http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/trex/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from trex en-us Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:11:48 +0000 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:11:48 +0000 January 12th Irsquom sitting now on the airplane after saying goodbye to Ireland and the life of travel wersquove lived for the past four months. Of course Irsquove missed my family and friends and Ducky of course but there is something about the freedom that wersquove had that I will miss everyday for a long time. This has been the greatest four months of my life. Irsquove learn http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-375756.html January 9th 11th After taking the ferry from Holyhead over to Dublin we spent our last few nights hanging with Rob and Carl and saying goodbye to the home wersquod enjoyed so very much. We went to the Jameson distillery and tasted some of the finest whiskey Irsquove ever had cross my lips and we went to the carvery where Rob took us the very first night we landed in Dublin for one last http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-375753.html December 27th January 9th Its been one month and two days since Brian and I returned home and today the bracelet my mom made for me before we left to keep me safe on our travels broke. I considered it a sign. You see for weeks now Irsquove been trying to write London and havenrsquot been able to. I figured I was just too busy with work Only a month home and I already have four jobs http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-375745.html December 24th 26th Ah Rome The ldquoHistoryrdquo of our threecity tour of Italy. Rome holds some of my most cherished most secret and most embarrassing memories with my dearest friend Cheryl. Rome is also the site of the pubcrawl on which I met Rob whom we stayed with in Dublin Ireland and Rik whom we stayed with in Leiden Holland. So before I get into my ldquoRoman Holidayrdq http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-362920.html December 21st 23rd Ah Firenze Therersquos something very comforting about being in a city you know your family just passed through. Back in October my Mom and sister were in Florence right before they came to visit Brian and myself in Galway. They stayed in the same hotel Hotel Bretagna right across the hall visited the same sights ate the same food and drank the same wine. There http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-362216.html December 19th 20th As soon as we were woken up by the ticket taker Brian looked out the window and asked ldquoWherersquos the water I thought you said this city was all on waterrdquo I calmly reassured him that we werenrsquot exactly at the water yet but it was coming. Sure enough a few minutes later we were cruising across the one stretch of road leading into Venice that looks http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-361836.html December 17th 18th The signs were all there. We just kept ignoring them. Apparently we didnrsquot want to see them and we just kept turning away. We were not supposed to go to Croatia. Sign 1 You canrsquot get there on Eurail. It seems like wersquove been doing good so far on this trip in terms of traveling around but really its been pretty simple when all we do is whip out our http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Central-Croatia/Zagreb/blog-356722.html December 12th 16th I feel that I have been very blessed my entire life with the friends Irsquove had and still have to this day. Some of you Irsquove known since birth some of you I picked up along the way and some of you found me as Brian reminds me all the time . Not everyone can say that they have loyal caring trustworthy intelligent friends who would go to great lengths to t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Buda/blog-356612.html December 10th 11th Ah Vienna. The funny thing is I knew at one point on the trip there would be a city or two that would blur by. And although we spent two days in Vienna it was just that a blur. Brian and I were both exhausted beyond exhausted when we got in and we ended up sleeping in until noon the first day. We havenrsquot done that in a looooong time. But although our time pass http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-355539.html December 8th 9th Germany round two Originally we werenrsquot planning on coming to Munich I know I know it seems to be a running theme now as we get towards the end of the trip but hey its nice to have the flexibility to go where we please. But Brian noticed something in the travel book that I had overlooked. Whatrsquos funny is that after Brian told me we were going to Munich I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-355531.html December 7th Salzburg was by far our briefest stay. We attempted to come in a day earlier to get our normal twoday fill but alas Saturday was all booked up. So here we are coming in on a Sunday night expecting to enter into a nice quiet peaceful little mountainside town. Getting into the taxi we couldnrsquot even drive down the street. People were everywhere Apparently Salzburg is f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Salzburg-State/Salzburg/blog-353747.html December 4th 6th Before I start GO to Prague. Irsquom not joking. Forget whatever Caribbean vacation you have planned out for relaxation and rum forget going to Italy to eat loads of pasta and drink your body weight in wine . . . go to Prague One of my friends Lauren told me to go as we were still deciding all of our plans and damn was she right. Prague is unbelievably beautiful ch http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-353745.html December 2nd 3rd Not THAT Berlin but I figured Irsquod open with that one for you Bunny Cha Cha. Remember the pajama party in high school Good times . . . good times. Ah Berlin. Berlin was my first experience in Germany which Irsquod been very excited to have since we set out on this European adventure. Brian lived in Steinbach am Gland Germany when we was a little kid so he told http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/blog-353064.html So Irsquom obviously not going to be around this year for Christmas which is always fun for me finding presents for you all whether it be something you truly need something you really want or something you mentioned eight months ago that I happened to jot down so Irsquod remember. Anyhoo this is my Christmas Wish List for my family and friends if yoursquore not on it maybe its because http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-352946.html November 27th December 1st Now before I get into this one I must warn all of you that this entry is for mature audiences only. Amsterdam is a wonderful place but there are a lot of very adult things that take place there and I donrsquot want to upset anyone as I write a true account of Brian and my trip there. Boy Cory wersquoll count you as a mature audience but just this time http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-352447.html November 25th 26th Before typing this Brian and I decided it would be a good idea to watch the movie ldquoIn Brugesrdquo and see what they had to say about the town. So letrsquos start with thatHarry So he's having a really nice time Ken Well I'm having a really nice time. I'm not sure it's really his cup of tea. Harry What Ken You know I'm not sure it's really his thing. H http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/West-Flanders/Brugge/blog-351854.html November 23rd 24th Arriving at 1AM in Interlaken was not only exhausting after our 16 hour day of train rides but it was also a bit of a culture shock. Only that morning we watched the sunrise on the beach in Barcelona and now here we were in the middle of Switzerland with snow falling all around us. Unreal Brian and I decided to have a quick latenight snowball fight before turning in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-West/Berne/blog-349589.html November 23rd Note I have no side notes in this entry. All of the side notes in parentheses have been brought to you by Brian . . . and the letter q . . . and the number 4. Leaving Barcelona at 730AM on a Sunday morning wasnrsquot so bad. The latenight partiers were still on their way home as well as some transgender ladies of the night. Nothing says high boots and mini skirts on a se http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-West/Berne/blog-349587.html November 19th 22nd Going to Barcelona was a haul We had to go from Porto to Lisbon Lisbon to Madrid and then Madrid to Barcelona. The longest part of the journey was the train ride from Lisbon to Madrid. The last time we took a night train for this part of our adventure we were in upright seats in a freezing car. This time we decided to splurge for our own cabin in order to get some res http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-349581.html November 17th 19th On the short and very fast train ride to Porto was a chance to finally view more of the coast and countryside of Portugal. I plugged into Chrissyrsquos mix of Portuguese music from Brazil and enjoyed the sights. The west coast of Portugal is just beautiful and it made the journey go by quite quickly. One quick bus ride from the train station and we were at our newest t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Northern/Porto/blog-349039.html