London (cont'd)

Alright, so you've read up to the point where I was mentioning just how gross the hostel coffee tasted.... let us continue:

We ventured our way along the London Tube system on this lovely Saturday morning.... did I mention that the tube is quite extensive, and since we were staying a little ways from the downtown core of London, that it is tricky to know exactly WHICH train will get you to where you want to go - well, only when there is crazy construction! So crazy construction - on weekends, the city shuts down parts of (or entire) tube lines so that they can be repaired. We did not know this until we got to a station and realized the train wasn't going any further. Hmm... what do we gotta do? Ah yes, go back the way we came and try again. So that's what we did! 30 mins to an hour later, we get to where wanted to be, along with a good lesson learned - "Even though the map says it's the way to go, it probably isn't". That's the moral, right? Or am I getting it wrong?

You think you're so good, don't you London Undergound?

So, we're where we need to be. Multiple friends suggested that we take the Bus tour of London - tickets are good for 48h and the boat cruise is included. Why not then eh? 22 pounds later, we've got our tickets and we're boarding the Yellow tour (for those of you who know the London bus tour, the Yellow tour is the narrated one). "YAY! A NARRATOR!" we thought to ourselves, but little did we know that this man was going to make fun of me as soon as I got on the bus. I was wearing headphones (not listening to music - I had just turned it off for the tour), and the narrator states into the microphone for everyone on the top deck to hear "Well, this girl doesn't even want to pay attention to me, she's got headphones in. Pay 22 pounds for a tour that you don't even want to be on." That's not the embarrassing part though. The part that got me was when April and I walked up to the top deck to find everyone laughing at me because I was the girl with the headphones. To make matters worse, there were no free seats up top, so we ended up walking back down to sit by the narrator and chat him up during the tour (at least until some people up top got off the bus). [I feel like this story was one where you had to be there to get the full effect of the embarrassment - to you, the reader, it might feel like I'm just explaining a simple event in great detail. Let us know what you think with a comment.]

Ju with headphones and a ticket ready to board the bus!

Away we went on the double decker bus, and oh the sites we saw!! Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, the Clock Tower (what we refer to as Big Ben), Hyde Park, St. Paul's Cathedral, and much much more.

Here are some samples of what we saw:

Apes 'n Ju in front of the Clock Tower (you can see the London Eye in the background).
*Please not that Apes' will not like that I posted this photo*

Piccadilly Circus - kinda like the 'Times Square' of London

Ya we did!

Next post of London will include - seeing my sisters, going to Sheffield, and leaving London.

One Thursday in Monaco

So one Thursday (Feb. 26 to be exact - Happy Birthday Dad), Apes 'n Ju took Steph to Monaco to see the sites, hear the sounds, and smells the smells (yum).

Look at the fun we're having!!

So we missed the express bus and had to hop on the other bus (the non-express one if you can believe it). Anywho, the view on this route is much nicer, but the bus, in general, is usually busier. This random Thursday was no exception and the three of us had to stand. No big deal. So there we were - standing and talking and having a blast, when all of a sudden, this group of North Americans who were on the bus as well were looking at us all suspicious-like. One of the girls turns to me and is like "Do I know you?" - surprised by this, I obviously say back to her "Of course you do Agnes!". WHAT A SMALL WORLD! Agnes, this girl I went to high school with was on the bus to Monaco with some friends she was visiting on the same random Thursday that we were! Wow!

Anyways, we ended up showing the big group, and Steph, around Monaco - the palace, fontvieille, the beach, the casino, the cathedral, you know, the usual stuff. It was a lovely day, photos were taken (of course by Princesse Stéphanie) and fun was had. We even had time to do some cannon yoga!!

Ohmmmmmmm....

The whole crew even came out to the pub quiz that night! YAY! Oh wait, we lost hahaha.

Cheerio London!

So, did you know that 3 out of the 4 major airports (ish) in London aren't actually in London at all? Ya, well we definitely discovered that when we arrived on February 27. Anyway, we flew into the London Stansted airport, which is conveniently (sarcastic) located in Essex, UK - a good 1h30 minute drive from the centre of London. Hooray (again, sarcastic)!

Anywho, we paid our 9 pounds (ew) and hopped on a bus during rush hour into the big city! Excited because English was back in full swing for the first time in 3.5 months, we were ready to rock the town (aka find our hostel, eat, and go to bed). Luckily, it wasn't too hard! YAY!

Cheap pizza from the hostel store and some delicious water later, we were full and ready to hit the hay. We are so cool, I know hahahaha. If you did not get the sarcastic humour in that last sentence, I am sorry. But in all reality, we are truly cool.

Day 2 - February 28, 2009

Up early in the morning to grab some breakfast - might as well mention right here that they provided the worst coffee that I have ever tasted. AND I might as well mention that it was the best coffee that Steph ever tasted. Lastly I will mention that Steph also said "I love coffee that people hate" thus proving how right I was in stating that the coffee was the worst I have ever tasted.

That's all I will say for now because I'm tired.

More another time.

Summary: London airports suck, we're cool because we go to bed early, AND hostel coffee is gross

Hey remember that time...

... the kid at the ski resort fell off the t-bar, but held on for dear life and was dragged for a few minutes up the hill?

Man, I do. I believe our instructor called him a "tortue ninja", meaning Ninja Turle in English. Curious to know if he was only holding on in hopes that there was a pizza at the end of the ride.

Minus the green skin, turtle-ish features, and you've got that kid... right?

NB: The kid actually looked a little more like this...not quite so fierce and a little more fear in his eyes. - Apes

Stinky cheese and wine party

Apes 'n Ju (+ Steph) recently hosted a Stinky Cheese and Wine Party at the apartment.

The turnout was wonderful, and more people than expected were in attendance. It was a hit and people seemed to really enjoy their time that they had here (well, maybe not the neighbours, but we won't get into that).

From Seabass' filthy Camembert cheese made with raw milk, to the 10+ baguettes that were in attendance, the shindig is something that we would like to do again.

We don't have any photos from it yet, but we will post them as soon as we do!

Just so much to write...

So in an attempt to start writing blog posts a little more frequently, Apes and I are going to write very short posts about different experiences that we had in our travels from the past two weeks. As you may know, we recently did a big travel stint going from England to the Czech Republic to Portugal and back. So anyways, each day (ish) we will post something about the journey. There should be enough to get us through to our next adventure.

I will commence by outlining our travels:

February 27 - Arrive in London, UK
February 28 - Meet Ju's sisters + Abe in London, UK
March 1 - Travel to Sheffield, UK via train
March 2 - Return to London, UK and spend that night in the Gatwick airport
March 3 - Arrive in Prague, Czech Republic
March 5 - Arrive in Porto, Portugal
March 8 - Apes and Steph return to Nice
March 10 - Ju returns to Nice

Now we do not have to explain in our stories, the dates that we traveled to these cities. I thank you for your patience.

Chocolate, Knives, and Watches....Oh my!

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Steph and I after discovering that the Swiss Alps do exist!

So Steph and I went to Geneva, Switzerland and let me tell you I've never had more trouble in an airport in my LIFE! I can officially say that I've been locked in an airport because of this trip. How did this happen you ask? Well it started with an hour plane delay out of Nice, which left us with one shot to catch a bus into Geneva once we disembarked. So we practically ran off the airplane, followed the signs that said France arrivals, buses and taxis and ended up in a parking garage? That's right. The sign said buses tho....so we waited and waited...and then decided to go and see if we'd made a wrong turn somewhere. Nope, we were right and yet wrong at the same time. How you ask? Well, we should have followed the sign off the plane that said International Arrivals and Connections. Stupid me just thought if you are flying to Geneva- you end up in Geneva, not France! But by the time we realized this, the French Terminal was closed for the evening and although we could see the bus we wanted, unless we decided to break through glass, jump barbwire fences or pick locked doors, there was no way we were getting into the Geneva side of the Airport. So we tried walking- WAY too long and sketchie of a road...freaky, and then finally resorted to calling a cab. 40 Swiss Franks later, we were kinda glad we did, as our hotel was located near some late night businesses!

Ya.... so no bus or taxi!

Our hotel was great however, providing us with a fabulous complimentary breakfast that also doubled as a lunch thanks to our ability to sneak sandwiches into our purses. With full tummies we headed to the hostel that we'd be staying at the next night to store our backpacks and then we were off to explore the city. It was a little cloudy, but way warmer than either one of us expected. We window shopped for watches and knives, popped into the odd Chocolatiers for samples, and attempted to find this giant fountain that was suppose to be one of the towns 'many' attractions. We didn't find the fountain, but we did find a great marina, old town, mall, play ground, flower clock (k so this one wasn't that impressive) and before you know it the sun was shining and we were surrounded by the alps. AMAZING! We then headed back to the hostel where we napped, made dinner and chatted with our Palestinian roommate before hitting the sack.

The Swiss Alps

The next morning we were up bright and early (k, not really) and off to find the UN and maybe this mysterious fountain. Without asking for directions, and only knowing the street it was located on...we found the UN with only a minor wrong turn. It was cold, and we were a little more than soaked from the rain at this point, so we really didn't hang out long. We were there long enough however to discover that someone had burnt themselves alive about a week before we arrived in protest of the war in Sri Lanka, and that the mark from his body was still on the pavement right by our feet. Kinda creepy. We then headed down the water front and finally saw the fountain we'd missed the day before, which was right in front of our noses the whole time, but not actually working because of the windy weather conditions. The grey sky provided a crappy backdrop for our photos, but at this point it was starting to snow and we both just wanted to be dry again. So we walked and we walk and we walked in search of a restaurant that wasn't going to rob us of all our hard earned money. We finally found one and with food in front of us we chilled out and watched a few different episodes on MTV...how American of us I know.

Birds Birds and more Birds

At this point we decided that we'd seen all that we needed to, and headed to the airport to chill out. Boarding time came and went and....you guessed it, an hour flight delay. The reason? A little snow that didn't even stay on the ground. I guess people in Switzerland are only use to seeing snow in the mountains...oh what we put up with in Canada! We finally arrived back in Nice at about 10:30pm, and thanks to our great timing ran into Ryan who provided us with money to take the bus home- ya I know, who travels without having at least a few Euros in their pocket?...this girl! Oh well...

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen...Geneva, Switzerland.

Like Julie said, next up -
London, Prague and Porto!