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