bcool's Europe TriP

Brazil

2004-12-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

We got to rio last night. The place we were staying at in paraty was really cool. Its like a hostel in the jungle. There is a river that runs right next to it with a couple of those little cable bridges accross it. Our host there, Valmar, is incredibly nice...He constantly offers us beer and lets us hang out at his house and use his pool table. We went out to the town a couple different nights both were pretty fun, although Jeff had a little extra fun the secnd time :) Anyhoo we´re at rio now and are going to stay for new years. We decided not to get a place to stay ´cause we though we´d be up all night anyway. Valmar arranged for us to take a cab back to paraty at lke five in the morning though, and for only 500 rias for all 4 of us. Trust me its a good deal, like $50 each for a 4 hour drive. So that should be pretty amazing.
In paraty there is this crazy waterfall that the local kids slide down. I didn´t get to try but jeff said he kept falling. Ill try when we get back.

Stuck in the fUcKiNg airport

2004-12-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

and trying to find enough stuff to do before I go to sleep. Londons hotels seem to have filled up and after walking around to about 15 of them I just decided to say fuck it. They all want like 200 pounds anyway which is obscene. So im going to sleep here and hope I don't get kicked out into the street. lol. I don't think I will though - theres a bunch of people here apperently doing the same thing. I just hope the flights tomorrow arent as full as the hotels, but that would kind of make sense wouldn't it. I guess I should have planned ahead more during Chistmas break. FUCK.

A Belated Thanksgiving...

2004-12-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

Will happen at my house in Auburn on Saturday the 11th and anyone is welcome and encouraged to come and eat (hopefully Patty's) Turky ;) Absinth will be smuggled in for after dinner as well, if I don't get pinched. So if your reading this, please help spread the word to anyone who would be interested. -OK- see you guys when I get back!

Oh, and if you want to do the thanksgiving thing, post here or email me at bcool@skyviewart.com or email my dad at rgilliom@skyviewart.com or do all three or just show up. I don't really care.

lAtE

AmSteRdAm

2004-12-04T10:23:00.000-08:00

is pretty amazing and a good choice for my last city I think. Its a crazy city - everyone is in bikes and there are canals everywhere. The bike lanes are set up like mini roads (some even have these little stoplight things) and you have to be careful crossing them than the streets 'cause they sneek up on you. Its crazy as well 'cause you see all kinds of different combinations of people riding people taking on phones while riding with know hands and carrying shopping bags (sometimes all at the same time!). And, obviously, the first thing you smell as you get off the train is weed and you sort of never stop smelling it. I wasn't sure on the exact laws but as it turns out its a)legal to buy in the "coffee shops" and take it whereever you want, but b) Technically your not supposed to smoke on the streets, but it is mostly just to discourage people smoking around children and in other unapropriate places. I bought 1.5 grams of wHitE WiDoW last night and it seemed pretty comparable to high end stuff in nOrCaL. But, there's more to amsterdam than stoners. I went to the van gough museum today, which was really cool. Actually, I guess he was a stoner himself (only with Absinth). By the way, Mushrooms are legal here too as long as they're fresh. Apperently the process of drying them puts them in the catagory of artificial drugs in Netherlands law, which is basically that drugs are a health problem anyway. I don't think I'll go there though (mabey just to get a few pictures..(seriously)). Tomorrow I going to go to the Heiniken brewery I think...which is supposed to be a good time. Then, mabey take one of those canal cruise things. I don't know. This is the first place I've found the hostels to be full. The second one I found had rooms (which Im in now) but the flying pig, probably the most famous hostel in europe, was full in both of its locations. I think that's where the big weed parties are anyway so I'm probably better off, being a non-smoker and all.

Prague

2004-12-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

was interesting. I only spent two days there really. I took a night train there and didn't get any sleep 'cause it was sorta spooky - the passport people woke me up at like 4 in the morning with flashlights banging on my compartment door, yelling something in Czech. Then the lady and two guys started asking me questions about where I had been and what my profession was...I think they probably like freaken' out the foreigners. Prague was cold all around. The people, place, architechture, and the hostel I was in. I think it could be a fun place (especially at night) but since I didn't really meet anyone there (my hostel sucked) I didn't really go out. I'll go back when I'm with people someday..Now I'm in berlin, and while the weather is colder, the city is pretty cool and the hostel is good so far (its called the circus). I went to a museum today and wandered around town. The pilsner here is amazing!, as is the Bratwurst. I think I'll stay tonight and tomorrow..then go to Amsterdam.

Things are picking up here...

2004-11-26T05:50:00.000-08:00

..as the weekend gets closer. The bar here is great. I'm going to skip the skiing 'cause there is only one lift open and I would have to buy/rent all kinds of stuff and buy a ticket and etc. etc. Instead I think I'm going to just take a train up to the highest peak around called junfrauch or something. Everyone keeps telling me to go to prague. I think I probably will on Sunday. There is a building there made completely of human skeletons..cRaZy..a few new pics are up here.

Interlaken

2004-11-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

I got to the hostel in the morning. It's a cool town, but the hostel is pretty much empty - probably not much night life here. That said, I went skydiving today..Fucking unbelievable! It was a tandem jump from 12000 feet with a freefall of 45 seconds. Its pretty crazy - you basically do a gainer out of the helicopter (yeah, a helicopter), so for a while you can see it getting smaller really quickly. Then the guide taps your shoulders and you put your arms out to stabalize, and you fall for quite a while..ItS fUn..The view was unbelievable as well, the whole town is surrounded by mountains and there are a few large lakes you can see from that height. The guide told me one of the mountains seen on the way up was the one from the paramount picturs logo -SwEeT- Anyway, there are also some hikes to do around here, so im going to do that as well. The ski areas are only open on the weekends so I'll probably go on saturday, and then head for berlin. It's funny. I was just startng to think the train rides were getting a little old, and to feel like I didn't want to do it much longer, and then you get to a new place and it's totally refreshing. I geuss all I needed to do was jump out of a plane. HeH HeH.

on to switzerland...

2004-11-22T10:06:00.000-08:00

and to Interlaken, a mountain town in near the Alps (I think) to do a little snowboarding. The hostel is called the funny farm so it should be interesting. During the summer you can do all the typical cRaZy stuff like bungie jumping and rafting and paragliding - well see what they have now...and what the snow is like. Their website says they have powder right now and mabey I'll get a lucky storm. I sort of ran out of tourist stuff to do in Athens, but I can see why people want to live here, and I definetly want to come back in the summer and go to some of the islands (I here their expensive though). Santorini has a volcano..nIcE

A rainy day in greece...

2004-11-20T03:59:00.000-08:00

...I supose it was bound to happen eventually. I'm rained out, nothing to do but recover from last night. Went down town with a couple girls, who are both gone now. One was from SF though so thats cool. For some reason, getting an email address never feels quite as cool as getting a phone number, but hey, who am I to complain. It's sort of expensive here (fucking euro) but worth it. We went downtown to an area which is basically 7-8 square blocks of bars of varying sizes and atmospheres, which amazingly enough, are pretty mellow. I mean theres a ton of people out, but very chill i geuss...this hostel is pretty great, espepcially after being alone in hotels and trains for the last week. Its got a downstairs bar, a movie room with a projector, internet, ect. and is very clean. This is the first hostel ive been to i think where ive actually seen people clean! scary i know but hey, hostels are cheap, and you meet people. When the weather clears up, I think I might take a day trip to hydra and a couple other islands on this tour ferry deal thingy. Walking the streets is fun here. you always run into random ruins and resturaunt guys try to pull you into there resturants and make you promise youll come back later. actually, thats more anoying than fun, but an interesting experiance. I booked a flight to switzerland, so I dont have to take the ferry again. I dont want to spend another 3 days on the boat and trains - it feels like a waste and its hard to find cheap hotels and food close to the train stations. I'll probably make up the 200 euros i spent on the flight. I got some deal for sailors or something, but apperantly they dont check (I hope).

some pictures should be up today...

2004-11-19T02:51:00.000-08:00

I found a place in athens that lets me plug in my laptop. The connection is sort of slow so I don't know if i'll wait for all of them today, mabey though. The ferry ride was 19 hours long, and all I had was a deck ticket, which only allows you to sleep on top which was pretty cold and breazy or in the chairs in the reception room (like a hotel lobby) where it was really smoky. So I just slept outside as much as i could. I don't know why they dont close off the top section from the wind! It was fucking cold up there! Anyway after that it was a 5-6 hour train ride to athens. I going to check out the accropolis and the temple of zeuss. in a day or two I was thinking about going to one of the closer islands, but time is getting short sort of. I still want to spend some time in switzerland, germany, and the netherlands, so I'll see. The pictures are in the new folders here.

off to greece

2004-11-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

tomorrow im going to try to get on a ferry to patras and then a train to athens. I was on the train all day today and the ferry is an overnighter...ugh...thats cool though. I still cant find a place that will let me hook up my laptop, so still no pics. I probably shouldnt have even brought it but its good cause i only need one memory card for my camera. mabey when i get to up germany or switzerland...

Cinque Terre

2004-11-15T03:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I locked myself out of my room today, and the guy who "runs" the hotel never seems to be around. When I got here, all I found was a note on the door with some phone numbers on it. On trying to use the pay phone, which was all in italian, all I got were italian operators. International calling service my ass! So, i went to a different hotel, and the receptionist spoke english, and she ended up calling the guy for me. Oh well, Im sure hell turn up eventually. 5terre is pretty great though. Im in one of 5 TINY little farming\fishing villages that are now sort of state parks or something. I think they live off tourism now, though it feels like you went back in time when you walk around. All the locals sort of gawk and laugh at all the tourists who walk around, pointing there cameras at everything (myself included). There are some pretty cool hikes to do. I hiked up this mountain\hill a day or two ago, and the train looked like it hadnt been used for a couple of years. Most of was up these really steep stone stairs, but they were pretty overgrown. There is also a trail that goes from riomaggore (where i am), to monsecca, the furthest, but part of it is closed for off season. Anyway, there is lots of good italian food here - ive been living off pizza for the most part. Im leaving tomorrow, which is good cause im running out of things to do - theres not much night life here or ways to meet people. It was a needed break from cities and hostels though! caio!

Estoy en Barcelona y...

2004-11-06T17:38:00.001-08:00

it's really nice here right now. It was raining a bit the firsts day I was here, but it has been prety sunny since. Chris has been showing me around and helping me with my communications and translating sHiT..We bought tickets for one of those tour bus things so weve been going to places on that bus route. The hills above the city have great views of the, well, city. Today I saw a bunch of mountain bikers going up where we were walking so I might try to rent a bike and find that trail while Chris has class on monday. Tonight we went to a Barcelona Futbol game where they played another spanish team called deportivo. It was a LOT of fun to watch live soccer. I don't know why it's not more popular in the states. Barca won 2 to 1 so everyone was pretty happy afterward. The stadium gets really loud and people pretty much chant the whole time.. On tuesday I go to Venice, Italy. I think I'll only stay for a day or two and then go to Cinque Terre. I hear vinice isn't all that great for longer than that. ..iDuNnO.. I still can't get any freKin wireless so nopics oh well. ItS lAtE, goodnight.

aHHHhhhHH paris!

2004-11-04T01:54:00.000-08:00

bonjure bien si vouz plais! ... that is total nonsense ... Paris is awesome - to many things to see and do, and way to much walking. The woodstock hostel is the best one yet. It has a very social atmosphere downstairs where there is a bar with (for paris) cheap beer. Ive been cruisin around with these three guys who are also on there own in europe. They are from spain, brazil and canada. Together we are quite the multicultural group.. Luckily for me, the common language is english, and the canadian dude speaks french, so thats helpful. Last night we ended up in sort of an expensive spot, and since none of us speak very much french, and the waiter was trying to speak english it was pretty confusing - at first, he seemed to be saying that a a small beer was €20. I was hoping he was mixing up 2 and 20, but it was actually 12..still fucking exspensive! That made the hostels €2 beers seem great so we left. most of the time at bars they are like €4, which is like 4 or 5 dollars. Paris is expensive! Ill put paris pics up soon hopefully-chris probably has some sort of internet i can use with my laptop..aurvoir!

NOt having a car is nIcE

2004-10-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

it's good for everyone. So many people walk and use the subway here, and it makes sense cause it's easy and fast and you don't have to park anywhere. Also, people here generally seem very fit. A couple days after being here, it donned on me that I hadn't seen a FAT person YET. Well..I have seen a couple but I'm pretty sure they were tourists. My legs are worn out - I think I must be averaging like 10 miles a day, although it feels like even more. I hardly ever walk when I'm home. The trains are also pretty cool I just got back from Manchestor today, and it's just so easy - at least when all the signs are in English. I leave for Paris soon...

here are some pictures I have taken so far.

Manchestor...

2004-10-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

...is a cool city. Tons of people are out and about during the day and there are lots of pubs and record shops and stuff. I went to a cool art gallery called urbis, which is a collection of urban art. Right now they have an exhibit for graphiti which was really cool. One was a time lapse of a guy painting on the side of a truck. He would just keep painting over the stuff he had just done. It was almost frustraing to watch because it was so cool looking at any given point. I guess it is still preserved on the video though. Unfortunately, I only got one picture of the exhibits cause some guy came over and told me wasn't allowed. oh well. Once I find an internet cafe where I can plug in my laptop, I'll put up what pics I have. LaTeR.

well I'm here...

2004-10-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

Now what do I do? Well I went to buckingham palace, and let me tell you - that is one hell of a pla...well its just a building. I also went to the brirish museum. That place is pretty cool - they've got all kinds of greek, asain, and aztek stuff. It's really odd(cool) though just being in a completely different place. Just about everyone in my hostel is french and is in a larger group so its been sort of hard to meet people so far. That's cool though.. I did talk for a while with a spanish brother and sister in english. Next time I'm going to try out my high school spanish on 'em. heh he h. Going to france next - on the 1st Nov. to stay at a hostel called the woodstock in Paris - more frenchies!

Last week in DaViS

2004-10-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

This has nothing to do with europe, but I wanted to do a little test post, so here it goes:
When I got there, everyone was playing video games. Jeff walked in and was like "YOU GUYS ARE NERDS!". Then Aaron was all, "Actually Jeff, video games now cater to the tastes of people of all social statures. Saying were nerds is a dated statement, best left in ThE YEaR 1999".Jeff understandibly could not think of a comeback. None the less, we all started drinking. Laura and Shine got freaky and then we went to a bar. Some danced,some went crAzy, others left and jumped in bushes. Oh yeah, and some went cruising around the neighborhood with a shopping cart full of beer and a water balloon launcher. Can life get any better? I SUBMIT THAT IT CANNOT!
tHe EnD...For noW

inFo

2004-10-14T01:40:00.001-07:00

I'm going to try to post here as often as I can...Hopfully somebody will be entertained by stories of me bumbling around europe (and me having lots of fun). I'm leaving on OCt. 23rd, to arrive in London the next day. I'm going to stay in a hostel called he astor quest which is next to Hyde park. WhoohooOOoo

Check out my real website here. I'd also appreciate any comments/questions. SeE yA...