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

Comments

I figured out how to allow you guys to comment on the blogs...I would love to hear feedback

Paul

The Texas Embassy in London

Tonight my friend Billy D's parents were in town and took us all out to a restaurant called The Texas Embassy. You laugh now, but it actually was the Republic of Texas' Embassy in London from 1836 to 1845. It is now a Tex-Mex restaurant, but Texas stuff is everywhere.

Aunt Ann I thought that you would like this

Hook 'em Horns,

Paul

Joe got into SLUH

Big congrats to my brother Joe for getting into Saint Louis U. High this weekend...

Cheers,

Paul

Madrid

On Friday, Nick Corey Sarah and I left for Madrid at 7 AM to catch the Gatwick Express for our 10 AM flight. It was really easy to get from school to the airport and we got there in plenty of time. Flying on what they call a "low cost" airline was interesting and Air Comet Airlines was a great deal at 60 pounds round trip plane ticket. It was equivalent to Southwest Airlines in the States. We were all nervous about traveling in Europe for the first time: my mother will be happy to know that I did use the passport carrier underneath my shirt, so yes that was a good idea. We got into Madrid around 1 or 2 and took the Metro to where we staying in central Madrid which is called, Puerto de Sol. We found our youth hostel, which turned out to be really nice and it was beneficial to have peace of mind about leaving our backpacks and passports locked up in a safe place. The four of us stayed in a room with two other girls that actually turned out to be studying in London as well and they went to Syracuse. They had been in Madrid a night earlier than us, and thus were able to tell us where to go to a certain degree.

After our arrival at the hostel, we walked around Sol for a while. We saw the Plaza Mayor, which was just a big open quad sort of thing...apparently they have concerts there in the summer. We saw the major spots that Madrid is known for: Royal Palace of Spain, the Almudena Cathedral, as well as a few cathedrals and various other attractions (drawing a blank right now). Spain is apparently known for "tapas" which are basically appetizers and we ended up eating these a few times throughout the day. We walked around Sol a little more and then went back to the hostel and met up with the girls we met from Syracuse. They took us to a Sangria bar near where we were staying. Sangria is an alcoholic drink that is primarily red wine, sliced fruit, a sweetner, and water- caution: these are very good. The group ended up staying at the bar, while I proceeded to get lost. Picture this: Lost in Madrid after only being there for less than five hours, not being able to speak Spanish, not knowing the name of my own hostel, and also not being able to call the people that you are with. Luckily I was able to tap into my 8th grade Spanish to be able to get a "Donde esta Sol" (Where is Sol) and also it is lucky to me that pointing somewhere is a universal language. I turned out to be lost for only twenty minutes and it also turns out that was not really even that far from where we were staying. I stayed in the hostel trying to figure out how I could get in touch with my friends, In the mean time I met one kid who went to CBC high school in Saint Louis. It was hilarious, and I couldn't believe it. After waiting for that long my friends must have realized that I was lost and one of them came back. We went to sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up all very exhausted. We needed a little bit of breakfast and coffee and we found the local Dunkin' Doughnuts and ordered a coffee and doughnuts- the reason I am telling you this is because apparently ordering just "coffee" means a little tiny tea cup sized cup. So when they gave it to me it was literally the smallest cup I had ever seen. Anyway, Our tour guide (Nick) took us to Retiro Park, which according to Nick is the grandissimo parque en Espana. Look that up on Google. It was a really beautiful park and that is where the Monument to Alfonso XII. (picture with water in front of it) as well as many beautiful trails and fields. We continued to walk around Madrid and ended up going to their train station and basically just trying to be outside as much as possible because it was such a nice day. We walked around Sol a little more and had dinner. At around 7 we left with the Syracuse people that we met and took the Metro to The Real Madrid futbol club stadium, Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. We got tickets for 22 Euros each and though we were sitting in the top section had a great time at the game. It was such a massive stadium (75,000) and the fans were really into the game with chants etc during the game. Sport here is different in the it is more focused on the game as opposed to all of the other things that you would see at an American baseball game or American football game. Real Madrid ended up winning. We left with the massive amount of people on the Metro. We were all exhausted and knew that in order to make our 8 AM flight that would mean leaving the hostel at 6 AM when the Metro opened and thus leaving us to stay up all night. We basically just played Euchre and hung out in our hostel. We left and made it to our flight all the most exhausted people ever and everyone was either cranky or slap happy. None of just remember taking off because we all had fallen asleep. After what seemed like forever, we finally made it back to London.

Overall, Madrid set a really high standard for all of the rest of the trips because we just had the best time ever. Though I must say it was very very very beneficial to have someone who spoke Spanish (Nick) and he amazed all of us with his ability to translate. Even after being there for two days I felt like I had picked up some Spanish and was by the end of the trip having Nick help me with simple sentences. It was actually kind of wierd coming back from the fact that I was used to saying "Hola" or "Gracias" to everyone in Spain and thus not used to people here speaking English.

Last night Nick and I went to bed at 6PM and woke up at 1030 AM: Yes that is 16 hours of sleep

At some point I will let you guys know the differences between Madrid and London

Cheers,

Paul

p.s. My friend Steve also has a blog about our trip in London if you would like to hear a different perspective sgmlondon.blogspot.com

Liverpool over Chelsea, The Super Bowl... and a snow day in London

Yesterday we went to a pub to watch a great English Premier League matchup- Liverpool v. Chelsea. Watching the "football" game at an English pub was vastly different from watching it back in the States. Liverpool and Chelsea both claim they are from London, but apparently Chelsea is the New York Yankees of the EPL and are thus hated. Liverpool prevailed 2-0 and it was an exciting finish...

The Super Bowl started at 11:30 here and man what a game! It's too bad Kurt Warner and Co. did not prevail, but wow I think it was a very exciting finish. The Boss rocked at halftime as well. It was interesting watching the game here. It sounds funny to have British broadcasters doing the pregame show...it just does not sound right having someone with a British accent analyzing the game. Luckily, John Madden and Al Michaels were used during the game. We did not get to see any U.S. commercials, which was really disappointing. The game also ended at around 3 AM here

Today, it snowed in London and it is apparently the most snow in the UK in 18 years. Though only 4 inches, I don't think that London can handle even the smallest amount of snow- Tube lines are closed, the bus routes are not working and one of our classes was canceled. I must say that Regent's Park in the snow is extra special.

Cheers,

Paul

Splish, Splash, Taking a Bath...

Yesterday, we went to Bath. It is a quaint little town about 100 miles from London so around a 2 hour bus ride for us. We left very early I believe it was Zack that was quoted in saying "I haven't seen 8:30 since junior year of high school." We got to Bath around 11:30 and immediately went to the Roman Baths which is the main attraction of the town. The Romans began construction on this bath complex around 60-70 AD, so it was very ancient. The bath is fed by a natural spring that pours out steaming hot water at around 46 degrees C (for you guys back in the States that would 115 degrees F) They used it as a place for healing as well as a shrine to the goddess
Minerva. The current complex is semi-restored, though it was disappointing that they had all of these exhibits literally on top of the structures- and it was packed with tourists (we kind of felt like cattle) Though they said not to touch the water, we did and I can confirm that it is very warm, it was just very disgusting and green looking.




The Town of Bath was also a sight to see, it was a quaint town in the English countryside. All of the buildings were made out of "buttery yellow stone" (this is what the bus driver said, so you must say it with an English accent) and apparently the town "glows" during the summer months in the sun. They also had a lot of areas to shop and the town was packed with people. All and all I think we spent the perfect amount of time there, leaving around 4:30.

I am also proud to announce that we had our first experience with fish and chips yesterday.

Cheers

Paul