Scottland

Edinburgh

March 22-24, 2008

Edinburgh Castle

Day 2
We arrived really late in Edinburg, but found the bus that we needed to take to the hostel. We got off at the stop that the direction told us too, but they were wrong! We were heading in the opposite direction. So we turned around found our hostel, checked in and then went for dinner. We found a nice place called McDonalds! The only place that was really open that late, so we had some food then went to relax back at the hostel. We played cards for a while then went to bed.


Day 3
The next day we created our own walking tour of the city, starting at the far west end up by these columns and working our way back to the castle. The old town was nice to walk through, and we would have spent more time there if the weather had been better. Despite the fact that London has more to offer in terms of attractions and things to do, I think we all fell in love with Edinburgh’s charm. To escape the rain we found a movie theatre...It was amazing to see a film in English without subtitles. Later dinner was in a Scottish pub and was followed by another movie. We wished that we had more time in Edinburgh and had been able to take a day trip up to northern Scotland.

Day 4
We woke up early and took the bus to the airport. We were tried but we knew we would have a long day still a head. We arrived in London at around 10ish, ready for more action!

Edinburgh was a 3. The weather was much nicer, and the city much quieter.

England

London

March 21-25 2008

Parlament and Westminster bridge

Day 1

We flew from Düsseldorf to London Heathrow, arriving in London at around 2pm. We took the underground to our hostel; St. Christopher’s, checked in and headed out again. We took the train to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Once there, we decided we were hungry and ate at Cup of Noodles, good cheap food. Then we walked back to the Cathedral and went inside briefly. After seeing the Cathedral we took the train to London Bridge, walked across it and all along down the river past HMS Belfast ship, toward Tower Bridge. We walked across Tower Bridge, to Tower of London. We didn’t go inside the Tower of London, just sat on a bench outside. We started to walk back to the train station, and of course it started raining. Then it eventually started hailing, so we took cover until it stopped, then made our way to the underground. We went out to see Wimbledon. We made it there in the dark, but took some pictures nonetheless and then walked back to get some dinner. We had dinner at this great Thai restaurant. Then we went back to our hostel, and went to sleep.

Day 2
Today was a busy day. We woke up at 9:00ish went to breakfast, checked out, stored our luggage then headed to the sights! We went to Buckingham Palace, down Birdcage walk to Westminster Abby. From Westminster Abby, we went to we saw Parliament and Big Ben. As we were walking across Westminster Bridge, we came upon an interesting scene. There was apparently a jumper! Well they found a pile of clothes and no one there to claim them. Naturally the cops think that someone jumped but they were searching the river for a body, not sure if they found one. It could have been a prank. Anyway we continued our journey to waterloo station so that we could see where Bourne Ultimatum was filmed! Didn’t really look the same!! We left waterloo station to Covent Garden, were we ate lunch at Walk-about restaurant. We ate fish and chips then decided to see the Biggest Department store in the world, Harrods. We didn’t buy anything, not that we could really afford anything. We went back to our hostel so that we could get our luggage and go to the airport. (See Edinburgh).

Day 4
We arrived back to London at around 10am. We found our hostel, the Ashlee house, by Kings cross Station. We checked in left our luggage, and then headed out to Knotting hill, after Knotting hill we went to the London Eye. It was pretty cool, and expensive, but at least it was 30mins. We went to Charring Cross by St. Martin-in the Fields and found an Italian restaurant. After our late lunch we went to Kings cross, did the Harry Potter’s platform 9¾. Then we went back to take a little nap! But Victoria and I fell a sleep for a long time, and Travis didn’t wake us up. We woke up on our own and realized that we were going to be late for WICKED!!! So we literally ran to the train station, caught a train, and made it in perfect time to the musical. The musical was great, and we went back and hit the sack!





Day 5
We woke up early and packed our stuff and went to the airport. We made it back to Düsseldorf a little late due to the flight delay. I finally made it home around 5pm!

London was a 2.5. The city is amazing but the there are too many tourist and the weather sucks.

Lithuania

Vilnius

January 25-27, 2008

The first somewhat sunny day that I could enjoy during my Baltic trip! Later it rained for hours!

Day 5

So after leaving Riga I arrived at Vilnius bus station at 17:30, and of course it was already dark by the time I got a Taxi and found the hostel. I got settled in, ate some food, talked to some people and watched Gold Member. It was hard for me to fall asleep because the other hostel members were having a party in the kitchen. But once I did it wasn’t half bad!!!

Day 6

This was an interesting day. I woke up around 10:30, saw the sun and decided I needed to be outside! I dressed quickly, grabbed my map and went out. Although the sun was shinning it was chilly and rain clouds were rolling in, how typical! But I took advantage of the time I had of good sunshine, and walked and walked and walked. But before I set off for the long journey I stopped at a grocery store and got nourishment (pigs in a blanket, GOOD)! Although I grabbed my map, I never used it once while I was exploring. I simply just walked on aimlessly. I wondered upon the Town Hall, where they happen to be filming something, although what, I’m not sure. Continuing on, I walked past, Holy Trinity Church, Holy Spirit St. Teresa, and the Gates of Dawn. After passing through the Gates of Dawn, the town became dismal and sketchy, so I decided it would be better to go back. So I went back the way I can, picking up some postcards along the way. I walked for hours, talking pictures, people watching and enjoying the day. I walked to the river that runs through the city, past Gediminas Tower, the Cathedral, past the National Drama Theater, which as this point was well out of Old town, and on! It was much nicer than the other side, out of old town. There were many shops and Double Coffee’s. I think Double Coffee is the equivalent to Starbucks of the West and Dunkin Doughnuts of the East in the States! One on every corner! On the last parts of my exploration I found a ZARA!! So I did a little shopping. It was fun and they had some good sales! After that I ate and read at one of the Double Coffee’s, because it started to rain. I was there for quite some time, passing time until the rain subsided. However, the rain was very persistent and wouldn’t let up, and it was getting dark so I had to head back. At this point I was really far from the hostel, so I walked quickly in the rain, for about 20 minutes or so. Back at the hostel, I talked to some more people, read and organized my taxi ride for the next morning and my things.

Day 7

I barley made my flight to Stuttgart on time. After waking up at 5am, and getting dressed I found my taxi waiting patiently outside. I got in and 40 minutes and 24 lht’s later I was in the airport past security and boarding the plane. The plane from Vilnius to Copenhagen was late, which of course made me late for my connection on to Stuttgart. Luckily there weren’t that many people on the flight, a total of 13, so they waited for everyone. I made it to Stuttgart eventually, then Reutlingen shortly after that! What a fun 7 days!

Vilnius was a 3, nice, average, but also better than I expected.

Latvia

Riga

Janurary 23-25, 2008

Riga has many parks, which makes the city beautiful, even in winter!

Day 3

The bus ride continued. Backed up a little by traffic, but nevertheless arriving earlier than planned at Riga bus station at 14:00. As usually I didn’t know where the heck I was nor where my hostel was, and since I was alone, I paid for a Taxi. This time I was a little upset that I paid for a taxi. The hostel was really close to the train station, but it still would have been hard to find. I checked into the hostel, which was very quite. I had an entire 10 bed female dorm to myself. Anyway, I put my stuff down and then went back out to get some food. Guess where I ate? You guessed correctly McDonalds!!!! Cheap, quick and good! After that I just wondered around and arrived at an amazing Orthodox Cathedral. It was set on a wide space of green grass with trimmed hedges, many trees and benches to take in the scenery. I also stumbled across the opera house, which was as nicely landscaped at the Cathedral, but with a small creak running beside it. By this time it was almost dark, so I headed back toward the hostel. I sat by the river for a while before going inside to find warmth. Since it was still pretty early I took advantage of the “free” internet! I talked online for close to 7 hours!!! Some would say Lame, but I say it’s better than going to bed; which I eventually did around 1am.

Day 4
I slept in, waking at around 11:30. I dressed quickly, and headed out in search of some food. I decided on Fridays since it had been so long since I ate there. I had steak, potatoes and a smoothie, it was freakin’ delicious. Then I went to the opera house to see if I could get a ticket for that night’s performance. Unfortunately the lady said that it was all sold out, but they sell standing room seating only at one hour before the performance. After that I didn’t really get to enjoy Riga, it was snowing so hard that I could barely see my hand in front of my face. So I went to the movies to kill time. I saw Atonement, and Michael Clayton. Both movies were completely different, but good. After the movies it was time to go back to the Opera Theater and get a ticket. I paid $6 for the standing room ticket. Not bad. The opera was called Carmen, a story about Cuban prostitutes and the military. It was really good; the only thing that sucked was that I couldn’t see the translation boxes, so I didn’t really know what was going on! After the opera I walked back toward my hostel and stopped at the Double Coffee. A chain diner restaurant in the Baltic’s like Denny’s, but with European breakfast not American!!! It was really good and cheap. I ate and then went back to my hostel for bed.

Day 3

Of course when I woke, it was sunny and I had to be on a bus for about half the day! But there were storm clouds rolling in so I wasn’t that upset! For breakfast I ate at the Double Coffee my new favorite place. I had potato pancakes and ham, a little creasy but tasty!! After breakfast it was almost time to be at the bus station, so I went to the grocery store and stocked up on some food for the bus ride. I then walked among this out door market. I didn’t really find anything that great, although I was temped a couple of times to buy one of those Russian type hats, with the flaps!!! But nothing was that appealing. So I went to bus station. This bus was not nearly as nice as the one I took two days before, but I had a seat to my self which was nice. This trip was a lot longer for some reason than the other. Not sure why? But we eventually made it!


Riga was a 4. It's big, historical, modern and pretty. It has everything one needs and wants!

I I could actually live in Riga, its big and pretty, but it would be hard for me to adjust to the language.