The train from Rome to Paris took all day and we ended up arriving in Paris pretty late at night. Since we were back in Paris, the following day we decided to do some more touring. First, we went to the catacombs which were absolutely incredible. You walk for about 20 minutes underground surrounded by bones. After this we headed to Notre Dame cathedral and climbed to the top. This gave a great view of the entire city. Notre Dame itself is absolutely huge but it is so crowded that it is tough to appreciate it.
After Notre Dame we headed to the Louvre which we had missed on our last trip to Paris. The Louvre is an amazing structure that could take weeks to go through. We decided that we wanted to see the Mona Lisa (because you almost have to if your in Paris) and then we would just walk around and see whatever we saw. The Mona Lisa is very underwhelming as it is a small painting surrounded by bullet proof glass that is hard to see while having people push and shove to get a better view. Even so, I am glad I was able to see what made Dan Brown a millionaire. The rest of the Louvre was amazing but also very intimidating. After another hour or two of walking around we got tired and left.
The next morning we headed to the train station and got a train to Roscoff, France. This is a small town on the sea. From Roscoff we had a 12 hour, overnight ferry booked that night right to Cork. The day in Roscoff was uneventful and the ferry back was the same. The ferry was more like a cruise ship and I actually ended up getting some good sleep. The next day we arrived back in Cork and our European adventure was over!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Part 4: Rome
We woke up early the next morning and headed to the airport shuttle so we could catch our 1 PM flight from Prague to Rome. On our way to the airport we received a call from some friends who were already at the airport telling us that it was closing because of the volcanic ash at 12 PM. We got to the airport and stared in amazement at the departure board which had "cancelled" for every single flight out. Panicking, we hopped on another bus to the train station. The train station was a mad house and we got in an extremely long line to book tickets. After a few hours of waiting (and a few Burger King stops) we reached the front only to be told that there were no trains to Rome in the next 2 days. They directed us to another line and after a few more hours in that line we ended up getting a ticket to Munich, Germany (which we could travel to for free with our Eurail passes). Five hours later we were in Munich. After walking around the city we packed it in around 2 am knowing that we would have to get up around 5 to go attempt to get tickets to Rome. We ended up getting on a 12 hour, 150 euro train to Rome.
The trip went a lot smoother once we actually arrived in Rome. We had some excellent pizza (for every meal) and got some tours of some great places. The first day we went to Austia (sp?) which is an ancient coastal village with structures that are still standing. Later that day we went to the Colosseum but ended up having to stay outside because we got there too late to do a tour. That night we encountered more travel troubles when we talked to our program director and learned that the ash may completely disrupt the rest of our travel plans. We made the decision to leave Rome and head back to Cork (which Loyola said they would pay for). This meant cutting Barcelona out of our trip but we decided this was the safest option. We headed to the train station around 8 and waited in line for about 3 hours before getting to the front. We were able to book a ticket to Paris for a few days in the future and paid around 250 euro for those seats.
The next day we headed to the Vatican and got a full tour. This was a pretty amazing tour and gave a great history of one of the worlds most famous places. In this tour we got to see the Sistine Chapel which is absolutely amazing. After that tour we had another one of the Catacombs of Rome. This bus tour took us to 4-5 different sights which were of significance in Rome.
The following day we did some touring by ourselves and went into the Colosseum and the Forum. My one major regret of Rome was not getting a guided tour of the Colosseum. I find what went on there to be fascinating and I wish I had done more than just walked around the inside. After the Forum we saw the Trevi Fountain, a cathedral dedicated to Loyola, the Spanish Steps, and a few other beautiful cathedrals.
We went to sleep early this night because we had to be up early to catch our train from Rome to Paris.
The trip went a lot smoother once we actually arrived in Rome. We had some excellent pizza (for every meal) and got some tours of some great places. The first day we went to Austia (sp?) which is an ancient coastal village with structures that are still standing. Later that day we went to the Colosseum but ended up having to stay outside because we got there too late to do a tour. That night we encountered more travel troubles when we talked to our program director and learned that the ash may completely disrupt the rest of our travel plans. We made the decision to leave Rome and head back to Cork (which Loyola said they would pay for). This meant cutting Barcelona out of our trip but we decided this was the safest option. We headed to the train station around 8 and waited in line for about 3 hours before getting to the front. We were able to book a ticket to Paris for a few days in the future and paid around 250 euro for those seats.
The next day we headed to the Vatican and got a full tour. This was a pretty amazing tour and gave a great history of one of the worlds most famous places. In this tour we got to see the Sistine Chapel which is absolutely amazing. After that tour we had another one of the Catacombs of Rome. This bus tour took us to 4-5 different sights which were of significance in Rome.
The following day we did some touring by ourselves and went into the Colosseum and the Forum. My one major regret of Rome was not getting a guided tour of the Colosseum. I find what went on there to be fascinating and I wish I had done more than just walked around the inside. After the Forum we saw the Trevi Fountain, a cathedral dedicated to Loyola, the Spanish Steps, and a few other beautiful cathedrals.
We went to sleep early this night because we had to be up early to catch our train from Rome to Paris.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Part 3: Prague
We arrived in Prague around mid-day and took a walk to our hostel which was located in the middle of the city. The city of Prague is beautiful and is one place that I wouldn't miss if I was touring around Europe. Our hostel was nice and we ended up with 6 of us in an 8 person room (we met up with a friend). After settling in we took a walk around the city and went to the bell tower which is the central focal point of the city and met up with some of the girls in our program who had arrived there around the same time as us. We all headed over to the Lennon Wall and had fun taking pictures and reading the graffiti that was littered all over the wall. We even added our own little bit about gypsies and how much we hate them.
That night we headed out to a few different bars with everyone and ended up having a pretty good time. We woke up early the next morning and headed out to get a free walking tour around the city. It turned out that we missed the tour by about 5 minutes so instead we ended up at the castle. The castle in Prague sits at the high point in the city and from there you can overlook the entire city. We walked around the castle grounds and saw the changing of the guard. We never figured out what happens in the castle now (because we didn't want to pay to go in) but it was a nice walk around and gave us a good panorama of the city. Shortly after the castle we met up with our friends and went on the later walking tour. I wish I could say that I learned a lot and was very interested on the walking tour. However, I spent the majority of the time hanging out in the back, talking to friends, and looking around. One interesting part of the tour was the walk through the Jewish Sector where we learned that Hitler had planned on leaving all the buildings of this sector standing as a "monument" to the murdered Jewish people. He wanted people to walk through the sector and see what he had accomplished. Thankfully most of the day involved walking through one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever seen.
The next day we got up early and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Rome!! Unfortunately, halfway to the airport we found out that it was closing (volcanic ash!) an hour before our flight so we would not be able to fly that day. After arriving at the airport we immediately turned around and headed to the train station. After sitting in lines for 4-5 hours we finally found a train to Munich, Germany that night with hopes that we could get to Rome from there. The train station was the craziest travel experiences ever. There were television crews on hand covering the madness and trains were booking out so fast that nobody could go where they wanted to. We ended up in Munich (look at a map and see how out of the way that is!) for the night and after waking up at 6 AM the following morning ended up getting a train to Rome at 9:15 AM.
Rome is next! Sorry for the slowness of the updates, I finally had work to do the past 2 days. I will post something about Rome later today! I go to London on the 13th and I'll be sure to share.
That night we headed out to a few different bars with everyone and ended up having a pretty good time. We woke up early the next morning and headed out to get a free walking tour around the city. It turned out that we missed the tour by about 5 minutes so instead we ended up at the castle. The castle in Prague sits at the high point in the city and from there you can overlook the entire city. We walked around the castle grounds and saw the changing of the guard. We never figured out what happens in the castle now (because we didn't want to pay to go in) but it was a nice walk around and gave us a good panorama of the city. Shortly after the castle we met up with our friends and went on the later walking tour. I wish I could say that I learned a lot and was very interested on the walking tour. However, I spent the majority of the time hanging out in the back, talking to friends, and looking around. One interesting part of the tour was the walk through the Jewish Sector where we learned that Hitler had planned on leaving all the buildings of this sector standing as a "monument" to the murdered Jewish people. He wanted people to walk through the sector and see what he had accomplished. Thankfully most of the day involved walking through one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever seen.
The next day we got up early and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Rome!! Unfortunately, halfway to the airport we found out that it was closing (volcanic ash!) an hour before our flight so we would not be able to fly that day. After arriving at the airport we immediately turned around and headed to the train station. After sitting in lines for 4-5 hours we finally found a train to Munich, Germany that night with hopes that we could get to Rome from there. The train station was the craziest travel experiences ever. There were television crews on hand covering the madness and trains were booking out so fast that nobody could go where they wanted to. We ended up in Munich (look at a map and see how out of the way that is!) for the night and after waking up at 6 AM the following morning ended up getting a train to Rome at 9:15 AM.
Rome is next! Sorry for the slowness of the updates, I finally had work to do the past 2 days. I will post something about Rome later today! I go to London on the 13th and I'll be sure to share.
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