Hey hey hey
So we are back, Jason in Canada and me here in Engensen and i thought ok i have procrastinated enough so i better sit down and tell u about our fantastic trip. so here goes
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg is the home of VW largest factory. Jason and i spent the 9th in Wolfsburg and it was fantastic. VW also owns many other brands of cars and while they don't make those different brands there each brand has its own pavilion in what is called the auto-city. We visited most of the Pavilions. VW, Bentley, Seat, Audi, Lamborghini, and Skoda. i enjoyed the Bentley pavilion the most. they had three cars on display as well as a Motor. We talked to the Bentley guy working there to pop the hood on one of the cars and wow i would not want to be the mechanic that has to work on a Bentley. that 6.75L engine takes up a lot of room and they just cram everything in around it. In the Seat Pavilion we sat in the display cars and turned the radio up loud. The VW pavilion showed this stupid moving that nothing to do with cars and the Lamborghini just had a Lamborghini car bolted to the wall and then played really really loud music along with a light show, not all that impressive.
After Lunch we went on the actual factory tour. they showed us a movie of how all the cars are painted as we are not allowed in that are as it has to be 100%clean. one interesting thing we learned is that every car is wiped clean by an emu feather brush. We did get to see the assembly line for the golf models which takes i think 5 buildings 1 paint, 1 metal working, 2 assembly, and a testing so very big. It was amazing to watch those robots put a car together so fast and easily. robots even bolt the pieces on. i watched two robots mate the engine, tranny, drive train, and chassis to the frame of the car in about 1 min knowing that it would take me months and months of work to do what they just did. we headed back to Hannover that night and caught the night train to Paris. We didn't have the beds we had the seat compartments. it really sucked in fact it was our worst train of the whole trip. First off the compartment was full so you couldn't stretch out on the seats. second it was blistering hot and this was combined with the horrid smell from the two polish people riding in the car. Every time we tried to open the window to get rid of the smell and cool it off one of them would get up and close the window.
Paris
We arrived in Paris and got into our Hostel which was in east Paris. We spent that morning just wandering around north paris. we took the underground to central paris and walked down Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triumphe. from there we headed to Eiffel Tower. it had been a overcast morning but just as we showed up at the tower it cleared up, so we decided to go up. The Eiffel tower is much larger than i expected but no where near as busy as i thought it would be. we of course went straight to the top which had a fantastic view of Paris but was in fact so high up you could see very little detail about what was actually down there. It was also windy so after 10 or so minutes up there we headed down to the second level. The second level doesn't have as good a panorama but you can still see a long ways and it has the added bonus of having more detail. From the second level we took the stairs down, just to say we did use the stairs on the Eiffel tower. There was a giant inflatable rugby suspended between the first and second level which made for some funny looking pics. The world cup of rugby was happening in france at the time of our visit so there was rugby stuff everywhere. There was one particular of a french player that we found rather intimidating. It was of this player with his arms raised above his head in a v. He has the Jesus hair cut and its raining so its wet and all. oh ya he also looked like he could pic up a bus and throw it with speed at you. i think that was the most intimidating part. after the tower we headed back to the hostel and grabbed some much needed sleep. jay slept for a couple hours and than we headed out to supper. we both ordered pizza and when we got our pizza's they both had a raw egg dropped in the middle. still tasted great but was a little strange.
The next day we headed to the Louvre. no we didn't go see the Mona Lisa it was the only place in the whole museum that was crawling with people so we just did all the other stuff and never had to stand in line once. ok we didn't do all the other stuff but we did see some really cool things. From the Louvre we went to Notre Dame which was probably the only thing on the whole trip that i was surprised by the fact that it was smaller than i had imagined it. still a very nice place. in the afternoon we headed up to farther north in the city to the Montmarte. it is the City's tallest hill and it is defiantly a hike to get up to the top. The Basilica on the top of the hill with its distinctive almost onion shaped domes was more beautiful from the outside than the inside so we enjoyed the sun on the steps in front of it and watched one of the many street performers work his magic on the crowd. That evening i had duck for supper, escargot was on the menu but i chickened out of that. we headed back to the Eiffel tower that night to get a picture of it at night. it was lit up in the colours of the rugby world cup. green at the bottom and white on the top. we didn't think it looked all that great but then just as we were going to leave all these strobe lights that they had mounted on the tower started going off so that was cool.
i can't remember all of what we did the next day i know we walked through the St Germain district but i think it was a fairly uneventful day. we left in the early afternoon for Caen.
Caen
Caen is a city of about 130,000 on the english Channel. we went there because it is the closest major center to Juno and the rest of the D-Day beaches. we spent one evening and a day in Caen but most of it was spent at the D-Day beaches. We went to the Canadian center on Juno beach which is excellent. i even learned some things about Canada while i was there. there are still bunker ruins and bomb craters all around the beach and everything. the beaches were so beautiful that it was depressing to think of how many people died there. we returned that night to Paris to catch a train to Barcelona. Unfortunately all the trains that day and the next were all full to Barcelona. we didn't really want to spend anymore time in Paris. WE headed to the train station that serves Southern France and told the lady we wanted to go south that night. we ended up on the train to Marseilles. that was a nice train we there were only 8 people in the whole carriage.
Marseilles
When we got off the train in Marseilles we instantly noticed one thing. it was beautifully warm. We took our stuff to the hostel and the wandered down to the beach which was only 4 blocks away. The beaches of the French Riviera, although beautiful, are made up entirely of stones varying from small pebles to tennis ball size stones. there is no sand except where san has been brought in and layed over the stones. but it was hot and sunny so we didn't mind a bit. We wnadered along the beach down to the old port had lunch and then came back and spent the afternoon swimming and lying on the beach. . the next day we did our sight seeing in Marseilles going to the Hill top Church/fortress and also taking a city bus tour. I bought tickets to Nice for the next day at the train station while Jason did laundry abck at the hostel. went back down to the beach in the late afternoon and to city center for supper. So ya most of the time in Marseilles was spent on the beach, it was wonderful.
Nice
we left for nice early the next morning and arrived around 11:30. We headed straight to the beach and swam slept and generally lazed around until 4:00 a fantastic day with just a hint of a breeze so you didn't get to hot. We both really enjoyed Nice even though we didn't spend long there. the parts of the city that we saw, although expensive, were very class and beautiful. with lots of bright colours and ornately decorated buildings. The main town square was also very beautiful with a massive fountain that changed the height it shot the water up into the air. so i know you are thinking "hey he spent the same amount in Marseilles and Nice as he did Paris but he wrote more about Paris" well we spent tons of time sightseeing in Paris and tons of time on the Beach in the south so there isn't near as much to talk about.
That night we went to leave Nice but there were French train strikes so we had to take the Bus from Nice into Italy. it was about a 2 hour bus ride and then they took us to a Italian train station. Jay and i caught the first train to Rome the sleep was ok at around 4 in the morning we moved from the compartment our seats were in which had 5 people in it to an empty compartment so we could lay down.
Rome
In Rome we discovered that Jay was missing his passport. because of the train strikes in france it wasn't going to make sense for us to head back to Marseilles where we had left it at the hostel to get it back. We checked into our Hostel and the rented some bicycles and headed to the Canadian Embassy. we spent the morning getting police reports and filling out forms and calling the hostel in Marseilles. At the end of it we determined that the best thing to do was for the hostel to mail the passport ahead of us to Munich where we could pick it up at the Canadian Consulate. After a quick but huge lunch at this strange eatery we headed out on the bikes. Riding a bicycle in Rome where there really isn't much for traffic laws is tons and tons of fun as long as you have your head on a swivel. i would recommend though that if you are going to rent bikes in Rome rent a mountain bike as rome is built on seven hills and you can get really worn out on a bike with only one gear. That afternoon we saw the Piazza del Republic, the Spanish Steps, The Piazza Popolo and the Piazza Novona everything was beautiful and under construction although it was usually just a little. I have a lets go book that recommended this little restaurant and as most of the places we were looking to eat at we expensive we thought we would give it a try. It was very hard to find as it was down a tiny little street that wouldn't qualify as a sidewalk in three hills. But we finally found it and it was very good. i ordered tripe because i didn't know what it was and it sounded good in Italian. before our meal came an older couple and their friend all from New York sat down beside and started talking to us. they all spoke Italian and had been in italy for the last 3 weeks. When my meal came all three of their eyes went wide and they asked "is that that Tripe????" i said yes and asked what it was as i didn't recognize it. One of the guys told me it was his favorite Italian meal one said he hated it and the Missus said she also really enjoyed., but they said i had to start eating it before they would tell me what it was. after i was a little ways into the told me it was cows stomach. you know what i finished that meal and truly enjoyed. it was kind of rubbery like calamari but when you found one of the big pieces it had beef in between the layers and that beef was some of the most tender meat i have eaten. We rode back across the city to our Hostel and had a great sleep.
The next day we left the bikes behind as we ere headed out with a girl from BC who travelling alone. i remembered my alone trips so i thought it would be a better trip if she had some company and we had someone else to talk to. We started the morning off by heading to the Colosseum. what a massive and truly amazing work of ancient architecture. The Colosseum as it stands today is huge stark and impressive but then you see the pictures of what they think it looked like thousands of years ago and it is truly breathtaking. it was worth the wait and the 11 euros to get in. after walking around the ground and first level of the Colosseum we headed to Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill was the home of the wealthy and powerful in ancient rome. Beside both the Roman forum and the Colosseum it is located on the highest of the 7 of Romes hills. what is left today is a massive amount of amazing ruins we just wandered around the hill talking and getting our socks knocked off by everything we seen. from the Hill we headed to the Roman Forum the seat of government in ancient Rome. Again huge and with lots and lots of ruins. what i would give to go back in time to see what Rome looked like in its hay days. we had a late lunch was on a side street and again was very good. i had pizza and the menu said it had bacon, cheese, olives, egg, onion, and mushrooms. the cheese was the only got spread over the whole thing the rest were put in their own separate piles. oh and the egg was hard boiled. From lunch we headed to the Trvi Fontain and then to the Pathenon. we headed back to the hostel around 3 and took a short break. that night we met Hayden and James from Australia. We had a free pasta supper at the hostel and played cards with Samantha (girl from BC) Hayden and James.
The next day Jason and i headed out alone again on the bikes. we went to the Vatican City. We got suckered into this tour that said that we wouldn't have to stand in line but it turned out that we had to stand in a line that was just as long as the one we had been standing in. Although we did only have to stand in one and if we hadn't done the tour we would have had to stand in two. anyways, not important, The Vatican Museum is amazing. The Louvre has more works of art but the Vatican Museum is just incredible. Sculptures by Michelangelo and Tapestries by Bernini the amount of stuff in it6 is incredible and also the value. Obviously many of the items are priceless as with many museums, but the Vatican did put a number to a few sculptures and items. It valued them purely by weight of their material. Neros bathtub made of an extremely rare type of Egyptian Marble, of which the Vatican owns 30% of the worlds supply, was valued at 80,000,000 euros. Then of case came the Sistine Chapel. much larger than i expected it is enormous canvas that Michelangelo spent 8 years (not all at once). look up the pictures of the ceiling and walls on the internet as they are so amazing i didn't want to ruin them with my camera. plus they are copyright Vatican. After the Sistine Chapel we headed to St. Peters Basilica. this is the worlds largest church funded by a family that would make Bill Gates look poor in today's money. The church is so massively large that you can very easily loose you perspective in it. The roof is so far away that the 8 foot letters written on it appear to by new times roman size 12. It was such a massive and impressive building my limited vocabulary cannot do it justice. Just go there, it will make all this make much more sense. after the Vatican City we took the bikes back and caught the next train to Venice.
Venice
We arrived late in Venice as our train had unexpected delays. it was raining and we had trouble finding a room to stay in. we eventually found a little attic room with one double bed that was only 60 euros a night. then and there we decided to leave the next day. Ya so venice is a very expensive and confusing city. we spent the next day just wandering around the little streets and admiring the city's beauty. it is an extremely beautiful city but very very easy to get lost in we spent 3 hours just trying to find this one gelato store. ok so we didn't care to much if we found it or not and we still had a good time wandering around. We are glad we decided to only spend one day in Venice as in one day we had seen everything we really wanted too so we caught the night train to Munich.
Munich.
Arrived early in the morning in Munich got checked into our hostel. it was sunday so most things in the city were closed but i knew that The Castles in Hohenschwangau ( the place i went with my parents) would be open so we caught the train to Fussen and the bus to the Castles. still there still beautiful for a more in depth email about them see the thread about the trip with my parents on the blog. not that i am lazy or any thing but i think that we can both agree that this email is really getting long. On monday we headed to the Consulate and hoped to pick up Jays passport. however it was revealed to us that the french postal union was also on strike and that the hostel hadn't even sent it yet. So Jay had to buy an emergency passport. that took the morning up and in the afternoon we head to the German Technical Musuem. It was also still fantastic and we were there until it closed at 5. we had met our friends from Rome that morning by fluke (Sam, Hayden, and James) so that night i took everyone out for a true German meal. we went to the Augistanier hall and had schnizel with mushroom gravy and späzel. the best part of it was that it only cost 5.20 and was a huge meal. it felt so good to be back in Germany. I knew the language again. i knew when and where the trains run from and to and when they will get there, and everything is so much cheaper. Yep if it was as warm as Rome and Marseilles Germany would truly be the 2nd best country on earth. as it stands its got crappy weather so that knocks a ways down the list. Tuesday we picked up Jays passport and headed to Frankfurt so he could catch his flight out the next day.
Frankfurt.
We vegged out in Frankfurt. Slept all the way there on the train and then after we checked into the Hostel we went out for Supper at Monkey's Noodle Bar which was really Chic and yet still not expensive. That night we went out to a Movie. We watched The Kingdom (in english) not as good as i had hoped but still a fine movie. more of a shoot em up movie than i thought it would be. We woke up at 4am and were at the airport by 4:45. we stood in line to get him checked in grabbed a quick bite at rotten ronnies and then it was time for him to get through security. i said good bye and then headed back to Engensen.
So ya that was the vacation it was fantastic and as per usual there are a hundred more stories that i didn't write down because i am not an author and you just want an email not a book. see you all soon have a good one.
Cheers, Lyle
