The beginning of my traveling
Monday, November 13, 2006 10:59 AM
Hello All!
You are receiving this email because your email address is in my email address book. If you do not wish to receive any further emails regarding my travels please let me know and I will remove you from my mailing list.
With that said, I am writing this first email regarding my time line for traveling. I bought my ticket this morning: round trip San Francisco, CA USA to London, UK and back again.
December 13th at 2:45pm I leave from San Francisco to arrive in LA at 4:05pm; 7:05pm I leave from LA to arrive in London December 14th at 1:25pm. As of right now my plans for return are to leave from London May 29th at 11:25am to arrive in LA at 2:40pm; leaving from LA at 5:00pm and arriving in San Francisco at 6:10pm on May 29th. I bought a ticket that allows me to change my travel plans at $25 the first time and $175 the second. I'm super excited! I can't believe I leave in exactly one month from today!
---Hillary Jenkins
I am here
Friday, December 15, 2006 9:00 AM
Hello Everyone!
My 21st birthday was on Monday the 11th. Thank you to everyone who made it a great day! The after I didn't finish packing out of my room till midnight, after which I drove to El Dorado Hills so I could get a ride to the airport in the morning. That night I slept about three hours. Then Wednesday the 13th, and into Thursday the 14th, I traveled here to London. The ten hour flight from Los Angeles felt SOO much longer than ten hours! I tired sleeping a couple times but every time I would just wake up after about twenty minutes and be disappointed that it had only been such a short amount of time. Once I got in the London Heathrow airport I got on a tube to go to Ashley's house. Between the plane landing and getting my stop it took about two hours. Thankfully Ashley was at the stop and I didn't have to try and find her house by myself. The time was about 4pm here and I hadn't slept more than five hours in the last 36 hours but I knew I needed to stay up later so I could get into this time zone more easily. So I somehow managed to zombify the next couple hours and make it till 9pm, at which point I laid down and instantly fell asleep. Today I had eggs and toast for breakfast and a ham sandwich for lunch, two things that I never eat: eggs by themselves and ham. But I have decided that being a picky eater while traveling just makes things difficult and it is much easier to just eat what is offered. It actually wasn't that bad. Ashley and I spent about four hours in the London Tower and are now in an internet cafe. I don't have a lot of time to be on the internet, as every minute costs, but I wanted to let everyone know that my first couple days have went well and I am enjoying myself here in London - having a wonderful hostess helps a lot :)
More of London!
Sunday, December 17, 2006 12:36 PM
I would love to share pictures but unfortunately this computer will not recognize my camera and therefore I cannot upload my photos onto the internet. In the (near?) future I will upload them onto snapfish.com and send out the link. As for now, a little more about my stay here in London. They do not call the place in which you go pee a bathroom or a restroom, it is most often call a toilet and most signs read toilet rather than the common U.S. restroom sign. Also, to rent a place (as a room to live in, or a business office or something) it is called letting. So there are signs all over that read "TO LET" Putting these two bits of information together, I keep reading the signs that say "to let" as toilet when I just glance at them quickly. It is fun here!
Friday night I went dancing with the three other girls that live in Ashley's building and Ashley at a place called Walkabout. It was amazingly fun! I haven't gone dancing in a while and I almost forgot how much I love it. One huge difference about the place we went to and the places I have been to in the U.S. is that the girls here are actually wearing clothing! Oh, and people are allowed to smoke inside, which is absolutely killing me!! Okay, it isn't literally killing me but I hate it and am glad that they are changing the rule about smoking inside in February, even I won't be here by then.
Yesterday we (Ashley, her roommate Megan and Liz) went to Portobello Road. This is a street that is closed to cars, for the most part, or at least it was on Saturday, and open to the hundreds of people walking down it perusing the many booths set up selling anything from rings to guns to flowers to scarves and as you walk down further you can get to a food section. I was on a mission to find a ring. I found a couple but didn't buy either of them because I reasoned myself out of it. Which is good because I don't NEED jewelry but I would like to use that money for some tasty local food, or transportation. I find that in traveling, and really in life, you must pick and choose your battles, and the things you choose to splurge on. After a pub grub lunch of Shepard's Pie Ashley and I parted ways with the other two girls and headed to the Tate Modern. Well actually we went that way with no specific direction but ended up going to the Tate Modern. It was amazing to see an original Dali painting up close and in real life! I really like the artist Salvador Dali and I got to see three of his paintings at the Tate Modern. The view from in front of the museum across the Thames river of Parliament was gorgeous. I have been very lucky with the weather while here so far. The first day was overcast but yesterday and today have given me a clear blue sky.
Today (Sunday) Ashley and I hopped on a train to Brighton. Neither of really knew what to expect but we hoped for a more rural area. We were disappointed in that aspect but still have a fun little excursion. There is a palace there built by Henry IV who was very flamboyant in his day and loved decorating and such things. From the outside the building had tops that you see in the movie Aladdin, ice-cream-like rounded domes with pointed tips. We didn't take the tour because it costs more than I wanted to spend. There was also a place much like the boardwalk on the end of a pier; it made me think of the Five People You Meet in Heaven. As the day light was coming to an end we got on a train and headed back to London. Once here we took a nice walking tour starting at Trafalgar Square where there are two huge fountains and a number of statues with a huge monument in the middle. Walking through Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square where instead of the normal grassy patch (that I have not seen but Ashley tells me is suppose to be there) was a fair, complete with carousel. After this we went on to Covent Garden where we watched a group of five men play a cello, violin and other violin like instruments that I do not know that names of (viola?). They were quite the performers. They seemed to play without thinking about the music but rather about getting they audience to give them money. The prey that I observed them attack there two women sitting at a table. It started with one of the men coming closer to them while playing, then he backed away, then came back again, and away, and then we came in again but this time with two of the other men. A fourth played kicked over the basket for "donations" and eventually the closer woman gave them a coin. This did not satisfy them! They wanted more! They backed away for a moment but came back again full force. The fourth player grabbed a CD and put in on the table in front of them. The second woman gave in, pulled out a 10 pound note and bought the CD. The game was over, the musicians had won. It was very amusing to watch but I am glad I was not a position to become one of their prey. From Covent Garden Ashley and I took the long way to this internet cafe.
So far in London I have found on the street: one 1 pound coin (equal to $2) one 50p coin (equal to $1) and four 1p coins (equal to $.02 each). That makes about $3.04 just on the street, there is no way that would happen in two days in Santa Cruz!
thank you everyone who emailed me well wishes, email addresses and hellos. I will be in Paris on the 20th and probably won't check my email again before I get there.
Paris
Saturday, December 23, 2006 3:20 PM
First off, I am in Paris, typing on a French keyboard and therefore I will most definitely make more mistakes then usual while typing this email.
Last time I wrote was the evening of the 17th so naturally I will start this email on the 18th. Ashley had things to do so I set out for a solo London adventure. I took the tube from her place in Kilburn to the stop closet to the London Bridge. After walking across the London Bridge I went to Monument. Monument is a narrow tower with 311 steps from the bottom to the top. It was built between 1671 and 1677 in commemoration of the great fire of London and to celebrate the rebuilding of the city. Monument is 202 feet high, which is the distance between it and the site in Pudding Lane where the fire began. The climb was dizzying because the steps wound around and around in narrow circles. I am slightly afraid of heights so when I got to the top, even though there is a cage of sorts making it impossible to fall or even jump, I was still a little scared. However, climbing tree nine in Santa Cruz really helped with that fear and I soon felt a little more easy about walking around the platform. After descending the 311 steps I walked towards St. Paul's Cathedral. The architecture here is amazing, I love all the details put into buildings. I didn't pay to go into St. Paul's but I did go into the entrance so I saw a bit of the inside. After eating the lunch I had packed on the steps of St. Paul's I was about to ask someone the time when the great bells of St. Paul's rang three o'clock. I walked along to river to Parliament from St. Paul's. If I had had a little more time and camera space I wound have taken pictures of the monuments and buildings along the way: London has so many monuments! Once at Parliament I walked around a bit and found a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Is there anyone that can explain this? As far as I know he was a U.S. guy, not a U.K. guy. The statue had no explanation, just his name below the statue of him standing and a chair behind him. I hurried across the river to the London Eye where I met up with Ashley for a ride, or as they call it, a flight. The sun had set so the city was all lit up, a really amazing view. After the London Eye I met up with my friend Andy who had flew into London that morning. His brother Alen, his friend, him and I went to a bar for a drink and then I went home. Another great day in London. The 19th was (suppose to be) my last day in London. I cooked Ashley breakfast of poached eggs and fried potatoes and then headed off by myself to the Tate Modern to finally get on those slides! Because it was so early there was practically no line and I was able to ride right away. Riding on 5 story high metal slides in burlap sacks inside a huge art museum was something else :) I was to meet up with Ashley after I was done but because I got done so fast I had some extra time. So of course I had to visit King's Cross. A short tube ride away and a walk across the station brought me to a wall with the sign "platform 9 3/4" with half a luggage cart in the wall. I stood for about 20 minutes doing a very informal observation. Of the many people (I didn't even try to count all of them) that passed by only, 8 groups stopped consisting of 17 people total. Most people just walked by without even noticing. A few of the ones that noticed just pointed and commented, some took pictures and one ran up the wall mocking trying to get through but not really running into the wall full speed. Finally I asked someone to take my picture and left to meet up with Ashley in Camden. I wish I would have had more time for Camden, it was a lot of fun walking around looking at all the things for sale. This is the kind of place where it is required to barter, and if don't you are being ripped off. I was on a mission to find a jacket because the one sweater jacket I brought was NOT warm enough! On my way I found a sweater shirt that I liked for 15 pounds and bought it for 12. Then I finally found the jacket I wanted, it was going to 35. The guy who ran the booth had left it with another man so the bartering didn't go well, but at least I got it down to 32. I paid 44 pounds (88 US dollars) for a nice jacket and shirt, that was a great deal! Ashley and I then made our way to East Putney to meet up with her friends to go to a pub. I found fish and chips for 2 pounds cheaper than anywhere else I had seen them, that's how it is in tourist areas vs. non-tourists areas, good thing I waited :) After eating I left Ashley and her friends to meet up with Andy and his friends at China White, one of the top London clubs. There is a dress code there, I did not bring anything nice with me on my travels so I was wearing the only long sleeve shirt I brought plain and black, jeans and sneakers with pink shoe laces; Naturally we weren't sure if they would let me in. The guys needed me to get in for them to get in though because China White doesn't allow a group of guys to go in without a girl at the normal price of 15 pound cover (30 dollars); if the guys have no girl with them they have to get a table for something like 500 pounds (so I'm told). But they let me in and I went to a VERY posh London club, I felt out of place, especially as more people showed up and I saw what the other women were wearing. Oh well though, I had a lot of fun dancing till 3 in the morning. After we left we took a bus to Andy's friend's apartment where he cooked us food and I got about an hour of sleep before I had to take the tube to Ashley's apartment, get my stuff and take the tube to the bus station to go to Paris. Things don't always work out as planned.
I would have made in no problem if it weren't for bad directions. I got to the Victoria tube stop with about a half hour before my bus left. I asked someone where the stop was and made my way to where I thought was where the bus was. 35 minutes later I found the bus station, five minutes too late. I was very upset. I paid 3 pounds to change my ticket to the next bus, which was at 8:30pm and then I had another day in London. I tried to call Ashley but she wasn't near her phone. So clipped my bags to myself and my seat and took about an hour nap. I felt a little better after my nap. I checked my bag at the bus station and decided to go see Herrods. Not such a great idea. I just felt really uncomfortable in such an upscale huge fancy store. After about 20 minutes in there I headed across the street to a more familiar place: Starbucks. I wanted to go to Hyde Park but I was way too cold and didn't have the energy. I sat in Starbucks for about four hours reading my book and then headed back to the bus station. Read some more and waited for the bus. The bus ride was over night for about 10 hours. Bus, ferry, bus. I got maybe four hours of sleep.
Arriving at 6:30am in a country where you have no idea how to speak the language can be a bit daunting. Thankfully I had printed out the email of directions to my host's flat, that way I was able to go to the ticket counter and point to word of where I needed to go: Chelles Gournay. I had his phone number but no euros to call so I did my best to make it there. The tubes in Paris are similar to London so after a few minutes of confused staring it was like one of those magic eye pictures, where all of the sudden you just see what you are suppose to see. Two tubes rides and an hour and a half later I was at the Chelles stop. I headed in the direction I thought was right and thankfully it was. When I was about two blocks from my host's flat I hear my name. Antoine, my host for the next (previous?) three days was going to the bakery for breakfast at just the right time to meet up with me! When we went back to his flat Jeremy was already there. It was good to see him again :) While they ate breakfast I passed out from lack of sleep.
My first day in Paris was not that eventful. I got to the apartment around 8:30 and slept till about one-ish. After taking a much need shower Jeremy and headed into the city of Paris. I exchanged my pounds into euros and we walked towards the Eiffel Tower. There was a ferris wheel on the way and a fountain and an Egyptian looking pillar; Once we got in view of the Eiffel Tower I have to say I wasn't that impressed. I think it was just too hyped up for me from movies and talk. Don't get me wrong, it is huge and impressive, but not as impressive as I had imagined. But when the flickering white lights came on for a few minutes it made it much better :) We found out later that the light only come on the first few minutes of the hour, so we had really good timing. Our walk back was not nearly as direct as it could have been so it was nice to walk around Paris for a bit.
The second half of the second day in Paris was the best of my three in Paris. Jeremy and decided we had better figure out how we are getting to Madrid, a very belated thought. The internet told us the bus was full and the planes were expensive. We were to the tube/train station, thankfully Antoine was with us because I don't speak any French and Jeremy only speaks some. After about 20 of the lady looking, the direct train was full, other connection options weren't working but we could have a non-seat on the train (pretty much meaning in the aisle) for about 150 US Dollars, we decided to just go by plane. Back to Antione's flat and on the internet again. 110 euros each and we are flying to Madrid tomorrow (Sunday) morning. Antoine has a car, but it only has two seats. Because it was already in the afternoon we decided to drive to Paris instead of take the tube. Jeremy was in the back first. Thankfully it was a hatchback and not a closed-in trunk. We ate Phö for lunch at a very popular Vietnamese place. Then drove and parked near Notre Dame and headed off on an extended walk around. Notre Dame was amazing! Another very detailed huge building, I highly recommend seeing it. The outside of the Louvre was massive, I didn't know it was so huge. We didn't go in but if we had it would have taken literally days to see everything. We went back to Antoine's car, visited a friend of his and then headed to a bar for some drinks. Before entering the bar we stopped at a crepe stand and I got a delicious cheese and chicken packed crepe. After three drinks in the bar we stopped at the crepe stand again before going to the car, this time getting a desert crepe with nutella, bananas and coconut flakes mmmmmm soo tasty!
And finally today! Sorry this email got so long, I am tired now and the details are dwindling :) Today was very lazy. We hung out around Chelles with Antoine, taking a walk on the river and eating pasta until his father, sister and sister's boyfriend picked him for Christmas. Thankfully he is awesome and let us stay at his place tonight even though he is not here. Tomorrow we leave for Madrid! And now it is bed time :)
Spain so far
Tuesday, January 2, 2007 2:41 AM
I am now in Granada.
The morning of December 24th we missed the check-in for our flight by 8 minutes. That was about a $140US down the drain. The thing about booking with the cheaper companies (it is much cheaper than $140 if you plan ahead instead of a day and a half before) is that they don´t come with the security of the bigger companies. If you miss the flight, tough luck, they don´t help you AT ALL. You have to make other plans, book another flight or find some other way of traveling. So in our disappointment we decided to try the train for our trip to Madrid from Paris. After trying to communication with the lady at the train ticket counter - she spoke very little English and we spoke very little French - w got a ticket to Irun. We told her we wanted to go to Madrid so naturally we figured Irun must be the name of a station in Madrid, or a city close by, surely that was the case. At ten minutes before our train departed we found out that Irun was in fact nowhere near Madrid. When I got to a computer in Madrid I looked it up and found out that Irun is just over the border in Spain on the north west side, but at time all we knew was that it was about 450 kilometers away. So off we went to Irun and figured we would sort it out when we got there.
Getting into Irun fairly late on Christmas Eve we weren´t even sure if any hostels or hotels were open, let alone where they were located. So we walked a bit, asked someone on the street and found a Pension, as they call it, for the night. Christmas in a city we have no good idea where it is. After sleeping in we headed back to the train station and bought a ticket to Madrid, leaving us about three hours to kill. So we went to a Panaderia for delicious baked goods. I love bakeries, I do. And so far I have found that the best bakeries in Spanish speaking countries. My favorite is the one in Turriabla (spelling?), Costa Rica. The one we went to in Irun had so very tasty treats indeed. With a little difficulty in not knowing what the lady was saying and her not knowing what I was saying, we were able to work things out and I left the shop with ten tasty treats. Another long train ride and I was in Madrid at midnight Christmas night, a day and a half later than planned, but there safely.
Cat´s Hostel was my place of residence for the four nights I spent in Madrid, Spain. While in Spain we went to the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofia museum, saw the Royal Palace and walked around the streets. One of the days we met up with David, a man that Jeremy met while in Brussels earlier in his trip. He took us in his car for a drive to San Lorenzo de El Escorial, located about 50kilometers from Madrid. After wondering all within there we drove over to the monument of La Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos (Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen), where a gianormous cross stands atop a mountain that was dug into to create a huge hall with a giant mosaic on the ceiling of one of part of it. This cross is made of granite and is 150 meters high with a cross piece of 46 meters, HUGE.
On December 29th we boarded a 13:30 bus to Granada which got us to the hostel at 21:00. I am already tired of these really long transports, but I suppose that is what you have to do to get anywhere. Granada is beautiful, at least from where I am staying it is. This hostel is located on the side of a mountain that is located right across the valley from the Alhambra (a famous castle), which means that every morning when I walk out my bedroom door I am greeted with an amazing sight. The food has been delicious and the company has been great here in Granada. My brother John showed up a day after me so I have been spending a lot of time with him. Yesterday we went for a 5 and a half hour hike - John style. That means that we didn´t take a path entirely. We started on a road, found an abandoned house that was gorgeous in its day with gardens surrounding it but now is pretty run down. Then we headed straight up the mountain side, from the bottom by the river right up to the top. That was the only non path part of that day´s hike. For the most of the rest we followed a road along the ridge and then a main road back to Granada.
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