Matt Q
Because confining yourself to only one small part of the world your whole life is very boring... PatrickSwayzesTwin
Travel Blog Posts
Some Closure....But Not Over
Published: May 10th 2008North America » United States » Arizona » Tucson
May 10th 2008
Its been bothering me that I abandoned the blog towards the end of my trip to Europe last summer. I just got tired of making time every night to write the blogs and I didn't think anyone was reading them anyways. So I'm just gonna put some pictures from my last couple days in Europe: the rest of Amsterdam, a train-stop in Brussels, and Paris. I didn't want anyone who randomly stumbles across these blogs to think I became part of the seedy Amsterdam underworld or took some bad mushrooms and am wandering Dutch tulip fields naked. Even though this brings a sort of closure to my trip, the experience has only magnified my desire to travel and explore exponentially (Japan in July!!!). I got the bug bad...and if there's a cure, I'll pass. Have fun, ... read more
June 6th 2007
We decided to stick around Cologne for awhile, catch a train to Amsterdam a little bit after noon. Got our bags packed up, stored them in the hostel’s luggage room, and stepped out to check out the Ludwig Modern Art Museum and the shopping district, both which are conveniently located within steps of the Dom. Walked over to the Ludwig, a crowd was gathered around the Dom and street performers were abundant, bought our tickets, and wandered through all the strange and interesting modern art exhibits. The reason for us going to it was that they had an Andy Warhol exhibit and a Roy Liechtenstein exhibit. Not that we are big fans of Warhol, but its an opportunity to see it all in person. I am not a big fan of modern art and some the ... read more
June 5th 2007
Summer camp ended today. That’s staying at the Mountain Hostel felt like. It’s a small place and with no city to explore at night, its very easy to get to know everyone staying there. Richard and I decided to catch the 12:25 train from Interlaken to Basel and then finally from there to Cologne. Fortunately, the Mountain Hostel Gang (Chris, Rebecca, Allison, Tim, and the Aussie girls) needed to head out of town to their various next destinations around the same time so we all floated off the cliff from Gimmelwald at the same time. We had an hour or so to kill in Interlaken so we all hung out at a café. Richard and I were the first to split from the gang to catch our train. Traded e-mails with them and then waved them ... read more
June 4th 2007
The sun coming through the window woke me up at around 8:30am, Richard was gone already for his mountain-biking adventure. My bunk was in the back corner, right by the window, so when I sat up in bed, the snow capped Alps were peeping in on me. Got up, grabbed my clothes and walked downstairs to the showers. After, I went back up to pack up all my things and make my bed, the hostel locks you out of the place from 9:30 to 11 to clean the place, so it was a race against the clock. I didn’t know what they had for breakfast and wanted to conserve my Swiss Francs, so I just bought a thing of orange juice and took a bag of salted peanuts I had bought in Interlaken and sat outside ... read more
June 3rd 2007
Headaches in tow from last night, we woke up and took part in the free breakfast Balmer’s offers, which for me was oatmeal and fruit. We checked out at 10am and walked next door to a shop that rents scooters. It was only 25 Swiss Francs for two hours so we decided to go for it. Now I have never been on a motorcycle, dirtbike, or really any motorized two wheeled vehicle ever, so even these little “Dumb and Dumber” scooters were kind of intimidating. After the shopkeep showed us the basics of operating these machines, we strapped our nerdy helmets on and we were off. We decided to drive up to Lauterbrunnen, the guy said it was a nice scenic drive and close by. It felt awkward on the scooter, but its kind of ... read more
I Thought Helvetica Was Just A Font
Published: June 2nd 2007Europe » Switzerland » South-West » Interlaken
June 2nd 2007
We got to Milan Centrale station with about 45 minutes to kill before our train to Spiez, Switzerland rolled away, so we bought paninis and sat on the cool concrete floors of the station. When 10:30am came around, we boarded the train, and five minutes later we were headed towards Switzerland. It was a very scenic train ride throughout the Italian portion and the Swiss portion. In Italy, the train went along Lake Cuomo and of course as we approached Switzerland, the Italian Alps were before us and then in an instant they became the Swiss Alps. When we crossed the border into Switzerland, the train stopped at the next town, the train crew got off and a new crew came on and checked our passports and Eurail Passes. We were also faced with a new ... read more
June 1st 2007
Said arrivaderci to Venice and took the train three hours northwest to Milan. On the train ride I could see the Dolomites off in the distance and they were basically saying with their snow-capped peaks “you gotta get through us to leave Italy”. Which I am bummed to do. Its strange, I have been in Italy nine days, I feel comfortable in the country, I am getting the hang of the language and just how the people operate. Great place to visit. Visit and living are two completely different things though. Made it to Milan. Big city, full of fashion and models and a duomo. Only here for the night, trying to cut down the would-have-been eight hour train ride from Venice to Interlaken. Now it’ll only be four or so tomorrow. Got off the train ... read more
May 31st 2007
We caught the 10:55am train out of Bologna Centrale headed for Venice St. Lucia station. It was probably a two and a half hour train ride through the northeastern Italy, stopping in small towns made up of four separate words and the decent sized city of Padova. I like the whole process of taking trains places because you can look out the window and at least see the areas of a country you aren’t spending any time in. We crossed the causeway that connects mainland Italy to the island city of Venice. Hopped off the train, weaved through the station, and out the doors for our grand entrance into Venice. Let me back up for a moment, before arriving to Venice I already had it in my mind that I was going to hate Venice, just ... read more
May 30th 2007
We headed out on the 12:25pm train to La Spezia from Riomaggiore. Was sad to see the cliffs and sea disappear. We had about an hour to kill till our train to Parma and I hate to say that Richard and I violated one of our cardinal rules here at this train station. We ate at McDonald's. We had just gotten kind of sick of eating pasta and pizza in a continuous rotation with a gelato sometimes in bewteen. I'll admit it though, it felt good to be in warm embrace of the Golden Arches. Caught the train to Parma. We passed through the mountains that pretty much divide Italy in half vertically, almost like its spine. It reminded me of the US, because after we had finished going through the mountains, it was nothing ... read more
May 29th 2007
Started the day off heading up to the largest and most "resorty" of the five villages, Monterosso. We walked around the town and bit, had some gelato, and took the hopped the train back to Riomaggiore, or at least we thought we were. It was a direct train back to La Spezia which took us zipping past Riomaggiore and ten minutes later we were dumped off in La Spezia. So we had to wait 45 minutes for the next train to come and take us back to Riomaggiore. We spent most the day just hanging out in the town. Around 6pm we took the train back to Monterosso to do the walk from it to Vernazza, where we would eat dinner. The walk was much more strenuous than the walk from Riomaggiore to Corniglia, which ... read more
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