Based on a True Story » Europe Trip 2007

Paris Day 30 & 31

Nathan Colquhoun — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:44:52 +0000

This will be my last post about the trip. We start our trek back to London, England today, sleep at the airport, and then fly out tomorrow morning. It’s been a good ride so far but we are both exhausted and missing everyone back home. Especially now since Darryl is engaged!! Paris has been good. We did all the touristy things like see the Eiffel tower, go the the Louvre Museum, see the Notre Dame, other churches and famous buildings. We got really lucky throughout the trip. We saw the Eiffel Tower except it was their version of Independance Day here so there was a half hour long fireworks showed synced with music behind the Eiffel Tower along with probably 120,000 people or so. We got to Notre Dame except there was mass going on so we got to experience mass in French at one of the most famous churches and beautiful churches in the world. Things like this happened our entire trip. Like getting into the Collessium for free because it was some gladiators birthday. Just happen to be going past Pamplona during the one week festival of running with the bulls. Being in Ireland during the one day festival of World Class street performers (post to come later about that). Being in Munich during their big festival called TollWood. I felt like it never stopped working out all trip long. Couldn’t have asked or planned a better turnout when its all over. Rachel and I get home tomorrow night and then head off for one or two weeks (yet to be decided) to some cottages up north with her family and then this blog will be back to its regular scheduled programming.

Paris Day 29

Nathan Colquhoun — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:08:56 +0000

Rachel posted about our 29th day, so I won’t. I will post a few pictures of the Eiffel Tower fireworks and such if they turned out later. Rachel also told a story of my Q-tip scandal, which she still hasn’t forgiven me for. Mostly because I’m not sorry apparently. Read her post here.

Running With the Bulls Day 28

Nathan Colquhoun — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 12:52:49 +0000

Yesturday I ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Check out what happened there the day before I did it (just to show you what I was up against.) I didn’t find out until after though. We arrived in Pamplona around 5:30 in the morning, and I ran around 8:00. At 7:00 there was still a hardcore show going on at a local bar and the street were full of people, urine, puke and filth. It was quite disgusting so it was good we only spent the day there. This week in Pamplona everyone is dressed in all white with a red bandana tied around their neck. I thought this meant everyone was running, so that gave me some more courage to go. I was wrong. Probably only 200 people or so did it, and me with all my ignorance was one of them. You start in one big mass of people and then they spread you out over the course of the run. The gun sounds and they let the big bull go, then a few seconds later they let the other 6 bulls go. People were running franticly in every direction. The few brave ones were hitting them with newspapers and everyone ran toward the stadium. You are only advised to run a part of the track so that’s all I did. Once the bulls passed safely I stopped, walked back to Rachel and then we walked over to the stadium. In the stadium, anyone can go into the area and taunt, wrestle or get gored by the bull. They let out each bull, one by one, and then it precedes to run around chasing whoever can annoy it the most. I didn’t get hurt mostly because I had no clue what was going on and I just stayed near a side and jogged happily beside the bulls, but far enough away that I had time to react. until I was tired. If I was to do it again I would have done it a bit different, but either way it was still a lot of fun. The one picture is of me, I’m rockin out the white t-shirt looking through the fence that separated the bulls and me from Rachel and the camera. See the guy between the police and the paramedics on duty. The other picture is the stadium where the crowds taunt the bull and then the bull attacks the, and hurts them. Quite hilarious actually.

Germany and Austria Day 10 & 11

Barcelona Day 28 and 29

Nathan Colquhoun — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:37:09 +0000

You can tell I’m getting frustrated with the foreign keyboards because the letters are all in different places, my posts are a lot shorter. I’m missing my laptop more than ever know. Rachel and I spent two days in Barcelona and tried to keep it chill as possible to avoid any more sickness. We saw the Sagrada Familia, Les Rambles and at to put to rest all curiousity for Rachel we saw the new Harry Potter movie. That was about it. I am getting tired of taking pictures of buildings with construction going on all over it. I know its necessary but basically every main site has cranes, bright orange and workers surrounding it. It was impossible to find good food in Barcelona, it is nothing like the rest of the cities/countries we’ve been to where we have found restaurants, mini-marts or grocery stores on every street. For this reason alone, I had no problem leaving Barcelona. We did find one good restaurant though thqt was all-you-can-eat, so that helped even it out. Then we were off to Pamplona for the Running With the Bulls.

Nice and Monaco Day 26 & 27

Nice and Monaco Day 26 & 27

Nathan Colquhoun — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:11:48 +0000

Yesterday we spent the day in Nice, sitting on the beach (getting a wicked sunburn). We also got bored later at night so we went to see Ocean’s 13 in the small little theatre close to the beach. Great and comfortable seats, bad sound but only sat 50 people so it was more like your home. Today we went to Monaco, home of the rich. I thought I was cool because my Dad has a big boat; “fastest boat in Sarnia” he’d tell you. Then I saw these boats and some of these people have their own personal cruise ships. I’d post some pictures but it seems as if my 4gb memory card got some sort of virus on it from one of these Internet cafes, good thing I backed up all the pictures yesterday. They use boats like my Dad’s as a lifeboat We couldn’t get into the main casino cause my attire wasn’t approproate. Tie, coat and pants only. So we went to a less famous one and played a little blackjack. We doubled up, then bought lunch and then left. Always good to leave one up on them. Tonight we are off to Barcelona.

Florence and Nice Day 24 & 25

Nathan Colquhoun — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:01:40 +0000

There was a change of plans since last post. After I posted Rachl was feeling even worse to we went to the hospital there and got her checked out. They kept her overnight there and ran tests. After everything they think it was an infection of some sort: She had an extremly high fever, pain in her side and chills. They gave her a prescription, but recommended that she stay a few more nights. Not even that will stop Rachel from experiencing her dream trip, especially Paris. So I slept at the train station, and Rachel got the bed. We left last night instead and arrived in Nice this morning. We walked around for a few hours and then went back to our hotel and crashed all afternoon. Woke up, ate some food, then Rachel went back to bed. The beaches here are all rock and no sand, I can’t tell if I like it or hate it. Tomorrow we are going to try and go to Monte-Carlo and pay for our entire trip through gambling. Then off to Barcelonia, with a side trip to Pampelona to participate (if I don’t chicken out) with the running of the bulls. Then off to Paris before we head back to England to fly home. Rachel is feeling a lot better now and just needs to catch up on her sleep, just so you all know. Thanks for your prayers.

Rome, Florence Day 21, 22 & 23

Nathan Colquhoun — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:20:48 +0000

Since the last post Rachel and I have gone to Rome and Florence. Rome was beautiful. It’s hard to describe how history that goes back that far makes you feel. The sisteen chapel is beautiful, and the Vatican is one hell of a place. We walked forever to get to the sisteen chapel and probably walked through 20 rooms to get there. Your way there is overloaded with art. Entire rooms from floors to ceilings just covered in beautiful paintings, murals, mosaics. It really makes you wonder where the modern day equivalent of good art is. Why is all famous art like this hundreds of years old? Have we lost our love for art? Here are some thoughts that I had randomlly throughout my days in Rome.

* With the line up going for well over a kilometer. How much does that Vatican make a day in ticket sales. My guess was around a million dollars.

* I really want to see Gladiator again

* I wonder if the Vatican is the modern day ‘Den of Theives’

* If I see one more stone statue…

* I wish Italian was English

* I want to eat at an old Italian lady’s house

* I feel like a cow (this is because wherever we went, we were herded from room to room, line to line just like cattle would be)

We went from Rome to Florence, dropped off our stuff and took a little trip to Pisa to see the leaning tower. Saw it, took the picture, ate some food and left. Today we spent the day in Florence and saw the David (which I had to sneak the picture)..crazy statue, and probably my favorite museum yet, just because it was small and percise and great explanations of all the art. Rachel has been really sick the last few days, so say a prayer for her if you can. She is currently currled up at the back of the internet cafe taking a nap. Tonight we head off to Nice for a day or two on the beach.

Travelling Day 19 & 20

Nathan Colquhoun — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:26:37 +0000

The last two days have been pure travel. Santorini’s beach will be missed, here is a picture below. We left Santorini at 10pm on Sunday night and its now 2pm on Tuesday, we don’t arrive in Rome until 9pm tonight meaning we have been travelling for the last 48 hours. Ferry from Santorini to Athens, Metro to train station, Train from Athens to Corinth to Patras, ferry from Patras to Bari Italy (where we are now) and then train from Bari to Rome. We slept on the ferry deck twice. I tell you its been one heck of a romantic honeymoon It also means I don’t have a whole lot of pictures.

The views on the ferry have been spetacular though. We weave our way in and out of random islands to our destination. The island are usually massive clifs lined with homes. The sunsets are beautiful (I tried to capture it on camera, it was difficult) on the boat also and our last boat had a pool on deck, so that was nice. So its sort of a boring post. But I figure were half way through our trip so I may as well post now for everyday.

No related posts.

Santorini, Greece Day 16, 17 & 18

Nathan Colquhoun — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:25:29 +0000

Rachel and I have been in Santorini, Greece for the past three days.
Santorini is beautiful. The houses are built into the thousand foot cliffs that the island is made up and it is supposed to be home to one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. We have been relaxing a lot, reading, eating lots of gyros, swimming and enjoying the black sand beaches. We rented a moped yesturday to drive around the island and enjoy the views. We drive along the mountain tops on roads that lie on the edge of the cliffs. Its beautiful. One thing we’ve noticed about Greece is the abnormal amount of stray dogs. We probably see anywhere between 10-20 a day. They are usually half-dead in some allyway sleeping or scrounging for food. Our hotel here is right on the beach and has been nice to not have to to take an hour of city transportation to get to where we are staying. We went last night to see the all-so-famous sunset, but I think it was a downer of a night because I’ve seen much better in Sarnia, but I think most of the people there that were crammed in the peak of the island to watch the sunset were equally dissappointed. I’ve written this post three times now because this internet cafe sucks. It’s a nice break in between all of the fast paced travelling we’ve been doing. Tonight we are back on the ferry and on our way back to Italy. This time its Rome.

Italy and Greece Day 12, 13, 14, 15

Nathan Colquhoun — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:06:55 +0000

We arrived in Venice finally after an overnight train ride with not very good sleeping patterns and in long conversations with a ex-Fransiscan monk (by conversation I mean that Rachel listened to him talk for hours.) Venice is a beautiful city. Water is everywhere. There are no cars inside the city, the only traffic is on the outskirts of the city. So you are either on foot or in a boat. This was a cool experience because everything was slowed down a lot more that you’re used to like in downtown Toronto. Rachel and I stayed at another campground with a free shuttle into the city. We ate at a restaurant on side street somewhere that was cheap and excellent. Bought Joe and Darryl gifts (my Italian friends) and hopefully they get it in the mail in the next few weeks. Venice was a lot of walking and eating Gelato (Rachel) and Pizza (me) but being surrounded by water and boats wherever you turned was a great feeling. The old chair was sitting on the side of the road, Rachel pointed it out and she thought it made for a good picture. I thought she was right.

We jumped on a train to Milan and went straight to the airport and slept at the aiport. I found us a spot on the second floor which most people seemed to have missed so it was quiet and we had a pretty good sleep there surprisingly enough. From Milan we flew into Athens, Greece.

Athens has been really cool to be in. Last night Rachel and I walked up on top of Mars Hill (you know that place that all the ‘cool’ churches name themselves after). We didn’t even know we were on it until today but I made Rachel stay up there for two hours so we could watch the sunset and Athens slowly transition into the night. Mars Hill gives you the most gloriuous view of the city. You can see for miles and the city goes for Miles. There is no skyscrapers blocking your view so you can see up to the mountains all the way around Athens. It is absolutly beautiful. It’s hard to explain how wild it is to see. It makes you feel like your in an entire new world. Then today (Day 15) Rachel and I went up to Mars Hill again and went up further to the Acropolis and all the acient ruins that lie around it. The view from there is even more spetacular, and you have the structures that were built thousands of years ago to stand on. Sometimes I’ve been wishing I paid a little more attention in my history classes. Tonight we leave on a fairy to spend two nights on Santorini Island of Greece, to relax, sleep and swim at the beaches. It’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world so we are hoping to rent a car or moped when we are there to be able to get aroud to the sites better.

Santorini, Greece Day 16, 17 & 18