At home/ En la Casa

Llegamos bien!
We have arrived in SLC!

Ultimos dias

Ya casi se nos acabaron las vacaciones. Manana Martes Michelle sale para la USA, y yo el Miercoles. Cambiar los ticketes para el mismo dia costaba muchisimo, asi que me quedo aqui otro dia, el cual lo usare para tomar fotos.
Hoy fuimos a una de las primeras catedrales cristianas, construida en 400 dc. En el medio tenian un cofre que dicen contiene pedazos de la cuna de jesus.
Despues fuimos de shopping... aunque no encontramos nada unico... todo era lo mismo que en los estados unidos... con exepcion de que aqui se paga en euros.
Otra muy buena noticia es que cuando yo llege aqui el Euro estaba a 1.5 dolares, y desde que llege el Euro a bajado, hoy esta a 1.26!

bueno, yo creo que esta es la ultima vez que escribo. Paloma, en Facebook se pueden crear grupos, mis amigos del colegio tienen uno para los que se graduaron en el 98. Lo unico es que no se que tan privado sea... yo creo un blog les daria mas privacidad.

Rome

Spanish/English

Ayer tomamos un tour de Roma caminando. Vimos el coliseo romano, varios arcos y ruinas de la antigua Roma. Ver las ruinas romanas fue una de los mejores momentos de mi viaje. Ver el foro romano o el mercado, e imaginarse como un millon de personas convivieron en la ciudad fue muy interesante. La guia era una arqueologa, y trabaja en la universidad, ella nos conto sobre las fundaciones de los edificios, como construyeron edificios tan grandes, etc. Casi que fue un tour para ingenieros, yo me imagino que se debio a que cada 2 minutos yo le hacia una pregunta de ingenieria... pobre los otros en el tour que no les interesa la ingenieria. Caminamoos en una camino construido 500 anos antes de Cristo! fue genial.

Yesterday we took a walking tour of Rome. We saw the Colosseo, various arches (giagantic), and the ruins of acient rome, most specifically the roman forum or market. Seeing the forum, was one of the best moments of my trip. We walked on a road surfaced 500 years BEFORE Christ!
the rocks bear the marks of the chariots. Imagine, Rome had 1 million citizens almost 1900 years ago. The building techniques were equally amazing, the weight of the buildings is astonishing: hundreds of thousands of pounds, the colums in the pantheon were made of a single piece of marble, each spans around 50 ft tall.... imagine how heavy it would have been to carry and then to erect. Plus, they were building on top of alluvial deposits, meaning what the river left behind, which was mostly clay, they figured out the clay would settle too much over time, so they extracted the clay and built thick slabs for the foundation, sometimes a 40ft deep. Then invented the brick, which was made out clay... what a genious way to use the waste... the brick was the best building material posible, made out of useless clay, fireproof, waterproof and strong.
well, I could keep writing about all the smarts of the ancient romans, but I am going to go see some more of rome.

Roma

Hola a todos, Roma es espectacular, el clima esta como bucaramanga... o tal vez un poquito mas frio. Es increible como Italia me recuerda de Colombia, las calles, la gente, la forma de vestirse... bueno todo.

Mucha gente va de paseo y dice que les gusto todo, yo tengo que admitir que Florencia fue la peor ciudad de todo mi viaje. La gente no fue cordial, no hay por donde caminar, debido al numero de gente, pequenos andenes, invacion de carros al espacio publico y motos por todos lados. El arte es todo catolico... cientos de cuadros de la virgen maria con el nino jesus, o la virgen maria con los angeles o la virgen maria etc, etc, etc. Un poco desesperante.

El David de Michelangelo, fue espectacular, la estatua de 3 metros es perfecta y valio la pena la espera. Lo mismo de ver otras estatuas que no fueron terminadas, por que dejan ver el proceso de michelangelo.

La comida es carisima y no ha sido nada espectacular. Por los misma plata come uno en otras ciudades mejor, mucho mejor. Estoy mamado que los meseros le hablen a uno como si uno les estubiera pidiendo algo gratis.... he pedido recomendaciones, o quedias me cobraron mas de lo que debian, y la gente reacciona tan groceramente que hace que uno no disfrute lo demas.

Roma ha sido muy differente, las calles son amplias, hay por donde caminar, se ven mas limpias, la gente ha sido mas cordial... con excepcion de la mesera de anoche... pero almenos la comida fue espectacular, el vino delicioso y el lugar muy acogedor. Fue una experiencia unica.

Me alegra que no nos estubimos mucho tiempo en florencia... y creo que esta es la ultima vez que voy haya. No se la recomendaria a nadie... en europa hay tantos, pero tantos lugares hermosos, con gente linda, con buena comida y ambiente... que ir a florencia es una perdida de tiempo.

cada experiencia es necesaria, y util... ahora podemos decir que fuimos a florencia.

bueno es hora de ir a disfrutar de roma, el clima y la comida... ciao.

Roma

Estamos en Roma!!!
Ultimamente no he escrito mucho, y le voy a hechar la culpa a Michelle...jajaja... siempre quiere salir y ver mas lugares, no me deja hacer locha en un cafe escribiendo en el internet.
Ahora el quasi-hotel donde nos estamos quedando tiene internet. Ahora prodre escribir mas... espero.
Acabamos de llegar, son las 7pm, y vamos al la fuente Trevi, y de ahi a buscar un lugar donde nos cobren bastente por comer algo que la gente de aqui come todo los dias bien barato a unas cuadras de a donde vamos...jajja.

besos, gracias tia gloria, paloma y mama por todos los comentarios tan lindos... las quiero mucho. Michelle les manda un ghruan abrhaso... jejejej

Firenze

Ahora estamos en Florencia... luego escribire mas... ciao.

Venize

Hola a todos. Gracias por las palabras tan lindas que han escrito. Voy a escribir dos blogs hoy... uno de venecia y otro de florencia.

La ultioma foto es de el viaje de Munich a Venezia sobre los Alpes. Creo que la foto lo dice todo. La cuarta foto es del hotel donde nos estabamos quedando.

Venecia fue espectacular. Es lindo y al mismo tiempo increible que una ciudad pueda existir en medio del agua. Las casas parecen haber salido de una pintura en oleos, y cada casa es tan unica de la siguiente que forman un mar de arte que nunca acaba.

Las cosas fueron carisimas por haya. Obviamente es tan inacesible que eleva el precio de todo. Claro esta, que el hecho de que sea cara no ha parado a los turistas. Hay cruceros que para hay por el dia, asi que hasta las 6pm hay muchisima gente en las calles, lo cual le roba su belleza a venezia. Ya en la noche, los barcos se van, y la ciudad se calma, las luces adornan las iglesias y casas, y es ahi donde venezia vale la pena. Michelle y yo, como buenos turistas nos montamos en una gondola. El gondolero, canto en Italiano, y nos llevo por canales pequenos, muy romanticos. El viaje de 40 minutos vale 100 Euros, a nosotros nos vio cara de pobres, y pues era el ultimo viaje del dia, asi que nos salio en 60! A mi todavia me parece un robo, en Colombia un lanchero le daria a uno la vuelta por 5 Euros, y eso que la lancha tendria motor, no como estos lancheros en venezia que les toca remar...jajajaj

Muniche

I stoped writing in English since I did not get any coments in English... leave me a comment if you are reading it.

Ha pasado otro dia, el tiempo vuela cuando uno la pasa tan bien.

ayer fuimos a un museo genial, era como maloca... aunque nunca he estado en maloca, creo que es la misma idea. Era un museo de la historia de la technologia donde uno interactua con varias exhibits.

Munich forma parte de Bavaria, que es como el sur de Alemania. Es aqui donde consumen mas cerveza por persona en el mundo. A uno le sirven la cerveza en un vaso de un litro! durante el octoberfest la gente viene de todo el mundo a tomar, hayer le estabamos preguntando a la gente que cuanta servesa tomaron, una pelada se tomo 10 litros!!!!! claro esta que fue desde la manana hasta la madrugada... pero... de todas formas demasiado.

ayer fuimos a un lugar que es muy famoso, donde venden cerveza... cuando entramos no nos parecio nada especial... asi que fuimos a un bar a lado que estaba lleno... despues de una hora, y haber pagado 13 euros por un mojito... nos dimos cuenta que era un bar mexicano...jejeje... vinimos hasta aqui ha tomar mojitos en un bar mexicano... bueno... odio la globalizacion. Para empeorar de ahi fuimos a un bar cubano... donde tocaron musica colombiana toda la noche...jajjajjajaja.

manana salgo madrugado en un tren para Venezia. Se demora como 8 horas, lo chevere es que atravezare los Alpes!!

gracias a todos por leer este blog... dejen comentarios para saber quienes lo estan leyendo.

Munich or Munchen

Estamos en Munich. Nos estamos quedando en un hotelucho por que el hostal que queriamos no tenia reservacion. El hotel es un chiste, la recepcion cierra a las 10pm asi que cuando llegamos nos toco ir a otro lado a recoger las llaves..jajaj
La habitacion tiene ducha pero no bano.... los cuales son compartidos con todo el pizo. Bueno pero no todo es malo, el hotel no podia estar mejor localizado. Nos queda cerquita a marien platz(foto de arriva), una plaza espectacular, y muy cerca a la estacion de tren.

Se me olvido contar que cuando estabamos en Praga, en el metro nadie le revisa a uno los ticketes, pero yo siempre los compraba por obvias razones. Mi amigo los compro una sola vez, antes de irnos, hibamos tarde a coger el tren hacia munich y dije, pues acabe de comprar uno, hacia como una hora... bueno no lo compre... cuano hibamos en el tren, un inspector se nos acerco y nos pidio los tickets! nos toco pagar una multa de 700 coronas o 40 dolares!

bueno ahora que estamos en munich compramos un pase de 3 dias. Eso de comprar de ticket en ticket es una mamera.

Ayer hicimos un tour genial de la ciudad... es aqui donde nacio el movimiento Nazi. Asi que hay miles de historias sobre hitler y su gente. Si sabia que hitler queria ser pintor pero lo rechasaron dos veces de la escuela de arte, la ultima vez, la explicacion que le diero es que aunque el pintaba paisajes muy bien el no tenia apreciacion de la figura humana! el estubo en la armada por muchos anos y nunca lo acendieron... la explicacion: no tenia capacidad de liderazgo...jajajaj

Nos vamos a encontrar con Michelle en Venecia el Domingo. Desenle suerte!

Tia paloma Feliz cumpleanos... si no le llega regalo es por que se perdio en el correo ;) eso como que me pasa muy seguido...jjaja

Prage to Munich

Today we are leaving to Munich in the afternoon. It is a 6 hour train ride. Should arrive Munich by midnight. Yesterday we went out to take pictures, we were out for hours taking pictures of the main bridge, plaza and churches. At one point we made ourselves quit, otherwise we would have spent all night long taking pictures. The structures are illuminated perfectly, I wish we could spend more time around here... but the journey most continue.

Hoy nos vamos para Munich. El tren se demora 6 horas, llegaremos haya a la media noche... anoche fuimos a tomar fotos de el puente principal que fue construido hace 700 anos! saber que nuestros puentes ahora no duran mas de 50. Las estructuras estaban iluminadas espectacularmente. Como a las 11pm nos toco parar por que nos faltaba reservar el hostel en Munich y mirar en que tren nos hibamos. Y pues hoy nos tocaba empacar y salir!

this is not my picture... but I hope I got some just like it
chao.

Praha

Praga o como la gente de aqui les dice Praha. Hoy tomamos un tour a pie de el norte de la ciudad. He aprendido muchisima historia sobre los checos. Checoslovakia, fue dividida en dos paises hace 10 anos, czech republic y slovakia. Interesante no?
Cuando hitler los ataco, los Czech decidieron pelear, pero francia e Inglaterra decidieron que le hiban a regalar medio pais de los Czechos a Alemania para que Hitler no empesara una guerra mundial. Los Czechos odian que alguien differentente haya regalado lo que no era de ellos.
Este es un pais en el cual han ocurrido muchas guerras pero poca destrucion, todo lo que vemos son edificios y construcions de el siglo 14! es espectacular, esta es una mecha para cualquier arquitecto, existen edificios barrocos, goticos y del renacimiento en una misma calle... Genial

Manana salimos para Munich, Alemania. Todavia no tenemos todo definido. Luego les cuento.

Tambien, Michelle esta comprando pasajes para el domingo encontrarnos en Italia. Estariamos los dos haya por casi 10 dias. Va a ser muy rico, dicen que Italia es de los paises mas bonitos.

Prague

We made it! I am writing from the Hostel in Prague.
I love how the hostels are the same price around here than up north, but they look like the best hotels, the only thing different are the communal bathrooms. The hostel is modern, original paintings hanging on the walls, new furniture, new beds, very minimalistic.
After loosing my main method of storing my pictures I decided to cut down on the number of shots I would take of one subject. Well, that did not last to long, the culprit: trains in Prague. We got the station in Krakow and the train that was going to take us here, looked like it was built in the stone age. I must have taken 50 pictures of the trains.. darn!
We slept on the train, now we are ready to see the city... its only 10:30am!

On our way

We just bought two train tickets on the overnight train to Prague. We will save the hotel for the night, and be in Prage early in the morning. I think it takes 9hours. We got a cab with two beds for $90 dollars each. I like how much cheaper things are in Krakow.

When we arrived here we withdrew about 300 Polski Zloty (pln) which were equivalent to $120.... and we still have money left!!! we have eaten at good restaurants, drink plenty of beer, taken cabs everywhere, well... I love it!

Manana vamos para Praga. Vamos a tomar un tren de noche. El tren tiene habitaciones, el sale a las 10pm y llega a las 7am. Uno ni se da cuenta de el recorrido, porque los trenes son muy comodos y pues uno va dormido. Ayer vimos mucho mas de la ciudad... que bonita... vimos castillos, iglesias, plazas... fue genial.

Aqui todas las cosas son mucho mas baratas, en Stockholmo o Copenhagen, saliamos a comer y nos gastabamos 30 dolares o mas,,, aqui con eso come por dos dias. Los taxis en ves de costar 25 dolares cuestan 5... y etc... asi que fue una muy buena decision venir por estos lares, y ahorrarnos una platica.

Krakow, Polonia / Poland

I posted in English and Spanish

Estamos en Polonia! que differencia a los otros lugares donde hemos estado!
Por primera vez entramos a Europa Oriental, un lugar que se parece mas a colombia que a Dinamarca. El hotel, la comida y el trasporte son muchisimo mas baratas por estos lares.
En los lugares previos, la gente hablaba Ingles perfecto. Por aqui, solo la gente joven, tal vez de menos de 25 hablan ingles. Esto ha complicado las cosas un poco para nosotros, pero pues no de a mucho.
Muy cerquita a este lugar, es donde nacio el Papa Juan Pablo segundo... asi que tienen fotos, venden joyas con su imagen, bueno, imaginise si la ciudad solo pudiera se adornada con cosas de la casa de la abuela. jajaja
Esta es una ciudad muy bonita, imaginese un pueblito en colombia, combinado con el siglo 21.

Hoy descubri que el disco duro a donde estoy transfiriendo todas mis fotos se ha danado. Suena horrible cuando lo conecto y pues no funciona. Menos mal al principio de este viaje me hize una promesa, que si se me perdian todas las fotos no importaria por que vine aqui a vivir una experiencia no a recoger recuerdos. De todas maneras... tengo una piedra!! pero bueno... nada que un vodka no pueda arreglar... jajajaj

El jueves en la noche salimos a un bar/disco y pues parece que nadie era de aqui. En esta ciudad hay muchos estudiantes, y parece que muchos son de espana. Los espanoles les encanta viajar, son como una plaga. el lugar donde estbimos tocaron merenge, salsa combinada con techno. Era un chiste pensar que viajamos al otro lado del mundo a encontrar gente que habla mi mismo lenguage y escucha la misma miercoles... De ahora en adelante me opongo a la globalizacion. Si les conte que desayune McDonalds? Horrible... pero todo lo estaban cerrando para habrir para el almuerzo... HRRRR!

Today we are in Krakow, Poland. Our first encounter with Eastern Europe. This place reminds me of Colombia. Chaos in the middle of beauty.
One curios note, is that everytime we come to use the internet google has had its local page. So everything is in Polish or Danish, etc. All the searches seemed to be optimised for that location too.

Yesterday we had pickled herring, yes it tasted as bad as it sounds...lol... I had veal which was amazing, enrique had chicken, which tasted just like something you would order in the states.

I think my next blogg entry will be called... I hate globalization. When we first got here we went to a bar, and they played salsa and merenge mixed with techno... I guess is their own version but still I knew all the lyrics. There are more spaniards around here than I care to see. This is a college town, or maybe a town with a college, there are 150,000 students! Its quite anoying... and today I ate McDonalds for breakfast! Everything else was being changed from breakfast to lunch and we were way to hungry to wait. Looking back, that was a bad choice.

I think I may have lost all my pictures, my harddrive is making a horrible noise. Oh well, I did not come here to be a photographer. Yet, I hope I can fix it in the US. I dont know how I will save my pics while here. I will probably be more selective and shoot in a smaller format.

Today we visited the wall that protected the city from invators. It was impressive, yet there was not an available guide. So, we did not get the most out of our outing. From what we read, the gorvement did not have money to maitain all the walls, so they teared most of them down! wow!

oK, time to go experience Krakow... did you know the bars close at 5am and there is 2 that close at 7am?

Prague?

The title reads prague?... yes we are in prague... altough that was NOT the plan. While in Amsterdam we decided to fly to eastern Europe, maybe save some money by spending time in cheaper countries. It was decided we would go to Krakow, Poland. We got a flight that should have lasted 3 hours total, with 1 connection... yes in prague.
We went to bed at 6am woke up at 7 am, packed, and ran to the airport, when we got there realized our flight was delayed by 2 hours. We missed our connection, and had to wait 8 hours until the next flight!
the airline gave us 400 somethings... I am not sure how to spell their currency. We went had an amazing lunch, with a drink for about 100. We figured we were rich... since we had another ¨300 to go. Well, we went and bought some water... They charged us almost the same for lunch than for a bottle of water, same for an expresso... WOW. Needles to say we went through those 400 quite fast.
Now, we found an internet cafe and we are wating for our flight. We should get there around 11pm.

Now, Amsterdam... well... interesting place to say the least. I never wanted to go there, it was a compromise with Enrique, so I probably was not the most open minded about the place. I thought it was dirty, expensive, crowded but not in a good way, scrungy... ALTOUGH... it had some GREAT parts... The Van Gogh museum was surreal... I was like a fat kid in a candy store. I could not belive I was so close to the paintings, reproductions dont do it justice. Seeing the texture of each stroke, the color choices, the boldness of the way he painted, was simply amazing. I was a bit sad I could not enjoy more time in there, maybe another day would have suffice.
The canal tour was very nice, altough not as beautiful as gamla stan in stockholm or Copenhaguen, but very nice an unique.
The night was interesting as well, we went to a club that had a concert, mostly american bands which defeted the purpose of going across the world, but what can I say but... Globalization!
I had sweared to never eat at a McDonalds or Burger King if I went to another country, but I have found that sometimes finding local food can be as hard as finding local bands, playing typical music.
Also, there is a McDonalds in every corner and sometimes the only thing open late at night. So yes... I ate McDonalds... I dont even eat that in the US... and I come here to eat it? oh well... hello globalization.
We went to the red light district, which seems to be a necessary stop if you want to understand this place. There are "working ladies!¨" standing in windows semi=nude while tourists go by, there were FAMILIES touring by as if there were in the mall. VERY BIZZARD.
My recomendation is, if you are coming to Europe and only have a month... dont waste your time here.
Also, invest on direct flights! spending a WHOLE day on an airport is not worth it... unless you truly love Van Gogh... and then you must come!
I am excited about visiting Krakow... I think it will have a very different feel than all the northern european countries we have visited.

the pictures above are from the web... I have not been abble to find a pc with a USB.

Amsterdam

After a 13 hr train ride we have arrived! Actually it was not bad at all, we had a compartment all to our selves, so we basically slept the whole time. We saved in hotel, and time since we would have been sleeping anyways.
We just checked in at the "flying pig" hostel... crappy to say the least, but in a very central location. Its hard to compare it to the one in Copenhagen where it seemed an Ikea designer had furnished the whole place.
The city looks beautiful... We plan on touring today, and going to the Van Gogh museum! I am VERY excited!
I am only staying one night here as oposed to the 3 we had planned. Next stop...? we dont know.. it will depend to where we can find cheap airplane tickets!

Copenhaguen

We are in Copenhaguen. We are staying at a gigantic hostel, it has thousands of rooms. It is very new, minimalistic and has a great social area.

Today we rented bycicles... yes, EVERYONE seems to use a bike. Yesterday we went out, and people even take them to the bars, I guess is safer than driving a car drunk, but it is VERY COLD, like 5C but the wind makes it seem like -10.

So we took are bikes around the city for a self guided tour, it was a lot of fun! Had the best lunch so far, it was tapas but with european food in general, all kinds of cheeses, meats, olives, breads. WOW... and the price was great! which is hard to do in this place.

We also took a boat tour around the canals, and that was alot of fun. Did I mention that it did not rain? yes! it was great to have blue skys... blue skys=better photos!

encore

Now that we are at the hotel, there is a computer in the lobby, I get to write more than 2 lines. Today we went on a bus tour of the city, now I know the best spots to go take pictures. Tomorrow we were supposed to head south to Copenhagen, we might stay here another night, we have not gotten to see even one quarter of the things we wanted. We are still missing the Vassa Museum, a couple of historic Museums, including the main castle.

Dont forget that you can click on the pictures below to see them full size.

Hotel

Tonight we are staying in a Hotel... it is a bit farther from town than the hostel but the hostel was booked. Every night that we have been here we had to move to a different room... that is what happens when you book at the last moment!

Today we took a bus tour of the city, the more I see, the more I realize this has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is so green, well actually, the leaves are changing colors so its not only green, but red and orange.

Thursday

It's Thursday here. I have taken plenty of pictures but still have not found a computer with an USB port.
The 7/11 all have internet workstations but are vary basic.
We have had an amazing time exploring the town and islands. Today we are going to a couple of museums. We have not been to any yet, just walking around the city is a fantastic experience.
The streets are narrow, there are very few cars, mostly taxis. Did I mention this city is VERY expensive? today we found out that to do a load of loundry costs more than 10USD. We asked our hostel attendant if the 10 were for selfservice... she said, OFFCOURSE, this is not thailand!
ouch!!!
She was surprised that here it was so much more expensive than the US.

Stockholm

We got to the hostel safe. Beign my first time staying in a hostel, I was a bit surprised. When they say minimum luxuries they mean it! you get a bed and that is it! no linens, towels, etc. A bed! we were prepared for that so it is ok.
We are staying in Gamla Stan, or old town. a little island, which is in the center of the city. There are palaces, and all kinds of beautiful architecture.
I look forward to continue exploring this little island, there is so much to see. Today we may make it to a museum.
By the way, I have taken pictures but have not found a computer where I can upload them.

This picture is from the web.

Stockholm

Arrived here! the flight was LONG. I was lucky to catch a straight flight from Salt Lake to Paris. I waited 4 hours in Paris and then I took a 2 hour flight to Stockholm. The airport in Paris seems straight out of an architects dream. Amazing!

Itinerary

These are the places we plan to visit (in the map are shown with red markers). Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Munich, Florence, Venice and Rome. Click on the map for more detail.

-Estos son los lugares que voy a visitar... dele click al mapa para verlo mas grande.

Why?

I want to share my trip with everyone. I am not making any promises, I have never been to Europe or blogged, and I really don't know if I will be able to keep this updated with posts/pictures as I go along.
Well... lets see how it goes.