I attempted to spend a few days in the Cinque Terre and on the beaches of the Italian Riviera. It would take a couple train changes to get there and I was careful about writing them down when I bought the tickets. The morning I left I checked the time table on the Italy's train website and wrote them down again, just in case I lost one copy. So I boarded my train from Florence to Pisa no problem. In Pisa i was to switch to a train to Spezia. I am especially careful about boarding trains in Italy because [View Full Entry]

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On the way up from Rome to Florence/Firenze I stopped for a couple of days in the Tuscan Hills. Due to poor planning I did not have any small change on me when I got off the train to take the bus, so I had to walk the six kilometers uphill in a thunderstorm to get to Cortona. No change for a fifty euro bill. Anyway, it was an invigorating walk, though I was pretty soaked when I got there, even with my umbrella. Cortona is a nice little village with beautiful scenery. Not a whole lot to do there, [View Full Entry]

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I flew into Rome from Paris a few days ago. The first afternoon I was a bit tired having gotten up around 4:45 in the morning to get the metro to get the bus to get the plane. It all went pretty smoothly although travelling alone I am constantly asked to switch seats...twice on the bus and once on the plane. I just must look like an accomodating person. But really once I would just like to sit where I want to sit. Kind of irritating. Anyway, the first afternoon I walked around the Roman Forum and then went to [View Full Entry]

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I took the train towards Vezelay about two hours south of Paris in the Burgundy region of France. The train station is 10km away from the town, but I was luckily able to catch a ride with some nice people from the train. The guidebook had said that taxis would be available, but the were absolutely no services in or around the train station. So lucky I got the ride. Although the walk would have been part of the pilgrimage trail to Spain. So there were a number of walkers. Vezelay was a nice little town up on a hill. [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I enjoyed a day trip to Chartre to see the cathedral. It was good whether and I enjoyed seeing what was one of my favorite cathedral's from art history. Like all cathedrals here it was a bit dark, dank and cold....but better to see the stained glass illuminated I suppose. Not much else to report but see the nice pictures attached. I am on my way to Vezelay in the region of Burgundy today. [View Full Entry]

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I took the train from Paris out to Brittany. I spent a few days in Dinan, where two hours would have sufficed, but it was a matter of hostel availability. Dinan was alright, I was just terribly bored and terribly allergic. The hostel took like and hour to walk to; lots of hills and field and forests. Nice scenery; but so doped up on double doses of allergy medicine q12h I couldn't wait to get out of there. Things improved in St. Malo and I wish I had been able to spend the time there instead. Nice seaside town with [View Full Entry]

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I am inexplicably happy in Paris. Exhausted, but happy. I think I have been out no less than ten hours a day. My hostel is in Montmartre a little north of Sacre Couer, and an easy metro ride anywhere in the city. I spent one day making the trip up to the Monet gardens. They were very impressive, but much smaller, and therefore much more crowded, than I had expected. Lots of things in bloom though, and I was also able to tour Monets house. He apparently had a thing for Japanese art...and some interesting floor to ceiling tile work [View Full Entry]

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I spent the last week and half between Galway and the Aran Islands, mostly on Inis Mor, the largest island. I had only planned on staying maybe three days, but liked it so much I stayed longer. There wasn't tons to do, but it was a nice quiet village (especially when the day-tripping tourists left) with a nice hostel. The hostel had a good kitchen and there was a market near by. I cooked a lot when it was too windy and rainy to go out...we watched DVDs in the nice common room and ate hot choloclate chip cookies. I [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Dublin yesterday afternoon from London. It's a very nice very european city...in that most of it's residents/tourists seem to be from other european countries besides Ireland. At least in the center. The Irish-ness seemed to increase outside of city center. But I had to walk quite a ways to find the local thrift store and a real butcher. My hostel has a nice kitchen, so I've been economically recreating things I read on Irish menus. I'm just back from the Evensong service at St. Patrick's cathedral. It was probably one of the highlights of the day. It [View Full Entry]

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I felt like the last time I was in London, I sufficiently exhausted the tourist activities. So this time I'm just staying with my half-aunt Tara (just two years older than me) and relaxing. She has a close group of friends that she's known since she was nine or so, and so there are plently of activities to keep us busy. On the day I arrived one of her rommates made a nice German dinner of knodel with pork and cream sauce for everyone. Last night I think about seven of us went for a Turkish themed backyard barbecue and [View Full Entry]

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