Stuck in Narbonne!

Graham and I left Bathmen yesterday morning to make our way back to Amsterdam. Anne drove us to Deventer where we caught a train into Amsterdam. We walked around Amsterdam for a few hours befaore we started making our way to Spain. We walked through the red light district which wasn't quite the same because there was no red lights on and all the windows had curtains in them rather then women. Just before we left we ate a smoked Herring sandwich. It wasnt very good at all. We hopped on a train in Amsterdam at 2:53 which was supposed to get us to Spain for 11:48 the next morning because of the tranfers and such. We made our first few trains no problem and then it was time for the sleeper train which we excited for because we were totally beat. The sleeper train had about 30 cars and while we were walking to our car to get on we saw that every car was made up of rooms with 4-6 beds. At this point we couldn't wait to get on the train to fall asleep and wake up with only one more train to be in Barcelona by the beaches. As we approached our car, number 19, we then realized that we were stuck with normal chairs that recline just a bit more then usual. It was a huge downer because those chairs suck to sleep in. Of course sitting beside us was a drunk guy who was mumbling to himself in french the whole time. Not to mention the fact that he some how found the light switch to our car and was playing with them for a good few minutes before he moved on to the next car to play with there lights. Next he was picking his scabs and looking at them. It was probably the most discusting guy we've ever seen. Thankfully after he finished his mickey of Vodka he passed out. We both probably only got an hour of sleep in total on the train. We caught our next train that was taking us to Gare De Narbonne. Unfortunately the train showed up late and we ended up missing our train to Barcelona. We asked at the information desk when the next train to Barcelona was and she told us it was at 4PM. That left us with 7.5 hours to kill. We found a round about with a bunch of grass that we layed on for about an hour before deciding to go find some food and a nicer spot to lay down. We found a decent little park that we layed down in for a while before wondering around some more to kill time. W found a pretty cool cathedral from 1272 that we went in and wondered around before going to get some food. There wasn't a lot of options for food because the lazy french people shut down everything for a couple hours every afternoon. How they make money is beyond me. We met the "leader of le resistance" while making our way back through a back alley towards the train station. She was a pretty cool old lady. She travelled the world and has lived in many different countries including Vancouver for a few years. She was on welfare because she couldn't find work over here but she justified it to herself because her dad payed taxes for 50 plus years. Her views and beliefs were like that of a hippie (very open minded, not into T.V. or internet and loved to read because she believed knowledge is freedom). We must of talked to her for a good 45 minutes while keeping an eye on her cat that she was taking for a walk.


We arrived at the train station around 330 to make sure we caught our 4:15 train to Barcelona to find out that there was no 4:15 train to Barcelona. We asked at the information desk about catching the next train to Barcelona and we were told there was onlly connecting trains to Barcelona now. It wasn't too bad up until this point but then I asked if our previous train ticket was still valid and she said that it wasn't. Now there was a problem! We were stuck in Narbonne with a wasted train ticket because our connecting train arrived late and no apparent way of getting to Spain tonight unless we bought new train tickets. After a slow argument due to the language barrier of me not speaking french and her not speaking english we managed to get everything sorted out. She wrote a note on the back of our expired train ticket saying that we missed our connecting train because the ticket exchange people were on strike (which they are) so we are currently waiting till 7:45 to catch a train to Figueras. which we will then transfer to a train to Barcelona. Our 15 hour trip from Amsterdam to Spain turned into a 36 hour trip with about 1 hour of sleep. Not a big fan of the Eurorail Pass right now. Hopefully the next post will be from Spain and not here in Narbonne!

3 More Days Till Barcelona

Its just before midnight here and we're getting ready to pass out. We had our most relaxing day yet. We walked to Anne's Mom and Dad's house which is just up the street in the most beautiful little town I've even been in. It's about an hour East of Amsterdam and it's called Bathmen but its pronounced bautem. We went up to her parents house to do our laundry because we were all out of clean clothes. I learned how to hang up clothes on a line because that is something I've never done before lol. There is actually some skill involved because the first few articles I hung up kept falling off until I was shown the right way of doing it lol. Everything here is so relaxed and laid back. Everyone here rides there bikes around and walks there dogs through the parks. The streets and sidewalks are all made of bricks and every single plant and tree is perfectly groomed. I'm pretty sure that the town is fake because everything is so perfect. While we were waiting for our clothes to dry Anne took us to a little spot to swim on the canal behind her parents house. Graham actually went swimming even though the water was ice cold. Anne and I just put our feet in and layed there in the sun and tanned. After we walked back and picked up our laundry we went out to a little restaurant in her town for some croquettes and fries with apple pie and ice cream for desert. We ended up back at Annes place and just ordered some pizza and watched a movie.

Yesterday morning Anne met us at De Dam (a big square in Amsterdam with a memorial monument) to take us on a canal tour. The tour was pretty cool because we go to see many streets of holland from the canals as opposed to the streets. The boat took us past Anne Franks house and the narrowest house in Amsterdam which was only 6 feet wide. After the canal tour we were all hungry so we went to a restaurant and ate a farely odd dinner. It was a massive pancake with bacon and cheese and a dutch syrup all over it. It tasted amazing. From there we went on to do the Heineken Brewery Tour which was much more then I ever expected. It was only 12 Euros and we got an entire tour of the place along with 2 pints and a tester beer. They also let us eat the hops and barley in it's pure form. The barley actually tasted pretty good. It was very similar to deshelled sun flower seeds but with a unique flavour. When we first walked in for the tour and checked our bags in the lady gave us our bracelets that were good for the 2 free beers during the tour but she told us if we put our bracelets in our pocket we would get another bracelet at the door. This worked so when it came time for the 2 free pints at the end of the tour we all enjoyed 4. We met 2 guys from Vancouver in the bar at the end of the tour and while we were talking to them 2 different people came up to us and gave us there beer tokens that they didn't want to drink. I'm not sure if it was our Canadian hats that caused this but I'm not complaining.

Last night Anne took us to her friends Husband's birthday party. It was just a little back yard patio party with drinks and some finger food. There was also to chickens and 2 huge rabbits which was pretty cool because you generally don't have that at parties back home. There was only 3-4 of her friends that spoke english so Graham and I were limited to who all we could talk to, however, by the end of the night we were pretty much talking to everyone because apparently after you drink a lot you learn to speak Dutch lol. Her friends were all very nice and always made sure we had a beer in our hands. As soon as you have a sip left in your beer there was a fresh beer being handed to you. At about midnight they pulled out a few bottles of liquor that we were all doing shots from. Graham really took a liking to this Dutch liquor and drank more then his fair share of it. Anne and I had to carry Graham back to her place because he could not even function enough to walk back. All in all it was a great party with a lot of great people.

Were heading back to Amsterdam Wednesday morning and we are going to spend the day there until we catch a midnight train to Barcelona where we will be spending atleast 4-5 days.

Paris To Amsterdam

Our last night in Paris was definitely one of my favourite nights here. We did a walking tour through Paris and learned quite a bit. We met a few Americans and a few Canadians that we hung out with after the tour. We all grabbed some wine, cheese, meats and baguettes and headed down to the Eiffel Tower to eat. It was a nice spot. After that we went back to the hostel to drink in the basement but there was a live band playing so we decided to grab some wine and head back to the Eiffel Tower for the light show they put on every hour at night time. We ended up getting pretty drunk because we made a drinking game that coincided with the lights of the Eiffel Towel so the wine disappeared pretty quick. After the wine was gone we headed back to Aloha Hostel and drank some more wine and beer from the vending machine. Created a new drink called Leffie Juice that is a mix of Orangina and wine. At about 3 am Graham and I headed back to our Hostel to try and get a room but it was booked so we went across the road and slept in the park. We woke up freezing so went back to our hostel to warm up and have some breakfast.

We went to the train station around noon to buy a Eurorail pass to save some money over the next month or so. We grabbed the train at 3 to make it to Amsterdam for 8PM. It was a connecting train and of course we missed the second connecting train because we don't speak french and couldn't make it to the next train in time. We had to then find our way through a series of other trains and arrived in Amsterdam at 10PM. Anne didn't make it out to meet us so we grabbed a hotel on a side street a block away from the Red Light District. We went for a quick walk through the Red Light District and its the real deal here! "Coffee Shops" everywhere and ladies (not sure they really qualify to be called ladies) in windows half naked ready to be purchased for a good time. I'm not sure if it's an Amsterdam thing but our room came with 2 cats. Tarzan and Jane. They came and went as they pleased through the window. It was pretty awesome!

Just woke up and had a quick breakfast in our hotel and now were off to meet Anne to do a Canal Tour and a Tour of the Heineken Brewery. Might also go see Anne Franks house.

Homeless in Paris..... Almost!

We took the bus from London to Paris today. It was a 10 hour trip in total including 4 hours on the bus, 3 hours on the ferry and then another 3 hours by bus. We arrived at 10 PM with no where to stay so we thought we would take the subway towards the Eiffel Tower and find a place to stay but while we were trying to decipher the ticket dispensing machine because we know next to nothing about the french language, a random guy from Ivory Coast told us that he would take us to a cheap hotel because it would be too expensive near the Eiffel Towel. So we made the excellent decision to go with him and take his word. He seemed pretty Legit because he spoke french and english and apparently lived in London but had family here in Paris. We got on the subway for free because he snuck us in the exit. He took us to a part of Paris called Chateau Rouge. Sounds like a nice place but little did we know. We were in the ghettos of Paris and trying to get into sketchy hotels but they were all booked. After we saw one drug deal go down we decided we should probably walk towards a safer area. We must have checked 15 hotels while but had no luck because its the end of school or something so everything is booked up. We ended up talking to a local that sent us in the direction of a hostel so we arrived here around 1230. With our luck it was totally booked so we had to wait till 2AM to see if there was any cancellations. Luckily there was a few cancellations so we just got some rooms. Heading to sleep now after a long tiring day of travelling and looking for a place to sleep.

London Was a Whirlwind But Still An Awesome Time.

This post is 1 day late because the netbook died just as I was about to post it! So here it is!

I'm laying here in my hostel bed at 1:08am listening to the 2 other random guys in the room snore like 8 year old girls! Pathetic! Graham and I just got in from a great day in London! We arrived by bus at 7am and started wondering around London soon as we got some breakfast in us. We saw a few of the major attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The London Eye and a few Museums. We started drinking Sapporos from the local chinese conveinence store and got a good buzz on before heading off at 8 to meet the wonderful Cristina Ferriera (a friend of ours through Mike Drzazga). She took us on our own mini pub crawl to some of her favorite pubs and bars around London. Mind you, some how we ended up at a gay bar for our first round of drinks but none the less it was a good time. We must of went to 6 or 7 bars/pubs before Cristina had to catch the 12 o'clock tube (Britains term for the subway). After Cristina left Graham and I decided it would be a good idea to waonder a bit before heading back to the hostel. We ended up getting free passes to get into a high end dancers club if you know what I mean. We went in and instantly the ladies were after our money. They were very agressive and wouldn't take no for an answer until about 20 minutes passed and they realized we weren't spending any money in there other then the beers we grabbed.

Last Day in Scotland. Off to London Tonight!!

We are enjoying our last day in Cardonald, Scotland. Tonight we are taking the bus into London. Its just over 8 hours to take the bus so we are catching the 11PM bus so we can sleep on the bus through the night and wake up in down town London in the morning.

We are just relaxing today because yesterday we climbed Ben Nevis which is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. It was 4406 feet tall. To put that into perspective, Mount Everest is 29,900. It was a 3.5 hour hike up and it only took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to come back down. We took a lot of photos along the way and at the summit of the mountain but the photos definitely don't do it's justice. We started the climb with Dave and Charlotte and about 1\3 of the way up Charlotte wanted to stop, so Dave stayed with here and Graham and I went on. We Made it to the top and there was an old observatory that was there from hundreds of years ago and a little survival hut. We went into the survival hut and ate lunch and just after we finished lunch, Dave and Charlotte showed up. They felt like they couldn't be shown up by Canadians in their own country lol. The hike down was a lot less tiring then the hike up but it was tough with all the loose rocks on the path. All in all it was an amazing day and an even more amazing feat considering It was only 2 days after the 3 month mark of me having knee surgery.

We Made It! Barely!!!

So, we made it here alive and the trip has been amazing so far. We almost didn't get into the Scotland because we didn't have a ticket booked to leave the country. The guy pretty much laughed at us and told us we we're screwed and it took a good 10 minutes to talk our way into letting us in. Graham didn't help the situation when his bank statement stated he only had $6 in his account (it was an old bank statement). We spent our first 2 nights in Glasgow staying with Grahams Aunt Rosie and Uncle Gerry. Our second day here we got dropped off in downtown Glasgow by Grahams cousin Leigh. We started drinking farely early and met a local named Murray who showed us a few of the local pubs and took us to the University of Glasgow. We got some carry out (booze from the corner store) and drank on a big grassy hill with a bunch of people we met down by the university. There must have been about 200-300 people drinking on this hill. It was an awesome party. After that we went bar hopping with some french ladies we met and ended up at a peep show. It was just university students in the peep show so they didnt show everything but it was still fun. At the end of the night we walked home from downtown Glasgow to Cardonald which was about a 4 hour walk. All that walking to get home to a locked door. We ended up sleeping in the back yard on lounge chairs for an hour before Graham remembered they said they would leave a key under the mat. So at 6 am we stumbled into bed.


Last night around dinner time we took the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh to see Dave and Charlotte. Thats a couple that Graham knows. We started the party early at The Amber Rose while waiting to meet up with Dave and Charlotte. We went to 3-4 different bars last night before finally ending up at the Casino around 330 AM. I some how managed to make 80 Pounds playing poker even though I hardly remember it. Graham finished up 35 pounds from black jack. We got back to Dave and Charlottes flat around 630 AM and slept right through the royal wedding. Today Dave had to work so Charlotte took us around and showed us some cool spots around town. Edinburgh is a beautiful city!


We've been absolutely stuffed since we arrived because the food is amazing and it's hard to stop even though you're full. So far we've had haggis balls, haggis on pizza, haggis and bacon sandwich, haggis burgers, deep fried pizza, blood pudding sandwich and curried chicken.

It's currently 215am and were sitting in Dave and Charlottes flat watching the Jays beat the Yankees on the internet.