Brad and Neal's Excellent Adventure

Since the last post all of our time has been spent in Greece, three nights in Athens and then five nights in Chiana, Crete. Athens was fine and all. The acropolis was cool and really old but Neal and I will remember mostly for having cheap food and being ridiculously hot. I have never spent three hotter nights in my life. I was drinking about four liters of water a day. The other major accomplishment of mine, in Athens was reading Harry Potter. I was able to secure a copy and I read it in two days. It was time well spent. I don't care where you are in the world a new Harry Potter book should be your number one priority. I have more to say about Athens but it will have to wait because the best stories are from Crete.

I do not even know how to being with Crete. We went there rather randomly because it was the first ferry we could get out of Athens and we said, why not. It has been some of the best days of the trip and I cannot even being to relate all of them here. So I just tell one for now. Today was our last day in Crete and we decided to rent scooters. What could be more fun, or dangerous than Neal and I on scooters. The first snag, however was that you need a motorcycle endorsement to get anything larger then 50cc. This is a problem because you aren't allowed to take the 50cc scooters more than 25 km away from the rental place. We of course wanted to take them all over the island. After exploring all possibilities we decided to rent the 50cc scooters and ignore the 25km rule. After all we were leaving the country the next day.

We went out in the morning and just drove down the road a ways and picked a little village back away from the coast to try and get to first, in order to get our feet wet on the bikes. Now Crete was formed by the European and African plates colliding and pushing the earth’s crust upwards. This means that it is very mountainous and as soon as you get away from the coast it is hilly. We spent about two hours just cursing around the hills, up and down, around curves. It was a lot of fun. Then we went down into Chaina, the main city for lunch. City driving on a scooter in Europe is an experience I will not soon forget. There are no lanes, stop sings mean slow down a little, and if you aren't weaving in and out of cars on your scooter people look at you funny. Once we escaped Chaina and got some food we decided to head out along the coast out to beach we saw on our map. It looked like a nice long ride and was only slightly out of our range. 40 km is kinda close to 25 right? The coast was gorgeous and we followed the rode along and then up a hill and could see out over the whole bay and city. I am sure the beach would have been amazing however about half way there the road went from being paved, to dirt and rather large rocks. If we had paid more attention to our map we would have know this as yellow lines indicate unpaved roads. We then decided if we couldn’t head out to beach we would o up into the mountains. Neal took the opportunity to fill up his tank while I had about 3/4 left and did not. This decision will come into play later. We went about 50 km up into the mountains. It was the best part of the whole day and a highlight of the trip. The scenery was some of the best I have ever seen. It rivals that out in the Rockies. The rode wound back and forth up the mountain and when we got to the top we able to look out over the valley and where we had been about an hour earlier. It was at this point that we found out why the only want you go 25km away, and it involves a lack of gas stations. To be continued.

Again, I must apologize for not updating sooner and the lack of pictures but Italy leaves you no time for those sorts of things. Also, Neal is experiencing some difficulties with is camera so the pictures will have to be delayed again. Instead you will just have to read my beautiful and delightful prose and imagine all that is Italy. After Rome we went up to Frienze (Florence) and stayed there for four days. We took day trips out of Frienze to Cinque Terre and Venice. The Cinque Terre national park was a 12km hike along the most gorgeous stretch of coast I have ever been on. Along the way, there are five little towns that up until the 1940's were accessible only by boat and today can really only be reached by train. This gives them the frozen in time sort of appearance that even with all the tourists is extremely charming and fun. We spent a night in Corniglia which is the smallest of the towns and in the evening is almost devoid of everyone but locals. I could have probably stayed there for a week if there weren't thousands of other things to see. Then it was over to Venice for the day. We didn't do any of the sites but instead just wandered around. We would pick a place out on the map and try to get there. It is a lot more challenging then it sounds but it is the best way to see the city. On our last day in Florence we wanted to get in and see the David. We had a train to Perugia at 1pm. We got up and were in line by 9:00am but to no avail. We waited for about three hours and got crapped on by pigeons. Oh well, you cannot with them all.

We spent two nights in Perugia. Or should I say we spent two nights near Perugia because our guesthouse with a pool and kitchen only a 1km from the city center turned out to not have the kitchen available and be a km from the center of one of Perugia's suburbs. Even the taxi driver got lost trying to find it. We spent a half day in Assisi and then spent the rest of the day and night at the Umbria Jazz festival. This is a huge two week festival in Perugia and features a bunch of free concerts, carnival food, and lots of beer. The concerts were fun, especially Funk Off who put on a great high energy show. We stayed out there until about 1:00am and it was still packed when we left. A word of advice if you are ever in Perugia don't use the bus system. You will get pickpocketed, lost, and sick to your stomach from the smell. The taxi drivers may be crazy but they get you where you need to go.

It was then south to Sorrento, on the Bay of Naples. We went out to the Isle of Capri and did some hiking and then laying out on the beach. We also spent a day in Pompeii. It was all very interesting and gorgeous. The best part was the hostel we were in had a kitchen and a lemon orchard out back. All three nights we ate extremely well and then relaxed and chatted with other guests until the wee hours of the morning. A couple of girls from Canada even helped us cook one evening and took part in our feast. It is probably the best we have eaten all trip. Colin, Liz, and Jerome headed back to Rome after three nights in Sorrento to catch their plane. Neal and I made our way by bus to Bari to get a ferry to Greece. That is where the next update will be from. Ciao.

Its has been a while since the last update mainly because we have been on the go the whole time. We had just gotten into Madrid when I wrote the last post. Since then Aaron has headed home, Neal and I took a train from Madrid to Rome ( it took about 33 hours), and we have met up with Colin, Liz, and Jerome in Italy.

We did make it to the bullfight in Madrid which was well worth the five euro. There were three matadors and they fought two bulls a piece. There are plenty of pictures but I don't have the camera with me at the moment to upload them so you'll just have to wait. Let's just say that I wouldn't be near any of those bulls and they run straight at it and stab it with a sword. Also of note was the fact that not only was there beer vendors walking the stands but also scotch and cigar vendors. The Palacio Real in Madrid was also worth a visit and it includes the armory. We got audio guides which were very informative, too informative actually. I now know more about the armory of Charles V then any one person should. Our last day in Spain was spent in Toledo and most of that was spent napping in a park. We didn't feel like spending the eight euro to see the cathedral and had only got about four hours of sleep the night before due the heat and drunk people in the street.

It was then off to Italy and Rome. The train ride involved two late night passport checks and a seat (mine) that didn't recline all the way. We made it and it was worth it. In the last three days we have seen the Vatican, Sistine chapel, the Colosseum, the roman forum, catacombs, art by Raphael and Michelangelo, had some great food and ice cream and hung out with an Australian who kicked our ass in pool and caused us to drink way too much wine. I wish that my writing skills were better because I cannot even begin to describe the amazing history that Rome has. It has been the best place we have been too so far. It lives up to all its billing. For having studied this buildings, places, paintings, and events for years now to see them is an unbelievably fulling experience. Also the no one has been pick pocketed, the locals are very friendly and helpful, and the gypsies haven't thrown any babies at us. So we were worried for nothing. Tomorrow its off to Florence for a few days. Hopefully I can get some pictures up then.

The person who can figure out the reference in the title of this post will get 50 bonus points. Hint: the older folk reading this may have an edge on this one. The first stop in Spain was Barcelona. It wasn´t as hot the last time I was there which was nice. Another day spent on the beach felt amazing again. There really is nothing like sitting on the beach looking out on to the Mediterranean. The beach at Barcelona is nothing to write home about, even though that is what I am doing, and it was packed but the water was warm and took away the aches from climbing the hill to our hostel. The hostel was nice, clean, had free Internet, and interesting people to talk to but it was a hike. It was farther out of town and up on one of the hills. My things are still feeling it. We went into the Sagarda Familia this time instead of just looking at. It is by far the most impressive unfinished building I have seen. If they finish it while I am still alive and that is a big if, I am going to fly to Barcelona just to see it completed.
Then it was train ride to Cordoba and this was our first bad train ride of the trip really because at least the night train was quiet. This train had about three little kids who took turns crying for seven hours. Cordoba was an interesting and frustrating city. The warren of streets in the medieval quarter is fun just to walk through and it was nice not having to take the subway everywhere. The frustrating part is that everything closes at 9:00pm. This is of course after having just opened up again at 5:00pm from the siesta. I am not sure when people actually get any work done. We went to the Mezquita which is the mosque Cordoba is famous for and it was a let down. It would have been more interesting but parts were under renovation and after seeing Chartres and the Sagrada Familia it didn´t have the same impact. However, we saw an excellent flamenco performance and then went to Medina Al-zhara which is the ruins of a palace city built by one of the caliphs outside of the city. I had never heard of it before but it was well worth the stop. I guess if for every famous thing that doesn´t live up to its billing if we find one that we didn´t know of before we are doing ok.
Now we are in Madrid and were luck to find a place to stay. In fact we are staying in three different places in three nights. There is a huge gay pride festival going on and they expect about 2 million people to come in for it. So the city is packed.We made it to the Prado today. It was the first major museum of the trip and well worth it. The collection of Goya´s is not to be missed.
I am running out of time online. It is not free tonight. I will post pictures in the next few days. Keep the comments coming, Neal and I really enjoy them.

So we were heading into Paris on a Saturday to meet Aaron. We had a train from Nice in the morning and got in around 12:30. The major concern was, not meeting up with Aaron but finding a place to stay because it was a Saturday, in June, in Paris and we were without a room. A few phone calls later and some sketcy directions hammered out using the poor English of the girl on the phone and my even poorer French found Neal and I riding the metro out to Hoche. We later found out that we weren´t even in the city any longer but out in the suburb and it was a questionable area at best. We were able to get a room for the night and make it to airport in time to meet Aaron. We were so happy about finding a room that we didn´t even mind his flight being delayed.

That night we went back to the hostel and ate mircowaved mac and cheese. It wasnt easy mac but the stove was broken so what was going to be a good meal of mac and cheese turned into a mircowaved mess of undercooked noodles and semi melted cheese. We then headed out to the the city because Aaron hadn´t been there before. We took the metro to the Eiffle tower and then walked over to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysee to the Louvre. On Sunday we got up bright at about 7:00am and early to get over the Eiffle tower so we could go to the top before the lines formed. We didn´t get up early enough. There were lines and I think that no matter how early we got up there would have been lines. We then took the train out to Versailles and went to the gardens. The line was too long and it was 25€ to go tour the inside unfortunately. The gardens were packed though and we couldn´t figure out why until all the fountains came on. They don´t run the fountains normally and it was lucky that we just happened to be there. The gardens were amazing without the fountains and ten times better with them. We headed back into the city stopped by Notre Dame real quick and then got on our night train to Barcelona.

If you ever take a night train and it only costs 15 more euro for a sleeping car you should probably consider it. The recling seats that were suppose to go back 160 degrees and be nice and comfortable... didn´t and weren´t. We did end up meeting the girl in the row across from us and taught her how to play euchre and were able to get a decent amount of sleep although my back wasn´t too happy about it in the morning. We are in Barcelona now. We have two nights here and then it´s off to Cordoba. We´ll hit up the beach and go see La Sagrada Familia and do some relaxing.