Apartment & Uncle Gary Breakfast

We were definitely roughing it the past week so we are really happy with our booking in Oslo. It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, kitchen table, living room and bathroom/laundry room, and it is all ours!

The kitchen/living room.

Living room and kitchen table.

The bedroom.

Bathroom and a WASHING MACHINE!!! We have been washing all of our clothes by hand since Fergal's place in Ireland.

The spare room... for all of our guests.

I have been craving an 'Uncle Gary breakfast' so this morning we actually made it! It was pretty good.

Fun In Gothenburg

We arrived in Gothenburg September 15. Accommodations in Sweden are expensive so we opted to stay in a hostel. This meant it was back to bunk beds, and yes this was the entire room. Think of a prison cell designed by Ikea.

Even though the quarters were tight we stayed in the hostel the entire evening because I was booking the last of the accommodations for our trip.

September 16 we went on a canal cruise. The water level was so high that for part of the tour we had to sit on the floor, otherwise we would hit our heads on the bridges. Kind of looks like the hostel, doesn't it?

The tour was very informative and a good way to see the city. Here is a picture of the 'fish church'. It was built to be a fish market, but the only experience the architect had was with building churches.

A pretty picture from the cruise.

Since we went to the amusement park in Copenhagen we thought that one amusement park was enough. We were wrong. When we were looking at things to do in Gothenburg we discovered that the amusement park had 3 rollercoasters, one of which was wooden, so we had to go.

Here is the wooden rollercoaster, 'Balder', the best rollercoaster I have ever been on.

The park from above.

This rollercoaster was really cool because it shot you out of the gate (0 to 75 km/h in 2 seconds) and the momentum carries you through the whole ride.

This is the other half of the park where the 3rd rollercoaster is, as well as a ride that shoots you up really fast, one that shoots you down really fast, and a giant 'big kid swing'.

The amusement park was AMAZING! It was the best park we have been to and it was especially good because there were no line-ups the entire time we were there. Plus neither of us felt sick from the rides!

September 17 we went to 'Universeum', which was similar to our science center. We had so much fun, but once again it seemed that we didn't quite fit in. For some reason there were a bunch of kids!!

Here is Andrew and his 'new friends' making bubbles.

I WAS making bubbles, but some stupid kid (the one across from Andrew in the green) kept popping my bubbles so I left. Where are the parents of these savages?

Then we found puzzles!

Puzzles done... except the one I'm working on. I'm sure it was the hardest puzzle.

Finally done!

Then Andrew found the neatest thing. It was a room with a bunch of lasers running from wall to wall.  The objective was for you to go from one side of the room to the other without touching them (like in the movie Entrapment). Here I am going across the room.

Andrew's turn. He 'danced' through it. Unfortunately the video didn't turn out. Here he is about to jump over a few lasers.

We had so much fun in Gothenburg. Hopefully we will have as much fun in Stockholm.

A Spa in Girona

We are only spending 1 night in Girona to be closer to the airport for our flight tomorrow. 

Andrew and I got to the hotel and realized that again we are going to be out of place... we are staying in a 4 star.

Since we had most of the day at the hotel we decided to use their gym and then their swimming pool/spa. We used the outdoor swimming pool and splashed around... acting like children. Then I was getting a bit cold so we decided to go into the 'spa', which was a fancy indoor swimming pool. There was a couple reading on the benches in the 'spa', so we were trying to be quiet. We got into the hot tub and Andrew's eyes lit up; he saw buttons. Of course he had to press them, and all of a sudden the jets are blasting noisily from above and below water, and water is spraying everywhere. This is about the time when I noticed that there are signs on the wall asking us to 'please keep the silence'. We almost died laughing. The jets were making so much noise and we were laughing so hard as Andrew tried to turn them off with no luck. Finally he turned them off and the room returned to silence. Then we get in the pool and guess what, there are more buttons, each under strange contraptions hanging over the water. Andrew pressed a button below a faucet that looks like a shower, and the NOISY streams of high pressure water that shot out almost knocked him out. He turned those off after a laughing fit and frantic button pressing before we went to the other end of the pool to to sit in water massage chairs. A lady then came in after we had been in the chairs for a while and I guess she was just as curious as Andrew because she got into the pool and started pressing buttons. She isn't as lucky as Andrew though, because when she pressed the 'shower' button the high pressure water shot her right in the face. Andrew and I both burst into laughter and unfortunately our laughter was louder than the water shooting at the lady, because she heard us.  We left after this thinking that somebody was going to ask us where our parents were.

Tomorrow we are off to Groningen, Netherlands.

Poop, Hotels & Language Difficulties

I forgot to mention that in Rome, while we were sitting in St. Peter's Square, Andrew was pooped on by a bird... must be a sign from God, a bad sign. It was his first time being pooped on (Jenna this will probably make you feel better because I know you have been pooped on multiple times... and thought it was normal). I have yet to be pooped on, but I think my time will come considering how much I am bugging Andrew about it.

We have had some good luck with booking hotels and hostels and some really really bad luck. I thought that I would share pictures of our places in Bergamo and here in Madrid, where we have had really good luck.

This is our hotel in Bergamo. When we got there we realized that it was a 4 star hotel. Andrew and I looked like misfits with our backpacks on and looking disgusting because of the long walk to the hotel. Oh well, they still let us check in.

Here in Madrid we have a kitchenette in our hotel. We are really excited to be able to actually cook food. Hostels usually have kitchens but we have been avoiding them because they are usually pretty gross.

This is the rest of the room in Madrid.

We were so excited about our kitchen that we raced to the grocery store and bought pizzas. We thought that we would fry them in frying pans, which is what we do when we don't have an oven and surprisingly, they usually turn out pretty good

This time we had a problem though. When we got home from our shopping trip and Andrew unwrapped the pizzas, we found out that the dough was raw and that they needed to be cooked in an oven... which we don't have (only a stove and a microwave). On the package it said 'concinada...' meaning we need to cook the pizza. Instead of giving up we decided to cook the pizzas in the microwave and then fry them. This is how they turned out.

They were actually pretty tasty. I guess my theory worked: add enough cheese to anything and it will taste good.

Now that we have eaten we are on our way out to see Madrid.

PS- It was the Alexander triplets birthday yesterday. Happy birthday boys, we miss you.

F the French!

If it wasn't already official we DETEST the French. The are so miserable. To be clear, we entered France with an open mind and disbelief of the stereotypes. But they made sure that they earnestly reinforced those stereotypes. Anyways, we knew that today wasn't going to be a great day because we were traveling on the train (95% of which was French run, and therefore unreliable) from 6:30am (from Nice) to 5pm (to Amsterdam). At least, that was how it was supposed to go... Our first train (Nice to Paris) ended up being 45 minutes late, which made us miss all our later trains. This was strange to us as the train left on time, and is alleged to be the fastest train in the world... So, Andrew and I waited in line in Paris to sort out tickets for other trains (as our schedule was now shot). The smug fellow that was helping us was rude, true to his culture, and since I have had enough of rude French people I was really rude to him (and I'm glad I was, because he deserved it). So the count goes as follows for French people that Amy has yelled at: 3 (breakfast lady in Paris hostel, receptionist in Nice that kept turning off our AC, and ticket salesperson in Paris). People Andrew has yelled at: 0. I blame this only on the fact that Andrew didn't really communicate with these people since he doesn't speak French. He mostly just stood back and felt awkward... something I normally do.

Anyways, we got the trains sorted out, but it turned out to be a really long day (we didn't get in until 10:30pm). The Dutch are such a breath of fresh air. As we got to Amsterdam there was a really nice and helpful train employee who told us which train to take to get to the station near our hotel. Then, as we got off the train and walked outside the train station looking like lost/stupid tourists, a very nice guy rolls up on his bicycle, takes out his earphones, smiles at us, and asks if we need any help, and then proceeds to point out our hotel... this would NEVER happen in France. Next, the receptionist at the hotel pulls out a map of the city and begins to point out all of the things we should see and do, marking them off and answering all our questions with a friendliness we are now wholly unfamiliar with after a month in France. To make things even better the hotel and room is amazing! We have free, wired internet in our room finally, a fridge and a safe, and, most importantly, a king sized bed.

We are really excited to explore Amsterdam tomorrow... after some much needed sleep!

Bye, Bye Avignon and Err the French!

So a couple days ago (June 14) we went to Nimes to see some Roman stuff.

Here is the Tour Magne which we were able to climb. It is an old Roman tower (built over an even older Celtic tower) that used to be part of the city wall. It gave us a good view of the city.

This was a beautiful park right below the tower. It is the best park we have seen so far in France. It has 'Augustinian' springs running through it.

A water fountain at the entrance of the park. This was a big deal because this is one of the first fountains that was actually running in France. In the background, on the hill, you can see the Tour Magne.

More of the spring outside the garden.

When we went to the Maison Carree (another Roman structure that was the center of the Roman forum) there was a 3-D video that we were able to watch. God, I can anything look good.

Here is the best preserved amphitheater in the world. 

They still hold bullfighting and other events here.

This is what Andrew and I do once we get back to our hotel most days... eat dinner and drink wine. Since we have no fridge in the hotels we have been staying in we go to the grocery store usually once a day, but sometimes 2 (sound like anyone you know Dad or Papa???). Although the grocery stores don't compare to a Buy-Lo, they have fresh bread, cheap cheese (we are eating a lot of Camembert right now) and of course because we are in France cheap wine (Andrew convinced me to get the 5 litre in the picture because we were in Avignon for 5 nights. The real selling point was that it was cheaper per litre than any bottles). We also try to have a vegetable of some sort, usually carrots or tomatoes. Thank god we are creatures of habit because we haven't gotten sick of this yet.

Today was our travel day from Avignon to Nice. It should have been a smooth 3 hour train ride on a high speed train but... because of poor French planning, engineering, infrastructure, lack of motivation and heavy rain, our train was "supprime", which we learned today means canceled. When we went to check which platform to get onto in Avignon we noticed that it said our train was going to Marseille, not Nice. I spoke to an information person at the train station who informed us that no trains were running past Toulon, so we would have to find a train from Marseille to Toulon and then a bus MIGHT bring us from Toulon to Nice. Of course, this information was only given to those people who stood in line and asked. There were no postings or announcements or any other information made available. So Andrew and I took a train to Marseille and then I went to ask again if there was any other way to get to Nice (I figure that if I don't like the first answer I get, I'll ask again and again until I get a better response). Luckily it worked, we found out there was a bus or buses (the guy didn't know) leaving from Marseille to Nice (the guy didn't know when either...). So Andrew and I rushed to the spot the information man said they would be. When we got there, there was a crowd of people waiting for a few buses, or bus (nobody knew how many buses there would be or when they would be coming). We happened to be standing next to some Brits. We talked about how if we were back in Canada or if they were in England, there would have been an orderly line (or 'queue'). But not in France. When the crowd started to move I pushed my way to the front and we managed to get on a bus.

Thank goodness we got to Nice... and it wasn't all that painful, but now Andrew and I have more to add to our list of things we don't like about France (which currently includes the fact that it is full of French people, among other things).

When we got here we fell in love with our room, and with Nice, of course, which is absolutely beautiful.

We can't wait to spend a day on the beach lathered in sunscreen!

Paris: Jour Un, Deux, Trois Et Quatre

Ok so that's enough french. We got to Paris May 31and went on a walking tour... a free walking tour. It was a tour of the city and gave a little bit of history.  We took a few pictures along the way.

The Eiffel Tower. We will be visiting it soon.

An Egyptian obelisk, in Place de la Concorde, where the giant guillotine used to be and thousands of executions took place.

Arc de Triomphe. We will be visiting the Arc today.

It was a really good tour, but by the end of the 3 1/2 hour tour Andrew and I were really tired. So we went back to the hostel and watched an episode of Glee, watched a UFC fight and ate popcorn.

On June 1, we were rejuvenated, so we hit the town running. We got our museum passes (which allow you to go into almost any museum in Paris) and began at Notre Dame Cathedral, which was beautiful. We climbed the North Tower and had a great view of Paris.

After ND Cathedral we were all churched out so we went to Pantheon. The architecture of these places are amazing!

It was around noon by this time so we went to Jardin de Luxembourg for a picnic. The gardens here in Paris are not the same as those back at home. They don't really have any grass, and when they do have grass there are signs saying not to walk on it. They are also obsessed with symmetry, to the extent that all the trees are made rectangular or square.

This is a well known gay area in Paris. There are always rainbow flags flying around and men in short shorts... notice the street name? It also smells bad... Coincidence, we think not.

We thought that it would be a good idea to go to Le Musee D'Orsay. So we went, we saw... and I almost died. I don't like museums. I don't have an appreciation for art. I get it, it's old but that doesn't mean it is good. Also, the museum was packed! We saw some Monet and Van Gogh (which I do really like), but then I was done. So I was following Andrew around, which I am sure is pretty annoying, but then I found some benches. Andrew could now go look around and then come and get me when he moved on. Thank goodness I don't think Andrew has an appreciation for art either.

Then if we hadn't been to enough museums already, we decided to see Napoleon's tomb and walked through the Military Museum (very quickly!!!). We only went through the WWII portion (which was large), and it did not compare to the one in Caen. However, there were lots of French WWII items of display, including lots of rifles and uniforms that were in great shape (because they were hardly even used in the 2 weeks or so it took Hitler to invade France, which, by the way, had the largest land army at that time...).

June 2, and then we went to the Louvre. So I thought I didn't like museums when I came to Europe, then after June 1, I really didn't think I liked museums, but after this day I knew 100% museums just aren't my thing. We get to the Louvre at around 10am. The line to get in isn't bad and we decided that before the masses came we would go see the really famous pieces first. So... we went over to the Mona Lisa. The rooms leading up to the room holding the Mona Lisa are 40 degrees because there were so many people. Once we get into the room where the Mona Lisa is there are tons of people and every one of them is holding up their cameras trying to take a picture of a picture... Don't they get it... they can buy Mona Lisa replicas, magnets, towels... pretty much anything you could ever want, and yet they are still taking a picture. You can even download high definition Mona Lisa pictures on the internet for free I am sure. Pictures of pictures...

After we had seen some of the famous things Andrew wanted to see we were wandering through the museum and I found the best thing in the entire museum (other than the exit): the 2rd floor. Here is where they keep some french pieces, none of which are extremely famous, so nobody is up there and the temperature drops about 10 degrees because the rooms aren't packed with sweaty barbarians.

Picture taken after we left!

After being at the Louvre for a good part of the day (ok maybe only a few hours), I was tired (I believe that museums suck the life out of me, much like malls), so we went grocery shopping and went back to the hostel for supper and another episode of glee and a movie. We did, however, get lots of walking done through the city's large and beautiful boulevards.

June 3, we got to go to Versailles Palace and it was gorgeous. The gardens were so beautiful and we spent all day there. We managed to get there quite early, so the gardens (which span 800 hectares of land) were relatively empty. The sweaty barbarians, however, were soon to follow.

The palace.

The gardens.