Europe: London, England

As the end of my days in Europe drew near, I had about two weeks left to plan what I wanted to do with the remaining time. For a bit I visited the idea of going to Morocco, Africa to surf near a village named Imessouane. I had the entire trip planned and was literally a click away from booking it, when I had some second thoughts and decided to go another route. The trip to Africa would have been some serious fun, and a great adventure...but with the money and time required I knew I could probably visit many more countries instead. So, first I went to Prague, Czech Republic. (Read about my trip to Prague here.) After Prague, I returned to Paris and had about ten hours before I had to leave again for my next stop: London, England.

My flight to London was around 2pm, so I left for the airport at a nice, comfortable hour for once as opposed to six in the morning or something like that. I had enough time that morning to eat a good breakfast, clean the apartment up a bit, and leave confidently knowing I hadn't needed to rush and probably didn't forget anything too important. Metro to the Roissybus again brought me to the airport and I checked in with no troubles and had a pleasant hour long flight to London Heathrow airport. Upon arrival in England I had to explain to customs why I was an American coming from Paris, but then leaving from another city and going back to Paris. She was nice and all, but in the end I ended up having to explain quite a lot for her to understand how I was doing all of this with no visas, etc. Finally I got my passport stamp and went off to find the underground trains, or the "tube" as the call it here.

A friend of mine who works at Image Metrics named Nick lives here in London and I was off to meet him in the city. I took the "Piccadilly Line" to the Piccadilly Circus stop and climbed out of the underground and into the city. My first impression was sort of a mellow, panic. There were about nine billion people around walking in all different directions, all with somewhere to be and quick. It was much like a Times Square sort of feel. I had drawn myself a map on how to find our meeting spot, but realized right away that I hadn't drawn quite enough and was pretty much lost right away. I was suppose to meet Nick at 3pm but hadn't even gotten off the train until about that time, so I was already late and had no idea where to go! My mobile phone is unusable due to not turning on international roaming yet so I couldn't call him...so finally I asked someone and he pointed me in the right direction. I was suppose to find "Soho", a lively area in London where the pub I was meeting Nick is located. A few minutes later and after asking one more guy for directions, I found the place and met up with Nick.

The first thing we did was head to a pub right on the same street named, "Crown and Two Chairmen". It was funny carrying my big suitcases into a pub, but luckily we found a back corner table against the wall where I had room to store them so they wouldn't get stolen, or forgotten after a night of drinking! We had a couple of pints there before a friend of Nick's named Joe arrived, and another guy named Mike shortly after that. Joe worked with Nick at Autodesk and Mike was a friend of Joe's who works for HP. We spent the next few hours drinking and talking, telling stories, etc. Mike has a lot of foster children so hearing stories about them was cool. He's also an avid reader and recommended some books I should read. "Why God Created The French", "The Lovely Bones", and "How The Irish Saved The World". He is Irish and spent a good bit of time telling me all about the torrential rains in Ireland and how some of the smaller villages were almost completely underwater. Doesn't sound like too much fun, you know...being underwater. As the beer kept flowing, the stories became more and more exaggerated which turned into a pretty funny memory now...we kept giving him shit all night about his whole country being underwater. A friend of all of theirs had a band who was playing in King's Cross, London so we all hopped into a taxi and made our way to a pub called, "The Cross Kings". Technically, their friend was the singer but had left the band and they now had a new singer. Apparently she didn't leave the band of her own will and had been ousted due to her traveling, so the new singer on stage was a bit of an awkward scene. It was a bit of a critique more than just enjoying it for some. The band played some decent funk music and was fun to listen too though in the end. We stayed there for another few hours until about 11:45pm and then Nick wanted to head back so we didn't miss the last train to his place.

On the way home, we managed to almost miss the train we were already on by getting off thinking it was going the wrong direction. It was going the right direction afterall, so thankfully we got onto the next one which was actually the very last one of the night...then we somehow lost the ticket on the way out and narrowly avoid a 50£ fine when the guys just got annoyed with us and let us out for free. Finally we made it off the train, and found some food at one of London's premiere Kebab shops (or so I hear anyway.) Next we stumbled onto a bus, met a guy from Montreal, and finally made it home to Nick's place where his two awesome dogs named Coby and Mojo were waiting for us. His girlfriend Kim was away for the weekend so the dogs were happy to see people after most of the afternoon alone. The couch was nice, and sleep came quickly.

The next morning I woke up to the dogs climbing all over me and a bit of barking, but feeling relatively okay considering how much beer I had put down the night before. We spent the morning relaxing and watching some European Football and planning out what to do that day. I had to budget wisely since my bank won't let me take money out anywhere but France, so if I overspent I'd be stuck with no cash. Nick had suggested I explore the South Bank area so I walked to the nearby train station and caught a train to Waterloo Station.

The South Bank is a nice area in London that is on the south side of the Thames river that runs through the city. It contains the "London Eye" as well as a good amount of museums, restaurants and markets. In fact, there were many christmas markets setup all around the area, similar to the ones I saw in Prague. Selling all sorts of trinkets, holiday gifts, great foods, beer, and loads of other things. I spent a few hours wandering through all of this, exploring the area. I came across a lot of interesting things on the way. A large group of people holding signs that read "FREE HUGS" and "PRACTICE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS". They were a bunch of young guys and girls just giving hugs and giving out free candy, pretty cool. :) I saw some street performers dancing and singing, a couple of Mimes, and all sorts of characters performing various, random tasks to entertain the flocks of tourists walking along the banks of the Thames. Towards the center of the South Bank area is the Westminster Bridge, which when you cross it to the North side leads you to Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and all sorts of other big London sights. It was rainy quite hard so I only walked across the bridge to get an up close peak at Big Ben, and decided I'd come back for the full tour tomorrow. As it went there was a giant protest going on in the area about Global Warming and Climate Change. So many people had come to protest that they had closed half of the Westminster Bridge and there were enough people to fill up the entire thing. It was a sight to see for sure. I snapped a couple of photos with my cellphone and headed back towards Waterloo Station and the train towards Nick's place.

View From Westminster Bridge - Thames and the London Eye

Climate Change Protests on Westminster Bridge

Back at the house, I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and writing the rest of my blog post about Prague. We watched a game of Rugby which was fun, I'd never seen it played before so I learned about the rules of the game and such. Around dinner time we decided it would be cool to make some sushi for dinner, so we got some supplies at a local market and came back and made some epic salmon and creamed cheese rolls with cucumber and avocado. Not a bad home made meal! Nick is moving to the States soon and as such he cannot bring his wine collection with him. He offered to drink some since it might have to get sold or go to waste anyway, so we ended up drinking a couple of bottles of some real good wine. I wish I could remember the name of the wine...but I never can. Watched some football games and a couple of films and called it an early night.

Street Performers on the South Bank.

Christmas Markets bustling with people on the South Bank.

Even with the early night I don't think I got up until about noon. Traveling is exhausting! After a cup of coffee and a shower, we took the dogs for a walk through a nearby park and then went for some lunch at a spot called "Nando's". Then, a drink in a neighborhood pub called, "St. John's House & Secret Library". It's actually two separate pubs in the same building which is kind of interesting. Tasted a beer here called, "Tiger" which was excellent! Later on we went back to Nick's place and Kim had returned from her trip in Paris. We were introduced, chatted for a bit and then I grabbed my stuff and left for the hostel I had booked nearby.

About fifteen minutes later I was headed to the train and realized that I had forgotten to write down directions on how to get to the hostel from the train station. I knew the name of the road, and I remembered from looking at the map that it was right next to it practically so I figured I'd just find it. Mistake. I got off the train and spent about forty-five minutes looking for it before I had to admit defeat and find a map. I ended up walking up and down this one road about five times and in the process, lost my beanie (hat) that'd been in my back pocket. Noooo! I had a spare but it was back in Paris...so now I'd need to go the rest of trip in the UK without a hat. Shit! It was damn cold and I'd regret this later for sure.

Skateboarding and Graffiti area on the South Bank.

I finally made it to the hostel called, "The Walrus Waterloo". It was pretty nice looking when I walked in, a bar in the downstairs of it filled with people and in a nice area right near the South Bank and Waterloo station. I got signed in and went up to my room where I met four people from Spain! That week there was a holiday in Spain so the four of them had taken a trip to London for the week. They didn't speak a lot of English so I didn't talk to them all that much, but it was nice to meet some more people anyway. That night was kind of mellow, I spent some time wandering around the area and had a couple of beers but went to bed relatively early.

The next day was excellent. The hostel had a free continental breakfast in the morning with toast, cereal and coffee which was a perfect start to the day. I filled up, grabbed my coat and scarf and headed out for my first touristy stop of the day, Westminster Bridge. This is the same bridge the protest had been on a couple of days earlier, but now it was nice and clear. It was a bit of a cloudy day which was a shame but besides that it was a tremendous view of the surrounding areas from the bridge. When you cross the bridge to the North side of the Thames River you are met eye to eye with Big Ben, the famous clock that sits outside of the Houses of Parliament. I took some photos, enjoyed the view, sat in awe of the amazing architecture of the buildings and then moved on to the next stop, Westminster Abbey. It's amazing as you can imagine. I spent about an hour there walking around and looking at everything. I didn't have my camera unfortunately but I snapped a few pics with my cellphone.

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

After the Abbey I left and kept walking North towards the Royal Parks and Buckingham Palace. The parks are absolutely stunning, they're so huge that I spent a good two hours just walking through the different areas and looking at birds, wildlife, flowers, and all the things it had to offer the passer through. When you get through the parks, you come across Buckingham Palace, where the British monarch lives. (The Queen, etc.) It was just like you'd think really, enormous, beautiful, filled with tourists and people walking around snapping photos, and those guards with the really big black furry hats who aren't allowed to talk or even acknowledge your existence. It was definitely a cool thing to see. I got lucky and happened across it right in time for the "Changing of the Guard" ceremony at the front of the palace. It's sort of a parade where the new guards march down the street and replace the guards in the front of the palace, it happens once per day. Random, but it reminded me a lot of the scene in Final Fantasy VII in the town of Juneau when the Shinra soldiers are marching down the streets. :) After seeing it all I spent another hour or so in the parks before heading back towards the hostel for a beer and some lunch. I stopped by the Christmas Markets on the South Bank on the way back for a beer and a brought-wurst German sausage. It was excellent.

Buckingham Palace

I don't even know what this crazy bird is! Anyone know?


"Great Tits" are a common sight in the Royal Parks during the colder months. Har Har.

That night, since I hadn't met anyone at the hostel I took the train back to Nick's place and had some dinner and wine with him and Kim at a restaurant called "Out of the Blue". It was unique because on Monday nights they allowed you to bring your own wine to drink as long as you paid a £3 corking fee per bottle. Nick brought along a couple of his epic wine bottles and I ordered the Mussels and chips again...a recurring theme! I've tried them now in four different countries, and...London wins. They were so, so good at this place. Anyway, dinner was fun. You can also bring your dogs with you to this restaurant so Coby and Mojo hung out under the table while we ate and drank. We talked for hours about all sorts of random things, telling stories and enjoying the wine. After dinner we said our goodbyes and I promised to help Nick and Kim move once they got into their place in the States. They had been so hospitable and nice to let me stay with them that I had to repay the favor! The train took me back to the hostel where I had a beer in the pub and went to sleep.

The next morning I caught the "tube" to London Euston Train station and got onto my train headed for the city of Bangor in Northern Wales.

Europe: Prague (Praha), Czech Republic

I've just returned from a three day trip to the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic. I had three days open in between returning from Corbigny and flying to the United Kingdom, so after a short debate between Prague and Barcelona I booked a flight and hostel and left the next morning for Eastern Europe.

My first trial was figuring out to get to the airport at six o'clock in the morning. Thankfully Richard showed me the "RoissyBus" which is a bus leaving from the Opera metro stop in Paris with a non-stop service to Charles De Gaulle airport. The bus left at 5:45am, but the first train didn't arrive to take me to Opera until 5:38am so I thought for sure I'd miss it since it's its at least six or seven minutes from Parmentier (M) to Opera (M). I arrived at Opera at about 5:46am and ran out the exit to find the bus just pulling up. In hindsight, the bus didn't actually leave until 6:00am so I wouldn't have missed it, but I was definitely worried. A half-hour drive later I checked into my "SmartWings" flight, cruised through security with my carry-on and boarded my flight to Prague.

An hour or so later we landed at the Prague airport and I grabbed my pack and headed out towards the exit. The first thing I needed was some cash money. I had a bit of a snafu with my bank where they wouldn't let me use my ATM card in any country besides France. In order to rectify the problem I had to fax them three forms of ID front and back and three signatures, with a contact phone number and then wait up to forty-eight hours for them to call back at their convenience. Seeings how I didn't have a scanner, fax machine, or phone, this wasn't going to happen...so I have no access to my money outside of France. My option left was to bring enough Euros with me to exchange for CZK (crowns), so I swung by a currency exchange booth in the airport on the way out and traded my money. The exchange rate is about 25Kc to 1 Euro ($1.50 USD). More on this later. After getting crowns I bought a bus ticket for 26Kc and jumped on the bus that would bring me to the city center. I had directions to my hostel with me which instructed me to take the bus, then get on the metro, then get on a tram, then walk...haha. It sounded confusing, but ended up being easy. One cool thing I learned right away was that a single transportation ticket works on all forms of transport. I can use my same ticket for the bus, train, and tram. It has a 75-minute time limit on it so I can use it for whatever I like within that time. You can buy different lengths for whatever your needs may be. After following all of the directions I finally made it to the "Little Town Hostel" and to my room.

When I got in to the room I met a guy from Quebec named Alexis who told me a bit about the hostel and how it had been. He's a backpacker who has been traveling for quite a bit so it's always nice to hear stories and where all he has been, etc. Apparently all of the ten beds were full now that I'd arrived so I was bound to meet some people soon enough. After getting settled in a bit and locking my gear in the locker I got suited up for a walk and headed out on the town. Equipped with my map from the hostel and some nice warm clothes that I'm incredibly glad I brought, it was time for adventure! It was COLD in Prague! Way colder than it had been anywhere else I'd visited so far. So glad I brought warm clothes. So, so glad.

My first stop on the walk was food. I was a bit wary of spending too much money since I didn't have access to my funds, and what I had was just what I had...so I decided to just get something quick and grabbed some Kebab. After eating a decent meal at a really good price, I wandered into a couple of souvenir shops to see what they had and realized something amazing...things are cheap here! Having been in Paris, I got use to paying a lot for almost everything, so it was very refreshing to see things priced normally. For instance, a pint of beer in Prague costs between 25 and 50 Kc normally. That equals to about 1-2 Euros. The cheapest pint of beer I've found in Paris was 4 Euros, and in most cases you're looking at 7-9 Euros for a pint of quality beer. Don't tell anyone, but I even paid 12 Euros for a pint once in Paris. (That is $18 USD). I realized then that I could probably drink about a hundred pints over the next couple of days and not run out of money. Brain cells maybe, but I'd have plenty of cash. :)

I kept on walking and eventually made my way to the main city square in "old town" where I came across the famous Christmas/Holiday Markets! This was amazing! It smelled of roasted chestnuts, wine, and wurst. I spent a long time wandering through the markets tasting different foods, looking through the shops at all the trinkets and holiday gifts, and admiring the sites it had to offer. Everyone was so happy and into the Christmas spirit that it made me very excited to go home in two weeks. It's one of those things that makes you realize how simultaneously the world can be so big and yet so very small at the same time. People all over the earth are merry and happy during the holiday season, and it's truly inspiring and an amazing, enjoyable experience to be around them.

In the old town square there is a clock tower they call the 'astronomical clock'. It's very neat and interesting looking! I read a bit about the history to know what it was and what it does, you can read about it here. Prague Astronomical Clock Wiki.


After exploring a bit more I walked back to the hostel and met a few more of the hostel-mates who were from Canada. We talked for awhile and shared travel stories, before they all got ready to head off to an ice-hockey game at a nearby rink. Yes, the Canadians found a hockey game to go to...in Prague. Lawl. Alexis from Quebec also went with them so I was by myself at the hostel awhile just writing and catching up on emails, etc when yet another mate came by named "T". He was from Malaysia and spoke little English so our conversations were limited, but he seemed like a pretty cool fellow. Few minutes later I checked out BeerAdvocate.com to see where the good beer pubs were in Prague. The first one I found was called, "Hastalky Dedek Restaurace". The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't as touristy as most of the pubs near old town and my hostel, as they didn't immediately start speaking to me in English. I asked for a pint of something good and was given a "Mušketýr" by the barman. Great stuff! Cheap too, it was about 30Kc for a pint. Check them out here: http://www.hastalskydedek.cz/

After the pub I decided to go visit Prague Castle. It's the largest medieval castle in Europe, holds the Guinness Record for being the largest "ancient" castle, and as you can imagine is just absolutely breathtaking. In the pic below you can see it up on the hill.


It took me about forty-five minutes to walk up to the castle and I spent another two hours or so exploring and taking photos with my cellphone. Part of me wants to write and tell you all about it, but it's simply just too amazing for words. It's a castle for fuck's sake. A CASTLE. I was just blown away the entire time. Unbelievable stuff.



To see more pics of the castle that were actually taken properly, look here. Or if you like, read all about it's history by visiting the Prague Castle Wikipedia Article.

After returning from the castle I decided my next stop would be some eats, so I stopped into a steak house I found and grabbed a seat. I ordered a chicken steak with a fruit sauce and a side of chips (French Fries). The food was great, as was the beer I had with it. It was a coffee flavored beer called Chodovar. I was completely stuffed, and kind of drunk so I decided to head back to the hostel to see what was happening there. When I arrived, there were yet three more people in the kitchen who I'd not yet met. A girl from Montreal, Quebec, named Camille and a guy and girl traveling together from Brazil named Victor and Mairra. They had just finished cooking an amazing dinner as I walked in. Soup, cheeses, bread, vegetables, olives, wine, etc. and were so nice and invited me to join them. Even though I was completely stuffed from my meal just minutes before I decided to sit with them and have a glass of wine and try some of Victor's amazing soup. We talked, ate, and drank for a couple hours then, great fun. All three of them had great stories of backpacking all over the world and Europe. This is what traveling is all about for me, just meeting these amazing people, getting to know them, hearing stories and sharing some of my own. Eventually all of the Canadians returned from the hockey game and we had almost the entire gang there finally. As you can probably guess, we all decided to go do some drinking! There was a pub in the basement of the hostel so we hopped in the lift and went down for some drinks and some fun! Along the way we picked up one more mate from another room named Simon from Norway. We all drank a lot of beer, did some shots, and learned from the barmaid how to say "cheers" in Czech. Na zdraví! My first day in Prague came to an end a few hours later, not a bad start.

The next morning I had the worst headache I can remember having in recent weeks. Thankfully it didn't last very long but I was damn shocked at how much it hurt for a bit there. Drinking from noon until midnight will do that I suppose. I had ordered breakfast at the hostel so I got dressed and went and ate in a room across the hall. Simple but good. Juice, Coffee, toast, muffins, and cereal. Camille and Alexis from Quebec were both headed off that morning so we said our goodbyes, facebook friended, and they were off. I spent the next four hours simply wandering around the city. I spent some time in the markets again, had some sausage and hot wine, and explored a lot of the city. Here are a few pics from the cellphone.









One of the most beautiful things in Prague is the Charles Bridge. It's a very historic bridge since it was the first one built that crossed the Vltava river and connected Prague's Old Town with the Prague Castle and the other adjacent areas. It's stunning really. Another piece of history that words won't do much for. Google it if you're interested. I crossed the bridge on the way back to the hostel and headed back inside to rest for a bit, a four hour walk does wonders on the feet. Ack!

Later that day a new hostel mate arrived, a girl named Jessica from Arkansas, USA. We talked for a bit about all of the places we had traveled and such and exchanged some cool stories once again. I ended up hanging out with her for most of the day and exploring a bit more of the city. We even got a few pictures of us doing some gymnastics on the Charles Bridge hah, I did a handstand. Did I mention it was ridiculously cold? Coldest city I'd visited yet, so removing my jacket to do a handstand on the bridge was a big deal! But, how many times in my life would I be able to do a handstand on the Charles Bridge, sitting high above the Vltava River, in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic, in Europe? Probably not many. :)

I was running out of cash so I need to hit up a place to exchange a bit more currency. Thankfully I had discovered 100 Euros that I had hidden in my belt weeks and weeks ago. Yes I am damn smart. There are so many Currency stores in Prague! At least one on every block and sometimes more than that. If you ever visit, exchange at the airport only enough to get your bus ticket (26Kc) but save the bulk of it for later where you'll get a much better rate. Whilst exploring I had seen one of them advertising 2500Kc for 100 Euros. I had this number in my head so I was going to check every exchange place until they offered me this. The first one I went in offered me 1800Kc. I almost laughed out loud, and started to walk away when the guy said "Wait! 2400Kc". I wanted to slap him through the glass, like I'd really take him seriously with an offer going from 1800 to 2400. 2400 isn't bad but I just laughed and walked out. I visited six more stores, the first five offered me 2400 and the sixth did the same, but as I was walking out he says, "Fine, what do you want?" I replied, "2500". "Okay fine." he says. My elite negotiating skills are awesome aren't they? Hah! I returned to the hostel with my money and we hit up an Irish Pub for some dinner. JJ's I think it was called. Good food, friendly people, great beer. As I said in my Tips For Traveling Europe - Part II, Irish Pub's always deliver.

Returning to the hostel we met yet another two people who had arrived at the hostel. A girl from China and a girl from Korea who was living in Ireland and traveling around. Such interesting people everywhere!

The next morning was my last in Prague, so I had planned to use the time left to spend a bunch of money. I wanted to buy some Christmas gifts and souvenirs, as well as try some of the food in the Christmas Markets that I hadn't tasted yet. Jessica was going off on a tour of the Castle so we said our goodbyes and I headed off into the markets to spend my hard earned crowns. Some great gifts came out of this by the way!

The only mildly exciting thing left that happened was when I couldn't figure out for the life of me where the heck to buy a train/bus/tram ticket. In case you were wondering, I finally found them for sale at the local Tabac. (Tobacco Store). Tram to Train to Bus to Plane to Train and I finally got home to my apartment in Paris. As tired as I was, the next day I was leaving for London! I had an amazing time in Prague thanks to the great city, the nice and amazing people I met, and everything else the city had to offer. I'd recommend it to anyone! Try to visit some day!

Next it's off to the United Kingdom for the week!

Europe: More Photos

Hey all! Nothing too exciting to report today except I got a few more photos uploaded. Please head on over to my Flickr page to view them all. I try to update it at least once a day so check back often.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayonidas/

I did take a nice long walk along the Seine and ended up outside of the Louvre Museum, but it started raining heavily so I couldn't snap any photos. Tomorrow I'm going to tour the museum though, stay tuned.

Europe: Paris and Notre Dame

This morning Emily had to leave for school so I packed up and decided to head off into the city and do some wandering. First I made way to the local mall and to the mobile phone shop to see about getting a sim card for my phone. All of the "pay as you go" plans don't include data and charge you for it at a rather scary rate, so I didn't end up getting one yet. I still need to research more. After the mall I headed down Rue Beaubourg and snapped a few photos on my way to visit Notre Dame. As I crossed the River Seine I got lucky with a couple of nice shots of the river and the boats it held. The clouds were a bit murky and gave way to a few short spurts of rain but for the most part it was holding up as a nice day for the camera.

After snapping the photos of the Seine I kept on walking until I reached Notre Dame. It's really only about a mile from Emily's apartment, if that, so it's easy. The outside of Notre Dame is absolutely awesome. If you're anywhere near it you really can't take any pictures because it's too big... I needed to walk a good 50 yards back just to get the whole thing into a picture. It really is amazing though when you see it...it's inspiring just taking it all in even.




Awesome isn't it? That would be the front if you will, and it's the shorter side of the rectangular building. The long side is about twice as wide as that haha. It's HUGE. I went inside where a big sign said NO CAMERAS but as I got in and saw hundreds of other people taking photos I said what the hell. It was extremely dark in there but I managed to get a couple good ones.


The inside of the Cathedral is breath-taking. The statues, the stained glass windows, the golden chandeliers and amazing artwork on the walls and architecture...it's awesome. If I had to compare to some of the Italian churches I'd say I like the actual architecture and awesome power of this place a bit more, but Italy wins in the ways of their churches being much more filled with amazing artwork and statues and such. Still though, who cares? All of these places are ridiculous and awesome.

I've got a bunch more pictures of the inside of Notre Dame but they are dark and kind of hard to see what's going on. They'll be on my Flickr eventually. ;) Speaking of, check the link below to see these photos larger and a bunch more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayonidas/

Europe: Venice, Italy - Part V

Venice was great! We're now back in Paris with a grand pile of pictures to sort through and some fond memories of a really beautiful city. Our last night in Venice took us to a couple of neat little pubs where we got to sing some Italian karaoke and drink a few mojitos after a great dinner at one of the local eateries. Italian pasta and Venezian seafood is serious fantastic. We walked up and down the streets a bit more that day collecting souvenirs and seeing the sights one last time before heading out the next morning. One interesting thing that happened was that at 7am when we attempted to leave, the hotel was locked from the outside. We were literally locked in the hotel lobby for 30 or so minutes waiting for the clerk to return from whatever the heck he was doing. When he finally returned we headed to our bus and to Marco Polo airport.

I've started to sort through some of the photos so here are a bunch to get started with. There are oh so many more, but this should be cool to look at for now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayonidas/sets/72157622591833445/

Enjoy, and au revoir for now!

Photos from Cape Cod

One day we had a great misty sunset, the other a terrible storm. All made for great photos. Here a few more from the set.

More available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayonidas

Back From Trip, Slow Updates

Hey all! I'm back from my trip but as you can see I'm missing a few days of blog posts. As soon as I got back work got extremely busy and it'll be a little while before I can make anymore lengthy blog posts. Keep checking though, I'll get some up as soon as I can. In the meantime check out my Flickr page where I uploaded the first batch of photos from the Cape Cod trip.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayonidas

Here is a sample from Rock Harbor, Orleans, MA


You can also subscribe to my blog to get an email each time I update. There is a button on the top left of the window. Have a nice Friday!