Nice, France

Nice

April 26-28 2008

Nice was Nice, and I had a really good time, taking in the sun and enjoying the weather!

Day 1
Victoria and I left for Nice on Saturday at 11:50am. We had a direct flight from Dusseldorf to Nice. Once we arrived we caught the bus into the city centre. The bus ride was along the beach, which made us want to be outside, instead of on the stuffy bus! While on the bus, we were map-less, direction-less and clue-less! We were already later than we thought we would be to check into the hotel. We got off the bus at the wrong time, making us even later to check in. Once we got our bearings and found the hotel it was too late to check in because the lady had already left. She left a note saying she wouldn’t be back until 5:30, which meant we had to lug our luggage around the city! Despite that, we had a good time, we had lunch at this place on the main strip of stores then headed to the beach. We played cards while sitting on the ledge looking out to the beach. It was really nice to just sit and relax, which was the main goal of the whole weekend! After 7 we were finally checked in, rested and ready to go out and find dinner. We walked down the popular “restaurant” street, and had a nice dinner at a restaurant that was suggested by the hotel lady! We played more cards outside then went to our room.


Day 2
Upon arriving we had declared that the second day of our trip would be spent on the beach. We woke up around 9, and went out in search of breakfast. We ate at this cute little restaurant, just off the boardwalk. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to change and grab our beach stuff, then hit the beach. There were a lot of people out there tanning without tops on! I was really tempted to try but there were too many children around and I felt weird!! Oh well, maybe some other time! Anyway, the sun was shining and we were soaking it up, living the dream!! After a while though I started to fidget, it is really hard for me to sit out in the sun for too long. I felt like I was burning. So we got up and started playing volleyball! It was a nice break from just laying. After that we went to the water to test it out and it turned out to be freezing. I did not go in however; because I’m not a big fan of oceans especially ones that are freezing! After being outside for 4 hours or so, I declared it was time to go inside! It’s a good thing I did too, because I was burnt! We watched a movie, then changed and went for a walk, took some pictures then went to find dinner. We went to another restaurant in the area that was supposed to be good. It was good, although we couldn’t read anything on the menu! We went back to our room, showered, repacked, relaxed, and then went to bed.


Day 3
We once again woke up early. We went for breakfast, but this time at a grocery store! We had sandwiches and juice and it was amazing. We ate it along the boardwalk, and played cards, while enjoying our last day in Nice. After breakfast we went for a walk and did some shopping, but didn’t really buy anything. We want back to the hotel checked out and then walked to our bus. We were getting a little worried because the bus wasn’t coming to the stop we were standing at. So we had to walk to the main station, where we found the bus and got on. The ride to the airport is short and we had plenty of time before our flight was supposed to leave. We got back to Germany around 7pm. It was a really great trip, very relaxing!


Nice was a 4. Pretty, multicultural and great weather, what more can you ask for?

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.