Two-Month Update

So the last time I wrote in this was Belgium. Haha. Whoops. Okay, I am going to write a quick paragraph or two about each of my last trips. The memories which I remember most. They might not be the most “famous” things of the place, but they are just the things that I took out of it. =)

(okay, this ended up being way longer than I anticipated, so get ready for a novel…)

Warsaw, Poland
Perogies. Mmmmm, perogies. That is the first thing that comes to mind for Poland. =P

Mmmmm.... so delicious. Not quite as good as grandma's though ;)

This trip was interesting because it was organized by one of the Canadian interns, Arthur, who is Polish. Since everyone wanted to experience Poland 17 people ended up signing up for the trip! However, being the lazy interns we are, no one really planned anything and we all counted on Arthur to direct us. But Arthur was as much of a tourist as the rest of us, so it was a little bit of a huge dysfunctional group. =P Eventually we split up and each went our own way in smaller groups, which allowed for much more efficient travelling. Though it was funny that every time we got on a bus, went to a restaurant or rode the escalator we basically invaded the entire thing. =P

Since it was the middle of February when we went, the snow was melting. This caused for me to fear my life. See, in Poland the roofs are slanted. So when there is snow on the roofs, and it starts to melt, it starts to slip down. The colder temperatures in the evening cause the snow to also become very icy. In other words, when you are walking down the sidewalk, there are huge jagged icicles sliding off the roofs above you threatening your life at every step. We saw quite a few of them fall, and they definitely looked like they could have killed!

Polish flag! In a museum about the uprising...

Overall, Warsaw was a fun weekend trip. Ate lots of perogies, saw some famous buildings, learned a little about the Polish history, and had some fun times with friends (though I did drink a little too much one night… =P).

Peter’s Visit
At the end of February Peter came to visit Europe for 2 weeks. He spent a few days in Switzerland, the first of which being for the Basel Fasnacht Parade (Fasnacht = Carnival). And this was no ordinary parade – It happened at 4am in the morning! I literally landed from Poland and took the next train to Basel. It was quite a unique experience though. At 4am on the dot (the Swiss are efficient) all the lights of the city turned off and everyone one on the parade route (it wasn’t as much of a line as a continuous circle) turned on these lanterns they were wearing on their heads and they started playing music in unison. Most people were playing piccolos, and they were all dressed up in really funky costumes. It was so neat…. 4am, thousands of people lining the streets, no light but these small lanterns atop clown-like people and beautiful piccolo music playing throughout the entire city. Worth the lack of sleep. =P

Peter joined in the parade for a little :P

The next day Peter and I headed to Milano, Italy. Peter really wanted me to come along with him for his trip so I said that I would take one day off work to travel with him. We went to Milano because it was the closest city in Italy that was easily accessible in one day. Not the most impressive city I must say. But it was fun.

I then went back to work while Peter continued his Italian adventure. When he returned the next weekend, we went to Lucerne, which although I have already been many times, it was still just as beautiful. =) Peter had also brought this game called Dominion. It was a great new card game that he had discovered, and we had basically been playing it nonstop since he arrived. In Lucerne, there is this boat ride that you can take around the lake. Since both Peter and I had rail passes, the ride was free for us. We took advantage of this, and we sat on the boat for the 2 hour ride and played Dominion the entire time. It was quite fun though. Plus, whenever we looked up we had great scenery surrounding us. =)

Playing dominion on the train.

Though having Peter come visit did bring up some emotions in me. It reminded me a lot of home, and why I miss Calgary and all my friends there so much. After he left, I think those couple weeks were the most home sick that I had been in a while. I love life in Europe, don’t get me wrong – I am so lucky here to be able to travel almost every weekend, to see and experience so many different things. But really do miss the life back home. I miss the city, I miss the lifestyle (yes, even the stress of school) and I really miss the people. Luckily my parents and Chelsea are both coming to visit in a few weeks, so I will get to see another little bit of home. =)

Porto, Portugal
Next up, Portugal! This trip was with Arthur, Isabel and Mariela. An eclectic group of people, but that made it to be a great trip! What do I remember about Portugal?

1) At the restaurants, immediately when you sit down they bring you out these appetizers before you even ask for them. Of course they are these delicious looking things, and they hand them to you just when you’ve sat down, which obviously means that you are already hungry. It is so mean! The first time we ate them all unknowingly, and then of course got charge for them on the bill. After learning from that, for the rest of the weekend we still had to stare at these delicious appetizers while waiting for our real food to come.

2) Port! Porto is of course named for its wonderful port wine! We went wine tasting, which was really cool, and learned all about port and why it is different than normal wine (the fermented grapes are mixed with some sort of brandy instead of water… this makes it much sweeter, and also causes it to have a much higher alcohol content). It was really yummy though.

Port tasting in Porto! Mmmmm... tasty!

3) Chili pepper! Okay, well Portugal isn’t famous for their chili peppers but I ate one for the first time while I was there. While eating dinner one night (francesinos… delicious cheese and gravy dripping sandwiches) Arthur dared me to eat my chili pepper. I denied, but then he counter offered with he would eat all of his chili pepper if I ate three quarters of mine. I couldn’t refuse this offer so I did it. Oh goodness me. It was fun though. =P

Painful!

Oh, and the Portuguese party on the streets. We went out one night, and literally, everyone goes into the bar, they get given plastic cups full of their desired drink, and then they bring it out onto the street outside of the bar to drink and socialize. It makes for a really interesting party atmosphere though. We were there in early March, so it was a bit chilly, but I am sure it would be a great place to be in the summertime.

Ireland: St. Patty’s Day!
So I had already spent a week in Scotland, a week In England, it was now time for Ireland! Of course we planned this trip to overlap with St. Patrick’s day. However, being there for an entire week, we got to explore around the country a little bit during out trip. First we went to Kilkenny! My most memorable memories are definitely from these couple days. We were couch surfing and we stayed with a couple of Canadian girls! It was a flat with a girl from Toronto, a girl from Quebec and a girl from France! All of us got along so well, and we had so much fun going out and partying with them. I loved it. =)

And then it was off to Galway. The landscape here was beautiful. If you have ever watched the Princess Bride, then you probably saw the “Cliffs of Insanity”… well I went and saw those! Quite epic indeed. Another thing about the area around Galway – there are these rock walls EVERYWHERE. Literally, everywhere! It was crazy. We went on this tour and we learned, although a fair few of them were built to divide land, a lot of them were actually pointlessly built during the potato famine. Basically a sort of charity work that the English gave the Irish for pennies or food.

At the Cliffs of Moher in Galway. Just spectacular.

Next stop, Dublin for St. Patrick’s day! How to describe it? Well, there was lots of green everywhere. People partying everywhere. And a parade full of people NOT from Ireland. =P That just about sums it up. Yeah, I still must say… Kilkenny was my favourite place in Ireland. Mainly just for the people and experiences we had there. Though Dublin on St. Patty’s was definitely a worthwhile once in a lifetime experience.

Geared up for the St. Patty's parade!

Greece for Easter!
After Ireland in the North, we headed to the South! I went with Monika for a week in Greece over the Easter weekend. Originally we had planned to climb Mount Olympus while we were there, however unfortunately transportation to the mountain was not very convenient so it didn’t work out.

But that just meant more time for us to enjoy the sun! =) We went into this trip with very little planned – literally, the only thing we had booked was a hostel for the first night. Considering it was Greece, which is not necessarily the best place to go without a plan, we were a bit nervous, but luckily everything worked out.

The day after we arrived we headed out to the island of Serifos. We chose this island because it isn’t quite as touristy as the other islands, but it is still just as beautiful. We spent 2 days here, and it was so lovely and relaxing. Laying on the beach, climbing on the rocks, going for walks, hiking through the stairwells of the white-washed houses, and of course more laying on the beach. Perfectly picturesque. =)

Picturesque white-washed houses ofr Serifos.

After Serifos we spent two nights in Athens and half a day in Thessaloniki. Both cities were very interesting, with neat ruins (Parthenon of course, Temple of Zeus, etc, etc). The weather was beautiful, so we were able to walk around in just shorts and a t-shirt… though we did get a lot of crazy looks for it, since most people still had their winter jackets out. +20°C! Crazy people.

Outside the Temple fo Zeus with the Acropolis in the background.

What else did I think of Greece? Okay, well two things to note. Monika and I both agreed that we definitely felt more like a piece of meat in this country. Many times we walked past guys we got looks, comments or gestures. And it wasn’t in a way that we took them as a compliment. We literally felt like they were just looking at us like a piece of meat. Perhaps “way out” is what was on their mind, or maybe as tourists we just looked like “easy” targets. Either way, Monika and I got sick of these comments very quickly, and felt quite uncomfortable with them.

Next observation about Greece. I would say that generally Monika and I are very cautious with our belongings. Even with all of our traveling this year, we haven’t encountered any troubles (knock on wood!). On the night we arrived in Greece, an Indian walked up to us and asked for change from a 2€. Being the nice people we are, we looked for the change for him. While Monika was searching in her wallet her said, “Oh, let me look” and tried to take her wallet. Obviously at this point we became a little sketched, so we quickly found the change and gave it to him. After leaving, we agreed the situation seemed sketch, but he also seemed liked he genuinely just wanted change, so we weren’t sure.

Then, on the last day as we were leaving the EXACT same scenario happened to us. The exact same sentences were used and everything. An Indian man coming up asking for change for a 2€. We were both very sketched out at this and much more cautious, but we still looked for the change for him. However, the second he said “Oh, let me look.” We said a firm no and walked away. We then watched him join up with a friend and go down the street for another 2 blocks without stopping to ask another single person for change. It was obviously some type of ruse which luckily Monika and I didn’t fall into.

Up Next
This weekend I am going to Poland. Due to the recent tragedy, I may get to see some interesting ceremonies, and perhaps even some important figure heads. Barack Obama, Stephen Harper and many more presidents are supposed to be present for the funeral ceremony. Although tragic, it will be interesting to see I think.

After Poland, I am going to Amsterdam for Queen’s day, and then after that I HAVE VISITORS!!

I will be meeting up with my parents in Nice on the 8th, and then travelling around Switzerland with them the following weekend. After that, Chelsea will be around and we will be doing some traveling as well for a weekend. =)

Finally, to conclude off my year, in June I have a trip to Norway planned and a trip to Stonehenge for the summer solstice. And then, I will be travelling with my friend Ali from high school for a month in July. I am really excited for this trip because I will get to see a lot of things I didn’t see this year: Budapest, Croatia, Rome and much more including another trip to the Tour de France! =)

Well that is all. Perhaps I will write again, hopefully without such a long gap this time. =P