The Brussels train station is now not only my least favorite place visited in Europe, but also the place I hate the most in Europe.

Favorites List

I've added my "Favorites" list on the right side of the blog.

A few things to note:

This is a favorite to least favorite list, in that I certainly have not totally disliked any place we've visited, despite having some conflicts with the specific cities here and there.

The list, for me at least, considers these four things:

1. Quantity, yes, but mostly quality of sites we saw (there was plenty to do in Rome, but little to do in Munich, yet I loved every single second in each)

2. The consideration of the potential of being able to live in the city (a reason why Florence, Amsterdam, and Munich are high and, say, Prague and Budapest, despite their immense qualities, are lower)

3. The cleanliness of the city (this consideration is a major factor as to why Athens and Naples are low, yet is another reason to Munich's status)

4. The price of living in and/or visiting the city (Venice is breathtaking, but this reason is paramount to its location on the list)

The issue of the welcoming and friendliness of the city's locals is not considered, because, frankly, I don't like dealing with tourists in Chicago, either - so I don't blame them

Jess will post her list soon. Stay tuned...

like Olbermann - a special comment

I shall refrain from Keith's patented style of fire damnation. However, I do feel it my duty to inform of special note that while in Europe, in Amsterdam, to be exact, we saw one of the best things yet. No, I'm not talking about dizzyingly red girls or Van Gogh. This more ranks up with the Colosseum of Rome, the David of Florence, the twisty canals of Venice, Guell Park of Barcelona, the Acropolis of Athens, the Glockenspiel of Munich, the castle of Prague, the Hungarian baths of Budapest, the Palacio Real of Madrid, the Vienna Opera, the black sand beach of Santorini, and even the ruins of Pompeii.

Yes, tonight we saw something just as monumental and equally unforgettable. Honestly, words cannot do it justice.

Indeed, this just might surpass everything else to date.

And, along with our trip to the US embassy in Prague, it was without doubt the closest we've come to America in 7 weeks, which in itself is wonderfully refreshing.

Tonight, for the first time in Jess' life and the first time for myself in 18 years... we saw Indiana Jones on the silver screen.

It was nice to be a kid again, to be flooded with memories of my own "adventurer" days as a young Indiana Jones protege with my whip, plastic pistol, fedora, and Indiana T - remembering clandestinely (and sometimes not so!) tracking down my invisible Nazi enemies and doing battle. It was great to remember the late nights with my family, curled warmly with blankets, soda, and popcorn on the couch, following Indiana's every move on the TV. It was great remembering: "I want to be Indiana Jones when I grow up". And it was really special to experience it with Jess for her first time.

And this movie's really good, too!!

Now back to our present day adventuring in Europe

I suppose we never really "grow up" entirely. Or at least not yet. I think that's nice. I take comfort in that.

In Vienna right now.  Very beautiful and clean, although I miss the hawkers trying to sell me Gucci and Prada knock-offs that permeated this cities we have seen so far.  Have noticed, in every city since and including Munich, there is a wonderful sense of pride in one's community.  No trash, no grafitti.  Just beauty and respect for the city and country you live in.  How do we bring that to America, and not just the artificial culture?

Oh, I know:

Obama '08

Anyways, political agenda aside, we are having a fantastic time.  Croatia was the most "out-of-our-comfort-zone" country so far.  Very little English anywhere, but really nice people and beautiful countryside.  And super cheap ice cream!  

Gearing up for the 2nd half of our trip.  Can't believe so much time has gone by and yet, we still have so much to see.  Unless Chris drags me back to Munich. In which case, we may never get back.  May have to hold the proverbial carrot (i.e. Dublin) to get him to leave!  Wish me luck!

-Jess

Oh Bavaria...

I see Jess made reference to my recent exposure to Bavaria. Allow me to briefly elaborate:

While in Munich, I immersed myself devotedly to Bavarian culture.

Hour 1 - Arrive into Munich

Hour 2 - Chris consumes 1 liter of lager, 3 sausages, sauerkraut, boiled potatoes, potato salad

Hour 8 - We sleep

Hour 19 - We see the Glockenspiel

Hour 20 - We visit English Gardens

Hour 21 - Chris consumes 2 liters of dark ale, 3 sausages, 1 dumpling, potato salad

Hour 23 - We nap in English Gardens

Hours 30-32 - Chris consumes 3 liters of dark ale, 3 sausages, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes

Hour 33 - Chris takes a couple sips of whiskey - chooses to stop

Hour 34 - Chris' stomach gets angry with him...

Hour 35 - We sleep

Hour 43 - We depart for Zagreb

And there you have it: our brief yet thorough 43 hour visit to glorious Munchen! I'd say we did it perfectly.

* - meal 1 at Paulaner Brewery

** - meal 2 in beer garden in English Gardens

*** - meal 3 at the Hofbrauhaus

Chris and Jess have updated the itinerary, finally (located at bottom of page). This is fairly etched in stone... for now.

I've lost Chris!

We finally made it to Munich.

But, sadly, I have now lost Christopher in a vast sea of delicious Bavarian beer.  I don't expect I'll ever see him again.

Let us all mourn for Chris.  He was a good man.

As for me, I'm heading back to Santorini.

-Jess

An update

Ok, we're now in Santorini, Greece; it's a very small island that was formed a volcano eruption some several thousand years ago (and some suggest this was the location of the mythical/ancient city of Atlantis). To put it as eloquently as possible, it's simply awesome. We have four full days to splurge in the sun here and that doesn't even seem like enough. It may be fairly hard to leave - Jess has already sworn she will not. The only downside to Greece is the complete lack of free wi-fi anywhere! So all the photo updates from Rome, Pompeii, our Adriatic ferry ride, Athens, our Aegean ferry ride, and here in Santorini will, regrettably, have to wait a few more days.

There have been a few negatives recently, but nothing to ruin the trip...in total. First off, we there were no available second class tickets from Rome to Naples the day we needed to leave, so we were forced to upgrade to first class. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have had any time at Pompeii. Oh well, no huge problem. The next problem was a bit bigger: in order to ensure we wouldn't be forced into first class again, we reserved a second class ticket from Naples to Bari (Italian port city on the Adriatic), in which our eurorail pass covered. The only problem was that it was a 9:00 departure time. No problem - we'll just have to wake up sooner than normal next day. We didn't. We missed the train. However, we did have a really awesome Jason Bourne-esque taxi ride through the alleyways of inner city Naples in an effort to get to the station on time. The driver was driving so fast through this tiny, shopper infested alleyways that I (me!) was actually tugging at my seatbelt at times. It was pretty fun. But we did miss the train - that was not cool. We had to catch another one that left 5 hours later! We arrived in Bari 90 minutes prior to the ferry's departure, without having acquired our tickets yet... But we got there in no time, finding there were plenty of seats and cabins still available. So... we upgraded just a little bit to get a cabin, as opposed to the free DECK passage. No regrets there! The ferry was very nice, also. It even had a disco, where, as I'm sure you've already guessed, Jess and I spent many hours into the night dancing.

Actually we didn't do that.

The next problem came in Greece: we had to take two trains from Patras (Greek port city) to Athens. The first one was fine, however, when departing it, we saw a mad rush to get on a train in front of us - nearly everyone from our train were rapidly boarding. So, myself and a couple other travelers to Athens asked a couple Greeks if this was the train to Athens. They said yes. So we got on, even though it resembled more of an L train. As the train set forth, making its stops, with dozens of other passengers boarding each time to a standing room only train, we began to think we boarded the wrong one. Sure enough this was a train to Athens, but not the central train station in Athens - the airport of Athens, just outside the city. We managed, however, although it reminded us of our worst experiences in rush hour Chicago on an L - and then some. We stood with our backpacks for nearly 90 minutes. It was not fun.

And then, finally, we get to Athens. Finding our hostel was not the issue. However, getting into a hostel was. We were promptly informed upon our arrival to Zorbas Hotel that our rooms were not ready (being painted) and that we were rescheduled to stay at Zeus Hostel, 15 minutes away. Why we were never informed of this via email or even a phone call (they had the contact info)? "Well, we just found out recently ourselves" or something similarly bland and completely unhelpful.

So, reluctantly, we march to Zeus Hostel with over 24 hours of travel, including a 90 minute train ride from Hell in our rearview mirror. Zorbas Hotel told us that the rates would be the same, our booking agreement would be the same, and that they were expecting us. Nope! First of all, Zeus thought there would be 4 of us, so they reserved a four bed private dorm. We would have to pay for the third and fourth bed if we stayed there. We finally did get a single room, which was nice, except it was pricier (not by too much, however) than what we had agreed to with Zorbas initially.

Finally, our new hostel did not accept our downpayment that we made via credit card when booking Zorbas. So we returned to Zeus, politely asking for it back, and the graveyard shift door person had no clue whatsoever - of anything. So we've emailed the manager, demanding our deposit returned to us. I believe he's responded, so we shall see...

Other than those instances, the trip's been amazing:

Madrid was nice with several wonderful sights, but in the end was just another really big city - but a very nice one. Barcelona was a dream, surprisingly wonderful. There was so much to do and see; we both want to return at some point. Venice was, well, Venice: gorgeous, romantic, and extraordinarily expensive. We both fell in love with Florence and Tuscany. We will definitely return here - maybe with friends or family into a rented Tuscan villa for a week...? And then Rome.... Well, we're both history geeks, so Rome was breathtaking everyday. I don't know about living in the city, but we could visit it 6 times a year and not get bored. Pompeii was just about the coolest thing either of us have ever seen - an ENTIRE ancient Roman city completely preserved. It was awesome. Athens is very dirty, despite its claim to have cleaned up for the 2004 Olympics, but the Greek locals are wonderful (the nicest of the locals thusfar) and the sights were very well worth it. And the gyros!!

And now - Santorini....

Okay, that's it for now. I have to go get a chocolate croissant for Jess.

Bye!