Having been privileged enough to have travelled a lot through out my childhood and my teens, I hadn't actually spent that much time in Europe. For some reason, I always ended up really far away or on some sunny island, but never really in Europe....which is rather strange as I actually live in Europe...I just didn't visit my neighbors. So bloody rude I am :) ... I convinced my friend Anni to come with me across Europe and off we were...! Even as students, its possible to inter rail across Europe to relatively cheap money....so we did! :)
I kissed my then boyfriend goodbye and jumped on the train to Copenhagen where we began our trip. From there, we actually flew to Athens and spent a week there. Both of us love history, so Athens was a perfect fit for us to walk around a city of pure history. We met some wonderful people at our hostel, so our days were spent experiencing greek culture and history and our nights spent on hanging out with the other guests in the Hostel bar. It was a very good week :)
My nickname in elementary school was Zeus due to my temper and my curls, so naturally when we discovered a hostel named Zeus we had to book it! It was very close to Acropolis, in fact-we could see from our window! :)
A Greek salad....surprisingly yummy! We discovered pita bread in Greece had fries in them which were rather strange, but still quite yummy. But after this rustic greek salad I have to admit I've developed a fondness of greek cuisine. :)
Greece is a lovely place and the old ruins continued to fascinate through out the entire week there. The people were usually pretty nice, but Anni had a bit of a problems with the Greek men. But then, she was a hot blond....Curvy brunettes don't get nearly as much attention which suited me quite well :)
After our week in Athens, we took the train from down to Patras where we sailed to Bari in Italy. It took 24 hour to sail and we slept on the deck, but it was nice to try something new....
Pitstop in Patras while waiting for the Ferry....
Anni sleeping on the Deck
Sunset from the Ferry....
Arriving to the sunny Bari was sadly only the first step on the journey to Napoli, Italy which was our next stop on our trip. Bari is on the East coast of Italy and Napoli is across the country on the West coast.
We had to take three local trains across country that drove when they pleased, but after 52 hours of journey time from Athens we finally arrived in Napoli....
After such a long journey, we decided that we wanted to spend the next day on the beach where we could relax and enjoy the sun....so we did.....but we relaxed a bit too much....as we both ended up being Crab red from falling asleep on the beach on a day where the temperature in the shade alone was 42 Celsius degree! Both burned and extremely sore, we went back to the hotel and spent the night taking ice cold showers and rubbing cooling lotion all over repeatedly..... Nothing worked! :(
The next day we decided to go the Rome...Napoli held nothing but bad memories for us now so why not get the hell out of Dodge. We jumped on a train to Rome and a few hours later we arrived. We checked into our hostel and began our adventure in Rome with sunburns and a serious lack of sleep.
Now as history lover I had high expectations for Rome. I had only been to Italy once before that was in the Northern part of the country. After that trip my expectations for Rome were through the roof! But sadly, they were not realized :( ....Sure, many of the water fountains were beautiful to look at, the food was good, the people nice and the hostel also held high standards with decent beds and a cheap hostel bar....including one night with Wine/beer pong that I for the life of me, cannot remember how it ended other than I woke up the next morning with severe bruises on my body :-S....never mix tequila, beer and wine....The Vatican was a severe disappointment....WAY too touristy.... The Colosseum was sooo small....and the Traffic in Rome actually rivals New York Rush hour traffic!
Maybe we just came at the wrong time of the year....
But it wasn't all bad. The Italians are generally nice, but pushy as Anni suffered once again for being blond...
We didn't take a lot of pics in Rome as we were both Crab Red and skin peeling off us non-stop and that was pretty obvious on the pics....
I think the thing I loved the most about Rome was the family restaurants we ate quite a bit at....Restaurants that were restaurants as well as homes for the owner....you could be sitting in the owners living room and eating your dinner....best part though was the fact that you could actually see your food being made from scratch in the kitchen....Best lasagna and pasta dishes ever!
After four days in Rome, it was time time to move on and we caught the sleeper train to Marseilles where we could catch some sleep while we travelled to France. We arrived at 6.30 AM and nearly didn't wake early enough to get off the train in time!
Marseilles was suppose to be a quick stop and just because traveling from Rome to Paris sounded exhausting without a break in between...Instead, I saw the Chateau d'If ....you know the Chateau that Alexandre Dumas' the count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned in?....Well , it actually exists! We talked around the ruins! Big moment for me! :) .... Geez....I really am a nerd! :)
Furthermore, I'd never really eaten seafood before I arrived to this city, but in Marseilles I learned to eat squid, delicious mussels and other interesting fish dishes...
Marseilles is the second largest city in France and has one of Europe most busy fishing industries, so naturally the restaurants there go local and know their fish! I think thats why I finally learned to eat seafood....they know how to make it delicious! Oh how I enjoyed it!
I had a serious problem in Marseilles though. My sandals finally gave up and broke...and it was too darn hot to break out the sneakers! So I had to invest in a new pair of flip-flops if I wanted to survive my feet to survive the heat....Anni convinced me to buy these ugly flip flop as they were only 1€....although I hated the color and the fact that they were made from cheap material....God, I remember hating having to wear them, but not really having any other choice...
Ironically, I still have those flops today and they're my absolute favorite pair of footwear....! :D After our pitstop in Marseilles we jumped on the express train to Paris....oh how I fell in love with Paris...the beautiful Montmartre area, the history of the city, the art! I wanna move into Louvre!
Street art in Montmartre; The words 'I love you' in every language known to mankind....beautiful!
Louvre!
Street art!
Guess what that is....only the most famous icon in all of Europe!
Although that damn light show it has going on at night is just plain tacky and quite frankly....its a freaking disgrace of such a beautiful icon....Its History...not a Rave party!
So much history here....
View of Paris...
Me trying to fix the damn camera so I can catch every single inch of Montmartre! :)
Moulin Rouge in Mont Martre!
The hostel we stayed at (called Peace and love hostel-cheesy I know, but cheap!), offered a tour around Montmartre with a guide....Our guide seriously knew everything there was to ever tell about Montmartre! She was truly impressive with her knowledge about not only that area but also knowledge of Paris in general-and she was not even local! She was american! I think we saw every inch of that area, and after that tour I was convinced that I would move the Paris one day and live in Montmartre. If only I actually spoke the language....somehow I think that would be a big help for a life in France :P....France has always fascinated me and my fascination with the country rose to amazing highs after I got hooked on Regine Deforges books...That woman can write and make you dream....
Paris...One day, I'll be back!
But after Paris, the plan was to go to Brussels in Belgian, but quite frankly, we were tired as hell and just wanted to go home to our own beds....so we caught the quickest train to Denmark. Sadly we'd misunderstood the German train schedules and we somehow got diverted to Zea/Sealand instead of driving directly up through Germany and into Jutland....so it was a bit of a detour, but luckily Denmark is so small that such a detour is only a matter of a few extra hours. I got off the train in Odense where my then boyfriend picked me up at the station and Anni continued with the train all the way over to Jutland where she lived.
It was an amazing experience where I met so many amazing people and I experienced a lot of Europe...and it is def. not the last time I'll go inter railing!
If you have the opportunity, go see Europe! Its a beautiful place with so much diversity and cultural changes and history! You're gonna love it! :)
Europe- its where history comes from! ;)
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