http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AX-Solo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from AX Solo en-us Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:41:35 +0000 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:41:35 +0000 I returned to consumate tourist form today and hit Prague Castle after a nice breakfast at the hotel. Top Hotel Praha where I'm staying actually runs two places. The Top Hotel proper which is a four star joint and then the Garni wing which is basically a highend hostel. We get use of most of the Top Hotel's facilities albeit for a price and get their breakfast free. Hence most of us gor http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-14623.html Today was a travel date and the 8am bus departure was extremely unpleasant given the night I'd just had. Did pass out for a bit so I wasn't a complete wreck. We were stuck in traffic jam for an hour so our stop in Dresden was a ten minute scramble. There was a long break after the Czech border however and an unexpected one at that. Busabout apparently makes a bonus stop for a tour of Terezin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-14620.html The morning got off to a stellar start with me waking up at noon thus missing the 11am bike tour as well as being forced to do some fashion experimentation details reserved for friends.I did get quite a bit done though visiting Brandenburg Tor and the Reichstag before rushing back for the 4pm bike tour. The tour was well worth the money as history lessons in the classroom never quite impress http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-15728.html The day started out with pouring rain so I was quite thankful that most of Berlin's major museums are rather tightly packed on Museuminsl literally museum island. I did make the blunder of mistaking the national gallery for Pergammon Museum and wound up in line for close to 3 hours for the wrong museum I did get to see what all the fuss was about though special Goya exhibit which was quite http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-14424.html Pretty much all of today was consumed by the very long and relatively boring bus ride to Berlin from Amsterdam. On one amusing note at departure our guide repeatedly stressed that The Netherland's liberal attitude towards various substances doesn't extend across borders. Hence she made it very clear that we had one service stop before the border and that any substances onboard had better be di http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-14303.html I was barely awake this morning when Busabout decided to test my nerve and grace. Until today none of the coaches I've been on have ever been completely full. That changed today. I was one of four standby people this morning my booking for the ParisBruggeAmsterdam trip being 2 days too late courtesy of my impulsive decision not to stay in Tours and the guide informed us that there was one f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-14200.html I was supposed to get off at Tours today and spend 2 nights there. When we got into Tours though not only was the hotel full but it was raining hard. I had no interest in wandering the town in pouring rain trying to find a bed and even less interest in biking to the various chateaux is dismal weather. Consequently I found myself unexpectedly in Paris at around 5pm. My bed for the night was in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-14199.html They say all's well that ends well. That's a pretty accurate description of today. The day certainly didn't start well. I had decided to visit St. Emilion 35km southeast of Bordeaux last night and booked tickets for a 1046 train. The train station in Bordeaux is actually quite a ways from the city centre and getting there took a bit longer than expected. I still got there with about 15 minut http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Bordeaux/blog-13982.html I discovered today that wine tours of the Bordeax region are rather popular. So much so that I couldn't get a tour of St. Emillion tomorrow. I did manage to get on the tour of Medoc region today. The coach ride provided some pleasant views of the region vines as far as the eye can see sometimes and the tour stopped at two wineries Chateau Anez HautMedoc appellation and Chateau Labgorce M http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Bordeaux/blog-13893.html Despite having spent five days there I was reluctant to leave San Sebastian. The place just sucks you in and tries very convincingly to keep you there. On the bright side San Sebastian is a day stop on the Busabout route. Translation departure time is 330pm instead of 8am. Hell Yes.I didn't realize just how close to the French border San Sebastian is and we had crossed over less than 30 minu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Bordeaux/blog-13819.html I now know what a pig feels like when being roasted. I should have known that San Sebastian being right on the coast gets comparatively mild weather. Bilboa on the other hand is in the interior and boy do you feel it. I got there at about 3pm I won't get started about how it's impossible for me to get up early in San Sebastian for some reason and I was literally greeted with a blast of hot a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Basque-Country/San-Sebastian/blog-13816.html The original plan for the day was to visit Bilboa. That didn't happen in good part due to a bit of a lie in. Hence it's been another very lazy day.I did make my way up Mount Igueldo albeit by funicular and enjoyed some pretty spectacular views of the town. You really see just how packed the beaches are when you look down and behold what looks like an army of ants crawling all over the place. I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Basque-Country/San-Sebastian/blog-13593.html Spent my first proper day in Donostia more commonly known as San Sebastian today. Actually I kinda slept half the day still recovering from my Pamplona experience and even after getting up I didn't do much.I basically just wandered Gros the name of the district to the east of the river in San Sebastian and one of the beaches Playa de la Zurriola. The beach supposedly has some surfing and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Basque-Country/San-Sebastian/blog-13465.html My adrenal glands better be in top form because I'm going to be banking on them tonight. The story starts last night really back in Barcelona.I remember lining up at Quinze Nuits at about 930 and it was 1030pm by the time we were seated. Dinner really was good because by the time I bid adieu to my new friends my watch read 1230am. I still had to do laundry and there were a few problems wit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Basque-Country/San-Sebastian/blog-13175.html Got up really late again today. Theres just something about Barcelona that inspires laziness and seduces me back to my nocturnal schedule. I did drag myself out eventually though and up quite far to Parc Gell. Im kind of thinking that I should have visited the Gaudi museum just to get the slightest inkling of what the man was like because his creations are just out of this world. My head spi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-13119.html Slept in embarassingly late today in good part because I was out rather late last night. I went out with a couple of people I bussed in with and didn't get back to my room until 3am and I left early. Two of the girls had picked up Spanish....tourguides and were in the mood for some dancing. After the four glasses of sangria and glass of champagne I had polished off I had the wisdom to call it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-13049.html Today was truly a travel day. The bus ride from Nice to Barcelona was scheduled for 10 hours and that's under the best of conditions. We didn't encounter the best of conditions. We did get to see a furniture truck reduced to a pile of ash literally. Apparently wooden furniture and diesel fuel burn pretty well together.... That kept the highway a nice parking lot for close to 2 hours.The stopov http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Avignon/blog-13047.html The original plan was to spend a day in AixenProvence. That pretty much went down the drain last night when I went on S.N.C.F's French train company website. A return trip from Nice to Aix would have run me almost 60 euros. I really shouldn't have been surprised I knew train travel in France wasn't cheap and that the Cte d'Azur regional trains are merely exceptions to this rule.Hence havin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Antibes/blog-12821.html I woke up rather late today at 930. I was actually very tempted to just go back to sleep or down to the promenade and vegetate all day. In the end though the gungho part of my travelling personality won I'm only in Nice for 3 days and I'm not going to be stopping at Avignon. In other words this is it for the French Riviera. Thus I hauled myself to the train station and got on a regional t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Cannes/blog-12718.html Today was one of those days where you just roll with the punches. Our guide on the bus coming in warned us to take the 1030am train out of Riomaggiore into La Spezia to make sure we make the 1200 bus pickup. All 17 of us were extremely responsible and got there by 1015am. You've gotta love Italian scheduling though. The 1030 train was first delayed by 20 minutes then 30 minutes then cancelle http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Nice/blog-12635.html