The Perfect End To Germany

Tonight we finished Germany in the best way possible – completely drunk with a group of random strangers!  Could there be a better way to say goodbye to the country that drinks more beer than any others?  I think not (more…)

A Day @ The Berlin Zoo

Before this year, I had never heard of the Berlin zoo, even though it is the most internationally well known zoo in Germany and has the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.  This past April, however, I like many others on YouTube, became familiar with the Berlin zoo because of a crazy lady who jumped into the polar bear enclosure.  Having heard about the crazy lady and the polar bear named Knut she was trying to get close to, this was a zoo I really wanted to see and this morning we set off to spend a day at the zoo… (more…)

A Crazy Last Day In Paris

What more could a girl ask for on her last day in Paris than a thrilling ambulance ride (well, it wasn’t actually an ambulance, but it was just like the ambulances we have in Canada, sirens blaring and all) with firemen to the hospital?  While some of my girlfriends would love to be carried away by French firemen, I could have done without the ambulance ride, but it was definitely a unique experience! (more…)

Night Out In Paris

After a frustrating day of dealing with crowds, we took a nap at our hotel then ventured out to do some more sightseeing since Paul was able to get away from work for a change (he’s normally tied up from four pm till midnight Paris time).  We decided to find some dinner and then walk around till sunset so we could see the “city of lights” lit up – seeing the area by our hotel at night just doesn’t do it justice! (more…)

Parlez-vous Anglais?

Yesterday I became more sick than the day before so we didn’t do much except go get some pasta in old town at night so we wouldn’t eat at Brasserie George again.  Today, the last of our four days in Lyon, I felt slightly better and we set out to see as much of Lyon as we could before leaving.  (more…)

You Never Forget How To Ride A Bike, But You Might Get A Bit Rusty…

Since we managed to walk around most of Montpellier and see the majority of the sites yesterday, we decided to try renting bikes today to ride out to the Mediterranean Sea, which Jean-Luc (editor’s note: Picard!?) said is only about 45 minutes away by bike. (more…)

Barcelona: Land of the Farmacias (pharmacies)

Not sure why but every block in Barcelona seems to have 1 or more Farmacias (pharmacies). The odd thing is all drugs, even Tylenol (called panacetamol here) is kept behind the counter. They have probably have more pharmacies per block than Vancouver/Seattle has Starbucks! (editor’s note: Starcrack anyone?)

Drugs are considerably cheaper here than in Canada. Mainly because there is no dispensing fees and the drugs do not have brand names like Tylenol or Advil.

1st High-Speed Train Ride

After the worst possible night of sleep (the dorm room turned out to be on the side of the hostel where a tonne of bars are located and the whole night I heard singing, shouting and glass breaking until 6:30 am when a drunk guy wandered around searching for his friend Pedro by continuously shouting his name for an hour) we dragged ourselves up at 8 am this morning to head to the train station to get to Barcelona (editor’s note: This sounds just like my place here in Asia!). (more…)

Spain Is Prettier Than Portugal But Not As Friendly…

After a day of wandering around in Madrid, we’ve come to the conclusion that Madrid is definitely beautiful and a more well-kept city than Lisbon or Porto, but the people here seem cold, snobby, and completely unwilling to help if you don’t speak Spanish!  Even the girl at the McDonald’s counter wouldn’t acknowledge my attempt to order a Quarter Pounder with cheese until I made a mangled attempt to pronounce it in Spanish (which FYI is Cuarto di Libra) and I ended up eating my McNuggets with BBQ sauce because I had no clue how to say Sweet-And-Sour in Spanish (editor’s note: Maybe she’s originally from France?)

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First Time Flying Ryanair

Today we took our “free” flight to Madrid and now we can see how Ryanair manages to make a profit while charging such outstandingly low fares.  If you read the first related blog about our $0.00 fare (http://www.monkeyandrooster.com/2009/02/12/000-airfare), you might recall there was no charge for the flight itself, but 10 euros each for taxes and fees, and another 5 euros each for a passenger fee. (more…)