Advertisement
Published: July 13th 2007
Edit Blog Post
So we left Lagos for Sintra, which a little fairy-tale like town just outside of Lisbon. Tons of castles and pretty forests, etc. What sucked was we were only there for 1 night. The hostel was nice, but a bit musty. Either way we slept well after a full day of seeing castles and palaces. The next 48 hours were BRUTAL. The next morning in Sintra we wanted to see one more castle. Unfortunately we had to check out at noon (but the reception was closed until noon) and we had to leave Sintra at 2 for Lisbon. So.... we didnt have much time to visit the castle, AND we had nowhere to put our bags. It was one of those days where u waste time eating, drinking, and finding cheap internet cafes.
Anyways, at 4 pm we took an overnight train from Lisbon to Hendaye (in France). Brutal. Again, we were in a cosy couchette with 6 people. Amazingly, I always sleep just solidly on these trains. Maybe it's the gravol... From Hendaye we caught a long train to Paris, and from Paris caught a train to Bayeux, in Normandy. Bayeux was a very cute cosy town and
it was a good base for exploring all the D-Day museums. We did a WWII tour, and saw some war museums, Omaha beach, the American cemetary, and 2 German bases that had been destroyed (they were the coolest). Unfortunately, there wasnt any easy or cheap way to visit Juno beach or the Canadian cemetary, so we didnt get to see those. It is very weird how in these Normandy villages there are American, Canadian, and British flags flying everywhere. They are still very grateful to be liberated from German forces back in WWII. Out tour guide was proud to tell us all his neighbouring villages had been liberated by Canada. There was also little American hatred, which you can sometimes find in other places in Europe. What really struck me, was how prominent the war and its effects still were. I feel in Canada, we learn about it, but we dont actively remember it or really learn or appreciate it. It was a very different feeling over there. There were always consistent reminders of what these soldiers did for us. In mid-august, we will head back to the Belgium-France border and see Vimy Ridge, and Flanders Fields (with trenches and
battlefields, etc). Apparantely in Ypres they play the Last Post every night at 8pm, and traffic stops. I think that will be very cool.
So we left Normandy, spent the day drinking wine in Paris, and moved on to Holland. Trains to Holland were packed, and we had to wait around 6 hours to get on a train (hence drinking wine all day). In the evening, we arrived in Arnhem (Eastern Holland) and stayed with my Aunt and Uncle in the little town of Duiven. This was paradise. After travelling for a month in hostels and cheap hotels, it is so nice to come to a real home, with a real room and bathroom and kitchen. And it was even more amazing that my aunt Jetty is an amaying cook, so we had great breakfasts and dinners everyday. Not to mention a few bottles of wine every night.
In eastern Holland we saw some mueseums, some cute medieval towns and went to the largest national park - it was very beautiful. From Diuven we went back to Western Holland to Den Haag, to stay with more relatives. This was, again, a real treat. The weather in Holland wasnt
the greatest, but fortunately on my birthday the sun came out and we went shopping!!! Haha. Of course, we did a lot in Holland, but since we are so far behind in blogging I am going to try and let the pictures speak for themselves. Of course I will tell you that we saw Harry Potter 5 in Den Haag (in English!) and I was very happy to stay somewhat caught up with the movie scene, especially Harry Potter. I am hoping I can get a copy of the new book in a few days... lets hope I can find an English version!
From Holland we went to the medieval town of Brugge, in Belgium. It is sooo cute. It's very small, but with amazing beer and amazing chocolate. From Brugge we headed to Colgne, in Germany. This was a shocker: Brugge was thunder and lightening, and Cologne, only a couple hours away, was having a heat wave of like 40 degrees celsuis!!! So we had a couple days of sun and sweat, and also, amazing beer. Every pub here has their own brewery and they dish it out in these small glasses so before you know it, you've
had like 5 beers! Anyways, we headed from Colgone to Heidlberg, which is where we are today. It was even hotter here: 43 degrees. I swear I thought I was going to faint walking with our huge packpacks trying to find our pension (guesthouse). Heidlberg has been very cute. It is in a valley, with a huge castle on one side and a beautiful river dividing it. I shall post some pictures of it. Heidlberg is a University town, and so we visited the campus today. What is hilarious is back in the 18th and 19th century, University officials were in charge of disciplining the students. So they had a student jail, where students were sent from anywhere between 2 days to 4 weeks for misdeamors such as public drunkeness, womanizing, or chasing pigs, for example. Anyways, the jail has become kind of a museum, as the students painted graffiti everywhere, such as profiles of their cellmates, or poems or quotes, or their names with the dates of their stay. Apparantly it became somewhat of a rite of passage to stay in this jail at least once before you graduate. We found it hilarious.
Anyways, as you can tell...
we became far behind in the blog writing. It is hard to find time to write and upload pictures. I think from now on we will try to write less and post more pictures. Keep the comments and messages and emails coming! We love hearing from everyone! Hope you all are enjoying your summer. We miss everyone.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.312s; Tpl: 0.032s; cc: 10; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0444s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Kemmy
Emily and Kevin
Me in my new hat
I didn't realize how goofus I look in the hat picture... Kev says he was trying to capture me while eating...