European Vacation

On March 15, I (Dave) embarked on a European journey with friends Barrett Nelson and Dave Naylor. After a 12 hour layover in Philadelphia (relatively boring city), we headed across the ocean to Rome. We landed on Monday morning and had a day and a half to roam the city, no pun intended. We started the vacation with a walk to the Colosseum. It proved to be as interesting and impressive as one might guess. It was cool to actually see where the fights and contests of the golden age of Rome took place. We took a guided tour and learned some interesting facts. We then headed to the Parthanon and the Fountain of Trevi. After a quick bit of gelato, we headed to see the Spanish steps and took a few "where's Walnum" pictures amongst the crowds on the steps. Finding that we had some time, we jumped on a train to see the Mediterranean Sea, just to say we had been there. We then headed back into the city and visited a few public squares and statues. We spent the night at a hostel with a German, a Spaniard, and a Argentine.

On day two, we awoke early to get to the Vatican. After an hour in a half-mile-long line, we entered the most elaborately decorated place I had ever seen. Nearly every square inch of the Vatican has an amazing painting, sculpture, or tapestry. We took the self-guided tour which ended in the Sistine Chapel. After taking a wrong turn and racing through the entire tour again, we found a way to St. Peters Basilica. This edifice has to be the most expensive building per square foot in the world. I have never seen (and surely never will again) anything so ornate and impressive. The detail in every square inch was exquisite, and the mass and scale of the entire building was nearly overwhelming. Words simply can't describe how ornate and massive that building is. After a quick trip back to the Spanish steps and a few other minor plazas, we headed to the airport for the flight to Paris.

On Tuesday night, we arrived in Paris about midnight. Of course, the buses and trains weren't running, and we had take a $80 taxi ride to our hostel. It was pretty nice, except for the lack of hot water in the showers. Early Wednesday morning, we headed out into Paris. First stop was Sacre Cour, the basilica at the highest point in Paris. After enjoying the vista for a few minutes, we headed down to the Moulin Rouge street and a cool cemetery. After snapping some pictures, we took the subway to the Arc de Triumphe and walked down the Champs Elysse. We then took another subway to the Louvre. We walked through the Louvre and saw most of the famous art there, including works by all the famous artists, and of course the Mona Lisa. The most impressive part of the Louvre for me was the actual palace that holds the art. It is simply massive, and is decorated like the Vatican with paintings and sculptures everywhere. We then decided to take a train ride out to Chateau Versailles, another palace of utter opulence. We weren't able to see everything (it was late afternoon by then), but we did see the king's chambers, the dance hall, the queens chambers, and the war room, among others. The extensive grounds were spectacular. We took another train ride back into the city and made our way to the see Parthenon by moonlight. We then ate our best dinner of the trip (French food was awesome) and headed to the minuscule hotel where we had to scoot the two twin beds together for all three of us to sleep. There was no floor space, so I took an Ambien and pushed my homophobic fears aside.

First thing Thursday morning, we went to the Eiffel Tower. We took the elevator to the top and enjoyed the vista of the entire city. From there, we could see most of the famous landmarks of Paris. We then took the subway to Notre Dame and then to the catacombs. To our dismay, the catacombs were closed, the first and only planned site on our trip that did not work out. We grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff for our train ride under the channel to London.

The London train station was an utter mad house with thousands of travelers running in every direction. We found a map and took a subway to the hotel. We dropped off our things and headed out to the Tower of London area for a dramatic Jack the Ripper walk around old London. After that we crashed for the night.

On Friday morning, we first went to the downtown area to go through the Churchill underground bunker where much of WWII was conducted for the English. We walked through Hyde park and in front of Buckingham Palace. After walking around Westminster Abby and Big Ben, we walked by the tower bridge and London bridge and had lunch by the Shakespeare theatre. We then walked across the Millennium Bridge and over to Saint Pauls cathedral. After that, we went back to our hotel for the first rest of the trip. We chilled for about 2 hours before heading back out for the river cruise and ride on the London Eye. Both were excellent, and we headed to the hotel that night very tired.

Saturday, we spent the day buying gifts, watching the changing of the guard, and getting ready for the flight to Amsterdam. After the flight, we caught a train to our hotel, which was by far the nicest one of the trip. After getting lost for a while, we found the train stop and headed into the city for dinner. There was a fight on the trolley, but we finally reached the city and ate an excellent late dinner. We walked around for a short while then headed back for our final night in Europe. The next morning, we boarded the plan for the long trip back to the states.

The trip was a resounding success. We had a great time, and saw tons of amazing sites. We went hard every day, and probably walked fifty miles over the course of the week. There were no incidents, and we came back unscathed except for the huge blisters on Dave Naylor's feet and a lot lighter in the wallet. $10 Diet Cokes tend to do that.