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The view from my Hostel
It almost felt like I was staying in a high priced hotel. A helluva view to wake up to in the morning.
Edgar Barguiarena I know, I just have the worst luck. Turns out that the Spanish rail workers are currently on strike for some unknown and vague reason. So here I am in Nice, in the southern coast of France and I have been trying to book a train ticket to Barcelona for the last two days. Every person Ive spoken to has told me something different about what trains are still running but I finally managed to find one that leaves tomorrow morning at 5:55 a.m and arrives in Barcelona just before 7pm. It was the only one I found running and even that one isnt guaranteed to get me all the way to Barcelona. But other than that I've had quite an eventful week and a half since I last updated. I went to Strasbourg, which is on the border of France and Germany, then made a quick detour to Interlaken, Switzerland which was absolutely amazing and now I find myself enjoying the French Riviera for the last 4 days. I'll start where I left off though, which takes us to Strasbourg.
Its interesting to note the small things that make one decide what his next travel destination will be
Cafe in Center of Town
There were cafe's like this all over the place, in the background is the very unique architecture attributed to Alsace, France. on a journey like this. My trip to Strasbourg was decided through one of the most unlikely sources,
a forwarded email that was sent to my mother. Trust me, I dont normally read forwarded emails and this one wasnt even sent to me. But for some reason, both my mom
and dad seem to get a big kick out of them and my mother happened to show me an email that was forwarded to her by a friend in Mexico. The email contained a powerpoint presentation of Alsace, France. It had lots of nice pics and some very charming french music in the background. My mother fell in love with it and I decided it would be a nice place to visit. I arrived in Strasbourg last Wednesday and stayed for 3 days. It was a great little city that only had a few sites to see but I was fortunate to be hosted by Phil whom I found through couchsurfing. He showed me the area and I hit the town with him and his friends from school. It was alot of fun interacting with these new people I had just met in very broken English and French. Phil is
Gothic Cathedral in Strasbourg
This was pretty impressive in scope and size, especially considering it was in such a small city. studying tourism so he was a great source for interesting places to go in the region, it was his advice and a small city that my brother had mentioned that drove me to my next destination, Interlaken, Switzerland.
There is not a single shred of doubt in my mind when I say that Switzerland is the most beautiful and picturesque country I have had the pleasure of visiting. Interlaken is a small city that is nestled in between two large lakes and surrounded by the Swiss Alps. This also happens to be the base for alot of adventure tours and a prime backpackers destination. Let me start off by saying that Switzerland is an extremely expensive country, right up there with England and the city of Paris. The hostel was very reasonably priced but thats only so they can sucker their residents to grossly overpriced adventure trips. Skydiving from a helicopter ran about $325US and paragliding was about $240. I did not plan on doing any of these tours but ended up booking a canyoning trip. It was only about $85US and lasted about three hours. When I first heard of it I was asked the same question I'm
Motorcycle Gang in Switzerland
Here we are standing in a small rest stop, it was pretty fun riding alongside these 3 guys. sure many of you are asking, "What the hell is canyoning?" It is a perfectly valid question but one that is somewhat difficult to explain. The best way I can describe it is hiking through white-water rapids. You don a wet suit along with a life jacket and rappel, slide, dive, swing, and shimmy your way across the water, which happened to be running very rapidly as it had just rained. It was probably one of the most intense things I have ever done, and let me tell you, words do not do it justice. A photographer accompanied us and took a few good shots, but if it werent for the fact that I looked like a large walrus in my wet suit and the $20US price tag I would have bought them. I went with a few guys I had met the night before at the bar, we decided to rent a few motorbikes which were about the only other thing you can do in town for a reasonable price. This was probably the best decision I have made so far on this trip. The motorbike ride through the Swiss Alps was absolutely jaw-dropping. We rented the bikes for
Swiss Alps in the Background
Pictures really dont do this place justice. It has to be seen to be believed. 4 hours and got a chance to visit some of the smaller villages in the area, a glacier, and a very large waterfall inside a cave. It was unforgettable. I was utterly exhausted after that long day but we all hit up a few happy hours in the area with a few other people. The next day I had nothing to do as I didnt want to waste anymore cash and I had a 6:30pm overnight train booked to Nice. This, however, provided me with a very unique opportunity that finally made me realize what exactly I was doing, it drove the point home so to speak but I'll save it for when I finish this update as it makes a fitting end.
The overnight train to Nice was kind of uncomfortable but I popped a few Tylenol PM's and slept through most of it. I arrived early in the morning, checked into the hostel and made my way into town. I got to the coast and promenade area just in time to walk through the fruit and flower market before they closed. The view of beach was just as I had seen it in photo's and movies, a
Outside the Waterfall
There were small villages scattered throughout our route. It almost seems like something came through and just carved this passageway in the mountains. rocky coastline that stretched across the city. I walked around town for most of the afternoon and made my way back to the hostel for a very inexpensive dinner prepared by the in-house chef. This place has been amazing so far, everyone I talk to agrees that this is one of the best hostels they have stayed in. They have a laundry service where you just drop off your clothes and they wash and dry it for you for only 5 euro. The drinks are only 1 euro and the place is usually rocking till 2 or 3 in the mornin. I have met people from all over and even played a few drinking games (Circle of Death!). I met 2 australian girls who were taking the same day trip to Monaco as I was the next day so I met up with them again the next morning. Monaco is the second smallest country in Europe after Vatican City and is the home of the Monte Carlo casino. The casino was just incredible, just like in Casino Royale and even more over the top in person. The yachts parked in the marina nearby are incredibly extravagant, only to be topped
Resting in the park, taking in the skydivers
Here I was laying down in the park with this as my backdrop. I want to say at least 50 skydivers came through in the 2 hours I was there. by the myriad of bently's, porshes, and rolls-royces in the front parking lot. I made my $10euro donation at the slot machines then walked around town for a bit making my way to the world famous aquarium nearby. We got lost making our way there but it gave us a good chance to see the city/country. The next day we met up again and went to a nearby beach to tan and get in the water, followed by a quick visit to the village of Eze with another mate I met from Australia which was amazing. The village is extremely small and perched on top of a hill that gave great views of the coast. Walking through it felt like I was walking through a village from the middle ages, they say it has remained untouched for the last 5 centuries. The Aussie girls I met were great, we exchanged emails and I might meet them up in Greece during a later part of my trip if our schedules coincide.
This brings me back to today, I dont have much of anything planned, might go back into town later for a bit but I have to make it an
Monte Carlo
The outside of the casino. The nicer cars were parked right in the front. early night to catch a 5am shuttle to the train depot. Now if I may go back to that moment I mentioned in Switzerland. It was early afternoon and I had nothing planned with almost no Swiss Francs left and no reason to exchange anymore money. I walked around town a bit, found a cheap lunch and made my way to the park in the center of town. This was the area that was used by the skydivers as a landing area so the grass was incredibly soft. I laid down for awhile and read my book and took a small lap. Waking up it really hit me, here I was in the Swiss Alps surrounded by mountains, homeless for the night as I had no hostel booked and everything I currently owned was on my back. This is the experience of a lifetime and is simultaneously nothing like I expected and exactly what I had hoped for.
Carpe Diem.
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jorgito
non-member comment
i like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
edgar - glad to hear from you again and glad you are having the time of your life!!! Keep up the good writing and great pics!! Your pics are nice but can you stop photographing your feet? I am sure you have nice feet and all, but can you do us that favor. J/K. Don't know if you heard but the "dirty" Spurs beat the Cavs in game one of the finals. Clemens will probably start for the Yanks on Saturday. Astros are still a few under .500. The "Puma" is batting around .230-.240. Pence is batting around .365. I'll see you later!!