Here is some bonus for your guys.. our friend, Bezaire, who had to cut his trip short and head back to Canada due to his mono.. now he s able to upload some pictures of the trip.. if you are curious enough.. check them out at www.buzzair.blogspot.com ! Smiles....
June 25:
Today was the day we depart from Venice, Italy toward Lake Como, Italy.. recommended by our friend, Lore. We spent most of our morning and some of afternoon on the train toward Lake Como.. we left at 9:52 am and arrived at 2:05pm (14:05pm).. we headed down to grab the room at hostel.. but found it was closed until 4pm and the storm broke out just as we arrived at its location so we retreated to the underground walkway that goes under the road without us worrying about drivers hitting us. We stayed until the rain lifted up and managed to catch a guy inside yard of the hostel.. he took our cards to ensure we got a spots there. We then retreated across the street at the local bar to wait until 4pm, enjoying the local s cheap drinks... We eventually got a beds at this hostel and the people there were quite friendly as they explained everything to us such as curfew, breakfast time, sign out... and the possible sights we want to see when we asked about it. They even provided us a local newspaper that was in English.. whereas we discovered that George Clooney who part-take in Ocean 11 and Ocean 12 movies ( as well as many others) but especifically some of the shootings in Ocean 12 was taken in the area of Como where he bought a villa for his summer home. He bought it last year, as in the result , risen the prices around Como but we were luckily to come this year for it would be popular with tourists even more and price will rise more within few years as another actor. Richard Gere (this name was lost on me.. i am no good with celebrities) was to be said to rent a villa for this summer and Brad Pitt was rumored to be looking at some villas to purchase.. its just one of many rumors but it showed that Lake Como was getting popular......lastly we finally dumped our things, discussed on what we wanted to do tomorrow and headed out to this cafe where it provided free Internet as well to update you all until then :)
June 24:
195 and I did out best to get up early as we could and went into Venice again to see some famous landmarks.. pretty much, we loitered in some stores and had an quite hard time finding places for the map was not detailed enough and the Venice itself was not very clear on its directions on its signs that pointed the way to its famous sites.. one sign might point north while another would point northwest.. overall, it was confusing but we managed to saw two worthwhile places, one well known San Marco Piazza where lots of pigeons gather for some freebies grains from us. I convinced 195 to go for it.. so we brought some seed and fed to the pigeons.. it was an interesting experience for me.. it feel ticklish for me and funny to watch how birds try to clamber over each other for the treat. After it, we went to see the Bridge Rialto that my little brother, Josiah, recommend me to see.. it had stores atop it.. the only bridge in whole city that had stores built on it. 195 finally found the glass calligraphy pen that he was satisfied with enough to buy it, in which he did... his cursive sure were lot better than mine! Definitely a compliment for a guy due to the fact that girls tend to be better at it (whereas, I was not) Lastly, we retreat back to our home base for the evening.
June 23:
We relaxed until the half of day was almost over, mainly at nice poolside the campground had.. to avoid the heat and our feet needed some break.. we finally headed back into Venice to use one of their cafe that provided free Internet with a purchase from them... its called Cafe Blue, we brought a local drinks called Spritz from them at really good price.. therefore that's where we spend some hours using the Internet to our advantage and met some people.. one guy was from London, England and another was from Australia who came with his wife.. in early 30 s.. the guy mentioned that it was good thing that we all weren't American as he found out that we were Canadians ( of course, he didn't know that I am a half USA as well) for he found USA to be bigots based on how they talked and act as they seemed to act they were a priority in everything.. too bad we cant hear nor to compare.. nevertheless after the cafe.. we wander pointless around the Venice, experience it much as we could without taking well worn tourist s paths. We stopped at Asian restaurant that had quite good courses but unfortunately, the amount of food was small for its cost.. it cost a small plate at 2.50 euros to 3.50 euros while we usually got a big pile of it back in our country.. in a way, it was no wonder why the obese was a problem in our countries. Afterward, we headed back to the campground to call it a night.
June 22:
Today was the day when Bezaire was flying out back to his home in Canada.. while 195 and I headed out toward to our next destination, Venice, Italy. We all parted and wish each other the best of wishes. 195 and I arrived right in Venice s train station, St. Lucias. We took the bus back to the mainland where the another campground was at under same chain of ownership in the Roma, Italy. We pretty much relaxed the evening away for we arrived there approx. 6pm
June 21:
195 and I got up early as we could as lately we have been sleeping in until 9 am or 11 am.. nevertheless with an important thing to do for the day.. we got up at 8am and headed down to the train station that would take us out to Pompeii.. well known for it ruins that was covered during the volcano erupted that surprised many of residents unexpectedly and resulted in encasing many of them that we had the luxury of viewing today to see how they acted and positioned in the time of terror. We overestimated that we would reach to Pompeii approx. 1 and half hour but we didn't double check as it turned out it was a 3 hours ride to there...we still enjoyed gawking at the buildings that were left intact by volcano but we were disappointed to seen only two casts of people for we wanted to see more as it were very interesting and engrossing. It pretty much took all of the day for one place worth of gawking.. we headed back to Roma.. We arrived back bit late and discovered that the line of metro that we usually took was closed in which left us bit confused and lost.. after lot of wandering and asking, we finally found there was a bus provided for the same routine that the metro took as the metro was under construction for renovation during the nights. We finally made it back to the campground. I forgot to mentioned that our friend, Bezaire, stayed again at the campground as he didn't have much of energy to venture out even through he did on the another day.. on this day, he had to go back to the hospital for the testing result as on the other day.. he showed 195 that he got a black spot on side of this throat that cause his difficulties of eating and drinking. Based on what he told us on this evening when we finally got back, that it was common with those people that had mono.. however the people at hospital weren't clear and straightforward with him of what should be done and etc so he got fed up, he feel that it would be wise to fly back to his home in Canada for better service and come back to Europe in other year whereas he could enjoy it better. It was saddening to have him leaving in middle of trip as the more , the merrier... but we sure hope things will go better for his condition back at home. (sadly, I can no longer depend on his accuracy and details of the events of day by day from his pager which was more reliable than my own memories)
June 20:
195 and I headed out to Roma to see most of the Roman s ruins...there were lot of them littering throughout the city , more than I remember when I first visited there in 1999 when I was barely 18 years old. I presume at my young age, I didnt not pay attention fully as I should have but nevertheless, I enjoyed visiting there both of the time but this time was bit of efforting to find places during the hot day unlike in my young days where everything was taken care of and the trip was during late sprintime where it was cooler. We managed to see Colosseum but didnt went inside it as they didnt accept credit card and we didnt see any ATM nearby so we went on to next ruins that was right next to Colosseum, it also require admission in cash only so we venture around the outside ruins that were free to the public. We took lot of pictures but at one certain point where I saw a bench with a wall behind it that had some of roman colums ruins sitting atop the wall.. poir it, I saw lot of ruins on the ground without any fencing or roping around it and lot of people sat on it for pictures.. so I did the same but some of people start to looking at me funny.. soon afterward there was a guy who worked on the site come up.. I would said hes older guy in his senior year, flaming mad and gestured at me to get down.. I gestured to him that I am deaf and didnt know.. he incidating to his whistle and clearly showed that he was whistling at me in the warning to get off it... it was no wonder that those people were looking at me funny because I was being whistled at but I didnt react to it.. therefore, it was bit embarassing and the guy showed no remorse toward the fact that I am deaf and was not aware of it.. he continued to make a spectacle of me ... nevertheless, I feel bit insulted but luckily for 195 was there to smooth my seething feelings. We continued on to see other places in the city of Roma. We stopped at Pantheon, one of works by Michelangelo, it had a hole in the ceiling that let in the sunrays in order for it to shine on a wall at certain location to show the timing of the day, pretty brillant architecture work. We then tried to find a place that have a crypt underground for we never saw a one but we have no such luck so we went over to see infamous Spanish steps.. we didnt see why it was so famous as it showed up alot on the television.. another thing to research on..finally we headed back to home homebase at the campground.
June 19:
195 and I slept in most of the morning and took camping private bus to Vatican City to see St. Peter and Sistine Chapel in the late afternoon. We went through the basement of St. Peter where many of popes were buried then toured around the St. Peter itself but we failed to find Sistine Chapel so we headed back to campground for the rest of evening...
On the next day June 18:
195 and I toured around Florence, Italy before heading to Roma, Italy. We had to walk around with our backpacks on our backs as the train station was out of the way from where we stayed at. All of the places we wanted to see was on the way to the train station so we walked to them with the backpacks, it was hot that day! We went to place thats on top of hill first of all, it was Plazza Michelangelo .. more stairs to climb up, afterward, we went to one of building, Ponte Veccnio which was a bridge with lot of stores atop it.. all jewerly stores. Then toward Piazza Della Signoria, they got lots of statues of Greek myth people such as Zeus. We then went past Piazza Del Duomo, nothing so overally interesting about that building and went on to Piazza Aldobbandini, it was small building, so we just snapped some pictures and zoom over to the train station for the Roma, Italy. When we arrived there, we went straight to our sleeping destination which was Camping Roma that was at resonably cheap price for four nights. We met up with Bezaire there as we told him of this place so we could stay at same place and save him from other expensive night at hotel.
Sorry, I have to cut the blog updating short due to some people waiting for it after all it was free internet with a purchase of a drink in a cafe....Later then , smiles.
June 17:
195 and I arrived in Florence, Italy yesterday, June 17, after visiting Pisa, Italy. Bezaire decided to go straight to Roma. We stopped at a hostel and it was full so we looked back and forth on the same street, no such luck. There were two guys who sat at a cafe watching the whole thing so one guy waved to us and gave us a business card of another hostel in other location. So we went to the train station at the hotel customer service and asked the woman if she would kindly to call the other hostels for us to see if there were any available. The card that guys gave to us was also full but the woman at the hostel who seemily to live with her roommate had a guest room so they offered it to us at 35€, again not so cheap for a night but we were glad to get a room. Later we found out that it was worst for Bezaire in Roma as he looked for 4 hours, no luck and ended up paying 50€ for a room. Today, we are going to see around Florence then head down to Roma (this time we got on internet last nite to reserve a good deal place in Roma to stay at, a campground for approx $12 ea of us per night).. be updating later on.
June 17:
Here we were in the Italy, to see infamous leaning tower called Pisa.. it was just as what I thought it would be except that I kind of expect it to be standing in big field but it got some old buildings nearby around it. Oops, can't always assume until you see for yourself or do the research, grins.. It cost 15 € to go up the tower.. that would be about $18 just to climb up, covered in the sweat, all just to be on the top of Pisa that might topple over any minute, surprising the over-assured tourists (yes I was overly exeggarated.. I hadn't yet to go up for the next tour was at 4:40 so here I was at an internet cafe, killing some time to update you guys :) ) Lets see how it turned out...
June 16:
Bezaire, 195, and I spent the day hiking on the trail that connect between all five towns (Monterosso, Vernazza , Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore). The trail from Monterosso to Vernazza was steep and energy-draining but the view was worth it. We finally reached Vernazza after a hour and half of hiking, Bezaire decided to stay in Vernazza and catch the train to Corniglia to meet us. 195 and I continue on to Corniglia that was on top of cliff, we started to get very tired and hot.. finally we arrived there and decide to have a lunch first before meeting Bezaire at the beach for we got headaches. We ate and hiked down 341 steps down to the train station toward the beach.. We saw nothing that might be beach except for the one that had a tunnel toward naturist (other word for nudist) beach, it cost 5€ to go through the tunne to this beach even through you can leave the swimsuit on. It was not worth the money so we headed on to visit last two towns, Manarola and Riomaggiore, via train. Both were very small and not much to see except for handful of stores. 195 and I bought some food there, the cost of food was considerably cheap. Finally, we headed back to our home town, Monterosso, to relax at the beach and have our dinner before call it a day. We would be heading to see Pisa then toward Florence or Roma tomorrow (June 17).
June 15:
In the morning, 195 and I were refreshed and wanted to find an internet cafe so that we could contact Bezzaire to let him know that we were in the town and see where he was staying at. We wandered around in the town, looking for the cafe, we turned around and Bezzaire was right there at fruits and vegetables stands.. luckily for us! He showed his room where he was staying at and it turned out that he also paid 30€ for his room as well. It certainly make me feel better because it was lot to pay when I would like to save..cant alway exèpect that thro. Bezzaire offer to share his room with us to save more money so we did, dumped our backpacks there. Then head out to the beach, 195 and I took a detour on the way into the wine and herbs store, sampled their local wine as they were well known for their wines. We also sampled several home made spreads for crackers or bread such as pesto, pepper pesto, etc. It was a mouth-watering :) Finally arrived at the beach, it was bit rocky but nice enough and the water wasnt that cold (certainly not for 195 and I but it was for Bezaire as he loved hot, hot weather, warm water, etc) 195 and I went to swam out toward the rocks wavebreaker, before we started to stand on the rocks in water in order to climb up on the rocks out of water. 195 was already standing but I had the tendency to look down to see whats down there and saw that there were sea urchins. Naturally I become more careful and couldnt get out of water into jutting rocks for good few minutes. I finally did but banged and stratched my knees in the process. Guess it did me no good. Later it started to rain so we all headed to the hotel to shower and go to Vernazza for a dinner. We ate at a pizza restaurant in which was found cheaper than the rest and looked appealing. The guy waitress was very friendly and he gave me a free shirt when it start to get dark and cool (actually I got bit by an italian mosique that send me stratching crazily, making me look like I was cold). Afterward, we stopped at a bar to have a drinks while we waited for the next train back to Monterosso.
June 14:
195 and I got up 6:30 am to pack up and have our breakfast then we catch a train at 11:30 out to Ventigmilia then on another train to Cinque Terre (actually we had to transfer to local train in La Spezia, Italy) We tried to catch earlier train at 8:30am but missed it by one minute and the next one was full so we were stuck with the one at 11:30am. One thing that I definitely dislike of Italy was their trains as they went real slow and made frequent stops, some of the stops didnt even for picking up the people (grring). We finally arrived in Monterosso, the largest town of the five in Cinque Terre (the others were Vernazza , Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore (the smallest of all) ) around 11pm. Only thing that were open were the restaurants/bars.. we asked around for beds, one of locals guided us to the hotel but it was already closed and seemily to be full after the local man made the call to the number posed on the door so he guided us toward other location. He took us through real narrow alley through garden and some dirt trail, it was dark as well as he used his lighter to show us any of steps. 195 and I were uncomfy about it as we wondered if he plan to have some of other locals to come up behind us and rob us. It didn't happen as we finally arrived to the place which seem to be owned by him. The room got kitchen, dining table, washer, full bed and twin bed.. so in all it was real nice but it cost us 60€ (30€ each of us) It was little high to our standard budget but we just accepted it as we were really tired....Lights out.
On the next day, 13 June:
195 and I went into the town to see some sites. We went up to the old chuch, Notre Dame de la Garde, that`s on top of hill with great view of the city..we climbed 345 steps of the stairs! Got to keep our shape and legs strong for our backpacks (winks) It was far better than riding in one of those tacky tour bus where you can see all goggling tourists that rarely touched the ground, much less to wander around city, exploring it even more :) After that church, we clambered down hill and wander through streets until we reached Fort Saint Nicolas and Fort Saint Jean, both were located across each other across the bay filled with many sailboats and quite little of speed boats. Unfortunately, ut seem to be unacessiable to people so We went on to the internet cafe to update you guys and see where our friend, Bezaire planned on going to next to ensure we will meet up with him in Cinque Terre, Italy. He said via the email that he was now in Nice, couple hours from Marseille. We hadn`t decided on which town we would like to stop for a day before heading to Cinque Terre to meet up with Bezaire and stay there for few days. Guess you guys will find out on the next blog :)
We are off for a dinner and another night in Marseille. Bon voyage!
12 June:
Apparently I lost the count of days I have been in Europe so I choose to no longer say Day 16, Day 17 but to put the date instead..thus making things simplier :) I am sure that some of you who read my recent blog noticed that there was lot of spelling errors. Actually it was not because France`s keyboard`s ABCs were in different places so words came out differently. No worries, I corrected those mess today so you guys can read them with n ease :)
As for our friend, Bezaire, we went to meet him at the hospital on the next day. It turns out that he got mono, so no more letting him or us sampling eachother food and drinks. He decided to stay behind in Nimes for one more day while we went ahead to Marseille, France, the third largest city in France (not so big to me, maybe about the same as Buffalo, NY) 195 and I just relaxed for the evening at the hostel after a walk to beach and around some blocks, stopping at fruit and legumes (vegetables). It was like a small conventional store but aith good section of fresh fruits and vegetables. We got some food and drinks for the evening and tomorrow.
*NOTE: Feel free to post your comments or questions or suggestions on this blog :) *
In days of 12 to 15, we arrived in the Barcelona, very lively city with lot of old buildings and alleys that contained shops, restaurants, and bars. We got to see some old part of city but we mainly saw the architecture works by Gaudi..they were unique and interesting as he managed to combined the rational that tend to be cold and stuctural:: with organic (from nature) that was colorful and curvy, into his building. I sure enjoyed veiwing his building works. We left on the morning of 15th day, even thro I would like to stay bit longer in Barcelona for they got many cool places to shop or wander around. We have to keep the schedule and headed back into France, stopped at Nimes and stayed there for two nights. They got some of Roman ruins. Not much to see but people at the hostel were very helpful and friendly for 195 lost his fake wallet but he happened to leave his important cards in there (ITYC and Hihostel) Plus Bezaire gotten real sick so he went to hospîtal, in which the hostal staff was willing to call to see what was his status ...seemily it was not serious.. lets see on the next update (got to accept the fact that I have a time limitions..groans)
Day Twelve: We got up at 7am, pack up and head to the bus stop to catch 8am bus back to Lagos to take yet another bus toward Sevilla, Spain, where we would be taking a train toward Barcelona, Spain. We left Lagos on bus at 1:30pm and arrived in Sevilla at 9pm, then catch the train (we were lucky that theres plenty of room on train so we all got couchette for its only 2 euros difference between seats and couchettes) We left Sevilla at 10:30pm toward Barcelona, Spain.
Day Eleven:
We slept in and went down to village for some lunch at pizzeria. The pizza was so good! Thin crust, green olives, mozz cheese, and olive oil with vinegar as well as hot savue and pepper to dip it in. We headed to the beach again but this time we stayed in the shade under the straw umberellas on the lounge chairs provided by the beachfront hotel. We stayed there for good 4 hours and finally head back to quartos to do some clothes washing and rest for the evening. Basically Salema was the place for us to relaxing after crazy schedule of traveling and sightseeing.
Day Ten:
We just lazied the day away at the beach. 195 was smart enough put on some sun lotion, Bezaire and I didnt.. AT 2 pm, we meet up with the girl, Sarah, and went up to her villa which was very nice with a nice cold pool.. no chemicals! We swam, relax in sun, and played game , Scrambles, it was good game for deaf and hearing people to interact. Sarah made us a dinner, very stomach-filling and definitely a summer dinner consist of salad, shrimps, and pizza. We finally headed down the hill back to our quartos. (remember I mentioned about sunlotion? Yep, you guessed it, Bezaire and I got burned!)
Day Nine:
In the morning, we arrived in Lisbon, knowing there was not much to see so we just made a short trip around Lisbon, saw a old Moorish castle called Castelo Sans de Jorge (St. George) which was built in 350 AD (very old!) on the most highest hill of the town. We catch a train toward Lagos, we transfer in Tunes on more old and clanky train to Lagos. At Lagos, we got on bus (after considering a night stay in Lagos but decided that it was touristic), heading to Salema, a small fishing village with a real nice beach. The village itself was smaller than appiciated and Portugal was very english-speaking country. We got an quarto (a rooms in people´s home) at good price. Lot of riding in one day, we were happy to unwind at last at a nice restaurant down in the village. We then went to a bar near the place we were staying at. We had couple of drinks, the barman was nice and gave us some free drinks of interesting mixtures. We met a girl who was from England that had a villa. We chatted most of the evening and met her friend that she grew up with. Her parents honeymooned in Salema and loved it that they bought a summer home (villa-same as-cottage) there where she have been going to for 17 years. She invited us to come up to her villa ont he next day.
Day Eight:
As for day seven, we just basically went walking through the city, seemily not so large but still a city, the streets were easy to navaigate (no worries about getting lost) As of ¨today¨ 195 and I meet up with Bezaire at the square where we first arrive on the metro... we went to Parque Del Buen Retiro park.. it was a big park with some art sites, lot of statues and water founations, and one man made pond where people go for rowing or execrising by rowing the boat. It was very nice, we walk around for an quite while then went to Las Ventas arena where bull fights were held every sundays ( it was the same all over the Spain in which we seem to managed to miss all of possible sundays to see it!) Later we stop at an internet cafe that cost very cheap for the useage and we happen to bumped into the girl from Boston who occupied the same couchette room with me on the train from Paris to Madrid. We all went together to see Templo De Debod that was ancient building given to Spain as a gift to thank them for saving it from being destroyed by the water when the dam was built in Egypt. The city of Madrid was much seen by the time we went to train station to wait for our overnight trip to Lisbon, Portugal.
Yup it is a big jump from Day 8 to Day 16, eep! Let me catch you guys up on what I did after London...( I had been in paris, madrid, lisbon, salema, seville, and barcelona)
Day Eight:
Ah, we were in Madrid.. we made a reserve for the next trip toward Lisbon, Spain right away after our first lesson.. it was cheaper, 195 and I decided to go with seats instead of couchette at 6 euros to save the money.. we then got on metro toward the hostel without too much of trouble for the people were courteous even the drivers on the road.. the city itself was lot clean for the people took their cleaning seriously that they even clean every corner, I was impressed.. We stayed at Barbier Hostel while Bezaire stayed at another for ours were full...Since we arrived quite early in the day so we grab this opportunity to go sightseeing.. we managed to see much as we could...
Day Seven:
We went down to Eurail station to get the tickets and discovered that it was full to reserve an overnight trip.. we could get the one on the next day morning.. we were pretty much discouraged and it was costly to reserve. Heckless to say we were more than ready to get out of Paris.. we went ahead and reserve for the next day anyways then later after a thought and discussion, we went back to try again with different possiblities... we managed to get a trip on the same day only that the train leave late in the evening at higher price (that left us wondering about what was the point of buying a railpass, ah guess time changes) After the reserving.. we went to see Notre Dame then split up.. Bezaire went to Louvre while 195 and I went to see Versille but we ended up taking wrong train, even thro we knew which one to take but didnt double check, therefore we went south of Paris instead of north.. endless to said, we didnt get to see Versille as time ran out and we had to get back to meet up with Bezaire to head down to eurail for our trip to Madrid, Spain.
Day Six:
We went to see Bastille where French Revolution took place.. it was pretty much just a big road intersection with many cars and motorcyles going around.. what was there was a moument of this event. We then pass throught Louvre Museum (it´s closed on tuesdays and it happen to be tuesday) toward Arche de Triompe.. snapped couples of pictures then went up on the top through a long, spiral staircase that left 195 bit breathless..hehe.. we went to Effiel Tower afterward and went all way up to the top.. I have been to France twice so it was pretty much same thing fo me.. I dont know what the guys think of it but far as I know that they sure dislike Paris as its dirtier, darker, and the people were not as friendly except for a few. We went back to the hotel.. then we, 195 and I, went out for a dinner at not bad restaurant, while Bezaire stayed at hotel to enjoy his blissful nap.
Day Five:
We, 195, Bezaire, and I, spent the day relaxing and went to internet cafe. We finally left London on Eurostar, in late afternoon or early evening as yoy may say, toward Paris, France.. it was short trip , about 3 hours..when arrived we used the metro to get to our hotel. We managed to find our hotel after a bit of walking as we realized that we could have got off 2 stops earlier but of course there was no way of knowing.. everything was new.. took bit of time to figure our way with all of french lanuages, unlike London, Great Britain, where we were spoiled to shoes with all english language. We got room just fine even through the dates was changed, got enough beds for all three of us. We stayed in for the night as its already dark.
*sadly time is up.... if you want more details.. check www.oneninefive.blogspot.com (michael´s) or www.buzzair.blogspot.com (matt´s)*
Here are the details of what I have seen so far from day one in Èurope.
Day Four:
Went to the modern and artsy museum called Tate Museum, I sure liked it as it was more creative and unique. Sadly for Bezaire, it bore him right out of mind but luckily for me, 195 dont mind looking around and especially liked the scultures :) We pretty much saw most of London so we venture out more, visited punky part of London that´s called Camden Town, certainly loved their styles (made a note to myself to go to there when I come back in the August to get some cool stuffs!) At the evening, we meet up with Himel again at yet another pub as we want to go to an old, old pub but still ended up going to youth style bar and met other deafies (Melly, Amhed, Tom, and the Absinthe guy) that lived in that area.
Day Three:
We kind of slept in and in afternoon, we went to Imperial War Museum, it showed lot of history of war of countries that British controlled and the World War one and two. We went into London and ate at Japanese restaurant which was good but not so cheap (nothing in London was cheap for their pounds beat our US & CDN, as well as Euros money). Aferward, we meet up with Himel at a bar in uppity area to meet some more deafies that Himel had them to meet up at there. We sure enjoyed chatting with them (Umsed (sorry if I misspell it), Sam, Angelia, Richard and his girlfriend) and trying understand much of their BSL when they were talking toward eachother. Met a guy, Richard, who worked in USA in the past for 4 years so that make it two beside Himel who can sign ASL quite well. We oughta polish up on our BSL, I did learn the BSL fingerspelling before flying out to Europe but it was still awkard when coming down to spell something.
Day Two:
We were much refreshed on the next day, went to see Madam Tussaud's wax museum which was interesting and cool as some were realistic enough that left us bit unsure until one of us (especially me) poked at it. We stroll through an quite nice park and saw Buckingham Palace then we pretty much wandered around the London and ended up in Oxford street where lot of stores were. I didn´t buy anything for it was pretty expensive in London and didn´t want to add weight to my backpack until it was really worth it to have. At the evening, we relaxed at Himel´s home and chatted with housemates until 5am. We managed to communicate between BSL and ASL, picked up on some of their signs even thro we do got it wrong from time to time. One big mistake of the night was when I accidently deleted entire of Bezaire´s pictures on his camera! We were taking a group picture with our camera and his camera except that he couldnt figure how to find or set the timer on his. Hence, I tried to figure it out for him but oops! It certainly became a story for other deafies we met, they already heard or were told of this story!
Day One:
We, 195 (Michael) and I, arrived at the Heathrow airport in London and breezed through the immigration line as the British Airway stewardress discovered that it was us who were deaf so they guide us through. It sure save lot of time standing in lines. We went over to another terminal to meet up our friend who was going to Europe as well, as mentioned earlier. We were luckly enough that he, Bezaire, just arrived for we arrived around 9am when I thought we were to arrive at 7:30am. We left our backpacks at one of hotel that provided a locker at a price, we just paid between 2,50 to 3 pounds then went to tour rest of city of London. Before we start taking in the London, we were starving so we decided to eat first. The boys went straightaway to the first thing they know which was a pizza place that had a buffet, hmph! :) In one day, we managed to see Trafalger Square, Big Ben, London Bridge, and pretty much of the city for it seem not that huge as it would be in the NYC. Later before 5, we went on subway which was called tube in England to meet up with a guy that I have met a while ago in Wasga Beach, Ontairo, Canada, where we would be staying at. His name was Himel, a cool and informational guy! We meet his housemates as well who were deafies too, Stephen, Adam (who was from Australia), and Andrew (who we almost never saw of). Finally we were able to get our sleep as I didn´t sleep much on the bus from Rochester to NYC then airplane from NYC to London which was about 18 hours straightaway. 195 managed to sleep more than I did.
It had been a week in europe already! :) As you may guess, I didn´t succeed in doing my blog while I was in Paris for I am now in Madrid, Spain. So far, I certainly liked Madrid far better than Paris, France. It was more clean and updated, as well as stylish, in Madrid than it was in Paris. The people were also more friendly. Out of all cities (NYC, London, Paris, Madrid) I liked London and Madrid.. be updating later on, who knows when that would be :)
