Rouen France
Posted by ScarlettApr 24th, 2009 | No Comments
Paul flew back from Edmonton yesterday and met up with me in Strasbourg, where we caught a train to Rouen, a small city in the Normandy region of France. Because of the change in travel plans, we had to take a late afternoon train and didn’t arrive till close to 9 pm. By the time we found our hotel (the Ibis Rouen City Center, which isn’t really in city center, more like 1 km out!), most places were closed so we ate at the hotel and spent the rest of the evening getting settled and mapping out our sightseeing for today, which was now the only day here before heading to the D-Day beaches tomorrow. 
Baeckoffe Stew and Eau de Vie
Posted by ScarlettApr 22nd, 2009 | 1 Comment
Today, my last day in Strasbourg, I headed to an area called la Petit France, known for its half-timbered houses and cobblestone roads, to find a restaurant called Le Baeckeoffe d’Alsace. While planning this trip, I had read about two things unique to this region – Baeckoffe stew and Eau de Vie – and I had been looking forward to trying both, but somehow three days had gone by and I hadn’t managed to get either! So, when I saw an ad for this restaurant saying they have traditional Baeckoffe stew and are a winstub, it seemed like the perfect place to have both and I decided to go try it.
A Day At The Zoo and European Institutions
Posted by ScarlettApr 21st, 2009 | 1 Comment
As previously mentioned, Strasbourg is the capital of the EU, and home to the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, and the Human Rights Building. Although visits inside these buildings aren’t allowed, you can’t really go to Strasbourg and not check out this “European Quarter,” so I made a plan to slowly walk over to the North-West side of the city where these buildings are located today. When I asked the guy at reception how long this would take, he laughed and suggested I take a tram because it’s quite far, but there were a few things I wanted to see along the way so I decided to walk there and tram back.
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.
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