I didn't actually know that there was a Super Arc de Triomphe called La Grande Arche de la Defense and I was kinda interested in checking it out after finding out about it. It's out in the Northern part of Paris and when I got out there, yeah, it was pretty neat. But expensive to go up so I ended up just hanging outside for a while. The area around the Grand Arche contains two different malls. The first malls that I've been to during this entire trip. It was nice to be in a mall again.
Back in Central Paris, I went out to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, due to winds the top platform was closed. So, I was only able to go up to the second platform. It was okay. A lot of people doing the tourist thing. Not as exciting as I thought. Leaving for Istanbul tonight.
Worried about the trains getting to the airport. I hear that it's little confusing.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
September 29th - Paris Day Two
Woke up early to go to PereLachaise cemetary in east Paris. It is the more famous of the many cemetaries in Paris containing the graves of such people like: Jim Morrison, Chopin, and Oscar Wilde. This is a picture of Dwarf in front of Jim Morrison's grave. (I've been told that it's been redone and doesn't look like it used to.) Afterwards, I went out to Notre Dame Cathedral. I had wanted to go up the spire but it cost a pretty penny. Besides, there was a large line-up to go up. I left Notre Dame to go to Sainte Chapelle, which is suppose to be the best Cathedral in Paris but they have this weird queueing system that looked complicated and slow. I'll try to go back tomorrow. I headed out to the Pantheon after that.
I've been told that this is the place to go to get the best views of Paris. It's suppose to be even better than the view that you can get off the Eiffel. I don't really know about that but I can say that the Pantheon is probably my favorite site in Paris so far. I got there just in time to go on the tour which takes you up to the Cuppola and down into the necropolis. The necropolis contains the bodies of many important Parisians, including Voltaire and the Curies. I spent about three hours here. This place is super amazing.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
September 28th - Paris
Arrived into Paris today. The hostel is a little dodgy. The room smells and one of the guys has been there for a month already and I can see all the red from the red light district of Pigalle from out the room's window. Walked and went into Sacre Coeur. It's only three
or four blocks away from the hostel. It's a very white building. I mean super white. Afterwards, I walked down the boulevard Haussmann to the Arc de Triomphe. I wanted to go up to the viewing platform but it seemed a little more than I was willing to pay. Then, I walked down Buena
towards palais de Chaillot and this is where the best views of the Eiffel Tower can be found. It's amazing from here as the view is unobstructed. Last of all for the day, I walked the Seine ending up at Grand Palais. This is where one of three (?) Egyptian Obliseks given as gifts are.)
found. (I believe one is in London and the other one is found in Istanbul.)
or four blocks away from the hostel. It's a very white building. I mean super white. Afterwards, I walked down the boulevard Haussmann to the Arc de Triomphe. I wanted to go up to the viewing platform but it seemed a little more than I was willing to pay. Then, I walked down Buena
towards palais de Chaillot and this is where the best views of the Eiffel Tower can be found. It's amazing from here as the view is unobstructed. Last of all for the day, I walked the Seine ending up at Grand Palais. This is where one of three (?) Egyptian Obliseks given as gifts are.)
found. (I believe one is in London and the other one is found in Istanbul.)
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
September 27th - Lisbon Day Three
Checked out the Castle de Sao Jorge and flea market amoung other things yesterday. The market was very similar to the one in Vancouver on Main Street but everything is outside. Plus, there were a lot of booths set up by older men and women making it feel like the products came from a more legitimate source. I bought two crystal inkwells and a brass base for 5 euro. Today, I went to an area west of Lisbon called Belem. This is where Mosterio dos Jeronimos (a giant monastery and church), Cultural centre of Belem , Torre de Belem (1515 Castle and prision), and Monument to the Descobrimentos. The Monument to the Descobrimentos is a memorial to commemorate the death of Henry the Navigator. I’m not sure what Prince Henry found but based on the size of the monument, it most have been something big. I didn’t get to ride it but here is a picture of Dwarf in front of the Elevador da Gloria, which is atram that brings people up one of the steepest hills in Lisbon. My hostel is one street over from the tram line. Next stop is Paris.
Monday, September 25, 2006
September 25th - Lisbon
Lisbon seems like a great little city. It’s got the same feel as Madrid. I’m staying at the best little hostel I’ve ever been in. It’s very laid back and they offer a very cheap Portuguese dinner and the bar serves even cheaper bevies. It took me a while to find it, though. A lot of walking up and down the same streets, up and down steep inclines. Only thing that I got to check out before heading back to the hostel for dinner was the Elevator of Carmo. It’s probably the most obvious landmark of Lisbon. Designed by a guy that studied with Eiffel, it takes you from street level of downtown to Bairro Alto, which is the highest point of the city and where the Convento de Carmo Church(?) sits. At night, the church, which looks closed, is pretty scary with a lot of shadows and dark corners. Tomorrow, I’m climbing the hills towards the Pantheon Santa Engracia. On Tuesdays, the oldest market in Lisbon – from 1882 – takes place around the Pantheon.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
September 24th - Madrid
Madrid is an amazing town. It's suppose to be larger than Barcelona but it feels much smaller and certainly there aren't as many tourists running around this place. Madrid is very laid back. There's a lot of stuff going on but no one is in a big rush to do them. I love this place. My first day was spent checking out the main attractions, such as Palacio Real de Madrid, the royal palace. Like many of the cities I've been to, you can pretty much get to all the things you want to see in Madrid by foot. The most interesting part of Madrid took place on today, though. On Sundays only, Madrid holds bullfights. Today being Sunday, I went to a bullfight at Las Ventas. It was amazing. For 11,50 Euro we sat about 7 rows from the ring(?) and saw all of the action. (Seating at the other side of the arena cost 2 euro less but the bullfighters never brought the fight over to that side of the ring. I guess they knew that our side of the stadium paid more money for seats so we deserved the better views.) We were gung-ho about going today because they advertised it as the running of the young bulls. We thought, well the running of the young bulls must mean that they're weren't going to kill the bulls. It must be bull training so they know what to do when the time comes, right? Why would you want to kill young bulls? Well, there were only about 500 people there - it was raining a little - and at least 400 of them were tourists and I think they had the same idea as us because you should have heard the response after they killed the first bull...there was a very loud gasp as the bull stumbled and died. As they dragged the field - just like baseball but instead of making the playing field even it was to get rid of the bull's blood - at least 150 people left after the first fight and another 100 left after the second killing. It got so bad that when one of the bullfighters got gored, the crowd cheered. Three hours and 7 bulls later the show ended.
After that, off to Gwyneth Paltrow's favorite - and many suggest the World's second most important - museum: Museo Nacional del Prado. (How could I not go do something so highly recommended by Gwyn?) This is a picture of Dwarf with the emblem of Madrid...bear eating berries.
Friday, September 22, 2006
September 22nd - Venice
I know there are a lot of people that find Venice the greatest city in Europe (isn’t this where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes – aka TomKat – got engaged?) but I really don’t get it. I’ve been here for three days and Venice is just another prototypical tourist city. Actually, no. Venice is worse than a prototypical tourist city. It’s worse than any city that I’ve been to. During my time here, it’s felt like everyone has been trying to rip off me. The charges, fees, and poor service are unrivaled. You have to pay for everything. Want to go in to see a church? Pay the gate. Want city information or, God forbid, a map of the city? Pay at the till. Everything is charged and everything is expensive.
Even though I’m ripping it a new hole with all these gripes, Venice has many things to do (as long as you’re willing to pay) and interesting things to see. Such as these things once found all over Venice. These are “snitching” boxes. You could discretely snitch to the government on neighbors doing unlawful things by putting a note outlining the impropriety into the mouth of this face. The government would look into it and do what had to be done if your neighbor was, in fact, doing something wrong. A good way of getting back at someone you hate, eh? Well, unfortunately not. If the neighbor was found innocent of the alleged crime, the person reporting it had to serve the sentence that would have been dealt for the reported crime. Boohoo.
The most interesting thing that I found in Venice was this: The Guinness Book of World Record holder for the largest donar meat thingy. Isn’t it amazing?
Even though I’m ripping it a new hole with all these gripes, Venice has many things to do (as long as you’re willing to pay) and interesting things to see. Such as these things once found all over Venice. These are “snitching” boxes. You could discretely snitch to the government on neighbors doing unlawful things by putting a note outlining the impropriety into the mouth of this face. The government would look into it and do what had to be done if your neighbor was, in fact, doing something wrong. A good way of getting back at someone you hate, eh? Well, unfortunately not. If the neighbor was found innocent of the alleged crime, the person reporting it had to serve the sentence that would have been dealt for the reported crime. Boohoo.
The most interesting thing that I found in Venice was this: The Guinness Book of World Record holder for the largest donar meat thingy. Isn’t it amazing?
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
September 19th - Rome Day Three
I’m finally getting over the pooper problems brought on by Italian pizza (yeah, go figure) and I got up pretty early to beat the rush to Vatican City. Unfortunately, everyone and their baptized pets had the same idea. When I got there the queue swung around three of the four walls that surround Vatican City. So, I did what I really didn’t want to have to do…I signed up with another tour. The tour was pretty pricey but it bumped me straight to the front of the line and let me into everything I wanted to get in to. Unforunately, the Pope wasn't there so I wasn't able to see the Pious one. However, I did get to see many of the dead popes. There is a catacomb in the basement that houses many of their bodies.
The most interesting part of the tour took place outside in a courtyard before we entered the Sistine Chapel. The tour stopped here, we were told, because the Chapel is still a “working” chapel and that meant no talking within it. So, our guide explained to us stuff about the Chapel out here. He told us that it took Michelangelo Buonarroti (yeah, I was surprised, too, but that’s his last name…I thought it’d be something like DiCarpio or something…never heard of Buonarroti before) four years - between 1508 and 1512 - to paint the ceiling of the chapel. When the roof was renovated it took the Nippon Television Network Corporation of Japan 7 years to restore it. In return for the cost of the $4.2 million the Nippon Television Network was given exclusive photographic and filming rights. Thus, we were given two warnings: 1. Don’t take any pictures inside the Chapel and 2. Don’t talk while inside the Chapel. Well, when I got into the Sistine Chapel, it was pretty busy. I’d say there were at least 250 people crammed into this small chapel. And everyone was taking pictures. Plus, the din of people talking was louder than a large pack of kids hanging out inside the local McDonalds. Periodically, in a very annoying manner, one of the five or six guards within the Chapel would loudly “ssshhhhhh” the crowd to quiet them down; It only worked for a few seconds before the noise got back up to its normal buzz again. The interesting part is that I got in trouble for taking pictures in the Chapel. While 250 other people talked loudly in God’s Holy Chapel and took pictures (some of them had cameras with tripods and telephoto lenses that even a highly visually impaired individual could make out) of the walls owned by Nippon TV, I got caught taking pictures with my small camera – possibly the smallest digital camera ever made by a major camera manufacturer: the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7. My reprimand, you ask? Well, getting in trouble within the walls of something so sacrosanct as the Sistine Chapel you’d think it would have involved snakes, weird tasseled gadgets, or maybe a burning goat or two. However, my punishment was a loud bark in Italian from the guard before he took off to do whatever guards do after barking. This is a picture of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. No Gnome, though. That woulda given me away, I think.
After I left Vatican City, I had intended to visit some catacombs. (Nothing like some dead bodies.) However, I kinda got lost; I walked through a weird field full of scraggily dogs and big men lifting weights (yep, nothing like weight lifting in a field out in nowhere) for about 2 hours before getting to the other side. I’m not kidding when I say I was pretty scared until I got out. Unbelievably, though, I walked through it again to get back to the metro on the other side. But during my lost meanderings I found the church Domine Quo Vadis. (Domine Quo Vadis means “Lord, Where the heck are you going” or something close to that. It’s the question Peter – or was his name Paul? – asked Jesus and Jesus replied that he was running from crucifixion.) In this church is a print of Jesus’ feet in marble. Neat yet weird. This is a picture of Dwarf next to Jesus’ feet prints within white marble. Available soon on the home shopping network. Just in time for Christmas.
The most interesting part of the tour took place outside in a courtyard before we entered the Sistine Chapel. The tour stopped here, we were told, because the Chapel is still a “working” chapel and that meant no talking within it. So, our guide explained to us stuff about the Chapel out here. He told us that it took Michelangelo Buonarroti (yeah, I was surprised, too, but that’s his last name…I thought it’d be something like DiCarpio or something…never heard of Buonarroti before) four years - between 1508 and 1512 - to paint the ceiling of the chapel. When the roof was renovated it took the Nippon Television Network Corporation of Japan 7 years to restore it. In return for the cost of the $4.2 million the Nippon Television Network was given exclusive photographic and filming rights. Thus, we were given two warnings: 1. Don’t take any pictures inside the Chapel and 2. Don’t talk while inside the Chapel. Well, when I got into the Sistine Chapel, it was pretty busy. I’d say there were at least 250 people crammed into this small chapel. And everyone was taking pictures. Plus, the din of people talking was louder than a large pack of kids hanging out inside the local McDonalds. Periodically, in a very annoying manner, one of the five or six guards within the Chapel would loudly “ssshhhhhh” the crowd to quiet them down; It only worked for a few seconds before the noise got back up to its normal buzz again. The interesting part is that I got in trouble for taking pictures in the Chapel. While 250 other people talked loudly in God’s Holy Chapel and took pictures (some of them had cameras with tripods and telephoto lenses that even a highly visually impaired individual could make out) of the walls owned by Nippon TV, I got caught taking pictures with my small camera – possibly the smallest digital camera ever made by a major camera manufacturer: the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7. My reprimand, you ask? Well, getting in trouble within the walls of something so sacrosanct as the Sistine Chapel you’d think it would have involved snakes, weird tasseled gadgets, or maybe a burning goat or two. However, my punishment was a loud bark in Italian from the guard before he took off to do whatever guards do after barking. This is a picture of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. No Gnome, though. That woulda given me away, I think.
After I left Vatican City, I had intended to visit some catacombs. (Nothing like some dead bodies.) However, I kinda got lost; I walked through a weird field full of scraggily dogs and big men lifting weights (yep, nothing like weight lifting in a field out in nowhere) for about 2 hours before getting to the other side. I’m not kidding when I say I was pretty scared until I got out. Unbelievably, though, I walked through it again to get back to the metro on the other side. But during my lost meanderings I found the church Domine Quo Vadis. (Domine Quo Vadis means “Lord, Where the heck are you going” or something close to that. It’s the question Peter – or was his name Paul? – asked Jesus and Jesus replied that he was running from crucifixion.) In this church is a print of Jesus’ feet in marble. Neat yet weird. This is a picture of Dwarf next to Jesus’ feet prints within white marble. Available soon on the home shopping network. Just in time for Christmas.
Monday, September 18, 2006
September 18th - Rome Day Two
I planned to get up early so I could beat the lines for the colosseum but I ate this dodgy pizza last night and it didn't sit well with me during the night. I got up pretty late and by the time that I got to the gates of the Colosseum there were millions if not hundreds of people lined up and waiting to get in. (Most of them were obnoxious British high schoolers on a school trip slapping and throwing things at each other.) So, to beat the line-up (and to get away from those kids) I joined a tour. The tour, which wasn't really worth it, allowed you to jump the queue and enter the coloseeum right away. Because the guide's english was really pretty bad, the extra money was just for this benefit alone; Actually,I think she made me a little dumber'er. However, we got to wear these cool earpieces that made me feel like CIA.
The Colosseum is truely amazing. Lots of things to see and do. They had exhibits open with statues, sculptures, and pieces that had fallen off the Colosseum and tons of nooks to look through. The maze that you see when you enter the colosseum is the maze of rooms that were present underneath the floor of the colosseum. The floor of the colosseum is - well, obviously - no longer there but they did rebuild part of it on the other end so tourist could get a feel for what it would have looked like in gladiating times. I was kinda disappointed to hear (from another tour guide, of course) that unlike in the movie by Mr. Crowe, gladiators never fought animals. If there were animals fighting, they only fought other animals. Another example of Hollywood lying to us stupid humans. This is definitely a highlight of Italy so far.
The Colosseum is truely amazing. Lots of things to see and do. They had exhibits open with statues, sculptures, and pieces that had fallen off the Colosseum and tons of nooks to look through. The maze that you see when you enter the colosseum is the maze of rooms that were present underneath the floor of the colosseum. The floor of the colosseum is - well, obviously - no longer there but they did rebuild part of it on the other end so tourist could get a feel for what it would have looked like in gladiating times. I was kinda disappointed to hear (from another tour guide, of course) that unlike in the movie by Mr. Crowe, gladiators never fought animals. If there were animals fighting, they only fought other animals. Another example of Hollywood lying to us stupid humans. This is definitely a highlight of Italy so far.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
September 17th - Rome
It's been raining off and on all day. When it rains, it only rains for about 5 minutes but it's super heavy and cold. There is a ton of things to see in Rome. It has a great feel to it and it seems that you can get everywhere by foot. There is a great information office at the main train station where they'll give you a free map and passively try to talk you into signing up for a bus tour. Everyone working there spoke great english. One guy that I spoke to - as he tried to get me to sign up for his company's bus tour - said that many of the english tourism companies hire ex-American army. I guess they sign them up after they get out of the American Army bases found within Berlin. I don't really like tours. They usually just do the mainstream, touristy things and I wanna see some odd things. Really, all you need is a good travel guide and an even better map.
I really wanted to get to see some of the biggies right away. So, I headed out to Piazza Venezia which has a ton of things to see but is also the best entrance towards the Colosseum. Line up was too big so I skirted around it today, checking out the Arco di Constantino. This led down towards the Circo Massimo where chariot races were held in the 5th century. Then it started to rain and I hung out under a tree for about an hour.
As the rain subsided, I made my way up Via Arenula to the Pantheon. Here's a picture of the Gnome inside the Pantheon. It was pretty busy here, too, as they closed half of the inside for maintenance. It's an amazing building, though I don't know how they get the turf in for football games.
Tomorrow morning, I'm going to the Colosseum early to beat the line-ups.
I really wanted to get to see some of the biggies right away. So, I headed out to Piazza Venezia which has a ton of things to see but is also the best entrance towards the Colosseum. Line up was too big so I skirted around it today, checking out the Arco di Constantino. This led down towards the Circo Massimo where chariot races were held in the 5th century. Then it started to rain and I hung out under a tree for about an hour.
As the rain subsided, I made my way up Via Arenula to the Pantheon. Here's a picture of the Gnome inside the Pantheon. It was pretty busy here, too, as they closed half of the inside for maintenance. It's an amazing building, though I don't know how they get the turf in for football games.
Tomorrow morning, I'm going to the Colosseum early to beat the line-ups.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
September 16th - Berlin Day Two
I decided to check out the stuff that wasn't on the tour yesterday. I walked Strasse des 17. Juni towards the Victory Column Siegessaule. Afterwards, I took the subway to Bhf. Zoologischer Garten where the famed bomed church Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche is found. This is where I had the best bratwurst ever. Amazing!!! Plus, the public toilet was to die for. All glass with an attendant handing out towels to dry your hands. I decided late that I wanted to check out Olympic Stadium. It's at the end of one of the subway lines and it took 40 minutes to get there. But it was worth the time and effort. Amazing building with a huge presence.
Friday, September 15, 2006
September 15th - Berlin
First day in Berlin I signed up to do a walking tour with a company called Sandemands New Berlin Free Tour. It was scheduled to be a 3.5 hour walking tour but it turned into a 5 hour one. The guide we had was a really very interesting guy. He's an archaeologist that studied Berlin history. He showed us all of the common tourist sites, including Brandenburg Gate, Hitler's Bunker, SS Headquarters, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, Reichstag, etc, etc, etc. This is a picture of Brandenburg Gate. The most interesting thing that he showed us though is this building here. It's right next door to the new US Consulate, which wanted a no-go zone around it which would included the Brandenburg Gate...obviously, the German Government turned down this request. This is the Adlon Hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his kid, Prince Michael III, from the fourth floor balcony in November of 2002. Ummmmmm. Chicken.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Septmeber 14th - Carlsberg Museum
Today, I checked out the famed Carlsberg Brewery in Osterbro. Not only is the old Carlsberg brewhouse a museum for Carlsberg and Tuborg beer but it also houses the Guinness Book of records largest collection of beer bottles. The museum was really similar to guinness except that this one gives TWO samples of beer with each paid museum pass. What a deal!!!!!!! Afterwards, I climbed through the neighbourhood Frederiksberg. It contains a lot of things including a large park, the Copenhagen Zoo, and Frederiksberg Castle. Afterwards, I went to the biggest tourist trap of Copenhagen: Tivoli. Tivoli is a glorified Pacific National Exhibition. It has all the high prices and the weird rides but it has no real character as it is open for a very large duration of the year. I paid for my ticket in and right away I knew that I'd just givien away money. Tivoli wasn't very memorable. At the end of the day, I searched out "Dronning Louses Bro" bridge to see the Irma Chicken Neon sign. The chicken sign has been laying eggs on the edge of Peblingesoen River since 1936. Kinda disappointing that this has been the highlight of Copenhagen so far.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
September 13th - Copenhagen Day Two
Copenhagen is broken into 7 different neighbourhoods. Today, I decided to check out Norrebro, which is the area that my hostel is, and parts of Osterbro. In Norrebro, I checked out Assistens Kirkegard. This is where Kierkegaard and Hans Christien Anderson are buried. This is a picture of my gnome at the gravestone of Mr. Anderson. The graveyard is huge and I'm told the city uses the graveyard as a park. While in the graveyard, I was the person checking out the graves but there were a lot of kids playing on the plots and even more joggers running around the paved paths through the graveyard.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
September 12th - Copenhagen
I got into Copenhagen pretty early but for some reason I took a really, really slow bus in from the airport. So, my arrival by air at 0700am didn't bring me into Copenhagen City until 1pm or so. I spent the majority of my day in the Inner City region of the city. This area, of course, is where the Copenhage Sex Museum resides. Since I went to the one in Amsterdam - and that one wasn't that great - I didn't really have to go to this one. But I did. It was somewhat better than the one in Amsterdam. If anything I felt much more comfortable here since there wasn't many other people in there while I was there. However, there was a moment of uncomfortableness as I ran into a guy "enjoying" himself in the gay porn section while he was watching a very vivid and suggestive adult-minded movie consisting of an all male cast, if you know what I mean.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
September 10th - Norwich
Today, Zel and I jumped into her car and, like we often do, started to drive. While on our way we decided to head to Norwich. Nowich has a rich history...of which I know nothing of. However, I can tell you that it is the home of Norwich Union, BBC East, and Coleman's mustard. (Rumor has it that the Coleman's Mustard Shop still exists but we looked everywhere and couldn't find it.) Norwich Union, the insurance company that's always trying to pitch life insurance to the aged here in Vancouver with their late evening tv spots, is also from Norwich.
Another thing that Norwich is known for is its huge cathedral and castle. The castle, which had free entry today for some reason or another, was pretty interesting. I liked pretending to be a Norman, or whomever it was that was ruling Norwich back then. The guide mentioned that it was also once a prision in 1220. This is a picture of some of the graffiti made by prisoners in the area that would have been part of the prision. This grafitti is over 800 years old!
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