Ace, Gen and the World: July 14 - August 8: Paris, Amsterdam, England and Vienna

Thursday, August 23, 2012

July 14 - August 8: Paris, Amsterdam, England and Vienna

While the first 2 months of our trip focused on discovering new places and cultures, we spent most of the last 3 weeks visiting friends in places that either one or both of us has already been. It was actually quite similar to a European trip that Ace did with a friend about 10 years ago (excluding Vienna), although experienced in a very different way as we’re no longer 22 and sleeping in hostel dorms. On that note, thanks to all of our great friends for being such amazing hosts!

To start, we visited Gen’s friends Jon and Marie-Claude in Paris as a surprise for MC’s 30^th birthday (although we’re not sure how much of a “surprise” it really was), and coincidentally arrived on Bastille Day so got to watch the fireworks near the Eiffel tower and celebrate with some of their friends. We also spent a day walking / biking all around Paris, and an evening in the artsy Montmartre district. It’s easy to forget how beautiful Paris is! Of course, Gen would never let us forget to mention the very yummy ice cream at Berthillon on St. Louis Island, or our blindfolded macaroon contest… the unanimous decision is that the famous La Duree are the best in the world!

Next was Amsterdam, which is such a wonderful city. We rented an apartment with a patio next to Vondelpark, which felt surprisingly similar to being at home beside Parc Lafontaine in Montreal. We did lots of relaxing in the park, strolling along the canals and discovering the less touristy parts of town. We also went for drinks and had dinner with a friend David and his family, and spent some time with Jean-Guy, another good friend of ours that lives there. It’s always nice to hang out with the locals to get the real feel of a city.

Our third stop was England, where we visited Ace’s grandma and saw the countryside in true traditional British style. Crumpets and tea, anyone?!? Fortunately, we brought the sun with us after a month of record rainfalls (knowing England, this is probably enough rain to drown a fish). We also spent almost a week in London with JP and Katie, where we had a pick-nick in Hyde Park and some pints in the local pub, but most importantly they invited us to the Olympics opening ceremony! This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience, even excluding the fact that we saw James Bond meet the Queen J.

Last but not least was Vienna to visit another couple friends that Ace met in Morocco last year. We’re starting to realize that other people are clearly more hospitable hosts than us, because Max and Eli actually went to stay at their parents’ house for a few days and let us have their apartment! Poor Max just started a new career at a law firm so was chained to his desk the entire time we were there (given our current situation, we restrained from giving him any career counseling ;), but Eli was an awesome tour guide and showed us all around town, as well as having us over for a delicious traditional Ausutrian supper (schnitzel and amazing homemade apricot dumplings) with a bunch of her close friends.

So that concludes our Euro Trip – the first phase of our year-long adventure. Overall, we probably couldn’t have wished for a better experience; hopefully we can continue to have such good luck. We’re definitely ready for a good dose of culture shock at this point, so Southeast Asia, here we come!

P.S. to all our friends and family back home, as we were leaving Europe we realized that this eliminated any possibility of a quick stop in Montreal for many more months… which we must admit made us a little homesick. We miss you all!

Photos - July 14-August 8: Paris, Amsterdam, England and Vienna

No comments:

Post a Comment

Fun Facts

To avoid dehydration at high altitude, it is suggested to drink at least 4-5 liters of water per day!
To support his cocaine trafficking operations, Pablo Escobar once bought 15 planes and 6 helicopters. He reportedly spent $2500 a month purchasing rubber bands to wrap his stacks of cash.
Rodriguez, an American musician that had little success in the U.S. in the 70’s, went platinum and became highly influential in South Africa. However, his fame remained completely unknown to him until 1998, when his eldest daughter came across a website dedicated to him.
Table Mountain alone has over 1,500 hiking trails, as well as 1,500 species of plants, more than the entire United Kingdom.
South Africa has the cheapest electricity and the third most safe, drinkable tap water in the world.
The average annual salary in Zanzibar, Tanzania is US$250.
The African Masai are Polygamous, and there is a famous Masai leader who purportedly has 42 wives and 240 children.
From standstill, the cheetah can reach 100 km/hour in merely 3 seconds.
A tiny jellyfish called the Box Jellyfish, not the great white shark, is the most deadly and dangerous marine species in Australia
You can rent a surfboard at the post office in Crescent Head, Australia
The 10 most venomous snakes in the world can be found in Australia
A Gatorade at the corner store in Australia costs $4.50
Singapore has the highest percentage of millionaires per capita in the world.
Ever have those moments when you’re travelling and wake up in the middle of the night unsure where you are? Oddly enough, after almost 5 months of travelling through 11 countries you have those memory lapses awake, in broad daylight ☺.
In Bali, everyone’s first name is determined by the order in which they were born. For example, the oldest male in the family is named Wayan, the second is Made, the third is Nyoman, the fourth is Ketut and the order repeats itself after the third male. This becomes somewhat confusing, because almost every fourth male has the same name!
Ever seen an upside down rainbow? We have!
The Dutch government plans to prohibit the purchase of cannabis by tourists in Amsterdam in January 2013 (a “green card” only issued to citizens will be required thereafter).
Although quite rare, certain vineyards still use egg whites to filter their wine. This traditional method, whereby a thin layer of egg whites are poured into the cask and filter down through the wine over time, is believed to retain more flavor than the more typical filtering process.
Gaudí died after being struck by a tram on his way to church. Assumed to be a beggar because of his lack of ID and shabby clothing, he did not receive immediate aid. By the time he was recognized at a very rudimentary hospital the following day, it was too late to revive him.
Christopher Columbus is buried in Seville, Spain – or is he? This is a controversial subject, as it is also believed that he is (mostly) buried in the Dominican Republic.
Gen’s last name (Guay) means “cool” in Spanish. As if she wasn’t already cool enough! ;)
What do 3 North Americans at a Spanish house party have in common, other than their nationality? White teeth, according to an apparently common Spaniard stereotype.
To become a smokejumper, you have to be able to do 7 pull-ups, 45 sit-ups, 25 push-ups and run ¼ mile in under 11 minutes. Of course, Ace is sure that he can do this – Gen, not so much :)
Turkish regulations prohibit any construction in tourist regions during the tourist season. Something more countries should adopt!
Apparently (and a little surprisingly ;), Ace has a long lost identical twin that happens to be a European football/soccer star. In our first week, the Turks have asked us twice if it was indeed him… the second group had even bet on it amongst each other. Why did he end up being the boring banker? ;)
Turkey is the only country in the world that sits on two continents - the Bosphorus strait separates the European and Asian regions.
In Mexico it is illegal for stores to sell alcohol after 2pm on Sundays. One might think that this relates to religion, however it’s actually because Mexicans get so drunk on Sundays that if they sold booze in the afternoon no one would go to work on Monday (okay, this one comes from a pre-Turkey boys trip down south last month… but I thought it was still amusing enough to merit a bullet point – Gen, not so much).

Stupid Mistakes (hopefully to be a short section)

Gen attempting a 5-hour hike at 4,000 meters before being fully acclimatized. NOT recommended!
Packing your favorite Swiss army knife in your carry-on bag when about to take a flight. Bye bye knife ☹
18 hours of bus to visit San Gil, possibly the worst ecotourism capital in the world!
Ace dropping our iPad on our MacBook Air. Note: a new MacBook Air screen costs $500!
Expecting to book a diving trip to Sipadan (potentially the top dive site in the world) 2 days in advance – to find out that it was fully booked for the next 2 months.
We found some really cheap “first class” train tickets leaving San Sebastian – but it turns out that “first class” tickets that have “unassigned seats” really mean you don’t have a seat whatsoever, so if the train is full you end up enjoying your “first class” experience sitting on the floor.
After waiting in line for about 1 ½ hours to watch the Euro semi-finals in an open air stadium in Seville with about 5,000 people and an amazing ambiance, don’t step outside once regulation time is over. Why not? Because, unlike the quarterfinals, the semi-finals have overtime followed by penalty kicks, and no matter how clueless and innocent a tourist can try to look, security won’t let you back in!
When going to see the highlight attraction in a city, charge the battery in your camera. After learning from that mistake by bringing a backup battery the next time, make sure that one is charged too.
Before we left Canada, as we were walking towards the Turkish embassy to apply for our visas we agreed to include a “stupid mistakes” section on this site. When we showed up, the embassy evidently asked us for our passports, which, believe it or not, we had both forgotten at home. First stupid mistake: Check.

Blog Archive

Thursday, August 23, 2012

July 14 - August 8: Paris, Amsterdam, England and Vienna

No comments:

Post a Comment