are much skinnier. this applies to all ages. children, teens, and seniors alike. you almost NEVER see an obese european, especially not in france. so, if theres a lady on the subway taking up two seats, she's likely speaking american.

2. hair. europeans rarely have the middle aged hair cut. even euro-seniors dont have the granny-fro. older women let their hair grow long and natural, and girls likely have a very stylish, often short or layered cut.
north american girls usually have the long 'california cut' long and straight with no bangs with your typical highlights.

3. flamboyance. americans just dont have it.
euro-women are very put together, a little wild, accessorized, always matching.
americans are big into t-shirts and jeans.

4. hm, how shall we say.... tastefulness (?).
european females wear clothes --pants and tops -- much looser; american girls love the super-tight look.

5. confidence. this is evident in stance, walk, and overall posture. american girls are much more self-conscious whereas european women are so confident. this one is rather subjective, but it remains a very key clue to the game.

6. presence of bras.
european women often avoid bras altogether. enough said.

CATEGORY 2: MEN

1. shoes, shoes, shoes.
euro-men never wear runners. ...unless they are very very stylish ones. and as if you couldnt guess this one, european men never wear socks in sandals.

2. fit of clothes.
european men wear pants, jeans, and shirts very tailored, fitted, even tight.
north american men do the baggy jeans, cargos, and t-shirts thing and just look sloppy in comparison.

3. the murse.
(man-purse) the murse is key to the male-euro wardrobe.
americans wear backpacks, while european men wear purses in canvas, leather, etc. (the more feminine the better) but never, never a backpack.
side note: its quite funny that most of the guys on our trip have purchased a murse along the way, some more feminine than others.

Last Stop, London!

2006-07-14T12:09:00.000-04:00

We just rolled into London a few hours ago and they set us loose after doing a quick tour past Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Downing Street, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. You know, the places to see if you've never been here before. Now, it's time to go to the places that you only find out about once you're here...

It's a strange thing to delve into the psychology of how your living arrangments affect the way that you live and your general disposition. Take, for instance, some observations I've noted about how continuous tenting has affected our group, myself included. We now have no problem whatsoever with sitting down anywhere, anytime as long as there isn't shit there. Even the most prissy girls have had to loosen up on their public presentation because showers are usually days apart instead of daily. You get used to having no private space, eating meals with your plate on your lap, sleeping with the constant threat of rain making life miserable and countless other inconveniences that you would never think of in "normal" life.

The thing that made all of this so obvious was when we pulled into one of our rare non-tenting sites. The Winchester Vineyard graciously hosts the SSU trip every two years and their recent renovations made it a pleasant place to stay. Their lobby area was set up like a living room, with couches, coffee tables and cafe-style round tables abounding. Right next to it was a massive kitchen which puts the ghetto double propane burner we've been cooking on for the last two months to shame. Seriously, everyone was way too happy about this, myself included.

And then the perks of marriage came in. The singles all had to sleep in a big common room, but the married couples each got their own private room! It was a thing of real beauty. They also had a lovely youth room complete with a snooker table, foosball, PS2 and just loads of space for hanging out. This last bit is something we've also been missing. What do you do when it's dark at your campground, but there's nowhere to hang out other than your tent? You go to bed early every night, that's what. Well, here we were actually able to hand out together in comfortable space and it made everyone way too happy again...

Anyhow, enough behavioural psychology. I just found that bit of life on the go interesting to note. It'll also be interesting to see how we adjust to life back at our last campground tonight.

This is it. It's our last stop on our Euro-adventure. I can't believe it's been nearly 8 weeks already. I can't believe I'll be in Canada soon. It'll be bittersweet, that's for sure. Look out London, I have three days of Euro-adventure to fill, and here I am!

Jolly Old England

2006-07-11T07:43:00.000-04:00

Well, here we are on the last leg of the trip in Great Britain. I nearly cried when I realized that the signs I was reading were something I could actually, you know, understand. Well, that's a scosh melodramatic, but that and English keyboards make me happy.

Today is an unusually sunny British day in Bath. You can't actually go into the Roman baths as a bath-er--too high a bacteria count--but we'll be touring the museum later on. We've spend the three days prior to this making our way through Cornwall, focusing on its Celtic heritage and the legend of Arthur. We saw some seriously ancient Celtic crosses that you wouldn't necessarily expect to see outside of Ireland. And if you've never had a Cornish Pasty before, you're missing out big time.

So, under a week left. We still have London ahead of us which excites me greatly! Even though I won't be seeing most people who might be reading this all that soon, I'll be closer!

Ta ta from England!

Adieu France, Hello England

2006-07-07T05:17:00.000-04:00

I write this in our lovely four star campground in Roscoff, France, complete with waterslides and the usual infuriating keyboards for my typing displeasure. Later today we will board the ferry for Plymouth, England where it will be greatly relieving to be able to communicate with people again and be able to type properly too!

With the last leg and last country of our trip looming ahead of us, I'm feeling about an equal mixture of delight and dread. I'm looking forward to a real bed beneath me and a real roof above me. I'm looking forward to creature comforts like toilets with seats that I don't have to pay for and sweet, sweet personal space. But I'm most assuredly not looking forward to the conclusion of this grand adventure through the major sights, sounds (and tastes!) of Europe. We've journeyed through Madrid, Barcelona, Florence, Rome, Venice, Munich, Zurich and Paris, to name the major cities. I could easily have spent the entire 8 weeks in some of the major cities and not had a shortage of new things to see and do.

But to recap our last few days, we concluded our time in Paris by going up to the Eiffel Tower as the sunset to see Paris sprawling out beneath us. It was tres beautiful. Then we met up with a bunch of classmates at ythe base of the tower for a picnic of wine, cheese and other good things that lasted all night! It was Monday, but there was no shortage of like-minded people on the Champs de Mars with us.

And then it was on to Normandy and the D-Day beaches. We saw the iconic American cemetary, and both Omaha and Juno beaches, sites of the invasion that began the liberation of Europe and cost thousands of Allied lives. It was sobering to remember this pivotal moment of a very grim moment of recent history and begged the question: could even this war be called just? We're actually going to have a discussion on the ferry later on today and I'm looking forward to wrestling with that.

But, I have all of minutes left on this here connection and I will now sign off. England, here we come!

Paris

2006-07-02T12:02:00.000-04:00

This is our second day in Paris, the city of looooooove. Seriously. We see people making out everywhere. True story.

So, just to lead up to our Paris time, we've discovered that one of the cooler things to do - as we did in Zurich and Strasbourg - is to rent bikes and explore the city more speedily! Zurich was the best one though because its a bigger city and the bikes are actually free!

But small fries aside now, we're in Paris. What can you say about one of the icons of the world? Well, if that icon happens to be the Mona Lisa, then no. If that icon happens to be that Paris is one of the grandest, most intriguing cities in the world, then yes. Of course it won't match every last detail, but thus far - and our explorations are far from complete - it's terrific.

We went to the Louvre, the arguably world's greatest art gallery. The Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Cupid and Psyche, blahm blah, blah. It's all there. But seriously, the place is massive. You could spend a week just there. I found some obscure paintings that I liked but, as usual, I couldn't actually find them as postcards and my so-so photos will have to suffice. Oh, and Jac took a bad picture of the Mona Lisa just because they said she couldn't. Figures. And then France beat Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinals last night and the noise was stupendous. Some of our lads were parading through downtown Paris in their France undies and became instant local celebrities.

Today, being the first Sunday of the month, is free museum day, so we hit up three of them: the Orsay, the Rodin (famous for the "thinker" statue) and the Pompadou (famous for confusing people with its modern art). I currently have a crepe sitting in my satisfied stomach and I feel that there is more Paris for us to discover. We shall go and flaneur. Ah, but the wife is clamouring to get on. Here she is:

ok, who wants me to bring them a tacky little eiffel tower keychain??? available from your nearest sidewalk vendor in "gold" or "silver"

And now, the long-awaited commentary by yours truly.
Things to learn about France:
1. you can change the keyboard to your own language (but i still wont use caps and apostrophes --- time is money in these euro-sucking cafes)
2. if you wear france boxerbriefs around the city after the game, your butt will get slapped. many times. and no, matt did not participate in this activity.
3. mcdonalds and starbucks are only for the americans. locals would never go. the cafe (coffee) and patisseries are way too yummy and more afforable here.
4. if you try and speak french, even if its bad, people will appreciate it and then switch to english for you.
5. there are novelty canadian-themed pubs here in paris that serve moosehead beer for 5 euros a bottle and have cheesy wilderness decor and play barenakedladies. (and they sure are packed and loud on canada day)
6. if youre a black person, your job is to sell gucci rip-off purses and tourist junk on the sidewalks until the cops come and shoo you away. (this is actually consistent across italy as well. tres bizzare.)

well then. i guess i should be going.
its only a couple weeks until we return and can find out what cold water tastes like again. nalgene water = 25 degrees plus.

I Love Munich, Zurich

2006-06-27T12:04:00.000-04:00

I am writing this from a painfully difficult keyboard, so it will be short.

Today is Jac and my first anniversary. That would have an exclamation mark if this bloody thing had one...

We are stayig at a nice hostel in Zurich. It is just beautiful here. Last night the Swiss lost to the Ukraine so today everyone is cranky.

We were in Munich during the World Cup which was definitely an incredible experience, but I will have to elaborate upon it when I am more able to. One litre beer steins at the Hofbrauhaus, anyone... (no freakin question mark either arrrrghghghg)

Anyways, screw you guys, I am taking my wife out on the town.

Venice

2006-06-21T04:53:00.000-04:00

We found a rarity in Europe: free internet at a cool little cafe!

We-re in Venice and it's bloody hot and humid here. It's also reminding us of Winnipeg quite a bit because, being built on a marsh, Venice has lots of mosquitos. The rest of our group are complaining a lot louder than us tough 'Peggers. Pansies.

What to say? Venice is a lovely town when you can get over the fact that you're melting all the time. We went on a ridiculously expensive but very cool gondola ride yesterday. Seeing Venice from tiny little canals was really cool! The romance factor was pretty low since we were sharing the gondola with 2 other couples, but it was an experience that we couldn't pass up.

A guidebook sums up Venice nicely: a city of elegant decay. It's beautiful, sinking, and slowly falling apart. I've enjoyed it thoroughly.

Today is our last day here and then it's on to Munich and World Cup madness!

Thumbs Up!

2006-06-17T14:28:00.000-04:00

This summarizes what I think of my Europe travel term as I reach the halfway point... and it also comments upon a painful reality.

I was chopping some Romaine lettuce for supper yesterday (we made a wonderful chicken caesar salad) when my over-sharpened knife chopped through a very small corner of my thumb. It's right off. The piece was stuck to the side of the knife and looked remarkably like the garlic we were chopping up earlier. It was about the size of a pinkie nail or so. Lots of blood led to lots of bandage. It feels pretty good, all things considered. We also have two first-aid certified lads on the trip who helped me out a lot.

But onto better things than me being a lesser man than I once was. We just arrived in Ravenna yesterday after a lovely time in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. I'm being preempted by Jac right now who is about to take over on the typing....

matt is a bit drunk right now, plus his thumb makes it hard to type. so.

the amalfi coast in southern italy marks the most tropical and luxurious part of our journey.
its on the bay of naples in the mediterranean and lemon trees grow abundant on the streets. its really mountainous and i cant believe some of the 'roads' we had to drive on. intense.
so we sat on the beaches and lazed around the coastal towns, taking boats, buses, swimming, walking, and exploring caves.

the site was also right by mount vesuvious and the ancient town of pompeii. pompeii was really cool.. it was buried by the volcano's explosion in 79 AD and 7 metres of volcanic ash left the roman town immaculately preserved. we spent an entire morning exploring the villas, theatres, and public baths of the romans. fascinating the level of technology they had for 2000 years ago.

now i am writing this on a beautiful evening in a lovely central italian town near ravenna. its not touristy at all here cause nobodys heard of it. the beer and wine are very very cheap and matt is taking advantage of this. he had 2 660ml bottles of euro-beer in the last hour as we walked around town. wine is as low as 2 bucks a bottle here.

one last thing: world cup soccer. or football as they call it here.
its really crazy. world cup only happens every 4 years and its all about national pride. people eat sleep and drink soccer. in sorrento the italians won their first game and there were fireworks and festivities going way into the night. couldnt sleep for all the horn-honking.
personally i would rather talk to people than watch the games. but all the excitement is fun.
(germany will be extreme to the point of dangerous. its where the games are held, and mobs are known to break out, so naturally our profs are nervous).

When in Rome

2006-06-10T02:18:00.000-04:00

When in Rome... enjoy yourself.

I just spent my first full day in Rome enjoying the sights of the Vatican. We went through the Vatican Museum which is one of the top art collections in the entire world. Highlights included the Laocoon Group (ancient Greek sculpture), Raphael's "School of Athens" and of course Michaelangelo's majestic Sistine Chapel. The last one was utterly incredible, it far surpassed what I could have imagined. Some of the painting literally looked like it was sculpture, the detailing and shading was so superb. This was followed by a trip through St. Peter's Basilica and then up to its roof for a stunning view of the Vatican and the rest of Rome. It was incredible.

Speaking of high points in art, we also went to check the Accademia in Florence to see Michaelangelo's Prisoners and of course David. David was incredibly detailed and looked like he was about to come to life. I never thought that a sculpture could look so alive. And then his Prisoners were also incredibly powerful: half formed figures struggling to escape from the stone that they're trapped in.

On a personal note, I saw a ridiculously opulent cathedral in Siena that helped me to understand the excesses that the Reformers were pissed off about. I'm also really tired and looking forward to tomorrow's free day to rest and relax.

So, that's it from Rome for now. We're here for two more days and then it's off to the Amalfi Coast. Should be some incredible sights!

Birthday, Buses and Florence

2006-06-04T11:15:00.000-04:00

We are in Tuscany in the heart of Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. We spent yesterday and the day before on a bus for most of each day, but it was worth it to be amongst this grandeur. Yesterday was my birthday, so although it was lame to spend most of it on an uncomfortable bus, things picked up once we got to the campsite. This campsite is like a frickin resort complete with gelati, a bar, a disco, pizzeria, supermarket, waterslide and more things that I can't remember!

Firstly, the cook team questioned Jac and made one of my favs for supper: chicken fettucine alfredo with some cookies for dessert. Yum yum. I also received a bottle of wine and some anonymous person slipped bloody fifty euros in my tent! I am blessed.

Then we went to the on site discotheca. It was pretty fun, but the drinks were overpriced and the scene was frickin young. Although I am old now... But anyways, the DJ played some pretty good house and a good time was had by all.

We just got back from the Uffizi gallery here in Florence and saw many of the Renaissance masters - da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Carvaggio and too many others to think of. There's going to be way more of this art to come - it is kind of overwhelming.

So, this 27 year old man bids you all a fond farewell until next time.

Blown Away

2006-05-30T12:21:00.000-04:00

The title is both literal and metaphorical today.

Firstly, the wind today is something incredibly fierce. I´m giving 50-50 odds as to whether our tent collapses tonight or not. But boy it´s beautiful here.

We toured Empuries today: it was the furthest west Greek colony settled in c. 550 BC and later taken over by the Romans. Pretty cool. It felt pretty incredible to be sitting amongst so much history.

Now we´re set up on a campsite close by to that, and in the morning we break camp and head to Carcassonne in the south of France for a couple of days. It´s a medieval walled city and I hear that it´s really cool. After that we had to Nice for some French Rivera action and then our foray into Italy begins with Florence.

I wish I could say so much more but my time here is, as always, very limited by the ticking clock. I wish I could convey all that I´m feeling and experiencing, but I´m not even certain of it myself!

Anyways, until next time...

Barcelona the Beautiful

2006-05-28T16:50:00.000-04:00

We´ve been in Barcelona for two days now and its been great so far. We go in around supper time yesterday and after supper a bunch of us decided to bus into Barcelona for the night to experience the Saturday nightlife.

We strolled down "Las Ramblas" - a continuous section of pedestrian only street with lots of people thronging it for all hours of the night. You can drink in public so we kept buying cans of beer from guys on the street and strolling on down. We actually spent most of the night doing that and had a brilliant time. Boo to stodgy Canadian liqour laws.

Today Jac and I went to the Picasso museum and saw a bunch of his earlier works. He actually painted recognizable stuff then.

There´s so much more that I would like to say, but this is a ghetto computer and it´s going to die.

Ahh Madrid

2006-05-26T09:06:00.000-04:00

So, we´re in the heart of Madrid right now and loving it. The city is beautiful, the weather is hot and the people are definitely not North American. The communication barrier is very real - we just came from a tapas bar where our server did not speak any English and this made things very difficult. Chalk it up to cross-cultural adventure!

So far we´ve seen castles, cathedrals, art galleries and the inside of our tent the most. Every day feels like a whirlwind, but when you can buy a bottle of wine for $0.70, life is manageable! (you can get a nice bottle for 3 euros)

We travelled for over 24 hours from SSU to Madrid. We had two flat tires on the bus ride to Halifax, an intensely rough landing in St. John´s NF and a four hour layover at Heathrow before arriving at the beautiful Madrid airport. We´ll show you pictures when we get back, but we have not way to upload any while we´re here.

Our campground is super posh. It has three swimming pools, a grocery store and very well maintained grounds. And the showers are excellent - a must after a long day´s travel.

We just finished up at the world famous Prado Museum prior to this. We saw masterpieces by Raphael, Bosch, Durer, Velazquez, Goya, etc. We then tried to go to the Rene Sofia but they´ve closed the Picasso wing because they´re lending out the Guernica right now so we didn´t bother.

What else to say... we miss you all and wish you could be here with us! The weather´s hot (so far) but the sights are just beautiful.

Until next time...

And We're Off!

2006-05-22T00:06:00.000-04:00

So, this is our travel blog for our European adventures. Check in here often, or, even better, subscribe to our feed in the sidebar. If you have no idea what a feed is, enter your email address in the space provided in the sidebar and you'll be emailed every time we update this blog.

Europe, here we come!