So this is long overdue, but I will be telling you all about the wonders of London. We are in Paris right now, as all the other posts indicate, but we are a bit behind on our blogging. Alrighty, so Nora told the wonderful story of how we got a hotel room, but after that, hilarity ensued. We were all totally jazzed to have a hotel so we went-a-walkin to find a pub. That's right. A pub. Not a bar. Anyway, we found this cute little one and got some beers. We were sitting, having some lovely converstaion when I looked over at our seemingly normal neighbors only to notice one of them is wearing a leather collar. No biggie. But wait, there's more... that collar was attached to a leash. And that leash was attached to the wrist of an old man. Yes. It was a bit strange. At first glance it just looked like a young man and his father out for a drink, but alas, it was something a bit dirtier. Overall it was a great first night.
So we walked all over London, went to the British Museum for all of 15 minutes, saw Traflagar Square, Parilment, Big Ben, Wesminster Abbey, and all that jazz. Oh and the best part, there was a green peace protest thing going on when we were got to the Parliment building. I guess people had just climbed over the walls with ladders and got on the roof with all sorts of banners that said "Change the Politics, Save the Climate." It was a pretty big spectacle. Later on we talked to one of the guards and asked what was happening and he said that someone must've been sleeping on the job...oops. And yes, all those protesters were going to be arrested when they got down.
So we need to get going now, but everyone stay tuned for the great story involving those crazy royal guards how they were totally flirting with us...
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Haggis
Hello again! Sorry it has been so long since I have written anything on the blog! We are leaving Paris today and headings towards Orange, which is a town in Southern France. We don't really know anything about it except that we found a cheap hotel room there : ) Ali is going to write about London, so I'll recap Edinburgh. Our hostel was okay, except that there were 16 beds squeezed into a fairly tiny room. And everyone was snoring and breathing so that by the time morning came around, it was disgusting and hot and smelly. But other than that, it was fine! We walked a lot around the city, went up and visited the castle, which we still know nothing about. But it was really pretty! We all tried Haggis, which is a traditional dish in Scotland that basically all Scottish people like but everyone else thinks is gross. It's all the leftover bits of meat mixed together with oats and spices and then squeezed into a skin like a sausage. It was interesting....very strong tasting. It looked like a little poop though.
At night we kind of just explored our neighborhood, one night ending up in a cemetery. We righted a few gravestones that had fallen, I fell over one....the usual stuff. The night of the cemetery, I spent the whole night up sick: vomiting and....other stuff. It was horrible, and even worse because I knew the next day we had to travel. As expected the next day was pretty awful- I had to go to the bathroom about every half hour. I also threw up outside the Edinburgh airport for awhile. I managed to hold it in on the actual flight, but when we got to Paris we found out that we had to take three separate trains to get to our hotel and I didn't think I was going to make it. I could barely stand up much less walk with my giant bag on. So we ended up taking a $90 taxi ride. Not great but we didn't know what else to do. I am much better now by the way, and have now pooped my pants too many times to count. I don't know why I am always the one with the poopy problems, but oh well!
At night we kind of just explored our neighborhood, one night ending up in a cemetery. We righted a few gravestones that had fallen, I fell over one....the usual stuff. The night of the cemetery, I spent the whole night up sick: vomiting and....other stuff. It was horrible, and even worse because I knew the next day we had to travel. As expected the next day was pretty awful- I had to go to the bathroom about every half hour. I also threw up outside the Edinburgh airport for awhile. I managed to hold it in on the actual flight, but when we got to Paris we found out that we had to take three separate trains to get to our hotel and I didn't think I was going to make it. I could barely stand up much less walk with my giant bag on. So we ended up taking a $90 taxi ride. Not great but we didn't know what else to do. I am much better now by the way, and have now pooped my pants too many times to count. I don't know why I am always the one with the poopy problems, but oh well!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Just a note...
... to inform y'all of our next destination - Orange! So, it's a small town in the region of Provence (southern France). That's basically all we know about it, and we're pretty stoked. We found a reasonably priced hotel, and I think we are all looking forward to being in a smaller area with more natural beauty.
By the way, I am in love with Paris. I think we all are. Au revoir for now!
By the way, I am in love with Paris. I think we all are. Au revoir for now!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Three Little Sickies
Yep, by some stroke of luck we are all, to some degree, sick. Ali and I have sore throats and Sarah's neck hurts, which is usually a precursor to her being sick. I think it was only a few days ago that Ali said something like, oh maybe we won't get sick at all! Wishful thinking... so, cross your fingers and toes, folks, and let's hope that we don't get worse. For me, at least, the result is feeling lethargic and sort of uninspired to do much, which is unfortunate here, when we have such natural beauty surrounding us. Edinburgh really is a beautiful city, with the sea and rolling hills visible in the distance. The Edinburgh castle towers above the city, right in the central area, so it's an impressive site on all of our walks.
So, by now this is pretty obvious and maybe a bit outdated news, but we decided to head straight to London from Amsterdam. The hostels/hotels in Belgium were pretty spendy for a place we knew little about, so we used our Eurail passes to get to Brussels (so at least we made it there!) and then took the Eurostar train (and through the Chunnel) to London. Sarah had emailed a London hostel situated in Greenwich (embarassingly, Ali and I had both thought it was "Green-witch" until the customs officials laughed at us in Belgium), and we met some very delightful English people on the Eurostar who gushed about Greenwich when we told them we might be staying there.
They were an English woman, her mother, and her husband, and they asked us questions about where we were from and where we were going - we apparently sounded Canadian to them, with nicer accents than most Americans. They also clued us in on some of the British lingo - transport, not transportation; crisps, not chips; chips, not fries; ta-mah-to, not tomato - and told us that yes indeed, they do eat beans on toast for breakfast. The woman let us use her cell phone to call to confirm with our hostel our reservation, but unfortunately... they never received the email, and they were already booked. We hoped our English friends might offer to take us to their home, but alas, no. So, arriving in London, we tried the hotel reservation desk, where the woman claimed only hotels costing around $100 a night were available, and hoped we could find an open Internet cafe or something to search for ourselves.
So, around 7 or 8 in the evening, we found ourselves across the street in a phone booth, trying to call the hostels on numbers that weren't working, when a man asked us if we wanted to use his cell phone. He then introduced himself - Carlos - and upon hearing that we were planning to stay in a hostel, he launched into some tirade against hostels and how unclean or whatever, that we looked like 3 nice American girls who shouldn't stay in some horrible hostel, and that his brother was supposed to stay in that Travelodge over there but had gotten in a car accident and so he offered us the room.
We had to clarify a few details - so yes, parents, we were cautious - and found out Carlos and his wife were staying in a different hotel, and the room in question was supposed to be for his brother who couldn't make it. We had to make it clear to him that we weren't planning to pay much in the hostel when he originally offered the room for 4 nights for 180 pounds. Unfamiliar to the exchange rate, we weren't entirely sure how much that would be in dollars - we frantically calculated how much that might be per person per night, and eventually, he offered the room at 150 pounds total (so around $80 per person for the 4 nights at the way the exchange rate is right now - more than we'd pay at a hostel, but an incredible deal for a hotel).
He gave us the confirmation email about the room, so I'll have to double check on the amount that it originally was, but I think the reason he was willing to reduce the amount was because there was no way he was going to be able to get a full refund on the room anyway, and also, I think he genuinely wanted to give us the deal. Anyway, he never even got our names and we just paid him in cash after he checked us into the room, and, tada! We had a hotel room just a hop, skip and a jump away from King's Cross Station (oh, and of course we saw Platform 9 and 3/4).
London was a whirlwind of amazing sites and food - we wished we could have stayed longer, for sure. We'll have to do more on that later. Oh and so now we are in Edinburgh, but we leave tomorrow for Paris. We decided that, due to the cost of transportation, we would skip Ireland. Even though Ireland is covered by our Eurail pass, the UK is not, so getting there, and then getting away, would just be added expenses. But, we think we might go to Portugal with our extra time, later on. We'll keep you all updated!
So we fly to Paris around 6 p.m. tomorrow evening! Au revoir!
So, by now this is pretty obvious and maybe a bit outdated news, but we decided to head straight to London from Amsterdam. The hostels/hotels in Belgium were pretty spendy for a place we knew little about, so we used our Eurail passes to get to Brussels (so at least we made it there!) and then took the Eurostar train (and through the Chunnel) to London. Sarah had emailed a London hostel situated in Greenwich (embarassingly, Ali and I had both thought it was "Green-witch" until the customs officials laughed at us in Belgium), and we met some very delightful English people on the Eurostar who gushed about Greenwich when we told them we might be staying there.
They were an English woman, her mother, and her husband, and they asked us questions about where we were from and where we were going - we apparently sounded Canadian to them, with nicer accents than most Americans. They also clued us in on some of the British lingo - transport, not transportation; crisps, not chips; chips, not fries; ta-mah-to, not tomato - and told us that yes indeed, they do eat beans on toast for breakfast. The woman let us use her cell phone to call to confirm with our hostel our reservation, but unfortunately... they never received the email, and they were already booked. We hoped our English friends might offer to take us to their home, but alas, no. So, arriving in London, we tried the hotel reservation desk, where the woman claimed only hotels costing around $100 a night were available, and hoped we could find an open Internet cafe or something to search for ourselves.
So, around 7 or 8 in the evening, we found ourselves across the street in a phone booth, trying to call the hostels on numbers that weren't working, when a man asked us if we wanted to use his cell phone. He then introduced himself - Carlos - and upon hearing that we were planning to stay in a hostel, he launched into some tirade against hostels and how unclean or whatever, that we looked like 3 nice American girls who shouldn't stay in some horrible hostel, and that his brother was supposed to stay in that Travelodge over there but had gotten in a car accident and so he offered us the room.
We had to clarify a few details - so yes, parents, we were cautious - and found out Carlos and his wife were staying in a different hotel, and the room in question was supposed to be for his brother who couldn't make it. We had to make it clear to him that we weren't planning to pay much in the hostel when he originally offered the room for 4 nights for 180 pounds. Unfamiliar to the exchange rate, we weren't entirely sure how much that would be in dollars - we frantically calculated how much that might be per person per night, and eventually, he offered the room at 150 pounds total (so around $80 per person for the 4 nights at the way the exchange rate is right now - more than we'd pay at a hostel, but an incredible deal for a hotel).
He gave us the confirmation email about the room, so I'll have to double check on the amount that it originally was, but I think the reason he was willing to reduce the amount was because there was no way he was going to be able to get a full refund on the room anyway, and also, I think he genuinely wanted to give us the deal. Anyway, he never even got our names and we just paid him in cash after he checked us into the room, and, tada! We had a hotel room just a hop, skip and a jump away from King's Cross Station (oh, and of course we saw Platform 9 and 3/4).
London was a whirlwind of amazing sites and food - we wished we could have stayed longer, for sure. We'll have to do more on that later. Oh and so now we are in Edinburgh, but we leave tomorrow for Paris. We decided that, due to the cost of transportation, we would skip Ireland. Even though Ireland is covered by our Eurail pass, the UK is not, so getting there, and then getting away, would just be added expenses. But, we think we might go to Portugal with our extra time, later on. We'll keep you all updated!
So we fly to Paris around 6 p.m. tomorrow evening! Au revoir!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
They're speaking English, yet we can't understand them
Those English accents were so charming and pleasant, but these Scottish ones... well, it's just difficult to understand what people are saying. Anyway, as Ali said, we walked around the neighborhood last night, mostly checking out the menus of our nearby restaurants for prices - so far, we have found at least one other Chinese food place! (We found a Dominoes!!! And yes, we will be going there soon.) So in Berlin, where we stayed for 3 nights, we went to the same Mexican restaurant 3 nights in a row. Yep. Que Pasa. They knew us there. I even went there again during the day to read and have a tasty mango colada. Since then, we've been finding our new "Que Pasas" in each city. Just fyi :)
Oh, and before we all forget, I have a little anecdote from Rothenburg. We mentioned the crazy old lady in our room who was actually kind of adorable. The first night, I think she got mad at Ali for keeping the light on to read (it wasn't even that late). The next day, we 3 were going downtsairs to get train info, and she said something like, oh you're going out now, so you'll be getting in late, huh? Of course, that night, she was the one up the latest after we had all gone to bed, rustling around on her bed, going back and forth to her locker to her bag. Earlier that night, she asked Ali if she could borrow her "slippers," meaning her flip flops, to wear in the bathroom. Ali couldn't really say no, so she let her, but then the woman continued to wear them all evening, kept them by her bed over the night, and wore them again the next morning. I really need to work on my reactions, but I couldn't help but giggle every time she walked past in those "slippers" - I'd have to put my book in front of my face until she left the room. She was a sweet little woman, though, and I think she was genuinely sorry to see us go.
That's all for now, I think I've been hogging this computer a bit. We will do more pictures, ummm wait a minute, maybe not, well not from this computer at least. Soon. loveyoubye!
Oh, and before we all forget, I have a little anecdote from Rothenburg. We mentioned the crazy old lady in our room who was actually kind of adorable. The first night, I think she got mad at Ali for keeping the light on to read (it wasn't even that late). The next day, we 3 were going downtsairs to get train info, and she said something like, oh you're going out now, so you'll be getting in late, huh? Of course, that night, she was the one up the latest after we had all gone to bed, rustling around on her bed, going back and forth to her locker to her bag. Earlier that night, she asked Ali if she could borrow her "slippers," meaning her flip flops, to wear in the bathroom. Ali couldn't really say no, so she let her, but then the woman continued to wear them all evening, kept them by her bed over the night, and wore them again the next morning. I really need to work on my reactions, but I couldn't help but giggle every time she walked past in those "slippers" - I'd have to put my book in front of my face until she left the room. She was a sweet little woman, though, and I think she was genuinely sorry to see us go.
That's all for now, I think I've been hogging this computer a bit. We will do more pictures, ummm wait a minute, maybe not, well not from this computer at least. Soon. loveyoubye!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Ahoy!
Well we just arrived at our hostel in Edinburgh after a whirlwind in London. I will post some good stuff later, but for now I just wanted to let the parents know flight info for when we get back. My mommy was asking for it, at least. Ok, so we leave Zurich on Dec 9th at 11:25 am and after a layover in Heathrow, we get into Seattle at 4:10 pm on the 9th. Crazy time travel!!! Welp, we are going out to the pub for a drink then to explore the neighborhood, our new ritual when we arrive in a new place!
kloveyoubye!
Al Pal
kloveyoubye!
Al Pal
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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