05 May Europe So Far…So Far I’m Still Alive!

(I’m currently sitting in a park in Paris listening to the sounds of the wind, the birds chirping, and people walking by. I’m writing this blog on my blackberry, so please excuse any typos

Josh (my fellow travel companion) and I are sitting here waiting to catch our shuttle to the airport that will fly us to Barcelona.

I can’t believe we’ve already done all of London, England, and Amsterdam.

London was a great place to start our trip. The city seemed almost like Toronto to me, with the subways and restaurants and shopping… The only difference was their accents. We enjoyed the city as well as the many tourist attractions there were. We ventured to the Tower of London and saw where royalty used to live and die, and we saw the Crown jewels that are used for every new king or queen’s coronation.

We also got to experience the night life of London at the (apparently world famous) club, the Ministry of Sound. It seemed just like another bar in Toronto to me, but it was fun.

The trip was planned perfectly because we were also there during the royal wedding. Leading up the event, the city was full of excitement and anticipation. News stations would talk about it constantly, weird random pictures and posters and masks of the couple were everywhere, and everyone was talking about it.

The day of, Josh and I watched the party enter Westminster Abbey on TV and then ventured into the streets to try and catch them on the way out. The streets were chaotic; everyone was walking towards the castle on the streets and ignoring the (naïve) cars who were trying to drive through. Josh and I made it to the gates of Buckingham palace where they let crowds in to see the couple kiss on the balcony. Unfortunately, we had to leave to catch our ferry to Holland.

Being in the crowd was as much of a historic experience as I needed. It was awesome.

Josh and I headed on a long journey, that day, to the port where we were going to get on a ferry to Holland overnight. We awoke the next morning and naviagted the train system all the way to our hotel.

Without any time wasted, we headed straight into the center of Amsterdam because it happened to be Queensday; the day everyone in the entire country visits the city to celebrate the monarchy and there happens to be no rules. People walking everywhere with drinks in their hands covered head to toe in orange outfits. Josh and I were lucky enough to find some promoters handing out free shirts, so we fit in. We walked around the city then joined the huge crowd to watch the live concert. Josh wanted to see Afrojack and Armin Van Beuren perform, which they did…after we stood in the crowd for 5 hours. I was less than impressed but he had a blast.

The next day, (recovery day for the citizens) we just walked around and enjoyed the city.

We then ventured to Paris where we’ve been for the past few days. We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Garden of Versaille, the Louvre, and a lot more. We also tried various French cuisine like Crepes (obviously) and we ventured to this fancy steak restaurant that Josh had remembered going to when he was younger with his family. It was delicious, especially since I’ve been living off of grocery store food that I’ve been buying to save money! We also ended up meeting with some friends from back home whilst we’ve been here so that was a nice taste of.. Well.. Canada haha.

So now we’re off to Barcelona. I hear it’s beautiful even though full of pickpocketers. I’ll have to be careful. Josh is so big no one would touch him haha.

Having an ostomy so far hasn’t really gotten in the way of any of my trip so far (and at all, I hope!) I’ve just been very careful to always use the bathroom whenever I’m near one (and its free) to avoid trying to find one or paying for one after waiting too long. To be honest, I think just as a girl, without the ostomy, I’d be doing the same thing!

Anyways, that’s all for now! Hopefully I get a chance to blog some during the trip!