Do you speak English?

Saying farewell to Europe

2009-07-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

After almost three weeks, it's time to head back to Canada. Hopefully the eight hour journey goes well.

I'm not quite done with this blog though; I have more stories and photos to blog about when I'm back!

More London

2009-07-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

This post really just serves so I can post some photos.

I know some people have been wanting to see them (hi mom!), but I don't have much to say tonight since I was up at 4:20 a.m. (well, I was supposed to get up then. I actually got up at 4:41. But anyway.) to see Stonehenge.

Yesterday would've been Princess Diana's birthday so her family house, Althorp opened for the season. Well, to say 'for the season' is a little unfair since it's actually only open for two months. She's also buried there. Photos weren't allowed inside, but the grounds were lovely.

On our first day here, we went to Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace. The day after that we took a trip to Windsor and Eton to see Windsor Castle and Eton College (bonus points to anyone who knows who went to school there!) I kind of like the Royal family, what can I say?

Tomorrow we hope to go to Abbey Road, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey; we'll see how well that works out.

I thought London was cold and rainy

2009-07-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Actually, it did rain the first day we arrived here. But now it seems that we were actually just in time for the heatwave. (And Wimbledon. These people like their tennis.)

Other than the high temps, I really like London. Because it's the city I planned things are moving at a slower pace and I'm able to enjoy things more than in Paris and Berlin. A slower, flexible pace is good when things go wrong, too. Yesterday Kevin tripped on a curb and twisted his knee (old sports injury) and that's not holding up so well, so we're doing things even more slowly. He has an appointment to see a doctor as soon as we're back in Canada so hopefully everything's ok until then.

J'adore Paris

2009-06-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

Paris is a busy, busy city. Much more so than Berlin and even more than London appears to be so far.

Although I expected it to take forever, we were in line for the Eiffel Tower for only an hour. We were at the top a couple of hours, waiting on the sun to set. As we were on it, it lit up. And then after we came down, it sparkled. (Pictures aren't really helpful with that, but I do have video; videos are being saved until I'm back home due to Internet constraints.) A lot of my pictures are of the Eiffel Tower; but that's what everyone goes to see, right?

Kevin and I were lucky that his advisor is in Paris for the summer. We went out to dinner with him one night and he showed us a bit of Paris that tourists don't usually see. (Photos 72-74 in the Paris photo album; I'll post more sometime.)

While in Paris, we visited Versailles. It was very pretty, of course, but so crowded. I think half of Paris' tourists must've been there.

An important thing for me to see in Paris was the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, the tunnel that was made famous by Princess Diana's car crash. (As you'll see in my London posts, I'm very interested in the British Royal family, and it all started with Diana.) But alas, it is just a tunnel, so after taking some (probably illegal) pictures, we went on our way.

Our final stop in Paris was the Louvre. It's open late some nights of the week, so that worked out perfectly. Although we didn't actually get to spend much time there, we did see the famed Mona Lisa.

In case you didn't get that first link, check out Paris photos here. (Some I posted before, but most are new.)

Leaving Paris

2009-06-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today was our last full day in Paris. Tomorrow we're off on the Eurostar to what I've been waiting the whole trip for - London.

I haven't been able to go through all of my Paris photos yet (the day we went up the Eiffel Tower I took over 600), but I have uploaded a few and you can see them here.

Finishing up Berlin

2009-06-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

I've already posted pictures from my first two days in Berlin, and now I finally have photos from the last two days ready.

On one of those days, we went to a concentration camp, Sachsenhausen. It was obviously a somber visit, but an important one. Although it wasn't specifically a death camp, many people did die there. We went with a small tour group and I feel we learned more that way than we would have with an audio tour.

You can view the photos here.

For more information about places I have pictures of, check out these links:

Sanssouci - We didn't actutually get to spend much time here because it was an unplanned detour, but it was pretty.

Checkpoint Charlie - Compared to the rest of Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie was swarming with tourists.

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche - Wonderful to see. I have more pictures of this that I'll post at another time.

Siegessäule - I wasn't terribly impressed by this but Kevin really liked it.

Reichstag - Great views of Berlin from here.

Overall, Berlin was a great city. Compared to Paris, there was practically no one there and it was also considerably cheaper. I wouldn't mind going back someday.

Paris

2009-06-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't had any time to write or upload any pictures, but I'm in Paris and spent the day in the city. Hopefully I can write a proper post soon! I have more Berlin things to talk about too.

Berlin photos, part 1

2009-06-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a long day so I really only have the energy for posting a few photos from the last two days. More commentary and photos will come eventually.

Photos here

Berlin

2009-06-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

Berlin so far has been pretty good. We went on a free tour this morning that was very informative; I learned a lot of Berlin’s history.

We’re staying in a hostel here and I’m impressed with it. I’ve never stayed in a hostel before but when I hear the word I think ‘dingy, dark, dirty’ and this is none of those things. We even have a balcony (something not advertised) and we can see Berlin’s TV tower.

The only thing the hostel doesn’t have is wireless Internet in the rooms, only in the lobby. So for right now my posting and picture uploading is limited. But I didn’t come to Berlin to do those things anyway, now did I?

Leaving Dresden

2009-06-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today we're travelling by train to Berlin so we spent much of yesterday checking out Dresden. I thought I'd post some pictures, even though I don't know much about most of them, unfortunately.

I do know of two places though, and you can read up on them here: Frauenkirche and Zwinger. The Frauenkirche was exceptionally pretty on the inside, but no pictures were allowed (the Wikipedia page has some though).

If you're unfamiliar with Dresden, check out the Wikipedia page. As you'll see, it was pretty much bombed to pieces. But then a funny thing happened: they rebuilt it, and they did so in a manner to replicate what had already been there. It's pretty interesting.

Today marks the last day that I'll have reliable Internet (the hostel in Berlin is supposed to supply it on the lobby, but who knows), so I will start posting less.

Dresden photos can be viewed by clicking this link

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

2009-06-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

If I was from Germany, my blog title might be Sprechen Sie Englisch? But then, I wouldn't be asking people if they speak English, now would I? Actually, I'm still not. The only words I can say are "thank you," "English," "yes," and "no." Luckily Kevin has picked up a few phrases from listening to a German-language program. As I mentioned in my last post, it's helpful when talking to waiters. And taxi drivers.

Speaking of taxis, riding in one in Dresden is as exciting as riding in one in the U.S. (as in, I was afraid we would crash into something at several points during the 10-minute trip).

Back to language: obviously I know Germans speak German. So why was I a tiny bit surprised to get here and hear German everywhere? In the last four days I've heard more variety in the way of language than I have in my entire life. It's pretty cool but I didn't know that it would come to a point when I'd be happy to hear someone actually speaking English.

(Just after I finished writing this, Kevin was listening to his MP3s again, attempting to learn more German. Suddenly, in an exasperated manner, he said, "who invented these words?" Exactly.)

European food

2009-06-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

Obviously I can't comment on all European food based on one city, so maybe this is best as "Dresden food."

So I'm a bit of a picky eater so this whole Europe thing is a stretch for me. Even when the food is on the menu in English it's doesn't necessarily sound appetizing. Most menus have at least some English but most waiters when asked, yes, "Do you speak English?" reply, "a little bit." And like people in most other places in the world, "a little bit" means different things to different people. The most interesting so far was the guy who replied, in German, "little to none." Overall it hasn't been much of a problem though.

Yesterday at lunch I found out why I like dry meat, fried potatoes and overcooked vegetables. My ancestors, you see, are mostly from Germany. It all makes perfect sense now. I enjoyed the meal immensely and we went back there for dinner tonight.

We get a breakfast buffet at the hotel and it's delicious. It's no different from what I could get in the U.S., but most of it is so much better. For example, I don't generally like bacon with too much fat or Swiss cheese, but they are good here. And the coffee! I don't drink coffee generally (I prefer cappuccinos) but I'm liking it so much here that I hope we can buy some before we leave Germany.

Sunrises and sunsets

2009-06-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't flown a lot, but I've already figured out that the best view of sunrises and sunsets come from a plane. On the way to Germany, I was able to see both.

You can check out pictures from my flight by clicking on this link. I'm glad that planes have wings, but I wish they wouldn't always show up in my pictures. Whenever you don't see the wing in these, zoom was very helpful.

The hotel where I'm staying, Art'otel, has free Internet access but downloading and uploading is limited so the photos are small in size. I imagine I'll be uploading my favorites again, larger, when I return to Michigan.

I'm thirsty

2009-06-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

The flight to Dresden went well. I'll have pictures of that later. But for now, allow me to complain: I'm thirsty. Why? Because it seems that in Germany sparkling water is very common, and non-sparkling is...not. Allow me to say that I'm aware that if I were to get water from the tap in my nice hotel room, it wouldn't be sparkling (at least I hope not); we're trying to drink only bottled water in hopes of avoiding illness.

Kevin went to a drugstore to buy some water and all are sparkling. At the restaurant we had lunch at, the water was 'still' - which was slightly better (and cold!) but still not helpful. When I'm thirsty, I need water. Actual water, not water that could be pop if you added flavor, thanks. After doing research online, it seems that in restaurants my only choice will be sparkling water, but I'm hopeful to go back to that drugstore. Speaking of the drugstore, the lady there didn't speak English. This could be fun.

June 14

2009-06-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

It's June 14. I've known for months now that on June 14 I'd have to get on a large plane, go into the air, and hope nothing goes wrong. But in January, June seemed like a safe distance away. And now it's not.

In about seven hours, I'll be on a plane to Germany. Have I mentioned that I don't like flying? Maybe that's a little unfair because I've only flown twice. Maybe I'll absolutely love it this time. Maybe a seven hour flight is much better than a two hour one.

I doubt it.

Euros and pounds

2009-06-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

We went to a travel agency yesterday to convert some money to Euros and pounds. They charged 12% on top of the already high conversion rates. But at least now we won't be trying to figure out German ATMs right away.

The agent who helped us was...bitter. "Everyone's going somewhere," she said. "Except me." I think maybe she wasn't exactly sure where she worked.

Wicked

2009-06-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

So I've seen the musical Wicked twice (Chicago and Detroit), but I see that it's going on in London as well. It's not like we'll have much to do in the evenings (besides sleep); Wicked a third time? Why not. :)

Baggage

2009-06-06T19:17:00.001-07:00

Flying from Canada and not the U.S. has some advantages. Namely, I'll be able to pack liquids in my checked luggage. That's good, because otherwise I might be picking out a shampoo in Germany with no idea that it's supposed to make my hair fall out.

Carry-on luggage will be a little difficult, though. I'm taking a DSLR camera and the camera bag is a little too big to be considered a 'personal item' (like a laptop is). So, instead of taking a backpack and a camera bag, it's just the camera bag. Luckily Kevin will be bringing a backpack, so hopefully I can stash some reading material in there.

Stonehenge, Bath & Lacock

2009-06-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

With only nine days to go, planning is pretty important at this point. Since England is the place I want to visit the most, that's what I've been trying to plan lately.

Today I decided on a "day trip" from London. The trip will mean getting up at 4:30 a.m., but I think it'll be worth it. We'll have a sunrise viewing of Stonehenge (along with going past the rope that stops most visitors 50 feet from it), as well as trips to Bath and Lacock.

Accomodations

2009-03-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hotels in London and Paris are booked, as is a hostel in Berlin. Actually, the hotel in London may be a hostel as well - it's a little hard to tell. All of them have a private room and bathroom, which is all I need. :) The hotel in Dresden will be booked later.

I'm just glad we have most of them out of the way; now it's time to figure out what we'll be doing there!

We have tickets!

2009-03-23T07:52:00.001-07:00

2 plane tickets, leaving Toronto June 14 for Frankfurt, Germany. 2 plane tickets leaving London July 4 for Toronto. :)

So it'll be something like this: Michigan -> Toronto -> Frankfurt -> Dresden -> Berlin -> Paris -> London -> Toronto -> Michigan

Now that we have tickets it seems more real. Now to actually plan something!

3 months to go

2009-03-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

This time, 3 months from now, I'll be frantically packing. Because why would I plan ahead?

Actually, I would love to plan ahead, but the plans are moving more slowly than I'd hoped. I think we finally have some hotels (and a hostel) picked out, now we just need to book them (and the plane tickets).

Plane tickets are fun. Okay, not really. My boyfriend's been tracking the prices since January and it's crazy. As of right now we're planning on flying out of Toronto because it would be even more expensive from Detroit.

I just want to go already!

Do you speak English?

2009-01-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

It's a phrase I imagine I'll utter many times during my two/three week Europe trip...