London (7/14): Went to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Globe. Saw the changing of the guard. Went to the Imperial War Museum and the British Museum. got picked off the street to dance in a British Christian punk rock music video. You heard me. British Christian punk.
Cambridge (7/15) Went to 10 out of 31 colleges at Cambridge and went punting (propelling a boat with a pole) down the river Cam. Almost drowned and hit every boat and wall along the river Cam.
Vienna (7/16) Took a RyanAir (Irish version of Southwest, except you have to buy the drinks and complementary peanuts, and they sell lotto tickets) to Austria. Saw a bunch of former imperial palances belonging to the emperor Franz Josef, and sat through an actual concert of Mozart's "Requiem" at Karlskirche, a 18th century Baroque church, instead of bad university student dressed in funny wigs playing bad Mozart music.
Salzburg (7/18) Was not impressed with everything built on a cliff or nuns spinning around singing.
Munich (7/19) Apparently, when we got there, it was the festival of Munich's patron saint, which meant random people dressed in traditional Bavarian costumes and beer being sold by the liter on the street for about $4 (€2.75). So I threw back a couple of liters of beer, because you know those Germans; if you don't join the party, they come get you.
Rome (7/21) After sleeping in a six-bed room for twelve hours on a train, finally got to Rome, only to discover the city is like living in a distillery: hot, smoky, and smelling of cheap alcohol. Sights here included the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and waking up at 6am to stand in line another two hours to get into the Vatican, where I met two Filipino nuns who went to school with my mom. And an interesting conversation at a laundry mat where my friend Tristen spoke Korean to this one Korean guy who spoke Italian to the laundress to get out clothes cleaned on time.
Florence (7/23) Took a nap at the Florence hostel and had a dream that a hot, lost Italian girl woke me up and asked me for coffee. Instead, I was woken up by Peter, my friend from Boston who is not a hot, lost Italian girl. Thoroughly disappointed. And the Renaissance art wasn't that impressive. Botticelli's Birth of Venus or Michaelangelo's David were ok, somewhat disappointing in how imperfect they look in real life.
Nice (7/25) Spent the day on the beaches. Most of the women were topless, unfortunately most of them were also thrice my age. Did see a quartet of Chinese girls sunbathing, but, alas, I didn't know how to speak Mandarin or French.
Barcelona (7/27) Drinking beer I bought of the street at 2am. Going back to the hostel at 2pm for R&R. I think I went to the Olympic Park and the unfinished cathedral, La Sagrada Família, but the rest is a blurry, drunken haze.
Madrid (7/29) More a haze too. I was impressed by the Prado and immense detail of Picasso's Guernica. Spent the last night drinking out of bottle of wine on a tour bus given to us by Filipinos.
