My Europe 2000 Trip

Lesley and Becky's Voyages across the Ocean!

• Day 1 Tuesday October 31st. The journey begins at Logan, we meet in the Iceland air line, check in and grab some rations and reading material for the plane. Becky gets to sit next to a guy with bad breath (sorry!) The flights were pretty uneventful, with a change of planes in lovely but DARK Iceland at about 5 am.
• Day 2 Wednesday The flight to Paris we are lucky, nobody sitting next to us, so becky passes out over the empty seat. We get breakfast, (didn't we just eat dinner?) We land safely in Paris, wow! Europe here we come! So it takes us 3 hours negotiate the CDG shuttle, RER and metro (oh and of course waiting for our bags). We finally make it to our old roommate Linda's, re-united again! How great is this, she feeds us bead and croissants, tea, water and juice, we eat and catch up on gossip etc... Linda and roommate Kristen are still recouperating from their Halloween night, but Becky and Lesley are troopers and decide to trek across Paris. We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, walk over the Seine, down the Champs-Elysees, past the Louvre and rest a minute at Notre Dame... whew! Finally we make it back to the apartment and head out for dinner.. yummy couscous with half a chicken on top.. (how do we eat this?) Finally its time to head to the Gare de Lyon to catch our overnight train to Nice. We discover the whole first car empty so we spread out and hope we're in the right compartment! Wow sleep finally, we wake up in the morning by 2 nice conductors...
• Day 3 Thursday The end of the line... Nice! We get off, shove our packs in lockers and get right back another trin to hit Ventimiglia, Italy, walk around a little and get lunch there... We get back on the train and stop in Monaco to walk around in the pouring rain! Never mind figuring out the streets and how to get out of the train station and down the hill! We wandered around a bit and saw the palace and old part of town, and finally headed back to Nice. Grab our packs and start our search for a cheap hotel. We head down Jean-Medecin towards viex Nice, towards our first choice, hotel picardy, and the guy tells us he's booked up, so we're at the door discussing where to go and he's like how many nights? We wanted to stay at least 2, so he's like ok is one bed ok? Great! With a shower even! Little did we know it still didn't have a toilet and the shower was litterally in the room! We do a little exploring, and head to Cours Saleya and decide to eat at the festival de moules... then head to Master Home which really wasn't that exciting, but we were tired and needed sleep! Oh but we needed to get tiramisu ice cream before bed!
• Day 4 Friday Finally we wake up around 11 am having no idea what time it was since out window was tiny and right next to another building, and it was raining! We started walking, got some bread and goodies, walked along the promenade, the reain finally clears, and I get to walk by my old apartment.... oh I miss it! We also walk up to the universite... same old place! ( by this time my right knee is killing me and I'm not too happy about it!) Therefore I may be referred to as "gimp" in the future. After a treacherous walk into a gas station store for drinks, we stop on the promenade for a little sunshine. We walk back down the Zone pietone, to Galeries Lafayette and shop, then continue to train station to try and figure out next day's schedule to get to Nimes. We then head towards the Russian Cathedral that I had never seen before. Finally get back to our hotel and collapse! Eventually we get up and get ready for a night on the town... on French time nonetheless... after stopping for a pannini sandwich we had to Jonathan's and hang out for a while inthe "cozy" cave, with the same guy singing who was there about 4 years ago! We down a pitcher of Sangria and head to Chez Wayne... hmm... This place is actually really cool. Lots of English speaking people and Cute guy waiters! Its extremely crowded and 2 guys standing next to us started talking to us... Guillaume and Sebastien, they were really nice French guys. After a while they wonder if we'd like to go somewhere else, so we agree, and then end up at the Oxford Bar. This stop involved some sort of drink that was on fire! There was an issue with an ATM and they ended up borrowing $ from us! (what a good impression!) At this bar as well we realised all the cool designs on credit cards that show up under blacklights! From there I had wanted to go to Subway, (they live in Nice and had never even been there!) so end up there and danced and danced and danced... until about 4 or 5 am. They walked us back to our hotel and got our email addresses, (oh how sweet!).
• Day 5 Saturday We miss the first alarm this morning, but wake up early enough anyways. Pack our bags and left them at the hotel. We walked up the Chateau (after of course the search for bread)... walked up and up and up and the views got better and better, the city below and snow capped mountains to the North. Walked aound to the misty waterfall and got a little wet! Then down down towards the port towards lighthouse, saw silly kayaker and drenched fisherman. From there walked along the marina, Becky excited to see the moorings, funky buildings and colors. Feeling hungry again, ate salad and pizza, and then the wind started. Tried to walk back around edge of chateau and I almost got blown away, Becky had to hold me down! Changed some more $ and sat on beach a little while, then its time again to get bags and head back to train station. And once we get there we find out the train schedule we were told was wrong (only in France!) typical! We got on one anyways that went to Marseille and from there we decided to go to Arles. Sat and had coffee while waiting and tried to call for hotel, finally got one that said ok but be here by 11pm... We take train, get off, jump in cab and reach hotel right AT 11pm.... gee nobody answers door, thanks! So we wander, wondering if ANYWHERE is open at this hour! We find one that's open Hotel D'Arlatan, that's a little more expensive, but we finally decide on it, the guy gives us a break on the price too. The place was pretty cool, there were ruins under it that you could look down on in the lobby, through the glass floor.
• Day 6, Sunday The day starts off rather well, we wake up in our lovely roon, with (our own)nice bathroom up a couple of stairs... interesting! We store our packs and begin walking around Arles, this is where we begin to realise our problem, which is nothing new, its been plagueing our generation forever, face it we are not people that want to "rest" on Sunday, the 7th day... So that not only means some things are closed for us, but almost everything was closed anyways because of low season! We searched for breakfast, and feeling very French sat outside at a cafe with our croissants and cafe au lait... then we visited Van Gogh's hotel where he recovered from the ear incident and a mild case of insanity... Saw many other gardins, colluseums, Roman baths, musees, eglises, etc.. We did go into one OPEN museum, lots of cool photography. Soon we grabbed our packs and headed back to the train station. Thinking we lucked out, a train comes soon going towards Nimes, but is it stopping there? NO! Oh just get off at the next town and take a cab to Nimes we're told be French rail people...so we get off in Tarascon which shall forever be referred to as "hell"... Desolate train station, no evidence of taxis, no evidence of much there actually... hunted for taxi phone # and we're told it would be an hour to wait for taxi, then really really expensive for it to take us to Nimes... no thanks! so... 5 hours till next train in that direction, nothing to do because this is hell and its sunday and its between noon and 2pm!!! SO we decide to get on the next train BACK to Marseille, crammed full of people. So back at the gare in Marseille, the rail man here tells us the next train to Barcelona is oh goody! not leaving until 1:04 am, a good 9 hours from then! Once again we throw our crap in a locker, and go explore by foot... we head out though a sea of mostly foreign born looking people, we felt very very white! We see a few cool things, towards the port and old town area. We make a big circle and look for somewhere to eat, after having to ditch sketchy French guy. As we're eating pasta it begins to rain, or pour! We run back to train station, stopping for Krisprolls rations and water. Back at station, we wait and wait and wait, its a BIT chilly and we're getting dripped on... not fun. Finally train comes and we scramble on, not paying attention to what car is going where, sit in 1st class, which happens to be going to Irun, so at about 3am, we sprint to a 2nd class car going to Portbou.
• Monday, Day 7 Morning again, little sleep, we change some $ figure out a few things, then head to metro to find Las Ramblas area. Cute, happening part of town, but a bit confusing, while looking for certain hotels from "Let's Go". Lots of construction we find in Spain... finally find 2nd hotel, which has tiny bathroom but at least our own shower and toilet! yeah! Finally head out towards port, split pizza and drink and desserts, and wander around some more. Went back to hotel after finding some good shopping, gimp passes out and Becky wanders streets some more and ends up shopping a bit! We planned to go out for tapas but that didn't happen... just sleep, lovely sleep!
• Tuesday, Day 8 Well rested, hungry girls head out after bagging the idea to see the cool unfinished church in Barcelona, too bad, not enough time... get some potato omelette sanwich thing (really good!) and catch train to Valencia. Arrive in quaint station, found lockers, bought reservations for night train to Granada (another 12:30am train)and headed out again. Great! Everythings closed here too, and or under construction. We find some cool churches, bell towers, find good pasta for lunch, wander through gardens looking for nonexistant (or closed)zoo, hit the department store... then begin to walk in circles! So we have more coffee, then go get bags, and wander around with them while looking for food, yet everything's closed! So back at station we get some rations from the one place still open, finally get on train and sleep!
• Wednesday, Day 9 Arrive in Granada... bags in lockers once again, find a used map, and once again, aimlessly wander towards center of town. A few markets are opening, we stop at a cafe, for more coffee, and chocolate syrup for me, and crossaints. We begin hike to Alhambra (gee lets go this way!) Gimp sets slow pace since it was COLD and my leg was KILLING me... Decide not to pay to get in stuff in Alhambra area, so we don't end up seeing a lot, but we wander around and see some stuff... then head down the other road, we... or Becky is approached by old woman with twig, places it in her palm and tells her fortune (in Spanish..) and basically this is our first of many experiences getting ripped off this trip! We go to church, gimp around town, and at some point find a paper showing Bush has won election back home.... We stop again for rations and some of that tomato tostada stuff, and get back to train station. Waste away our time on train to Bobodilla, eating sleeping, reading, doing those puzzles we had bought back in Boston. Barely catch train to Algeciras, but we're on our way... find cheap hotel with shared bathroom again... Head out into sketchy town... after getting ferry tix we look for hidden restaraunt that's truly hidden! Well we never find it, and end up eating at some place we think is called "the Lobster"... and have a hearty dinner, I get the chichen that was probably just running around out back! Wander around a little more, gimp is getting worse again, and has a cold too... I'm a mess! We get treats and go back to hotel.
• Thursday, Day 10 Wake up at 8am in our own beds for once, leave hotel for bus station, try to go to Gibraltar. We get some tostados there while waiting for luggage place to open, then discover it'll be closed for lunch when we need to pick up stuff.... then discover we wouldn't even have time anyways to get to Gibraltar and back in time for ferry... So... head to ferry to get on early. Find seats next to "Pirate Burger", finally figure out we need to bring passports up to reception for stampage... We arrive in port and some official looking people walk by with our passports and motion us to follow them, but are too quick and we lose them, what's going on??? Finally find them, get our bags and we're let out to the locals to prey upon us... We think we're smart and get a taxi and agree to a price that sounds reasonable and go straight to train station, with taxi driver's right hand man telling us useless stuff about Tangier... thanks, not. So we try and buy train tickets but they don't take credit cards, AND there are no ATM's for about 7km's back into town! About this point, we wander outside the tiny station and a young-ish Moroccan in Western dress comes over and starts talking casually in decent English... hmmm... he's a student in Spain, going home to Fes, but going into town to kill time while waiting for his train... we can share a taxi! OK! We check our bags at the station, and decide to go with him in a taxi looking for ATM's with little success to find ones that work. We then walk around with this (Berber)? guy through the market, by a big mosque, take some pictures, and then he takes us to a local place to eat some fish and potatoes... all the while we're just planning on paying him back for this stuff... We finally find a functioning ATM AND change over some cash... then we go with him and have some mint tea, which was really good! All the while he's giving us "helpful" advice to us Americans because he loves and respects Americans, he's been to America to visit his sister... (yeah we believed it at the time!) Oh and at this point we he gets us some robes like the locals so we'll fit in on our journey! At this point, Becky's nervous about continuing on because of what he's telling us... but we continue on... we end up riding outside of the city with this guy, to the ocean to see a few things, and Becky gets a camel ride (for how much$$), we go to the caves of Hercules, and then back to the city. So then we stop at and artisan's market where he needed to buy a present for his sister (hah) so "no pressure, just look around"! He "buys" a rug, and we end up leaving with (actually really cool) tablecloths.... and I'm not telling how much those were! "for you my friend, NO PROBLEM!" Anyways he brings us back to the train station and he starts to add up what we owe him, and he tells us the total, and its a LOT of $$$$!!!! Don't ask how he got this total since cab rides there are barely $1, lunch is probably about the same.... so I'm like that's ridiculous! Knowing we're getting ripped off for sure now... and he brings down the price a bit so we're like whatever, and have to get MORE $$$ and pay him and ditch him at the train station as he tries to start buying our train tickets for us... At this point I'm the one freaking out but Becky wants to continue, so we buy our tickets and wait for the train, not wanting to talk to ANYONE! We actually see some other travellers too, one group who had gotten ripped off and were getting their stuff to turn around and go back to Europe... but we meet 2 Australians and a German on their way to Marrakech too, so we end up chatting with them. We get on the train and hope tomorrow is better!!!
• Friday Day 11 We arrive in Marrakech with our trustworthy companions and are once again surrounded by obnoxious cab drivers in our face, we agree on one and go to our hotel that I had booked before leaving. It was the Atlas Marrakech, big, pink, and kind of stale... very touristy! And we're basically ignored the whole time, all very bizarre! Well we did have our own balcony, TV with CNN, real bathroom, and of course the pool with French and German tourists showing more than we'd like to see. After cleaning up we head into town and look for our new friends. We walk into town and aren't bothered by anyone, surprisingly. We find the big square and almost immediately run into Karl, the German, yeah! I get attacked by a henna woman, but I let her do one hand for relativly cheap (I think). We get some local food in the market area, chicken couscous I think. Oh and Becky and Karl get a Coca-Special! (disguised red-wine) We are invited to the hotel where Karl, Selena, and Craig oh and Josh "blah-blah" are staying... They are discussing a 3-day "trek" to the Sahara and want us to come! I'm a little skeptical but finally agree too. Late that night we finally wander back to our hotel and call home to let everyone know we made it to Morocco!
• Saturday Day 12 We wake up and go downstairs for our complimentary breakfast... ooh more toast and croissants! We pack and check out of this place and head downtown to Cafe de France where our friends were staying, arrange a room and join our friends for coffee. We all agree on the camel trek, and head to Hotel Ali to sign up, but need to come back later to give the final deposit. From there we decide to head into the medina, strange enough, its harder to find our way in than out! We only get hassled a little bit, we went through an art museum, passed through some souks, and Karl couldn't stop taking pictures! Oh and some old man scolded Selena for trying to take a picture of his cats! We finally sit down once out of the medina and have lunch... our first of many meals of tajine! Later Selena and Craig go get online, then head to a secretbooze store to stock up for the night as well as the trek. The three of us wander around the square, see snake charmers, storytellers, fire blowers, and for the tourists, belly-dancers in drag! We of course stick out like a sore thumb, and are constatnly asked for dirham, well actually it was mostly Karl since he was trying to take lots of pictures and video.... We decide to wander to one of the mosques, after having a little trouble with directions which wastes a little time... so we head back to the hotel for cervecas, on our balcony watching the activities below! Oh I had gotten my other hand hennaed and it was getting really really numb, that stuff can be pretty potent! We head back to Hotel Ali to pay deposit and find out there are quite a few more people coming on our trip too, we're not psycked about that, but it all ends up well. So we finally find some more options for dinner and wader around again... I then head to bed but write postcards first, and Becky and Karl chill on the balcony a while longer... discussing travel, Peru, etc... (Becky's now addicted to travel yeah!)
• Sunday Day 13 Everyone (except Becky) is woken up by the extremely loud religious chanting at oh 5am coming over the town's loudspeakers. We find out Karl is ill and hasn't slept well, but he makes it to the Hotel and then we end up waiting a while for the 2 vans to show up. It seems one broke down so we wait some more... Our driver is Ali, and trusty co-pilot Karl the film man so he won't get too sick on the jouney (which unfortunately doesn't work too well), we also have Selena and Craig, and then Jodi and Richard, 2 more Aussies, then Ann and John (we think) Aussies at heart but currently in Saudi Arabia, then Jackie and Paul, from Scotland, and then Megan and Nate, 2 Kiwis. In the other van was 2 older English women and a French man (sorry-forgot their names!). So we take off and cross the Atlas mountains, at break-neck speed, apparently to make up time!! I'm in the back and not feeling so hot swaying back and forth.... and finally move to the front too. We make 2 planned stops, just for a bit of food and bathrooms, and hacky sack, and continue on towards the desert! Oh and then the stop at the fossil botique! Yes we're in the desert now, and people seem to be living out here in the middle of nowhere! We seem to be following a road but we can't really see it! Its just sand, sand everywhere... finally Ali gets us to Yasmine, the camel place.... Hmm.... I seem to find myself on the lead of one group of camels, luckily we have locals leading us... zite! zite! Hurry up slow camels! We head into the big dunes as the sun is almost all the way down, but its all still very cool! We get to the campsite and half the people try and rush up the big dune next to our site... uh its a lot higher than it looks!!! Back at camp they break out bongoes and the wine and finally dinner... tajine! Becky chokes on the meat... but lives! No more for her... forever??? We are joined by "neighbors" nomads who come over (crazy man and his cute kid) as well as 2 cats who try and steal any food they can. Finally the guides remind us we need to get up early the next morning so we all head to bed... and its COLD at night! And a cat attacks Becky's head, and then I roll over and smush her... oh well, we're sleeping in the Sahara!!!
• Monday Day 14 Wake up early, and find half the people already up, and halfway up the huge dune. I head up and this time make it all the way. Wow, the view is totally worth it! Sunrise is pretty cool, and the sky was totally clear. Becky and a few others actually make it to the top of the next dune! We wander back down, now full of sand, and get back on the camels. Once back at Jasmina we get breakfast of more bread, tea, coffee, tasteless butter and jam, oh and semireal toilettes (basically a hole in the ground in a little shed), but that's better than sand dunes! We head out towards some gorges, eat some soup that takes forever and is basically tasteless soup! Gorges weren't too spectacular, I'm freezing, my cold is coming back, and at the moment I'm not impressed! Today we make a stop at a town where we get a tour of the small medina and end up at.... another rug shop! This one was pretty cool though, they give us tea, explain about the rugs, and then offer to show us some to buy! They actually set the prices and nobody gets ripped off... We head out again and end up at an actual hotel, pretty nice, just no heat! Brrr!!! We get dinner, more tajine! Becky gets hot shower and hangs out in the heated common room, when i get in shower, they've shut heat off and I freeze again!
• Tuesday Day 14 We get up early again and discover we're in another gorge! This one is a little more impressive, we get breakfast, more coffee, some pancake stuff,OJ, etc... then head out to explore gorge, over makeshift bridge, into canyon that gets narrower and narrower. At some point we stop for photos and then turn around, we have to head back! Driver Ali knows Becky and I need to catch 7pm train "no problem"!!! Sure straight to station! So on our way home we stop in? Ait Ben Haddou ? at a kasbah where lots of films are shot, including Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and a new movie Quatres Plumes, or 4 Feathers. We cross dry riverbed and give some guy 1 dirham each for tour of kasbah, and after that have our lunch (tajine?!) So back through the mountains, not as bad this time, back to the city... uh but not to the train station of course... Ali at this point pretended not to speak English and just mumbled...We say goodbye and make it to train station on time, ooh only paying 15 Dhiram, we're good now! We meet some more Australians and sit with them on the train.
• Wednesday Day 16 Once again in the middle of the night we find ourselves in Casablanca switching trains... another 1st class sleeper, whew! Get back to Tangier to more crazy taxi drivers, but we bargain with new Aussie friends and share a cheap cab. At ferry terminal there is more confusion getting tickets (nothing looks official here) So finally we get through the line to get passports stamped again and onto the very crowded ferry! Yeah we're leaving Morocco, back to civilization! Algeciras never looked so good! We get on a train and head towards Sevilla and end up on a bus in the city heading towards the center of town Sant Cruz. We look at a few pensiones and pick one with a sink in the room, and a courtyard, and some birds in cages... Whew are we actually not in a van/train/boat or bus! Strange! We wander out to the tiny little back streets, almost getting run over by cars that are actually driving these streets! We look for food, and find nothing, hmm... finally find a little tapas bar, order everything at once, garlic potatoes, shrimp stuff, calimari, salad, etc... After eating we try and find way home, not very easily, I get hiccups, and we find the river and finally get back to hotel!
• Thursday Day 17 To change money or find a map.... we wander and finally find Amex, change money and head towards tourist office, stopping for tostados along the way, then try to go into the church, but seems to be closed? We go get a map at tourist office and come back to the cathedral, we are let in, and we even climbed up the tower (still limping...) next we wander the gardens of Alcazar, lots of people painting and birds chirping, we try the maze but get bored and cheat... We go back to hostel to change shoes, take more Motrin and pee... then head out for paella. Then we wander around a few ceramic stores, walk along the river to the museo, oh but wait, its closed! of course!! So shop some more we did... For dinner we went out for pizza... our waiter was really bad at explaining engredients, but we had good pasta anyways... more wandering after dinner and then some helado(?) yum! Then bed!
• Friday Day 18 Today we sleep in a little, Becky showers and we head out for b-fast, more tostados and cafe con leche... then buy some daily rations, and I go to showere while Becky looks for internet... no luck either way... we pack and get on C2 bus, the long way to train station... we're pretty early, but wait, all the trains are sold out until 5pm??? great! I try Autoeurope and Europecar, but no luck... we put our stuff in lockers and go look for internet place, we meet 3 American guys doing the same but didn't go with them... we stopped to eat oranges in the sun! So... no internet place, but look another department store! Let's shop some more! We go upstairs and eat in cafeteria... finally back to train station, (after finally picking an orange off a tree.. ooh too hard!) and get on crowded train... we switch stations in Madrid, and meet cute Canadian boy... we get on next train and are in the wrong seats again, we have to walk about 20 cars up... another night on a train in bad, cold seats!!!
• Saturday Day 19 We switch trains again at the border of France, and get on a lovely TGV, finally a nicer first class... we get to Paris about 1 or 2pm and waste a little time going to Cimitiere Montparnasse and more eating, shopping and drinking coffee. We make out way to Linda and Kristen's and tell them our story! We head to grocery store for dinner and stop to watch fire engines hit a car, cute pompier tells us to stay, but we came back and gave phone numbers and he called Linda the next day! Anyways, we all go out that night to some Irish pub and meet some of their friends... Becky got to meet Robert Kennedy! We finally leave, grab a cab and head to bed.
• Sunday Day 20 We sleep in and finally get to shower... ahhhh!!! We go to the Musee D'Orsay but take the long route through the Jardin de Luxembourg, then to the museum... lots of people on a Sunday! and we're totally dragging by the end. Heading home we stop for... more cafe au lait and some omelette tarte type something.. not bad. We get back to Linda's and make some veggie curry stuff. We stay up chatting a while and then Linda tucks us in for the night for a good night's rest!
• Monday Day 21 Linda wakes us up as she's leaving and we say our goodbye's... B and L go out to the Centre Pompidou, and see the modern museum part, more art! Funky building and art inside... After this we stop and get sugar and butter crepes the Becky dumps on her jacket... oops! We head back to apt to pack and get more rations and get the girls a pointsettia. We pack up and head to the Gare du Nord and use up our Francs on cafe and glace. The Eurostar is nice but nothing too exciting... chunnel is basically really long tunnel! We arrive London Waterloo and decide on a one day travel pass with a little help from a stranger... and everything's in English!!! Ok so we look for a hotel near Paddington... so we get off at Euston Station and walk a ways... the 1st hotel sign we see looks kinda ramshakle and sketchy but we ring the bell. Some Einstein looking guy lets us in to his wig place, we see a room, its got what we need and is relatively cheap though still sketchy and the floor and downstairs bathrooms are nasty nasty nasty!!!! We check in and then go see Big Ben, cross the Thames, go to Picadilly circus, and eat yummy italian and then go back to hotel to sleep, and watched part of a movie on tv... in English!!!
• Tuesday Day 22 Wake up in lovely room... decide to pass on a shower, go have b-fast next door, come back and pack all of our own stuff that we had divided evenly between the 2 bags... walk to Paddington to Heathrow Express, check in at Eir Lingus counter (?) and try spend out last few pounds and buy a few other things too! Get to Iceland and I buy a few more things... and voila! We are on our last leg to Boston.... fun trip... with lots of photos and this lovely journal we can laugh at our silly adventure for years to come! Muy bien! sho-kran! Salam! Adios! Au revoir!

  
  

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