Mid-Trip Update

My original plan was to write a blog post after every country, but internet access has been very limited, plus it's also easy to forget about posting when you're traveling Europe and seeing new things. I decided I will just make a blog post for the first half of the trip and then another one as a summary when I get back, and post them at the same time, even though they are written at different times. Ok, I will break it down by country:

France - Lauren and I spent three nights in France in Hotel Napoleon, which had a great location right next to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees. We didn't really use the hotel for anything except sleep because we were out and about most of the time. Lauren also had a friend named Karen studying abroad in Paris and her other friend Suzi was visiting Karen, so we had some people to hang out with. I also have a bunch of pictures of the Eiffel Tower, so I will post some of those when I get back. The highlight of the trip was eating dinner at Altitude 95, which was in the Eiffel Tower. We had a window seat with an excellent view of the city, as well as a great three course meal and the best bottle of wine they offered. It was what poker players would call "ballin".

England - We were in London for three nights as well and unfortunately we missed Manchester United's last game, but that in no way made this part of the trip less fun. As with most of these historically significant places, we saw the monumental sights like Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. The best sight in my opinion was the tower bridge. Also, comparing the public transportation between France and England, England blows France away. France had very dirty, smelly subway systems (saw puke in the one car), whereas London's Underground system was very organized and clean. It really made traveling across London very easy. We also went to some pubs and sampled different beers, which is one of my favorite parts of traveling.

Venice - The city with streets of water, Venice is just like it is pictured but you really need to experience it to truly comprehend it. It is probably one of the coolest things in the world. When we deboarded the plane, rather than taking a regular taxi or a bus, we took a water taxi! Even though it costed 100 euro (about $140 U.S. dollars) it was definitely worth it. It was night time, and our guy was a little looser and wasn't afraid to disobey the speed limit signs, which led to us getting some nice air over some waves. Even though we were in Venice for three Calendar days, it was really only like a day and half as we got there really late on the first day, had all day the next day, then had a 7 a.m. flight the following day. Our hotel management was pretty rude in Venice. I expected this in Paris (but they were actually very nice) but not in Venice. They just didn't like when you asked questions and they all seemed annoyed at most times, but the rest of Venice made up for it.

I'm going to save Santorini, Athens, and Madrid for another post so this way it seems like I post more than I really do.