Lonely Tourist
Posted by ScarlettApr 20th, 2009 | No Comments
Apart from grabbing some McDonald’s for dinner, I didn’t bother to go out yesterday so today was effectively my first day as a solo traveller. So far my conclusion is: I prefer not to be alone! Everyone needs their space now and then, but when travelling, I prefer to have someone with me! The only thing I enjoy more when Paul isn’t around is shopping, but I can’t really fit stuff into my backpack or use it for the next year or two, so I’m not really inclined to do much shopping! 
Hotel Le Grillon – Ugh!
Posted by ScarlettApr 19th, 2009 | 1 Comment
Strasbourg is the capital of the European Union and home to several important institutions, such as the European Parliament. When we made our schedule, I had no idea there would be a big parliament session here this week, which made finding accommodations kind of difficult. After lots of searching (and we did this back in January!) we booked at Hotel Le Grillon, which looked decent and had ok rates. Now that I’ve arrived, I see why they were one of the few places with vacancy – this is almost as bad as Barbieri Hostel in Madrid!
Train Travel In Europe
Posted by ScarlettApr 19th, 2009 | No Comments
After travelling by train in Portugal, Spain, France and Switzerland, I thought it might be informative to put up some information about stuff like ticket checks, etc.
Last Day In Switzerland
Posted by ScarlettApr 18th, 2009 | 1 Comment
Today is our last day in Switzerland, and our last day together for a few days since Paul has to fly home for some business, so we allowed ourselves some time to sleep in and relax before heading out to do our sightseeing. Lucerne is a pretty small city so unless you want to go to the nearby Alps, you don’t need much time to see the major sights and attractions.
Picture Perfect Lucerne
Posted by ScarlettApr 17th, 2009 | No Comments
Today we’ve moved to our last city in Switzerland, Lucerne, and it is soooooo pretty, I wish we were here for more than two days! This is the first time I’ve travelled anywhere that looks exactly like the postcard pictures of it – I mean, everywhere we’ve been so far has been nice, but usually the postcard is the best picture possible, not the ordinary!
Cost of Living Comparison
Posted by ScarlettApr 16th, 2009 | No CommentsWe find our cost of living slowly but surely creeping upwards as we travel from Portugal to Switzerland, so I thought it might be informative to create a table to compare some basic costs for anyone reading this blog and/or planning a trip to Europe. This table shows average prices of the places we’ve shopped/eaten at – obviously smaller supermarkets are more expensive that large ones and the “fanciness” of the restaurant has varied, but we’ve stuck to mostly average places. In some cities I didn’t buy or look at certain things, so I’ve labeled them “Didn’t see.” Also, because the notebook I had initially been using to keep track of expenditures was stolen in Madrid, the costs listed for Lisbon, Porto, and Madrid are to the best of my memory, but they are fairly accurate.
Maah Burgers and Bears In Bern
Posted by ScarlettApr 15th, 2009 | No Comments
Today with our new friend Jason, we headed out to explore Bern by walking throughout old town, across the bridge to their “Grand Casino”, and then finally back through old town to cross a different bridge to get to a bear pit called Bärengraben.
Bern Switzerland
Posted by ScarlettApr 14th, 2009 | 3 Comments
This morning we headed to Bern, a small city on a steep-sided peninsula in a crook of the River Aare in central Switzerland. Our train brought us here at about one o’clock, but I had misread the check-in info from our hostel, the Hotel Glocke, and didn’t realize you can’t check in until three o’clock because their reception is closed between twelve and three! The funny thing was the reception girl was there to open the door and tell us we couldn’t check in until three, and she offered to let us put our luggage in the storage area next to the reception desk. I don’t really understand why they bother to close the reception if the girl is going to be there letting people into the storage area anyways!
Easter Monday In Geneva
Posted by ScarlettApr 13th, 2009 | No Comments
Having finished most of the sightseeing yesterday, today we headed to the suburbs of Geneva in search of an area called Carouge. I had read online that this was a neat area because of it’s unique architecture and it’s “checkerboard layout,” so I figured it was worth a visit, especially since we had free use of public transportation.
Ethiopain/Indian Food In Geneva
Posted by ScarlettApr 12th, 2009 | Comments Off
Because there isn’t a whole lot of “Swiss” food around (apart from cheese fondue but I hate cheese so we’re probably going to pass on fondue), we’re left with a lot of ethnic cuisine choices such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, Italian, and, of course, sushi! While I miss sushi like crazy, I can’t bring myself to pay 49 francs for a plate of questionable quality, so we decided to try an Ethiopian/Indian restaurant nearby our hostel.
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