http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/alanamadeleine/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from alanamadeleine en-us Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:02:59 +0000 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:02:59 +0000 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Piedmont/Turin/blog-168134.html On the way up from Rome to FlorenceFirenze 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 wi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/blog-168117.html I flew into Rome from Paris a few days ago. The first afternoon I was a bit tired having gotten up around 445 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 wh http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-164318.html 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 be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-163978.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Centre/Chartres/blog-161657.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Brittany-/Saint-Malo/blog-160646.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-160645.html 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 daytripping tourists left with a nice hostel. The hostel had a good kitchen and there was a market near by. I cooked a lot wh http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Donegal/Arranmore/blog-157988.html I arrived in Dublin yesterday afternoon from London. It's a very nice very european city...in that most of it's residentstourists seem to be from other european countries besides Ireland. At least in the center. The Irishness 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 eco http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-154788.html 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 halfaunt 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Islington/blog-153459.html I spent my 25th birthday wandering around Stonehenge and Salisbury. I was fully ready for the tourism that is Stonehenge and the ropes and fees and restrictions that come along with it. So being fully prepared I wasn't at all disappointed. I thought it was nice and still has pretty good vibes. Like all things in England it was a ridiculously expensive 50 roundtrip train 14 for a 25 minute http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Wiltshire/Stonehenge/blog-153451.html I flew from Chiang Mai to the Island of Ko Samui and then took a boat the same day to Ko Pha Ngan. I think I left Chiang Mai at around ten and was on Ko Pha Ngan by two in the afternoon...a bit more expensive but far more efficient than the trip would have been on bustrainovernight ferry rides. The beaches on the islands there are completely amazing. Originally I was going to bypass Haad Rin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-93103.html Pai is located about four hours from Chiang Mai via a winding road up into the hills. It is an extremely popular stopover for the backpacker crowd... many basing their 'hill tribe treks' from here and some just settling in for a few weeks or months. So as you might imagine all the western amenities are in abundance. It struck me that even way up here in the hills there is more in terms o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Pai/blog-90951.html I managed to get into Chiang Mai shortly before the airport was temporarily shut down due to the little military coup... Over the years I have started to see a pattern form where I decide to go to a country and then they immediately fall into some sort of political instability...or start bombing tourists and what not. This time I actually got to the country before it happened though Lebanon h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-90376.html I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Kerala. I spent my first few days in Varkala relaxing on the beach and beach cliff restaurants. I stayed down on the slightly less touristy but no less busy Beach Road. The beach at that end of Varkala is a pilgrimage site for Hindus and all day long busloads of people would come through to the temple the tank sort of water reservoir down from the temple http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/blog-89092.html I had a long enough layover in Dubai that I was able to get a visa leave the airport and take a bus downtown for a few hours. It was a really glitzy city with beautiful architecture. I arrived in the morning before it was to unbearably hot and wandered around the souks. They were really impressive with the masses of gold and rich fabrics. I don't think I've seen so many textile stores and ta http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-89087.html It seems ages ago that I was in Ghana having been to Dubai for stint and now India but in reality it was just a few days ago. So Ghana. In the guidebook it is described as the gold coast and boasts citizens known for their friendliness and hospitality. I imagine that might be true in some parts of the country. Maybe the parts where tourists don't go. Our experience of Ghana compared to http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/blog-87846.html After having spent three hours going through Guinea customs and immigration we arrived on the Ivory Coast side about an hour later. We past the first check point without a problem they just glanced at our passport. At the second and main entry point though we were escorted inside the military police base. All the other people in the truck came and went quickly but they just told us to wait. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Cote-d-Ivoire/blog-84746.html Labe was a pretty nice town. Everyone had little motorcycles and that was the main way to get around. We would hire two when we wanted to get anywhere and it usually worked out although one time one took me to the wrong hotel and Alex was there worried when I didn't arrive. They had a pretty good market full of clothes that come in huge shipment containers from American Goodwill....all the G http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/blog-84360.html At this point I am a little behind on the blogging but will do my best to catch up here. I am backdating the entry to because I don't want to skip writing about Guinea although at this point we have been in Ivory Coast for several days. Alright we left Guinea Bissau I think on August 12 and headed for Guinea Conakry which I will refer to as Guinea. I had started to get a cold the day before http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/blog-84089.html