Don't want to leave

To Do: Lose plane ticket, miss bus to airport, sleep through alarm, lose passport

anything to stay

Paul

Pieces from London

Here is a list of things that I want to remember about my time in London. Some or many of them may not make sense to you, but to me they mean something now and I hope that they can trigger my memory in the future.

Baker Street, Elephant and Castle, Simon's 5 for 5, The Globe, The Metropolitan, Tutor Rose, The Volunteer, Oxford Street, Gordon's Wine Bar, Live band on Thursdays at O'Neil's, Picaddilly Sports Cafe, 2.50 double gin and tonics on Tuesdays, "Exit here for Zed-S-OW London Zoo", "This train terminates at Cockfosters", Covent Garden, Stanmore, Mind the Gap, Londy Pants, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Marlyebone St., N13, 453, N18, Fosters, Stella, Strongbow, Carlsberg ("Probably the best lager in the world"), Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Primrose Hill, 1.19 McFlurries, Way Out, Tube Runners, Oyster Card, saying "Cheers" in replace of "Thanks", Anderson Cooper, Rainy Days, green skinny jeans on St. Patty's Day, Luton Airport, Heathrow Airport, Stansted Airport, Gatwick Airport, early flights to other countries, national express, Easyjet, on average 5 games of euchre a day, BIC, hilarious Euro fashion, The Palace, James the desk attendant, Reid Hall, Regent's College.

Paul

Nice day in London

It was a beautiful day in London today so we walked around Regent's Park where we live. Check these pictures out

Brussels

Our trip to Brussels, Belgium was a John Carroll organized trip with all 30 kids from John Carroll and three professors. On Thursday we woke up at the break of dawn at 6 AM for our 7 AM meeting time. From school, we took the tube to Kings Cross/St. Pancreas train station and took the 2 and a half hour train ride to Brussels, the EU capital. From the train station in Brussels, the group took a bus to our hotel, but we were not able to check in so we just dropped our bags off. A tour guide gave us a very general walking tour of the city where we saw the Grand Place and sort of a town square area. We also got to see what is known as the "Manneken Pis" and as the name implies, it is a statue of a baby peeing into a a pool of water. Still can't decide what was cooler that or the Glockenspiel (a tourist joke) The tour guide also took us to the very first chocolate shop and it had the best chocolate I have ever had. After this we continued to walk around and ended up back at our hotel for check in. I roomed with Steve. The professors organized a trip to the European Parliament and when we got there we had an hour long power point presentation concerning everything about the EU Parliament. Needless to say almost everyone fell asleep during this time (including one professor) We did, however, get to the actual place where parliament takes place. We had to take elevators to get there and the reason that I say this is that a group of about 12 actually got stuck in the elevator which was pretty hilarious. We took a bus back to the hotel where Nick, Torrey, Newk, Steve and I went out for dinner (JCU gave us each 100 Euro for food) After dinner and several games of euchre, Steve and I went to bed at around 9 completely exhausted.

Friday, bright and early 7AM breakfast at the hotel (which was delicious) and another bus ride. This time it was to the NATO headquarters. They took us into a large conference room and failed to realize that at each of the seats there were these microphones that would broadcast over the speakers in the room (presumed for translators) You can see the fun that we had with these (yes, we are college students) We had three different presentations on different aspects of NATO and the U.S. influence on NATO. Interesting stuff. From NATO we took a bus back to the hotel where we were on our own for lunch. A large group of us went to a local Belgian fast food restaurant called Quick Quality Burger Restaurant (equivalent to McDonald's but not nearly as good) Went back to the hotel and took a bus ride to the EU Commission. Another powerpoint presentation about the EU (again) by that time we were all European Unioned out. From there Steve and I sat down at a pub and had a beer before meeting back up with the professors for dinner near the Manneken Pis. Great dinner followed by a search for a Karaoke bar which we could not find. We settled on a place called O' Reily's

Saturday, we were up at 8AM took a bus to the town of Leuven and met and insane tour guide (she got mad if people yawned or talked while she was talking). Took a walking tour of the town which was really beautiful. Leuven is home to the supposed best Catholic university in the world and it is a great college town with a little European flair . To me it was better that Brussels itself. The crazy tour guide lady took us into probably about six churches while walking around the city. Following this we had a group lunch in the town hall area of the city and had about an hour of free time afterwards. We then took a tour of what is known as Beguinage, which was a community of lay, single, women during the midieval period and is now home to apartment housing. After this we went back to te square where they literally had about 50 bars one right after another. The nice part about this is that the weather finally broke and we were able to sit outside until our bus came. Nap. Shower and Dinner and went out that night.

Sunday we were able to sleep in a little bit. After breakfast, Torrey, Steve and I walked the city until we had to be back at the hotel.

Brussels was a great way to finish my travels with a group of people who I now consider my family. It was also nice to travel with almost everything planned for you including where you are going and how you are getting there. So thanks to JCU and our professors that came with us.

Because we only have about 11 days left here in London, look out for several different blogs to come out this week such as what I'm going to miss most, or what I am looking forward to back home in America

Cheers,

Paul

Paris

Apologies for the delay on the blog. I've been really busy exploring all of the bars...er I mean studying

On Wednesday, April 8 Lauren came in town very late. So on Thursday, we got up early and walked to Oxford Circus (shopping area pretty close that Lauren really liked) Then we took the Tube to the Picadilly Circus/Leicester Square/Covent Garden Area and had lunch. (Covent Garden is one of my favorite areas) Following this, we took the tube back to campus and took a nap because walking around is so tiring. Around 6 Lauren and I went to a pub called the Tudor Rose with Corey, Newk, Newk's Sister, Torey and Steve. We all had a few beers and Lauren really liked a beer called Strongbow which is a cider beer that tastes kind of like apple juice. We walked back to campus and ate at the on campus restaurant with everyone. Later that night the whole group went to my favorite local pub/dance floor called O'Neil's where they have a live band that plays great music. After dancing the night away and taking a bus home, we finally went to sleep.

Friday morning, Steve, Corey, Lauren and I went to see the London eye, Big Ben (aka Big Bend), and Westminster Abbey. After fighting through the rain, Buckingham Palace was the next stop on the tour followed by Churchhill's War Bunker. Churchhill's bunker was really interesting. It is literally where he ran the country during WWII and was relatively unchanged from when it was last used. We took the tube back home and took another nap. Friday night I took Lauren to famous and well blogged about Gordon's wine bar. We decided to stay up all night for our 4 AM bus ride to the Luton Airport for our flight to France.

Saturday we took a 6 AM flight to Paris. Upon our arrival, we found our hostel and immediately took a nap after not sleeping the night before. We stayed about 3 minutes from the Arc de Triomphe which is a war memorial surrounded by a giant round about. So that was pretty cool. We walked around for a while and found the famous Eiffel Tower and luckily it was a beautiful day and we were able to walk outside in just shirts. I'm a big fan of the Eiffel Tower and the park that is below it along with the river. From the Eiffel Tower, we had a late lunch and took another nap at the hostel. Saturday night, we ate dinner and walked back to the Eiffel Tower. Amazing view at night very light up and occasionally sparkling lits go off all over the tower.

Sunday morning, we woke up and had breakfast. For Easter, we found a Catholic Church and went to a mass all in French. All I could understand was Alleuia and Amen, but it was still worth going. After mass, we walked to the Louvre and walked around that area for a very long time. I had heard that in Paris I needed to get a banana and Nutella crepe and we shared one. It was heaven on Earth. After the crepe-goodness, we went for a late lunch in a tourist area (can't remember exactly the name) After this, we left and checked out of hostel and took a bus to the airport for our flight back to London.

Final thoughts on Paris: From what I had heard, the people and Paris are jerks and are Anti-American etc. It may have been our luck or overall attitude, but we did not feel this way whatsoever. I thought the city was very pleasant and the people did not bother me at all. Paris was a great place to go and we were very lucky that the weather was excellent because it just made a beautiful city all more beautiful.

Continuing on... Sunday night was low key, just stayed in and hung out with my friends here. Monday we got up early and Steve Lauren and I walked along the River Thames to see the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We also had a fish and chips lunch along the river which was cool to do. Monday night, we went back to Gordon's with Steve and had a bottle of wine.

Tuesday we got up at 6:30 and took the tube to Heathrow Airport for Lauren's 10 AM flight home.

We had a great time! I was happy to be able to show off the city that I love!

Cheers, Paul

Pieces from London

Here is a list of things that I want to remember about my time in London. Some or many of them may not make sense to you, but to me they mean something now and I hope that they can trigger my memory in the future.

Baker Street, Elephant and Castle, Simon's 5 for 5, The Globe, The Metropolitan, Tutor Rose, The Volunteer, Oxford Street, Gordon's Wine Bar, Live band on Thursdays at O'Neil's, Picaddilly Sports Cafe, 2.50 double gin and tonics on Tuesdays, "Exit here for Zed-S-OW London Zoo", "This train terminates at Cockfosters", Covent Garden, Stanmore, Mind the Gap, Londy Pants, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Marlyebone St., N13, 453, N18, Fosters, Stella, Strongbow, Carlsberg ("Probably the best lager in the world"), Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Primrose Hill, 1.19 McFlurries, Way Out, Tube Runners, Oyster Card, saying "Cheers" in replace of "Thanks", Anderson Cooper, Rainy Days, green skinny jeans on St. Patty's Day, Luton Airport, Heathrow Airport, Stansted Airport, Gatwick Airport, early flights to other countries, national express, Easyjet, on average 5 games of euchre a day, BIC, hilarious Euro fashion, The Palace, James the desk attendant, Reid Hall, Regent's College.

Paul

Prague

Did not get any sleep Thursday night due to the fact that we had to get up at 3:30 and take a bus to Stansted airport. for a 7 AM flight. The flight to Prague was about two hours and we pretty much slept the entire time. To give you an idea of how we got from the airport to Newk's friend's apartment (where we were staying) Here are the directions that he gave us because he had been their for a day already:

"gotta buy a train/bus ticket at the airport, buy the 26 crown tickets not the all-day pass. Get on the number 119 bus and take it to the end. Then follow the general flow of traffic to the metro station, ur guys bus tickets are good for that too. Hop on the train that goes to Mustek stop. This is where it gets real tricky and I was lost doing this part for awhile. There are three or four exits to the street at this stop so pick one and either find Valclavske or Ne Mastek or ask somebody. Both those streets will turn into Melantrichova street. Take that, then a left on Vejvodova. This is the hardest part and I kinda wandered after taking the left until I randomly stumbled upon their street: Michalska. Their flat is number 13 on the left, the numbers are kind of out of order, not to add insult to injury. You are going to be have to let up so buzz the number c.7 doorbell. Let me know when u get this and also let me know what time your flight is scheduled to land tomorrow. Meryl's cell number is +420 7316 72 999 if you have any problems. I lost my cell phone today so don't bother trying that. Good luck i tried making the directions as painless as possible even though thats a tough task. Peace"

Riiiiight Newk. Favorite part of these directions: "There are three or four exits to the street at this stop so pick one" The hilarious part about this is that we did find the apartement that we were staying at very easily.

When we got there, we decided to walk around for a while and Meryle (Newk's friend) gave us a walking tour of the city She took us to Old Square which is a touristy area where there is a famous clock which is a big attraction. She walked us over the Charles Bridge and took us to what is known as the Lennon Wall that is a large grafitti mural. From there she took us to the Prague castle at the top of a large hill that overlooked the city. Barack Obama actually gave a speech there on Sunday, and though we were not able to go to it, we were able to see people setting up for it which was cool.

Being dead tired from not sleeping the night before, all of us took a nap in the late afternoon. After waking us groggy, we went to dinner and then back to Meryle's apartment. She then took us to a very cool wine bar (almost like our favorite one here in London) where we drank cheap wine and met a lot of people from all over. Newk claims to have swayed the opinions of some Czech people from that of them hating Americans to them liking Americans (but Newk likes to make things up). From there, we went to another kind of local spot where we stayed out entirly too late.

Saturday, we did more of the same because Meryle had one of her friend's come in town. Saturday night we went to a 5 story Euro club that played different music on every floor. Pretty cool.

Final thoughts on Prague: It was one of my favorite cities that I have been too. I have heard it is very cold though, luckily it was about 75 degrees and sunny while we were there which definately made it better. In my opinion, Prague was a combination of a lot of cities that I have been to: it had a flair of Madrid, a little bit of Venice, Munich, and London. One of the major difficulties that we had there was the language barrier. Who speaks Czech? It seems impossible to learn as well. Overall it was a great weekend!

Cheers,

Paul

p.s. my friends were on CNN: http://ht.cdn.turner.com/cnn/big/podcasts/ac360/video/2009/04/03/cooper.podcast.new.thursday.cnn.m4v

they are about a quarter of the way through. Pretty cool

The time we met Anderson Cooper of CNN

Today, we walked to the financial district and got to witness the damage that was done at the riots yesterday. Tons of police still but everything was pretty low key. We were able to read the hilarious things that were written. We also got to meet Anderson Cooper of CNN. Corey, Steve, and Nick Johnson had about a ten minute interview with him...pretty cool stuff.

Off to Prague tomorrow where Barack Obama will be speaking on Saturday. He is following us.

Paul

Barack Obama Day 2

Last night, we were able to see Barack Obama's Marine One helicopter fly right over our school and land in Regent's Park about a half mile north of us. It was really crazy to see six helicopters flying around and land literally within a five minute walk from our school.

This evening, we were walking around Hyde Park and got to see a glimpse of the President's motorcade which was very massive.

You will be glad to hear that the riots are not taking place near where we live, though I did play an April's on my mom telling her that I was in a London jail for rioting in the street and I needed 10,000 dollars to get out. Sorry about that mom ha ha.

Cheers,

Paul

Barack Obama

Tomorrow Barack Obama will be coming to Regent's Park to the U.S. ambassador's house that is located in Regent's Park which is about 2 minutes from our campus. This afternoon we walked by and there was literally about 30 police officers as well as secret security throughout the park and around the ambassador's house...pretty exciting though very scary. Tomorrow we will try and get a glimpse of the President.

Cheers,

Paul

Weekend in London

After a brief mishap with my flight to Scotland, I decided to stay in London for the weekend. After traveling for about four weekends in a row it was a nice break away from the usually exhausting travel cycle. On Thursday Corey, Zack, Torrey and I went out to our favorite Thursday night spot called O'Neil's in Piccadilly Circus. It is a cool three story bar/club where a lot of Americans go and on Thursdays they have a live cover band. Torrey and I got a song dedicated to us which was pretty cool. Friday, we got up and decided to go to one of my favorite places in London called Covent Garden which is an open square with tons of shops and street performers. From there we walked along the River Thames underneath the London Eye all the way to the Millenium Bridge. After this we continued to walk around the area near St. Paul's Church and then back up to Trafalger Square where we went to our favorite spot: Gordon's Wine bar. Friday night we went to Piccadilly Sports cafe to watch the NCAA games. (I was in first going into the sweet 16, but dropped out after Memphis lost...bummer)

Saturday, we went to a place called Portobello Market. This market was huge, taking up several city blocks which was very cool to see. It was packed despite intermittent hail and rain throughout the day. They basically sold everything that markets sell, but the people watching was very hilarious. From the market, we took a stop by Hyde Park, but our journey was cut short by massive hail, so we took a cab back to school.

On Sunday, a group of about ten of us went to the famous Oxford v. Cambridge crew race on the Thames River. Our location was near the Hammersmith Bridge and the entire walkways alongside the river were packed with people. Though we literally only got to see about 15 seconds of the race, it was a good thing to say that we have done.

I hope all is well at home.

I can't believe that we only have a month left here.

Cheers,

Paul

Munich

March 20 we Billy and I left for Munich. We got up around 4:30 AM and took a bus to the London Stansted Airport which is about 45 minutes away. We got on our plane and took the hour and a half flight to Munich, Germany. We got in around noon and could not check into our hostel until two so we decided to walk around the Olympic Park (1972 Olympics). The park was very cool and still used today for football games and concerts. From the park we then went to the Deutsches Museum which is a museum dedicated to modern history of science. The museum was so massive and had so much information in it we stayed for about an hour and were already dead tired so we decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap. After our nap, we went to the Hard Rock cafe for dinner. Following this Billy and I heard about beer that was in a wooden keg and decided to go to Augistiner (local brewery) and have a taste. What we heard was true. From there we went to the world famous Hofbrauhaus for a giant liter of their famous beer. It closed around midnight so we went back to the hostel bar.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast at the hostel. We went on a free walking tour of the city that started around 11. The tour was very imforative and we were able to see a local's perspective. During the tour we got to see the four structures that survived WWII. I was suprised to learn that all of the buildings in the city other than these four are less than sixty years old. We were able to see the Glockenspiel (large clock in the city center that has figurines that dance at noon) as well as several promintent churches in the area. I was also suprised to find out that Munich is very Catholic. After the tour Billy unsuccessfully tried to find a cuckoo clock for his dad. The tour guide told us that we should check out the Augistiner brewery, so we did and it was very clear that it was a locals only spot because it was very obvious that we were tourists. From there we ate dinner and headed back to the Hofbrauhaus for a few more liters.

Munich was a great place to visit. It was everything that you think of Germany: lederhosen, beer maids, beer halls and lots of large German words that you cannot pronounce. What was also crazy about Munich was that all of the taxis were Mercedes and BMWs. Pretty hilarious.

Next weekend: Scotland

Cheers,

Paul

p.s. Happy Birthday Mom and Annie

Venice

On March 12 we left Rome for Venice. The initial plan was to rent a car and drive from Rome to Venice. We actually were in the car when we realized that we could not drive a stick shift. Tough loss for us (Mom I'm sure you are happy about this) We then decided to take a train. The train ride lasted about 3 or 4 hours, the majority of which was spent sleeping. Upon our arrival to Venice, we checked into our hostel and walked around. We had dinner and found frozen gold: gelato ice cream which is the very best ice cream in the world. Over the three days that we ate gelato probably between 15 to 20 times (chocolate chip and nutella were my favorites) We continued to walk around and tried our best to use the map to not get lost but quickly realized that getting lost is so easy because everything looks the same with canals everywhere. Venice was a very quiet city because they are no cars or motorcycles. It was actually a little odd going back to the noise of London. The city was beautiful

Friday we just walked around St. Mark's Square and the bay area. Venice was a nice way to end the trip because there is not too much to do there so we found ourselves sleeping in a lot and relaxing at a lot of the outdoor cafes. We got to see a lot of the Grand Canal as well as the Per Rialto bridge as well as a ton of gondolas. Friday night we met a few girls that lived in Venice and we talked with them for a long time about everything but mostly about cultural differences. They were so nice and agreed to met with us the next night.

Saturday it was more of the same. We found an Irish pub and watched the Manchester United game (they got smoked at home) and continued to eat gelato. We met with the girls from Venice and they took us to a local Venetian Restaurant. They were so nice to us and the food was great. We agreed to meet them from breakfast the next morning.

Sunday, I was getting a little tired of the language barrier and ready to get home. We get to the airport: Apparently I did not book my ticket home. Great. 10 hours stuck in the Marco Polo Airport in Venice was way too long for me plus the x amount that it cost for me to get back added to the unfortunate way to end a great spring break trip.

We had a great time over the trip!

Rome

Sorry everyone for not being up to date...

Monday March 9th we left Barcelona for Rome. We almost missed our flight, and barely made it to the gate on time. Nick was freaking out. We got into Rome and took a train from the airport to the Termini station in central Rome. Taking a wrong turn in the station, we ended up in a graffiti filled ghetto so my first impression of Rome was not a very positive one. We finally found our way and checked into our hostel called "Freedom Travelers Hostel" We sort of walked around for a little while and saw the Trevi Fountain at dusk so it was all lit up. We also walked to the Spanish Steps before heading back to our hostel around 8 PM and going to sleep.

The next morning we got up early and immediately headed to the Vatican Museum. So much history is at this museum that you could probably go there five times and not be able to see everything. Basically the museum held several thousand years of artifacts dating back to the Romans. Also housed in the Vatican Museum is Raphael's "School of Athens" painting as well as the very famous Sistine Chapel. I liked the Sistine Chapel very much, though it was small than I had anticipated. After the Vatican Museum, we walked around the corner to the actual Vatican. It was a spetacular sight to see- so massive, so grand it is the largest church in the world. We went up to the very top (500 or so steps) and got a great view of the city. After walking up to the top, we also walked to the crypt where Pope John Paul the Second is buried. I'm really glad that I went to the crypt. After leaving the Vatican we continued our "Rome on Steroids" day and walked to the Pantheon and from there we walked to the the Roman Forum. I really love the history that the Romans have left it is so interesting that the structures they have bulit still stand today. I really wish that I had a time machine and go back to see how they lived. After walking around for a good solid 8 hours we were dead tired and went back to the hostel and took a nap. We had heard that Jason Mraz was playing in Rome that night, so even though it was sold out we decided to go anyway. I won't go into the details (who needs details anyway), but I will say that with a bit of trickery we were about to get into the show without a ticket. The show was great. Lots of Americans.

The next morning we slept in a little and went to the Colosseum. I loved the Colosseum, so much history. After that we went to the Circus Maximus which was basically just a dirt track. We continued to walk and found the Trevi Fountain again. Went back to our hostel and napped before going out to a pub (not as easy to find in Rome as opposed to London) and watched a Champions League football match.

Rome overall was a great place to go.

Barcelona

On Friday the 6th Nick, Bill, and I woke up at around 4 AM and took a taxi to the Gatwick airport for our 7 AM flight. I actually had the flu so I remember very little about the car ride and plane ride because I was sleeping for most of the time. We got into Barcelona and took a bus into the city's most popular street known as La Ramblas. We stayed in a hostel just off La Ramblas called Kabul (which apparently is a "world famous hostel" not sure how they obtained that prestigeous status) When we got there I immediately took a nap. Nick and Bill walked around for a while and woke me up after an hour or so. We went to the Picasso museum which was in a really cool location kind of a hole in the wall really old building. From there we went and ate tappas and then walked around La Ramblas some more. Headed back to our hostel and all took quick naps and then went to dinner that was provided by the hostel. I was still very sick and had no more advil, so I went out to try and buy some which I guess they dont have at the pharmacy's in Spain. I got something which I think was equivalent, but did not work nearly as well as advil. Nick and Bill went out with girls that we knew that go to our school in London and actually happened to be on our flight. I just stayed in and went to bed.

The next morning we got up around 10 and had breakfast at the hostel. From there we went to the famous Sagrada Famila church which quite interesting: the church was actually started to be built in the late 1800s and construction continues to this day. It was designed and started to be built by Gaudi who died halfway through construction. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but construction was halted for financial reasons or wars. It's kind of an odd place, the church looks like a "drip-sand castle" but there are still cranes and construction all around it. Though it is a Catholic church, the inside is not completed and thus has never had mass. It’s a very beautiful sight to see though and the weather being nice made it even better. From the Sagrada Familia, we took a bus to the hills and ended up at a park called Guell Park which provided us with a fantastic view of the whole city and bay. It was probably my favorite part of Barcelona besides the soccer game that we went to later Saturday night. We went back to our hostel after eating and then just played cards for a while. We took the metro to the FC Barcelona stadium and scalped tickets for about 35 Euro for the Barcelona v. Athletico game. The atmosphere around the stadium was very festive, the fans were in to their team and it was exciting. It turns out that the tickets we bought were second row seats right behind the goal- really cool. When the game stared it became clear as to why the seats were so cheap: they were partially blocked by media cameramen, but were still able to see fine. In the second half Barcelona (clearly the better team) shot at the goal closest to us and were able to see three balls hit the post which was very exciting. Barcelona won 2-0 and pretty much dominated the entire game. After the game we went back to our hostel and I went to bed while Nick and Bill went out.

The next morning, we woke up and had to check out of our hostel. Though we were staying one more night, we decided to get a change of atmosphere and switch hostels to one about ten minutes away. We check in to the hostel and walked to the bay side of Barcelona. It was a beautiful day out so we went to the beach for basically the entire day. Nick’s friend Bill flew back to the States at around 5 PM. Nick and I just walked around Barcelona and the bay for a while and went to our hostel. We ended up meeting these crazy drunken Irish kids that were staying at the same hostel as us and we ended up just talking with them pretty much the entire night. Nick attempted to go out with them, but I stayed in and talked with other people that I had met at the hostel. We ended up meeting people from Portugal, Germany, Ireland and America which was exciting to hear about other cultures etc. The next morning we woke up checked out of the hostel and almost missed our flight to Rome.

Hopefully I will have the Rome and Venice blogs out soon

Weekend in London

We had another great weekend in London. It started with a beautiful day on Friday in which we went out in the park and played Frisbee. One memorable moment was that we saw a bunch of guys all dressed in dark clothing and had long hair and black eyeliner on taking pictures. They told us that they were starting a heavy metal band and they were taking pictures for their new album- pretty cool. We decided to do the same after they were done. Zack's parents were in town and we had fun sitting outside at Gordon's with them. Saturday a whole bunch of guests came in town so a lot of people were busy doing the touristy stuff. It was another nice day so we went outside in the park again followed by another night out in London. Everyone is doing well here still and I can't believe that the semester is half way over.

Trips planned for the rest of the time:

Friday: Barcelona
Next Monday: Rome
Next Thursday: Venice

March 20-22: Munich, Germany
March 27-29: Glasgow, Scotland
April 3-5: Prague, Czech Republic
April 16-19: Brussels
Paris possibly over Easter

All the best,

Paul

Holland

This weekend, a group of about fifteen of us went to Amsterdam. We got up early and left from London around 8 or 9 and got in around 11. Traveling with a large group has its pros and cons and that was very evident from the get go. We took a train from the Amsterdam airport to the grand central station. After walking around for a little, we found our hostel which was a house boat in the bay. It was pretty hilarious having four grown men in a little tiny room with four beds. This being said we went to get going as soon as possible. One of the guys on the trip had gone a day early to check it out, so we were able to get going pretty quickly because he knew the area a little bit. Amsterdam is interesting because everyone literally everyone prefers bicycles as the mode of transportation. They have bike parking garages and bike lanes and I think everyone had at least one close encounter with a bike, moped, or some other moving object other than a car. Additionally the bikes that they ride or not your traditional mountain bike, they are very old fashioned, with large tires and large handlebars- pretty cool. Another thing about Amsterdam is that there are canals everywhere. So when trying to find your way back to your hostel, this makes things rather confusing. We went to the van Goth museum on Friday afternoon and I think that this was my favorite tourist place of the three that we saw in Amsterdam. They just started a "Starry Night" exhibit- for those who don't know Starry Night (see above) is one of his most famous pieces. I really liked seeing this piece because 1. It was one of the only pieces that I recognized 2. the real thing is way better than the pictures on the internet. We also got to see "Potato Eaters" among others. Friday night, we got dinner and went back to our hostel. Friday night we went to another major attraction in Amsterdam called the "Red Light District." I think that is enough said about that part of the trip. We woke up Saturday pretty early to get in line for the Anne Frank house. The house was there basically how it was in the 1940s, but they have a very modern looking building right next to it which is where most the exhibit takes place. We did get to see the secret bookcase and the secret room where she and her family hid from the Nazis. I'm glad I went. Somehow after that, Corey and I got separated from the group so we decided to go to a pub. After this, we both realized that we could not get in touch with anyone from our group because we had not put money on our cell phones. Normally at this point in the story I would tell you that we got lost. Well, we did sorry to spoil it haha. We were supposed to stay with our friend Steve and go the Heineken factory, but not being with him meant confusion. We also discovered that we could receive text messages, but not return the text or call back. The funny part about that was I kept getting vague text messages from Steve like "What time are you thinking about going to the Heineken factory?" or from others "Where are you" etc. Luckily, we were able to run into others from our group that were smart and put money on their phones and thus able to call people. (People reading I hope you are laughing at our stupidity) Here's a free tip on Amsterdam: while riding their Metro system don't put your feet up on the seat in front of you. My friend Corey learned that the hard way when stopped by the good old Amsterdam police and a 60 Euro fine later. We are convinced they just try to milk money out of tourists.
We met Steve at the Heineken factory and took the tour. Well it really wasn't a tour at all more of a great marketing ploy. Yes we did learn information about how the beer was made and the process that they go through and all that, but this was only a small portion in my opinion. For the rest of the trip, they might as well have held a sign in front of your face that said "Buy Heineken." Enough said about this subject. Saturday night we got dinner and went back to the hostel and just hung out there because we had a 7 AM flight.

Final thoughts on Amsterdam: To me, Amsterdam was the most backwards place I have ever been to. Ever. It's hard to put into words what it was all about, but most of the people on the trip were left with the opinion that Amsterdam is a surreal place. I don't think I will ever go back, but it was a great place to say that I have been.

Trooper of the trip: Corey for walking around the entire weekend with a badly bruised foot and not complaining.

Side note: Here's to not shower and wearing the same clothes second travel weekend in a row.

I hope all is well in America,

Paul

Imperial War Museum, Stonehenge, Salisbury

On Friday during the day we went to the Imperial War Museum and it was very interesting. I would highly recommend it to anyone. They had an outstanding Holocaust exhibit, other exhibits included WW1 and tanks and other war stuff. It was almost overwhelming the amount of information that was at the museum. I will be going back with a class I am taking here as well. After the museum we walked back to the Wobbly Bridge. The view just never gets old. After that back to Gordon's. Following Gordon's we went to this "slient" dance in Trafalger Square. What they mean by silent is everyone brings their own ipod and headphones and listens to their own music. Well this turned into people jumping off the Trfagler Square monuments into the crowd...we had nothing to do with this what so ever (am I being sarcastic- I guess you will never know haha)


The next morning we got up early and took a bus to Stonehenge. Though very historic, the rocks were literally in the middle of nowhere with valleys of sheep pastures all around. Being "those loud Americans" we did all of the different poses with the rocks and I even offered my own made up commentary. The hilarious part about this was that you had to go through a turnstile to actually get to the area that the rocks were on. Even more hilarious was that you could only walk within about 45 feet of the rocks. I must say that I have seen one of the seven wonders of the world which not many can say they have seen.

Next stop on the bus was Salisbury. Typical UK town. Old Cathedral that holds one of the Magna Cartas. The inside of pubs is the same everywhere

Cheers,

Paul