It has been quite some time since I posted, but this always happens when I travel and I have been doing a LOT of traveling recently. I left the UAE on July 17 to fly to Barcelona, Spain for the start of a two week Euro-trip with a friend.
Airport and flying
I had never been to the Dubai airport before, only the one in Abu Dhabi. It is pretty standard of most airports, except that they have a few indoor smoking facilities (which is great for smokers who can't get outside between flights) and they had an area with "sleep pods." You'd pay a small fee and get a room with a bunk, a lamp and a door for X number of hours to sleep. This wasn't useful to me in Dubai when I was leaving, but I cannot tell you the number of times I thought of, and pined for this whilst on vacation throughout Europe. We boarded our first flight to London, then made a quick transfer through to Barcelona.
Barcelona, Spain
First impressions of Barcelona are that everyone's cars there are very small, to fit into the jam-packed, tiny, winding streets. This is a big change to the giant SUVs I'm used to seeing in the UAE. We spent most of our time in Barcelona being pretty tired and jet-lagged. When we arrived at our hostel we booked online, it was like something out of a bad teen movie. The room was up 10 flights of dark dusty stairs and the room had 10 bunk beds, no a/c, no window coverings and a lot of 18 year old girls in it. We were so tired but pretty much couldn't nap there, so we spent the first day dragging our butts around the city sightseeing and yawning. The thing to see in Barcelona is the Gaudi architecture. We saw the famous Sagrada Famillia church and the Gaudi sculpture park. We had original plans to go to Ibiza, the island party capital of the world, but it turned out to be an 8 hour boat ride-which is not a luxury you can take when you only have 3 days in a place before moving on. The food and drink was great-tapas and wine! We tried to go out to a nightclub but they OPEN at 1am and close at like 6am. After waiting almost an hour in line without moving for one club, we gave up and went home. Maybe I'm getting old?
Rome, Italy
We flew to Rome, Italy on our third day. I absolutely loved the atmosphere and sights of rome. Seeing things like the Collessium, Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps in person was awesome. The food was AMAZING! My favourite meals (and wine) happened here in Rome. We did find it funny that everywhere we went there seemed to be an older Italian male waiter who wanted none of our tomfoolery of looking at menus or asking questions. He just wanted to know immediately what we wanted when we sat down, and forget about asking for Parmesan cheese. The man had other old Italian men to talk to (yell at). One of our favourite places to hang out in Rome at night was a little tiny place called Pizza Fantasy. There you could sit on a patio for as long as you wanted, order $10 bottles of delicious wine and watch the waiter get drunker and drunker as the night went on.
The highlight of Italy for me was Vatican City. We took a guided tour (which you should really do if you go there-considering the Vatican museums have 1700 rooms!) and I got to see the pope's balcony, the largest church in the world, the mausoleum site of Pope John Paul II, and of course the Sistine Chapel. Nothing can compare to seeing the Sistine chapel ceiling and walls in person. It is absolutely magnificent that Michelangelo did this when he was in his teens and we found out that when he painted the amazing (and slightly terrifying) The Last Judgement work, he had actually gone blind in one eye from having lead paint drip into his eye whilst he painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. I put a photo below (which I stole from the internet-because you can't take pictures in the Chapel) and it so doesn't even begin to do the real thing justice-but just remember, ONE EYE!
I will now show you what a painting I did with one eye would look like:
There you have it.
Two highlights of Rome:
1. There was this guy who walked around our hotel's neighbourhood selling head massagers and various panda bear/dog dancing toys that ONLY sang various Shania Twain songs. He would bring them over to your table while you were trying to have a nice meal and switch it on and wave it in your face. He irritated the shit out of me when he came to me, but I did like to watch him do it to other people. And sometimes people actually bought them!
2. The random men who walked around trying to give flowers to tourists, telling a carefully crafted story of how they almost sold all the flowers, but since they didn't, now they were giving them out to beautiful ladies. After that they would tie a friendship bracelet on your wrist, tell you to make a wish, then ask you for money. I told him from the start I wouldn't be giving him anything, but he persisted. When I refused again, he took his flower back with haste, marched off (undoubtedly cursing us in his language) and then glared at us from across the square. I waved.
The Night Train
We took the overnight sleeper train from Italy to Austria. Let me tell you, if you are going to do this either guarantee that you get a bottom bunk in the couchettes (which are like thin, shitty bunk beds) or PAY THE EXTRA MONEY and get a "bed". My friend and I arrived to our bunk to find that we both had the top bunk and another older couple had the bottom. I didn't like the idea of sleeping 5 feet in the air with little room to even role over, but I especially didn't like the fact that it didn't look too sturdy. The man who was to be sleeping below me, also didn't look too convinced of it either. After much taking to the train people, a bit of crying and freaking out, the guy gave me his bottom bunk. I felt like such a jerk, but I figure it's karma for all the times I've held my tongue when someone has done something terrible or jerky to me in the UAE. On our next train journey we got the "beds" and although they weren't that much better, they were significantly sturdier (see below).
Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg was, by far, my favourite place on the whole trip. The little towns are absolutely adorable where you can eat at traditional schnitzel houses and people still wear lederhosen! We took the Sound of Music tour which was a lifetime dream for me. I touched the gazebo, walking across the bridge they skipped across and even saw some of the places in Austria the real Maria and Vonn Trapps went. The little towns nestled in the mountains on the way to Bavaria (Germany) were so cute and beautiful, I can only hope that I will go stay there someday. I have never visited a place that has such distinct character that moves beyond the random tourist stuff. It just made me genuinely happy to be there.
We took a (rather lame) Bavarian mountains tour on our last day there, but we did get to see some of the areas the Nazis had borders set up between the mountains and where Hitler's Eagle's nest was. The Eagle's nest was a fort Hitler set up at the top of the Bavarian mountains so he could see clear into Austria during the war without being detected. The actual fort was obscured in clouds the day we were there but we saw the direction of it! Despite a dismal history, Austrians were lovely, warm people who welcome tourists openly.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
We took the overnight train from Austria and ended up in Amsterdam in the morning. We booked a REAL hotel room in Amsterdam, having had enough of hostels. The room smelled a little funky and did have carpeted walls, but you can't win 'em all. We spent a lot of time just walking around Amsterdam, the Red Light District and seeing all the "coffee shops" where they stress organic products more than coffee (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). I cannot detail the exploits of the red light district too much because this blog (while currently being written from Montreal) does have attachments to the UAE, where such things are not talked about in detail. All I can say about it is, whatever crazy thing you thing is possible or available there, exaggerate it a little more, and there you have it.
I will relate one fun story from a bar in the Red Light District. My friend and I ate lunch there and went in to pay the bill with the bar tender. Upon seeing my credit card which says "National Bank of Abu Dhabi" on it, the bartender said, "Oh Abu Dhabi, my neighbour!" I asked where he was from and he said "Saudi Arabia" I was slightly taken aback and said, "Well, quite the change here, eh?" He said, "Yes, my parents think I am in University". A Sheikh in Saudi shuddered just now, wondering why, since it's 120 degrees there.
Amsterdam is 100% ruled by cyclists. They have bike lanes there that are actually more dangerous to cross than the streets. You best look out for cyclists or you WILL be run over. We also took a boat tour through the canals, which was beautiful. One of my other favourite places in Europe we went was Southern Holland (Holland is now known as Netherlands, but they still call it Holland). It's amazing that just a short bus ride from the depravity and grunge of downtown Amsterdam (it is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever seen) is a beautiful countryside with adorable cottages and windmills abound. If you know anything about me, you might know that windmills and wind turbines freak me out. I really hate seeing a whole field of wind turbines, especially. While I had never seen a lot of old tymey windmills, I assumed this fear would also transfer to them, but surprisingly not. We went to a UNESCO world heritage windmill site, where there was the highest concentration of windmills anywhere in the world. It was cool to find out how many uses windmills actually have, other than just being kinda creepy. We also saw a lot of cheese and clog making.
All in all, it was a whirlwind trip. We met some interesting people, saw lots of amazing things and I would definitely do it again (there's lots more europe to see!) Should you be interested, here are my tips for European travel:
1. Do not have too much of a plan, because it will change no matter what you do. Our plan changed many times.
2. Take more money than you think you will need. You WILL need it.
3. Don't stay in a 10 person hostel. Ever. It's terrible at the end of a long day of sightseeing to be woken up by the drunk girl near u jumping off her bunk bed, trying not to barf all over the floor. Book a private hostel room with a PRIVATE BATHROOM. Just trust me.
4. Don't plan on sightseeing your first day when you are jetlagged and grumpy. It just sucks.
5. Don't get drunk on the overnight train when you have 10 hours of train ride ahead of you (again, trust me).
6. Bring running shoes. Who gives a shit if they are not stylish. If you don't bring them, you will buy them.
7. Bring hand sanitizer.
8. Wear sweats on all planes.
9. Learn to say "yes" "no" "please" "thank you" and "toilet" wherever you go.
10. Bring a (patient) friend with you :)
Airport and flying
I had never been to the Dubai airport before, only the one in Abu Dhabi. It is pretty standard of most airports, except that they have a few indoor smoking facilities (which is great for smokers who can't get outside between flights) and they had an area with "sleep pods." You'd pay a small fee and get a room with a bunk, a lamp and a door for X number of hours to sleep. This wasn't useful to me in Dubai when I was leaving, but I cannot tell you the number of times I thought of, and pined for this whilst on vacation throughout Europe. We boarded our first flight to London, then made a quick transfer through to Barcelona.
Barcelona, Spain
First impressions of Barcelona are that everyone's cars there are very small, to fit into the jam-packed, tiny, winding streets. This is a big change to the giant SUVs I'm used to seeing in the UAE. We spent most of our time in Barcelona being pretty tired and jet-lagged. When we arrived at our hostel we booked online, it was like something out of a bad teen movie. The room was up 10 flights of dark dusty stairs and the room had 10 bunk beds, no a/c, no window coverings and a lot of 18 year old girls in it. We were so tired but pretty much couldn't nap there, so we spent the first day dragging our butts around the city sightseeing and yawning. The thing to see in Barcelona is the Gaudi architecture. We saw the famous Sagrada Famillia church and the Gaudi sculpture park. We had original plans to go to Ibiza, the island party capital of the world, but it turned out to be an 8 hour boat ride-which is not a luxury you can take when you only have 3 days in a place before moving on. The food and drink was great-tapas and wine! We tried to go out to a nightclub but they OPEN at 1am and close at like 6am. After waiting almost an hour in line without moving for one club, we gave up and went home. Maybe I'm getting old?
Rome, Italy
We flew to Rome, Italy on our third day. I absolutely loved the atmosphere and sights of rome. Seeing things like the Collessium, Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps in person was awesome. The food was AMAZING! My favourite meals (and wine) happened here in Rome. We did find it funny that everywhere we went there seemed to be an older Italian male waiter who wanted none of our tomfoolery of looking at menus or asking questions. He just wanted to know immediately what we wanted when we sat down, and forget about asking for Parmesan cheese. The man had other old Italian men to talk to (yell at). One of our favourite places to hang out in Rome at night was a little tiny place called Pizza Fantasy. There you could sit on a patio for as long as you wanted, order $10 bottles of delicious wine and watch the waiter get drunker and drunker as the night went on.
The highlight of Italy for me was Vatican City. We took a guided tour (which you should really do if you go there-considering the Vatican museums have 1700 rooms!) and I got to see the pope's balcony, the largest church in the world, the mausoleum site of Pope John Paul II, and of course the Sistine Chapel. Nothing can compare to seeing the Sistine chapel ceiling and walls in person. It is absolutely magnificent that Michelangelo did this when he was in his teens and we found out that when he painted the amazing (and slightly terrifying) The Last Judgement work, he had actually gone blind in one eye from having lead paint drip into his eye whilst he painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. I put a photo below (which I stole from the internet-because you can't take pictures in the Chapel) and it so doesn't even begin to do the real thing justice-but just remember, ONE EYE!
Two highlights of Rome:
1. There was this guy who walked around our hotel's neighbourhood selling head massagers and various panda bear/dog dancing toys that ONLY sang various Shania Twain songs. He would bring them over to your table while you were trying to have a nice meal and switch it on and wave it in your face. He irritated the shit out of me when he came to me, but I did like to watch him do it to other people. And sometimes people actually bought them!
2. The random men who walked around trying to give flowers to tourists, telling a carefully crafted story of how they almost sold all the flowers, but since they didn't, now they were giving them out to beautiful ladies. After that they would tie a friendship bracelet on your wrist, tell you to make a wish, then ask you for money. I told him from the start I wouldn't be giving him anything, but he persisted. When I refused again, he took his flower back with haste, marched off (undoubtedly cursing us in his language) and then glared at us from across the square. I waved.
The Night Train
We took the overnight sleeper train from Italy to Austria. Let me tell you, if you are going to do this either guarantee that you get a bottom bunk in the couchettes (which are like thin, shitty bunk beds) or PAY THE EXTRA MONEY and get a "bed". My friend and I arrived to our bunk to find that we both had the top bunk and another older couple had the bottom. I didn't like the idea of sleeping 5 feet in the air with little room to even role over, but I especially didn't like the fact that it didn't look too sturdy. The man who was to be sleeping below me, also didn't look too convinced of it either. After much taking to the train people, a bit of crying and freaking out, the guy gave me his bottom bunk. I felt like such a jerk, but I figure it's karma for all the times I've held my tongue when someone has done something terrible or jerky to me in the UAE. On our next train journey we got the "beds" and although they weren't that much better, they were significantly sturdier (see below).
Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg was, by far, my favourite place on the whole trip. The little towns are absolutely adorable where you can eat at traditional schnitzel houses and people still wear lederhosen! We took the Sound of Music tour which was a lifetime dream for me. I touched the gazebo, walking across the bridge they skipped across and even saw some of the places in Austria the real Maria and Vonn Trapps went. The little towns nestled in the mountains on the way to Bavaria (Germany) were so cute and beautiful, I can only hope that I will go stay there someday. I have never visited a place that has such distinct character that moves beyond the random tourist stuff. It just made me genuinely happy to be there.
We took a (rather lame) Bavarian mountains tour on our last day there, but we did get to see some of the areas the Nazis had borders set up between the mountains and where Hitler's Eagle's nest was. The Eagle's nest was a fort Hitler set up at the top of the Bavarian mountains so he could see clear into Austria during the war without being detected. The actual fort was obscured in clouds the day we were there but we saw the direction of it! Despite a dismal history, Austrians were lovely, warm people who welcome tourists openly.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
We took the overnight train from Austria and ended up in Amsterdam in the morning. We booked a REAL hotel room in Amsterdam, having had enough of hostels. The room smelled a little funky and did have carpeted walls, but you can't win 'em all. We spent a lot of time just walking around Amsterdam, the Red Light District and seeing all the "coffee shops" where they stress organic products more than coffee (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). I cannot detail the exploits of the red light district too much because this blog (while currently being written from Montreal) does have attachments to the UAE, where such things are not talked about in detail. All I can say about it is, whatever crazy thing you thing is possible or available there, exaggerate it a little more, and there you have it.
I will relate one fun story from a bar in the Red Light District. My friend and I ate lunch there and went in to pay the bill with the bar tender. Upon seeing my credit card which says "National Bank of Abu Dhabi" on it, the bartender said, "Oh Abu Dhabi, my neighbour!" I asked where he was from and he said "Saudi Arabia" I was slightly taken aback and said, "Well, quite the change here, eh?" He said, "Yes, my parents think I am in University". A Sheikh in Saudi shuddered just now, wondering why, since it's 120 degrees there.
Amsterdam is 100% ruled by cyclists. They have bike lanes there that are actually more dangerous to cross than the streets. You best look out for cyclists or you WILL be run over. We also took a boat tour through the canals, which was beautiful. One of my other favourite places in Europe we went was Southern Holland (Holland is now known as Netherlands, but they still call it Holland). It's amazing that just a short bus ride from the depravity and grunge of downtown Amsterdam (it is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever seen) is a beautiful countryside with adorable cottages and windmills abound. If you know anything about me, you might know that windmills and wind turbines freak me out. I really hate seeing a whole field of wind turbines, especially. While I had never seen a lot of old tymey windmills, I assumed this fear would also transfer to them, but surprisingly not. We went to a UNESCO world heritage windmill site, where there was the highest concentration of windmills anywhere in the world. It was cool to find out how many uses windmills actually have, other than just being kinda creepy. We also saw a lot of cheese and clog making.
All in all, it was a whirlwind trip. We met some interesting people, saw lots of amazing things and I would definitely do it again (there's lots more europe to see!) Should you be interested, here are my tips for European travel:
1. Do not have too much of a plan, because it will change no matter what you do. Our plan changed many times.
2. Take more money than you think you will need. You WILL need it.
3. Don't stay in a 10 person hostel. Ever. It's terrible at the end of a long day of sightseeing to be woken up by the drunk girl near u jumping off her bunk bed, trying not to barf all over the floor. Book a private hostel room with a PRIVATE BATHROOM. Just trust me.
4. Don't plan on sightseeing your first day when you are jetlagged and grumpy. It just sucks.
5. Don't get drunk on the overnight train when you have 10 hours of train ride ahead of you (again, trust me).
6. Bring running shoes. Who gives a shit if they are not stylish. If you don't bring them, you will buy them.
7. Bring hand sanitizer.
8. Wear sweats on all planes.
9. Learn to say "yes" "no" "please" "thank you" and "toilet" wherever you go.
10. Bring a (patient) friend with you :)
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