Mourning the Loss

I am mourning the loss of my computer. It died in my sleep. Unfortunately that means this blog is pretty much done for a while. I will try up up load when I can on a public computer. I'm as disappointed as you are.

Milan Travel Week 1

Milan, Italy Saturday, February 14, 2009 The bus pulled out of Paderno at 7 am. We took a city bus and it was full of kids on a Saturday which was quite strange. We made our way to Bassano, switched in Padova to eventually arrive in Milan. It took us an hour longer to walk to out hostel then it should have because someone gave us the wrong directions. We walked closes to 45 minutes out of the way to go around the city. Once settled in we freshened left for The Last Supper. On our journey to the painting we got on the wrong metro and went the wrong way because once again people don't know where stuff is in their own city. When we finally arrived there was a mistake with the tickets. The system printed one ticket for 4 people. We were issued tickets for another time if there was not space on our originally scheduled tour. Thankfully there was enough room for us. We saw it for only 15 minutes before being escorted out. The Last Supper was painted by Di Vinci on the wall. It is not a traditional painting in a frame. It has also been restored with water color and only obtains about 30% of the original paint. We went to the Duomo after and the glass ceiling area. We found a place to eat and I bought an Italian made scarf from Andrews’s Tie Co. They specialize in obviously ties and a few others. They take pride in selling only Italian made products. Once we had walked out a gentlemen in there came out and talked to me complementing me on my politeness, clean shave and that I didn't do drugs. He was French and had a few to drink. Before we parted ways he gave me a huge kiss on the cheek and said something about his bambina or daughter. We took the right way back to the hostel and called it a night. Note: To view pictures you must log into Snapfish for privacy reasons. Unless you would like to create your own profile, the user name is PicturesofJonathan@gmail.com and the password is milkshake

Click Here For Pictures

Paris Travel Week 1

Paris, France
Sunday, February 15, 2009
We got up and out by 7:30 to make it to the airport for our 11:50 flight. Landing at about 1 we were in Paris. We took the rail to the metro switched lines and walked 2 blocks to Absolute Paris. We stashed our luggage and headed for our boat tour. We took the metro to Republique and then another line to get there. We came out about a block from the Effie tower. Pictures were a necessary delay in our journey. Finally we bought tickets for our boat tour of the Seine River. Having about a half hour before our tour we walked to a café and I ordered an Americano to take away. The port was next to the across the river from the Eiffel Tower. On our tour we saw many sites such as the Louve museum and Notre Dame Cathedral, which is the center point for measuring the distance for the national road system, and the building where the French political leader lives and works. We went back to the hostel to drop some things off and ask for a recommended restaurant but all they said was an area. After wondering the streets we ate at Buffalo Grill an American western joint. I had an Arizona burger that glanced at the grill and walked to the table. To say it was rare is almost an understatement. From there, we walked back and called it a night.

Monday, February 16, 2009
We started our day with breakfast at our hostel before taking the metro to the Louve. We toured it for a couple hours. Fro some time we stayed together then split up. I saw the main things- the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, the sphinx and a couple others. I really enjoyed the Napoleon Exhibit on the 3rd floor. We met up and had lunch in the food court before walking to Notre Dame Cathedral. It is always nice to say a prayer in this church. There is something about it I just love. The park behind it is still beautiful in the winter. I walked over to the river and reflected on my previous journey here with SLU. I was recalling the conversations I had with Lex and the very point I was standing. We then headed to the Latin Quarter. Why? I have no idea. We have no specific point in mind and a life of aimless wondering does not suite me. We did come across this neat fountain that I’m sure I did not take pictures of. From there we finally metroed to the Eiffel Tower to watch a cloudy sun set. We hung out on the second level for a while- until it sparkled twice before taking pictures from the ground and heading back. Before we did we popped into a tiny place to get quiche for dinner. Chicken and mushroom was my choice. We metroed back to our stop at Republique'. We stopped in at a little pastry shop for crepes before calling it a night. The nutella and banana crepe is the only thing to order.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A shower and breakfast began my day. We set out with all our luggage for the Maris district. We walked around once again, which felt like forever. We did pass the opera house however. From there we took the metro some where and found a place to eat. It was Greekish and the shredded mystery meat was good stuffed into a sandwich. We kept moving in the direction of Musee di Rodin, commonly called Rodin’s Garden. We passed the French capital and I chuckled. After asking a guard for directions at the capital we made it. We split up once again and I rented an audio guide for a self guided tour. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. It is a must every time I'm in Paris. After returning my audio guide we walked for about 45 minutes bypassing several perfectly fine cafes because they were not “good enough”. We finally gave up and settled for Star Bucks. From here we headed for the airport and ate dinner some where along the way.
Note: To view pictures you must log into Snapfish for privacy reasons. Unless you would like to create your own profile, the user name is PicturesofJonathan@gmail.com and the password is milkshake
Click Here For Pictures

Dublin, Ireland Travel Week 1

Dublin, Ireland
Friday, February 20, 2009
The night before ended some time because I went to bed around 9 but was up and down a lot. I would sleep then pack, sleep, pack, sleep pack. We had an early morning at 2 am. We had a long bus ride at 3:15 to catch a 6:30 flight to Dublin. We landed and made to our hostel. It was a really nice place and it was only 25€ a night. We stored our luggage because check in was at 2 and we were there at 11.30. Touring the city became a priority. We popped into several courtyards of cathedrals and parks before heading to the ticket office. There, we bought tickets for Dorothy Mills a very Indy film. One of the cashiers gave us excellent advice on places to go and see. One of her recommendations was a tour of the Guinness storehouse. Before going there we stopped at a picture gallery for maybe an hour before lunching and heading our hostel to check in. From there we walked to the Storehouse and learned the history of Guinness and even tasted a draught. It was bitter and roasty and crisp. I'm not a fan. I stuck to a taste and my free Coke from the Gravity Bar. We then headed back for showers and naps. We left for dinner, a Mexican place across the street before going to the Cineplex. Dorothy Mills is an Indy film about a girl with psychological problems. The main actress- who played Dorothy - and the director were present for the screening. After, we called it a night and headed back to the hostel

Saturday, February 21, 2009
The plan was to hit up a few more museums. Instead the girls decided they wanted to shop-all day. We were in and out of countless stores. At one point I left them and went find a place to get my hair cut. The girls were not too happy because I disappeared for about a half hour leaving them to stay in one spot. I quickly and half heartedly apologized. We had lunch from the bottom level of a department store that had been converted into a grocery store. After making our purchases we walked to a park to have sit on a bench and eat. You guessed it- more shopping. We had dinner at a Chinese place before heading back to the best hostel I’ve stayed in so far. It was nice and clean and huge but still a hostel. It had shared bathrooms but separate showers. The staff was really helpful.

Sunday, February 22, 2009
This day we traveled back but it deserves its own paragraph. We had a cab pick us up at 3.45 and drop us off at the airport. Things went as smooth as expected Except Ryan Air had no recollection of me registering my bag as a checked item. They gave me quite the run around. I have to send them a letter to complain about the service I received. We landed in Treviso. We had to take the bus to the train station to get back to Bassano and then to Paderno. Well the bus was severely late to its stop. We made it to the train station and after waiting a while in line to buy tickets we ate lunch in a crowed bar. We waited some more for our train. It finally came and we were on our way. Not so fast. We were supposed to change trains but the ticked did not indicate this. We took the train 3 or four stops past to the stop it shut down. It did not just stop it shut down- no power. I made my way out to talk to the conductor who of course does not speak English. I understand enough Italian to grasp what he is saying. We waited about a 30 minutes before we were underway. We took the correct stop and missed the connecting train by only a minute or two. It would be an hour and a half before the next train would come along. Well it never came. Some one went talk to some one and they told us we could take the bus to Bassano. We had to wait about 30 minutes a boarded without tickets. A few stops later an attendant and a security guard boarded checking tickets. He came to us at a designated stop and we got off. Apparently, when some one in your group panics and gets off so do you. We walked a ways and stopped at a bar which of the 20+ people only one spoke English and he told us to keep walking in the direction we were headed. Walk, walk walk. We spotted an open tabacchi and bought tickets. We walked to the stop in some unknown village to us. After about 45 minutes the bus came and we boarded. Again a few stops later the same attendant got on and this time we were ready for him. He punched our tickets and told us when to get off for Bassano and even told the general direction of the station. We went inside the station to buy tickets for Paderno. Being Sunday the bus only goes to Cresspano about a kilometer or two away from where we so desperately wanted to be.
We left Dublin at 6.30 arrived in Treviso at 9.20. It was only a 2 hr flight but there is a time change. We left the airport at about 9.45 and walked through the front gates of Instituto Filipin at 6.45. You do the math.



Note: To view pictures you must log into Snapfish for privacy reasons. Unless you would like to create your own profile, the user name is PicturesofJonathan@gmail.com and the password is milkshake
Click Here For Pictures

London Travel Week 1

London, England
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
We slept in and got breakfast. We took the tube the stop behind London Tower. We ventured across London to the Design Museum. The first exhibit level was nothing but dresses which were obviously not that entertaining to me. The second exhibit level was better. I showed designs and innovations from the past few years. I had a cup of Turkish coffee which as not bad. I found the gift shop to be a little entertaining. After we left we went to the Globe Theatre. Along the way we stopped for lunch at a place I cannot remember. The Theatre is a nice place. I bet watching plays in the summer would be quite nice. We also went inside the exhibit hall to see some other things. One of the events I made it to was a sword fighting display. We then ventures to the EYE. It is the world’s largest observatory. The difference between an observatory and a Farris wheel is the cars are mounted on the outside of an observatory versus the inside of a Farris wheel. Each capsule holds up to 25 people, which ours had less, and spins at .06 miles per hour- yes miles per hour. After once again watching the sun set we ventured toward Big Ben and parliament looking for a place to eat. I picked up caramelized peanuts from a street vendor and we popped into a store along the way. I bought a small container of Cadbury Drinking Chocolate made for warm milk and not water. Lunch was at a little place in the middle of the park. To give context of the size, If it held 10 people I would be amazed and cramped. It felt full with the 4 of us and one or two others. Dinner: We dined at a sort of hidden place that would make a great unknown hangout. Bangers and mash with onion gravy was my plate of choice. After having our fill we made our way back to the hostel and the rickety bunk beds.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
We started the day in Hyde Park. We walked around and I saw a beautiful covered walkway and saw horses and people just out and about in the park. The big lake there is called Serpentine Lake and does not look like a serpentine. There was a place where one could rent boats and paddle out to the center of the lake and once again would really nice to do in the summer. At about 11.15 we headed to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards; a site that requires early(er) arrival due to its popularity. It is worth the time and a perfect platform to perfect your crowd skills. The guards follow a marching band and it is a big to do because extra police are called in to help with crowd control. The band played several songs including Dancing Queen. According to a police officer, the changing was taking longer then normal which I did not mind. When is the next time I will get to see this spectacle? After the changing was over we headed to the Gregory Museum. It is dedicated to the middle class dating from the 1400’s to the 2000’s. A 19 year old named Sunny gave about a 5 minute talk on a ceiling fixture from the 1950’s. After we left we went to Piccadilly Circus for s little shopping. The girls were not interested so we split up. They went to Ikea somewhere in zone 3 (Tube map) and I stayed and shopped. I bought a pair of shoes and a bow tie among other things- and yes I have learned to tie it correctly. I kept an eye out for tickets to the play Wicked but there was not one left in the city. I headed back to the hostel and called it an early night.


Note: To view pictures you must log into Snapfish for privacy reasons. Unless you would like to create your own profile, the user name is PicturesofJonathan@gmail.com and the password is milkshake
Click Here For Pictures

Ljubljana, Slovenia

After a long night of planning for my first travel week, I had to get up early to get ready to go to Slovenia. The bus left at about 8:30 after a half hour of confusion of getting people to the bus and making sure every one had their papers in order to leave. It was about a 3.5/4 hour trip to Ljubljana. Along the way we stopped at a truck stop called the Autogrill for the bathroom and a snack break. Some guys were taking forever because they were smoking. One guy on the bus walked down the steps to the bottom platform to yell at them. Just as he did an huge truck come screaming by. If he would have stepped off the bus her would have been bug in grill of that truck. Finally, We arrived at about 12.30/12.45 at the bus station and every one went to find their hostels. I traveled with Tami and Christina for the weekend. I don’t know how but I ended up with them. We went find their hostel before looking for lunch. We ate at a place called Romeo’s. It was fancy Mexican as compared to what we are used to in the States. We then wondered the streets taking in the sights. We asked locals where to find a good desert place and they recommended Zvezda. I had a piece of Black Forest cake which is a thin layer of chocolate cake, vanilla cream raspberry jam topped with another layer of cake frosted with chocolate and topped with strawberries and blue berries. We also made our way some where in the mix to a little marked where I bought a t-shirt. We continued to walk around the city center before looking for the mall. The mall was about a 45 minute walk to the middle of nowhere. On the bright side I tried on a pair of 400€ Armani Jeans. They did not have my size or I might have bought them because they were on sale 50% off. We made our way back at about 8pm for naps and dinner. We ate at this little place that was nice. I had a chicken creaser salad. My body was craving veggies. At about 11.30 I went to the girl’s hostel which was about 5 min from mine. We hung out there for an hour before going to a three story club- Lounge, bar, club. And of course we went to the club. There were a bunch of CIMBA kids there too. I called it a night at about 3am and walked back to my hostel and was in the bed by 3.30. The next morning I woke up at 9.30 to get ready for the day and check out. I met the girls at 10.30 to keep exploring. We were not far from the “3 Bridge” area. Directly across from the bridges was a red church. They had morning mass- it being Sunday. We went back to Zvezda’s for breakfast. I had an almond croissant with vanilla cream and covered in powdered sugar. I drank a fresh squeezed blood orange juice. Incredible! We left and headed back for the center area and stumbled across an outdoor church service in front of the red church. We took pictures and continued to explore the little avenues. At about 12ish we wondered back to the train station and sat in the lower level of non other the McDonalds for a while. Finding the bathroom there was a challenge. You had to go out side to the actual bus terminal and buy a .60€ token to unlock the gate to go down to the toilets. I headed back to McDon’s and ordered a Big Mac Menu (combo) and a Coca-Cola Light. Went back to the girls and we studied a little for Finance. Our test was in less then 24 hrs. When we left the station we ran in to our people and I let one guy buy the token this time and the rest of snuck in behind. We loaded up on the bus and headed home. On the way back we watch a couple movies. One was Along Came a Spider- nothing like the title suggests. It was a pretty good movie. We arrived in Paderno at 7.30- just in time for dinner. Might I add there, was no border control between Italy and Slovenia. Little uneasing that they don’t care who is here and who is not here.
Note: To view pictures you must log into Snapfish for privacy reasons. Unless you would like to create your own profile, the user name is PicturesofJonathan@gmail.com and the password is milkshake

Click Here For Pictures

Verona, Italy

02/01/2009 Verona, Italy.
To Start off I had a few late nights and early mornings due to class schedules. On this Sunday morning I woke up early got dresses and was ready to head out to meet our driver for 8 am. One of the front gate attendants set up one of his friends to drive us to Verona which is about an hour and a half away from Paderno. As I came down the steps of my dorm to the foyer-ish area I looked out the doors and it was snowing. Being from Alabama we rarely get snow. When we do is not more then an half inch- never more then a whole inch. Needless to say I was excited. (You Tube Link) It snowed on us most of the way there. It even snowed most of the time I was there. Upon our arrival into the city our first stop was for breakfast. We went to none other the McDonald’s. I had a chocolate chip muffin and a cappuccino because in Italy they serve a sweet and simple breakfast. I have not had a decent breakfast in two weeks- no eggs no toast but I have had grits which they call creamed corn and are serve for dinner. After our pit stop we headed for the Arena. This looks similar to the Coliseum in Rome because of the Roman influence in Verona. We were admitted for only 1 euro because it was the first Sunday on the month. Next we headed to see a castle for free once again first Sunday of the month but once we arrived they informed us it was 7 euro because there was an exhibit on display so we declined and made our way around the town. We split up and the ones I stayed with went to find Juliet. We found the little courtyard and it looked just like it does in the pictures- how about that- We toured her house for again only one euro- got to love the first Sunday of the month discount. Of course before I could leave I had to take my picture with her. There are several souvenir shops and they connect directly to the courtyard so we ducked into to them to see what they had- not much of course. One of them is a custom monogramming shop. They have things from aprons to potholders to baby bibs and other novelty item of that nature. The second level to the shop was Club Juliet. We went up and saw clips of the movie and they had a table where you could sit down and write her a note. I wrote her one asking if Romeo was really worth killing herself over. In fact that was my second not to her. I wrote her a note at her home. Think she will respond to that one? Lunch had pasted and everyone was hungry so we found this quant restaurant for lunch called M27. I had a Club Tasty, which is nothing more then a regular club with spicy salami and a different cheese. They also automatically put a hard poached egg on all their clubs. So I guess I have had one egg in two weeks. We continued to walk around the city and take in the sites of a classic Italian city. It snowed on us, it rained on us and it was a cold and slushy day I’m glad I went. We also saw several piazzas which are city centers. In one of the piazzas there was a small ice skating rink set up. I got to see some of the locals ice skate and tried not to laugh when some one fell down.
Note: To view pictures you must log into Snapfish for privacy reasons. Unless you would like to create your own profile, the user name is PicturesofJonathan@gmail.com and the password is milkshake
Click Here For Pictures